Urban Outfitters Inc (URBN) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Urban Outfitters, Inc. Third Quarter Fiscal '23 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker for today, Oona McCullough, our Executive Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may begin.

美好的一天，謝謝你的支持。歡迎來到 Urban Outfitters, Inc. 第三季度 23 財年收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）。提醒一下，這次會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將會議交給您今天的發言人，我們的投資者關係執行總監 Oona McCullough。女士，您可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and welcome to the URBN Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Conference Call. Earlier this afternoon, the company issued a press release outlining the financial and operating results for the 9- and 3-month period ending October 31, 2022. The following discussions may include forward-looking statements. Please note that actual results may differ materially from those statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results is contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

下午好，歡迎來到 URBN 2023 財年第三季度電話會議。今天下午早些時候，該公司發布了一份新聞稿，概述了截至 2022 年 10 月 31 日的 9 個月和 3 個月期間的財務和經營業績。以下討論可能包括前瞻性陳述。請注意，實際結果可能與這些陳述存在重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與預期結果存在重大差異的因素的更多信息包含在公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中。

On today's call, you will hear from Richard Hayne, Chief Executive Officer; Frank Conforti, Co-President and COO; and Melanie Marein-Efron, Chief Financial Officer. Following that, we will be pleased to address your questions. For more detailed commentary on our quarterly performance and the text of today's conference call, please refer to our Investor Relations website at www.urbn.com. I will now turn the call over to Dick.

在今天的電話會議上，您將聽到首席執行官 Richard Hayne 的講話； Frank Conforti，聯席總裁兼首席運營官；首席財務官 Melanie Marein-Efron。之後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。有關我們季度業績的更多詳細評論和今天電話會議的內容，請訪問我們的投資者關係網站 www.urbn.com。我現在將把電話轉給迪克。

Thank you, Oona, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I'll begin the call with some brief remarks regarding our third quarter results and make a few observations concerning the consumer and the macro environment. I will then turn the call over to Frank and Melanie, who will provide more brand details along with our thoughts about future performance. Overall, third quarter business performed in line with our expectations, as discussed on the August call.

謝謝你，Oona，大家下午好。今天，我將以關於我們第三季度業績的一些簡短評論開始電話會議，並就消費者和宏觀環境發表一些看法。然後我會將電話轉給 Frank 和 Melanie，他們將提供更多品牌詳細信息以及我們對未來表現的想法。總體而言，第三季度的業務表現符合我們在 8 月電話會議上討論的預期。

URBN delivered 4% total revenue growth in the quarter against a strong third quarter last year. Retail segment comp sales also grew by 4%. Higher AOV and AUR were the principal drivers of positive comps. Nuuly also contributed to total revenue growth was an exceptional quarter that delivered revenues 178% above the prior year. Positive sales gains from the Retail segment and Nuuly were partially offset by a wholesale revenue decline of 3% and a 200 basis point adjustment to total revenues due to currency exchange rates.

與去年第三季度的強勁表現相比，URBN 在本季度實現了 4% 的總收入增長。零售部門的銷售額也增長了 4%。更高的 AOV 和 AUR 是積極補償的主要驅動因素。 Nuuly 還為總收入增長做出了貢獻，這是一個特殊的季度，其收入比上一年增長了 178%。零售部門和 Nuuly 的正銷售收益被批發收入下降 3% 和因貨幣匯率導致的總收入調整 200 個基點部分抵消。

On our August call, we noted a bifurcation in our customer shopping behavior with brands offering higher price points and serving a more affluent customer, posting better results. The Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement and Nuuly brands, all have customers who have been able and willing to spend despite the inflationary environment. In the third quarter, the customers of each of these brands drove strong demand. To date, in November, we have seen a slight softening in demand.

在我們 8 月的電話會議上，我們注意到我們的客戶購物行為存在分歧，品牌提供更高的價格點並為更富裕的客戶提供服務，從而獲得更好的結果。 Anthropologie、Free People、FP Movement 和 Nuuly 品牌的客戶在通貨膨脹環境下仍然能夠並且願意消費。在第三季度，這些品牌的客戶推動了強勁的需求。迄今為止，在 11 月，我們看到需求略有疲軟。

We attribute this to the unusually strong build in demand during early November last year, when many shoppers felt supply chain problems would lead to empty shelves during the traditional holiday period and thus made purchases early. Overall, sales in November are on track to achieve our Q4 goal of delivering a total company comp in the low single digits. Not all our brands, however, serve an affluent customer. Urban Outfitters' customers are younger with less discretionary income and accumulated assets.

我們將此歸因於去年 11 月初異常強勁的需求增長，當時許多購物者認為供應鏈問題會導致傳統假期期間貨架空空，因此提早購買。總體而言，11 月的銷售額有望實現我們的第四季度目標，即以較低的個位數提供公司總收入。然而，並非我們所有的品牌都服務於富裕的客戶。 Urban Outfitters 的客戶更年輕，可支配收入和積累的資產更少。

And the current elevated inflation around necessities like rent, food and energy has had a greater impact on them. These customers are transacting less often, and when they do shop, they're looking for a deal. The UO brand in North America began the quarter with heavy inventory left over from the bullwhip effect brought on by COVID-induced supply chain issues. The brand is working through this excess inventory and is planning to be much cleaner by the end of Q4.

目前圍繞房租、食品和能源等必需品的通貨膨脹加劇對他們產生了更大的影響。這些客戶的交易頻率降低了，當他們購物時，他們正在尋找優惠。北美的 UO 品牌本季度開始時因 COVID 引發的供應鏈問題帶來的牛鞭效應而留下大量庫存。該品牌正在處理這些過剩庫存，併計劃在第四季度末變得更加清潔。

The brand also faces some operational issues, like product over assortment. In Europe, the UO brand performed much better, benefiting from extra-strong store traffic, positive AUR and excellent marketing efforts. Urban Europe, Anthropologie and Free People all drove strong full-price sales in Q3. If the current macroeconomic situation doesn't deteriorate further, we believe the customer bifurcation will continue at least through the holiday season.

該品牌還面臨一些運營問題，例如產品種類過多。在歐洲，UO 品牌的表現要好得多，這得益於超強的店鋪客流量、積極的 AUR 和出色的營銷工作。 Urban Europe、Anthropologie 和 Free People 都在第三季度推動了強勁的全價銷售。如果當前的宏觀經濟形勢沒有進一步惡化，我們認為客戶分叉至少會持續到整個假期。

As a result, we believe the Anthropologie and Free People brands could continue to post nicely positive results, while the Urban brand might continue to underperform. Looking forward to Q1 next year, the health of the economy remains highly uncertain. But assuming we avoid a major recession, we believe there are several reasons for us to be optimistic. Supply chain costs have dropped precipitously over the last 6 months, and our speed-to-market capabilities are almost back to FY '20 levels.

因此，我們認為 Anthropologie 和 Free People 品牌可能會繼續取得不錯的積極成果，而 Urban 品牌可能會繼續表現不佳。展望明年第一季度，經濟健康狀況仍存在高度不確定性。但假設我們避免了一場嚴重的衰退，我們相信有幾個理由讓我們保持樂觀。供應鏈成本在過去 6 個月急劇下降，我們的上市速度幾乎回到了 20 財年的水平。

These improvements, combined with other actions we launched to build margins like reducing our choice count by eliminating many smaller buys and placing deeper buys of the alpha product should result in favorable IMU compared to last year. We also remain committed to entering the spring selling season with leaner inventories which would give us the opportunity to deliver lower markdown rates, especially at the Urban Outfitters brand.

這些改進，再加上我們為增加利潤而採取的其他行動，例如通過消除許多較小的購買來減少我們的選擇數量，以及對 alpha 產品進行更深入的購買，與去年相比，應該會產生有利的 IMU。我們還致力於以更精簡的庫存進入春季銷售旺季，這將使我們有機會提供更低的降價率，尤其是 Urban Outfitters 品牌。

Lastly and maybe most importantly, we believe strong fashion trends remain in place for all our brands. Finally, I'm pleased to report that response to Nuuly, our apparel rental business, continued to excel in Q3. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, active subscribers grew by 37%, surpassing the 100,000 sub milestone in early October and now posting in excess of 120,000 active subs.

最後，或許也是最重要的一點，我們相信我們所有品牌的時尚潮流依然強勁。最後，我很高興地報告，我們的服裝租賃業務 Nuuly 在第三季度繼續表現出色。與上一季度相比，活躍訂閱者增長了 37%，超過了 10 月初的 100,000 個子里程碑，現在活躍訂閱者超過 120,000 個。

Strong subscriber growth is allowing the brand to leverage expenses and make solid progress toward profitability. We look forward to celebrating Nuuly's first quarterly profit sometime in FY '24. With that, I will now turn the call over to Frank to provide more detail on our third quarter performance by brand.

強勁的訂戶增長使該品牌能夠利用開支並在盈利方面取得穩步進展。我們期待在 24 財年的某個時候慶祝 Nuuly 的第一個季度盈利。有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給弗蘭克，以提供更多關於我們第三季度品牌表現的細節。

Thank you, Dick, and good afternoon, everyone. I will begin my commentary discussing our total company third quarter results versus the prior comparable quarter, followed by some more detailed notes by brand. Total company sales grew by 4% to a third quarter record of $1.2 billion, driven by a total Retail segment comp increase of 4%, and the Nuuly segment sales increase of $23 million. These increases were partially offset by a 3% decline in Wholesale segment sales and foreign currency translation that reduced sales by approximately 200 basis points.

謝謝你，迪克，大家下午好。我將開始我的評論，討論我們公司第三季度的總業績與上一季度的比較，然後是一些更詳細的品牌註釋。公司總銷售額增長 4%，達到創紀錄的第三季度 12 億美元，這主要受零售部門總銷售額增長 4% 以及 Nuuly 部門銷售額增長 2300 萬美元的推動。這些增長部分被批發部門銷售額下降 3% 和外幣換算減少約 200 個基點所抵消。

The growth in Retail segment comp sales was driven by a mid-single-digit digital channel comp sales increase and a low single-digit positive store comp. Nuuly's robust increase in sales was due to a significant increase in subscribers from the prior year. Wholesale segment sales decline was due to a decrease at Free People. Although sales were positive, operating profits declined in the quarter. The decline in operating profit was largely due to increased markdowns during the quarter.

零售部門銷售額的增長是由中等個位數的數字渠道銷售額增長和低個位數的正店面銷售額推動的。 Nuuly 銷售額的強勁增長歸功於訂戶數量較上一年大幅增加。批發業務的銷售額下降是由於 Free People 的銷售額下降。儘管銷售額為正，但該季度的營業利潤有所下降。營業利潤下降主要是由於本季度降價促銷活動增加。

Markdowns were higher than last year because the markdown rates last year at all brands were exceptionally well and because each brand had excess inventory in certain categories. Although each brand's markdown rate increased versus the low prior year rate when compared with FY '20, this performance differed. The Urban Outfitters brand markdown rate increased the most significantly versus fiscal '20 due to elevated inventory levels, a miss in execution and a highly promotional environment.

降價幅度高於去年，因為去年所有品牌的降價幅度都非常好，而且每個品牌在某些類別中都有過剩庫存。儘管與 20 財年相比，每個品牌的降價率都比上一年的低水平有所提高，但這種表現有所不同。由於庫存水平升高、執行失誤和高度促銷環境，Urban Outfitters 品牌降價幅度與 20 財年相比增幅最大。

The Free People brand recorded only a slight increase in markdown rate versus FY '20, and the Anthropologie brand delivered a strong improvement in their markdown rate. I will discuss more on each brand performance later in my commentary. Total inventory increased 19% versus the prior year. This represents a 25-point reduction from the year-over-year increase of 44% in the second quarter.

與 20 財年相比，Free People 品牌的減價率僅略有增加，而 Anthropologie 品牌的減價率大幅提高。我將在稍後的評論中詳細討論每個品牌的表現。總存貨比上一年增加了 19%。這比第二季度 44% 的同比增幅下降了 25 個百分點。

Each brand has worked hard to improve its inventory to sales alignment, and we believe inventory will show a further reduction by the end of Q4. The 19% third quarter inventory increase is due mostly to higher inventory costs, earlier receipts than originally planned, and excess slower selling product in certain categories. The Urban Outfitters brand in North America has the most inventory to clear and will continue to deploy incremental markdowns throughout the holiday season to improve their inventory to sales relationships.

每個品牌都在努力改善庫存與銷售的一致性，我們相信庫存將在第四季度末進一步減少。第三季度 19% 的庫存增長主要是由於庫存成本增加、收貨時間早於原計劃以及某些類別的銷售緩慢的產品過多。北美的 Urban Outfitters 品牌需要清理的庫存最多，並將在整個假期期間繼續部署增量降價，以改善他們的庫存與銷售關係。

We are working towards our inventory position being in line with sales performance by the end of the fiscal year. In Q3, the IMU variance to last year was slightly positive. As the quarter progressed, we began to see the benefits of lower inbound transportation expenses, a more reliable sourcing and supply chain network and the impact of internal initiatives. As a result, we currently believe that IMU could be nicely favorable in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year.

我們正在努力使我們的庫存狀況在本財政年度結束時與銷售業績保持一致。在第三季度，IMU 與去年的差異略為正。隨著本季度的進展，我們開始看到更低的入境運輸費用、更可靠的採購和供應鍊網絡以及內部舉措的影響所帶來的好處。因此，我們目前認為 IMU 在第四季度與去年同期相比可能會非常有利。

We also believe there is still much more opportunity for further improvement in fiscal '24 and beyond. I will now provide more details by brand, starting with the Anthropologie Group. The Anthropologie team delivered an impressive 13% Retail segment comp in Q3. This increase was driven by double-digit positive store and digital comps. By category, apparel, home and accessories delivered positive comps in the quarter.

我們還認為，24 財年及以後仍有更多機會進一步改善。我現在將按品牌提供更多詳細信息，首先是 Anthropologie Group。 Anthropologie 團隊在第三季度交付了令人印象深刻的 13% 的零售業務。這一增長是由兩位數的積極商店和數字組合推動的。按類別劃分，服裝、家居和配飾在本季度取得了積極的業績。

The brand delivered nicely positive comps in each month during the quarter. When compared to fiscal '20, Q3 comps remained mostly consistent with the first and second quarter results. Fourth quarter comparisons against last year continue to get more difficult, but we believe the brand comp sales versus fiscal '20 could remain consistent. This would produce Retail segment comps in the mid- to high single-digit range for Q4. The Anthropologie consumer remains optimistic and is choosing fashion newness that is versatile across multiple parts of her lifestyle, whether it's going out or returning to the office.

該品牌在本季度的每個月都提供了很好的積極補償。與 20 財年相比，第三季度的業績與第一季度和第二季度的業績基本一致。第四季度與去年的比較繼續變得更加困難，但我們相信品牌銷售與 20 財年相比可能保持一致。這將在第四季度產生中高個位數範圍內的零售部門補償。 Anthropologie 的消費者仍然保持樂觀，並選擇適合她生活方式多個方面的時尚新品，無論是外出還是回到辦公室。

They are responding well to more dressed-up categories like dresses, pants, jackets and shoes with heels. The brand distorted into these trends as they have seen customer interest wane in more casual fashion. Anthropologie intentionally brought holiday receipts in earlier to cater to the customer's desire to dress up and celebrate all occasions in their life.

他們對裙子、褲子、夾克和高跟鞋等更盛裝的類別反應良好。當他們看到客戶對更休閒時尚的興趣減弱時，該品牌就融入了這些趨勢。 Anthropologie 特意提前帶來了節日收據，以滿足客戶盛裝打扮和慶祝生活中所有場合的願望。

This is true for both apparel and home. Home categories that lean into decorating for guests and entertaining are outperforming other items in the home assortment. The team's execution of the brand strategy to target a slightly younger customer, under the age of 40, is gaining traction. Marketing and creative teams worked collaboratively to create and deliver incredibly compelling campaigns that have successfully attracted new, younger customers.

服裝和家居都是如此。傾向於為客人裝飾和娛樂的家居品類表現優於家居品類中的其他產品。該團隊針對 40 歲以下稍年輕的客戶執行的品牌戰略正在獲得關注。營銷和創意團隊通力合作，創建並開展了極具吸引力的營銷活動，成功吸引了年輕的新客戶。

New customers in the quarter increased by an impressive 24%. We remain optimistic about the brand's performance for the holiday season. Now I will call your attention to the Free People Group. Once again, the Free People team produced a strong quarter, with Retail segment comp achieving an 8% gain versus last year. Retail segment comp was driven by double-digit growth in the digital channel, while store comps were flat.

本季度的新客戶增長了 24%，令人印象深刻。我們對該品牌在假日季的表現保持樂觀。現在我將請您注意 Free People Group。 Free People 團隊再一次創造了強勁的季度業績，零售部門的收入比去年增長了 8%。零售部門的收入受到數字渠道兩位數增長的推動，而商店收入持平。

Retail segment comp sales by month were fairly consistent in the quarter. During the quarter, the brand achieved growth across all major categories with particular strength in accessories, apparel and FP Movement. The FP Movement brand delivered another outstanding quarter, delivering 28% Retail segment growth on top of a very strong multiyear comparison. New and existing Free People Movement stores continue to exceed expectations, which bodes well for continued growth of the brand.

本季度零售部門按月計算的銷售額相當穩定。本季度，該品牌在所有主要品類均實現增長，尤其是在配飾、服裝和 FP 運動領域。 FP Movement 品牌又創造了一個出色的季度，在非常強勁的多年比較基礎上實現了 28% 的零售業務增長。新的和現有的 Free People Movement 門店繼續超出預期，這預示著該品牌的持續增長。

Early holiday trends remain positive for the Free People Group, and we believe the brand's Retail segment performance could look similar in Q4 to the third quarter. The Free People Wholesale segment delivered a 4% decrease during the third quarter, driven by weakness in department store accounts, partially offset by strength in specialty account partners. We believe the Wholesale segment sales will decline in the fourth quarter and into next year as our department store partners are planning future orders more conservatively.

Free People Group 的提早假期趨勢仍然積極，我們相信該品牌的零售業務在第四季度的表現可能與第三季度相似。 Free People Wholesale 部門在第三季度下降了 4%，這是由於百貨商店客戶疲軟，部分被專業客戶合作夥伴的實力所抵消。我們認為批發部門的銷售額將在第四季度和明年下降，因為我們的百貨商店合作夥伴正在更加保守地規劃未來的訂單。

Additionally, Free People wholesale inventory levels remain higher than we would like, and we are planning on meaningfully reducing our inventory through closeout channels. The planned increase in closeout sales will significantly weigh on wholesale profit rate in the fourth quarter. Now moving on to the Urban Outfitters brand, which delivered a negative 9% Retail segment comp in Q3. UO's negative comp was a result of disappointing performance in North America due to double-digit negative store and digital comp sales.

此外，Free People 的批發庫存水平仍然高於我們的預期，我們正計劃通過清倉渠道大幅減少庫存。清倉銷售的計劃增加將顯著影響第四季度的批發利潤率。現在轉向 Urban Outfitters 品牌，該品牌在第三季度的零售業務收入為負 9%。 UO 的負收入是由於兩位數的負商店和數字收入銷售額導致北美業績令人失望的結果。

We believe the macro environment in North America is having an outsized impact on the Urban Outfitters customer. This customer's shopping behaviors have changed due to reduced discretionary income. They are shopping less frequently, and when they do visit, they are converting at a lower rate. While we know the macro environment for the Urban customer may remain challenging for some period, we also know we can execute better.

我們認為北美的宏觀環境正在對 Urban Outfitters 客戶產生巨大影響。由於可支配收入減少，該客戶的購物行為發生了變化。他們購物的頻率較低，而且當他們訪問時，他們的轉化率也較低。雖然我們知道城市客戶的宏觀環境在一段時間內可能仍然充滿挑戰，但我們也知道我們可以更好地執行。

We believe our product distortion, presentation, inventory management and marketing all have room for improvement. Lastly, as noted, inventory levels in North America are higher than we would like. As a result, the brand in North America will need to be more promotional to clear through excess inventory in Q4. In contrast, UO Europe continues to perform remarkably well, delivering a 13% Retail segment comp for the quarter. Customer traffic was exceptionally strong in stores, inventory levels are in a better position than Q2 and we believe the brand is gaining market share.

我們相信我們的產品變形、展示、庫存管理和營銷都有改進的空間。最後，如前所述，北美的庫存水平高於我們的預期。因此，該品牌在北美將需要加大促銷力度，以在第四季度清理過剩庫存。相比之下，UO Europe 繼續表現出色，本季度零售部門的收入為 13%。商店的客流量異常強勁，庫存水平比第二季度更好，我們相信該品牌正在獲得市場份額。

Reg price and total sales comps were positive for the quarter in all major categories. We believe UO EU can continue to deliver positive Retail segment comps in the fourth quarter, although we do note that the macro environment is getting more difficult due to record levels of inflation. As we look at Q4 for the Urban Outfitters brand, if North America's performance remains consistent with Q3 and with the increased inflation potentially negatively impacting the EU consumer, the global Urban Outfitters brand could deliver results below Q3's results. I will now turn the call over to Melanie, our Chief Financial Officer.

本季度所有主要類別的註冊價格和總銷售額均為正。我們相信 UO EU 可以在第四季度繼續提供積極的零售業務，儘管我們確實注意到由於創紀錄的通貨膨脹水平，宏觀環境變得更加困難。當我們觀察 Urban Outfitters 品牌的第四季度時，如果北美的表現與第三季度保持一致，並且通脹上升可能對歐盟消費者產生負面影響，則全球 Urban Outfitters 品牌的業績可能會低於第三季度的業績。我現在將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官梅蘭妮。

Thank you, Frank, and good afternoon, everyone. I will discuss our thoughts on the fourth quarter and full fiscal year '23 financial performance. Based on current sales plans, we believe our URBN Retail segment comp sales could register low single-digit positive for the fourth quarter. Our growth in the Retail and Nuuly segments is likely to be partially offset by lower sales in our Wholesale segment. Additionally, similar to the third quarter, we believe foreign exchange could negatively impact total sales growth by approximately 200 basis points.

謝謝你，弗蘭克，大家下午好。我將討論我們對第四季度和整個 23 財年財務業績的看法。根據目前的銷售計劃，我們認為我們的 URBN 零售部門 comp 銷售額在第四季度可能會出現低個位數的正增長。我們在零售和 Nuuly 部門的增長可能會被我們批發部門的銷售額下降部分抵消。此外，與第三季度類似，我們認為外匯可能對總銷售額增長產生約 200 個基點的負面影響。

Together, this would result in total company sales growth in the low single-digit range. Moving on to gross profit margin. Based on our current sales plan, we believe that fourth quarter gross profit margins could decline by approximately 50 basis points compared to the prior year. We believe merchandise margins could be flat in the fourth quarter as the favorability in IMU, due in part to lower supply chain costs versus prior year could be offset by higher markdowns needed to reduce inventory levels, particularly at the Urban Outfitters brand.

總之，這將導致公司總銷售額增長在較低的個位數範圍內。繼續看毛利率。根據我們目前的銷售計劃，我們認為第四季度的毛利率可能比上年下降約 50 個基點。我們認為第四季度的商品利潤率可能持平，因為 IMU 的受歡迎程度，部分原因是供應鏈成本低於上一年，可能會被降低庫存水平所需的更高降價所抵消，尤其是 Urban Outfitters 品牌。

Higher carrier rates primarily resulting from higher fuel and peak surcharges than last year could deleverage delivery expense and contribute to a decline in fourth quarter gross profit margin rates. Moving to SG&A. We believe SG&A growth for the fourth quarter would increase at a similar rate as our sales growth of low single-digit range. Inventory has remained elevated for the past year due to higher inventory costs resulting from increased inbound freight costs, planned earlier receipts to protect sales against a volatile supply chain, and excess slower selling product in certain categories.

與去年相比，更高的燃油和高峰附加費導致更高的承運人費率可能會降低交付費用，並導致第四季度毛利率下降。搬到 SG&A。我們認為第四季度的 SG&A 增長將以與我們低個位數範圍內的銷售增長相似的速度增長。庫存在過去一年中一直處於高位，原因是進貨運費增加導致庫存成本增加，計劃提前收貨以保護銷售免受供應鏈波動的影響，以及某些類別的銷售緩慢的產品過多。

Based on our current sales plans and receipt expectations, we believe that our inventory growth versus prior year will end the quarter in line with sales performance of the fourth quarter. We are currently planning our effective tax rate to be approximately 25% for the fourth quarter and 28% for the full year of fiscal '23. Capital expenditures for the fiscal year are planned at approximately $225 million. The spending is primarily related to providing increased distribution and fulfillment capacity and new store openings.

根據我們目前的銷售計劃和收貨預期，我們認為我們的庫存與上一年相比的增長將在本季度結束時與第四季度的銷售業績保持一致。我們目前計劃第四季度的有效稅率約為 25%，23 財年全年的有效稅率約為 28%。本財年的資本支出計劃約為 2.25 億美元。支出主要與提供增加的分銷和履行能力以及新店開張有關。

Lastly, we are planning to open 10 new stores in the quarter, while closing 11 stores. Our new store number includes 4 new Free People Movement stores this quarter. As a reminder, the foregoing does not constitute a forecast, but is simply a reflection of our current views. The company disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements. Now I am pleased to turn the call back to Dick.

最後，我們計劃在本季度開設 10 家新店，同時關閉 11 家店。我們的新門店數量包括本季度 4 家新的 Free People Movement 門店。提醒一下，上述內容並不構成預測，而只是我們當前觀點的反映。公司不承擔任何更新前瞻性陳述的義務。現在我很高興將電話轉回給迪克。

Thank you, Frank and Melanie. That concludes our prepared remarks. I thank our brand, creative and shared service leaders. I also thank our 23,000 associates worldwide for their hard work, dedication and amazing creativity. I thank our many partners around the world for their extra effort in helping us overcome the numerous supply chain disruptions we faced over the past 2 years. And finally, I thank our shareholders for their continued interest and support. I will now turn the call over for your questions.

謝謝你們，弗蘭克和梅蘭妮。我們準備好的發言到此結束。我感謝我們的品牌、創意和共享服務領導者。我還要感謝我們全球 23,000 名員工的辛勤工作、奉獻精神和驚人的創造力。我感謝我們在世界各地的許多合作夥伴，他們付出了額外的努力，幫助我們克服了過去 2 年中我們面臨的無數供應鏈中斷問題。最後，我感謝我們的股東一直以來的關注和支持。我現在將把電話轉過來回答你的問題。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Kimberly Greenberger with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自 Kimberly Greenberger 與摩根士丹利的對話。

Okay. Great. Dick, I wanted to step back from the third and fourth quarter ups and downs and just take a glimpse into next year. You've had -- I'm just interested to hear how you think about the Anthropologie and Free People divisions, both having had just such an excellent year this year, how do you -- how does the team go about lapping that next year? And on the other side of that coin into 2023 are opportunities, it would seem, at the Urban Outfitters division. If you could maybe talk about your -- just big picture outlook for Urban as we look into next year? And do you see opportunity top line, margin, bottom line? Or what do you think the biggest opportunities are for that brand next year?

好的。偉大的。迪克，我想從第三和第四季度的起伏中退一步，看看明年的情況。你已經 - 我只是想听聽你如何看待 Anthropologie 和 Free People 部門，這兩個部門今年都表現得非常出色，你如何 - 團隊明年如何完成這一目標？到 2023 年，硬幣的另一面似乎是 Urban Outfitters 部門的機會。如果你能談談你對 Urban 的總體展望，我們將展望明年？你看到機會頂線、利潤、底線了嗎？或者您認為明年該品牌最大的機會是什麼？

Sure. Kimberly, thank you very much for the question or should I say questions. FY '24, I think will be a very different year than '23, as we've said a couple of times on our prepared statements. FY '23, sales were largely driven by increases in AUR and AOV. And we're negatively impacted by freight during the whole year, almost all of the year. For FY '24, I think that both the Anthro and Free People brands, we'll have to rely more on getting new customers and increasing the number of transactions we have because I think the AOV and the AUR will be largely static.

當然。金伯利，非常感謝你提出這個問題，或者我應該說問題。正如我們在準備好的聲明中多次說過的那樣，我認為 24 財年將與 23 財年截然不同。 23 財年，銷售額主要受 AUR 和 AOV 增長的推動。我們全年都受到貨運的負面影響，幾乎全年。對於 24 財年，我認為 Anthro 和 Free People 品牌，我們將不得不更多地依賴於獲得新客戶和增加我們的交易數量，因為我認為 AOV 和 AUR 將在很大程度上是靜態的。

I'm not suggesting there won't be any increases, there probably will be. But given the inflation environment and now I think, quickly, in our industry, some deflation around the supply chain, I don't think there's going to be a lot of room to increases dramatically.

我並不是說不會有任何增加，可能會有。但考慮到通貨膨脹環境，現在我認為，很快，在我們的行業中，供應鏈周圍出現了一些通貨緊縮，我認為不會有很大的空間來大幅增加。

So we are going to be spending more money on marketing to get new customers. And we will hopefully convert those customers in greater numbers than we did this year. You're right, the Urban Outfitters brand has significant opportunities. I think that we've made a couple of mistakes. I think that we probably raised our prices a little more than we should have. I think the customer is telling us pretty loud and clear that she doesn't like that. And she's buying more when we offer her promotions.

因此，我們將在營銷上投入更多資金以吸引新客戶。我們希望能比今年更多地轉化這些客戶。你是對的，Urban Outfitters 品牌擁有重要的機會。我認為我們犯了幾個錯誤。我認為我們可能將價格提高了一點點。我認為客戶非常大聲和明確地告訴我們她不喜歡那樣。當我們為她提供促銷活動時，她會購買更多。

Now I think that, that's a mistake on our part, but I also think it's a result of the macro climate with that particular customer group who is a little bit more challenged economically and inflation is really hurting them quite a bit. So I think we will offer prices that are a little bit sharper at Urban Outfitters in FY '24. And I go back the whole notion of what we call a high-low assortments where we have sharp price points with opening price points, but also offer more elevated prices in items that clearly have value.

現在我認為，這是我們的錯誤，但我也認為這是宏觀氣候的結果，特定客戶群在經濟上面臨更多挑戰，通貨膨脹確實對他們造成了很大傷害。因此，我認為我們將在 24 財年為 Urban Outfitters 提供更優惠的價格。我回顧了我們所說的高低分類的整個概念，在這種分類中，我們有明確的價格點和開盤價，但也提供了明顯有價值的物品的更高價格。

So I think that I can go on and on and on probably much longer than anybody on the call would like, but I think that, that gives you an outline.

所以我認為我可以繼續下去，可能比電話中的任何人都希望的要長得多，但我認為，這給了你一個大綱。

Our next question comes from the line of Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine Hutchinson。

I wanted to follow up on the answer to Kimberly's question around the Urban AUR. Can you just quantify where that is versus pre-pandemic levels? And if you have strategies to reduce that without necessarily reducing your gross margin?

我想跟進 Kimberly 關於 Urban AUR 的問題的答案。你能量化一下與大流行前水平相比的水平嗎？如果您有減少毛利率而不必降低毛利率的策略？

Lorraine, I believe -- I don't have the exact number in front of me, but I believe the Urban brand in North America is -- AUR is up about 5%. That's pretty close, as I say, close enough for (inaudible). And I think that it wasn't necessarily -- we didn't raise prices according to a plan, again, to save the opening price points of some of the items we sell, but it was more -- I don't want to say across the board, but it was many more items than we probably should have done. So I think that when we plan for FY '24, I expect that we will plan not up much in any of the categories, but actually bringing some prices down versus what we are doing right now.

Lorraine，我相信——我沒有確切的數字，但我相信北美的 Urban 品牌——AUR 上漲了大約 5%。正如我所說，這非常接近（聽不清）。而且我認為這不一定 - 我們沒有按照計劃再次提高價格，以節省我們銷售的某些商品的開盤價，但更多 - 我不想全面地說，但它比我們可能應該做的要多得多。所以我認為，當我們為 24 財年計劃時，我希望我們不會在任何類別中計劃太多，但實際上會降低一些價格，而不是我們現在正在做的事情。

This is Frank. Just to sort of add to both Kimberly and Lorraine's question as it relates to next year and some of the positives that we have going, honestly, for all 3 brands. One, we've talked about a slight improvement here in IMU in the third quarter and an improving trend, and we believe we can [drive] some positive IMU in the fourth quarter. And that is due in part to significant improvements in the cost as well as speed of the supply chain, and that should continue to be a nice tailwind.

這是弗蘭克。只是為了增加金伯利和洛林的問題，因為它涉及到明年以及我們對所有 3 個品牌的一些積極因素。第一，我們已經談到了第三季度 IMU 的輕微改善和改善趨勢，我們相信我們可以在第四季度 [drive] 一些積極的 IMU。這在一定程度上是由於供應鏈成本和速度的顯著改善，這應該會繼續成為一個不錯的順風。

We're hoping this should continue to be a nice tailwind into next year. Secondarily, I also just want to talk about the markdown rates. As we're adjusting our inventory and getting that to be more in line with sales and believing inventory can probably even lag sales next year, driving a faster turn, lower rates of supply, again, due to improved supply chain. That in and of itself should help our markdown rates. So one part of markdown is obviously the difficulty that (inaudible) have in getting fashion right and the other is just dealing with excess inventory.

我們希望這將繼續成為明年的順風。其次，我也只想談談降價幅度。由於我們正在調整我們的庫存並使其與銷售更加一致，並且相信明年庫存甚至可能落後於銷售，由於供應鏈的改善，再次推動更快的周轉，更低的供應率。這本身應該有助於我們的降價率。因此，減價的一部分顯然是（聽不清）在獲得正確時尚方面的困難，另一部分只是處理過剩庫存。

And knock on wood, we've made significant improvement in our inventory position from the second quarter to the third. We think we're going to make notable improvement from third quarter to fourth entering to that fiscal '24 year with much leaner inventory and hopefully then have less reliance on having to markdown drop to clear through some excess inventory. So both of those things, I think, should be positive, not just for the Urban Outfitters brand, but for all of URBN as we head into next year.

敲木頭，從第二季度到第三季度，我們的庫存狀況有了顯著改善。我們認為我們將從第三季度到第四季度取得顯著改善，進入 24 財年，庫存更加精簡，並希望減少對降價降價以清理一些過剩庫存的依賴。因此，我認為，這兩件事應該是積極的，不僅對 Urban Outfitters 品牌，而且對我們進入明年的所有 URBN。

And Lorraine and Kimberly both, just an update on the AUR. The prior year, the AUR at Urban was actually up almost 20%. So when you see -- think of a compounding effect of 5%, which might not seem like a lot, but when -- 5% on top of the 20%, I think is more than the customer can afford and more than they want.

Lorraine 和 Kimberly 都是 AUR 的更新。前一年，Urban 的 AUR 實際上上漲了近 20%。所以當你看到 - 想想 5% 的複合效應，這可能看起來不是很多，但是當 - 20% 之上的 5% 時，我認為這超出了客戶的承受能力和他們想要的.

Our next question comes from the line of Adrienne Yih with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Adrienne Yih。

My question is on inventory. These all are. I guess when we look forward into -- and it's for Retail and for Wholesale, I'm trying to separate the 2 of them. But for Retail specifically, when we look forward into Q1 ending inventory up about 32%, Q2 up about 44%. How much of that was in transit? And that in transit portion, if it's double digit, your inventory on the balance sheet should go down double digit, but not impact your ability to comp. Is that a fair assessment? And then I just want to follow up on Wholesale.

我的問題是關於庫存的。這些都是。我想當我們期待 - 它是針對零售和批發時，我試圖將它們分開。但具體到零售業，當我們期待第一季度末庫存增長約 32% 時，第二季度將增長約 44%。其中有多少是在運輸途中？而在運輸部分，如果它是兩位數，那麼您資產負債表上的庫存應該下降兩位數，但不會影響您的補償能力。這是一個公平的評估嗎？然後我只想跟進批發。

Yes. Adrienne, I guess, just to take a step back from the pieces of in-transit comp what was here and what wasn't here. I think the crux of your question is could we manage to a negative inventory next year and drive positive sales in both Retail segment and Wholesale, certainly for the first half of the year. I think you are being -- I think our inventory could be negative and still drive positive sales in both channels as we did have some excess inventory in certain categories and classes at each of the brands.

是的。 Adrienne，我想，只是為了從運輸途中的碎片中退後一步，這裡有什麼沒有。我認為你問題的關鍵是我們能否在明年設法實現負庫存並推動零售部門和批發部門的銷售增長，當然是在今年上半年。我認為你是——我認為我們的庫存可能是負的，但仍然會在兩個渠道中推動積極的銷售，因為我們在每個品牌的某些類別和類別中確實有一些過剩庫存。

Adrienne, I just want to be careful here, while I believe what Frank just said is absolutely correct that we could have negative inventory and still have positive comps. We have to be also very concerned and aware of the AUR, the Retail price versus the units as anybody that's been in this business for a while knows, you need a certain number of units in the stores to make the stores look full. So the merchants -- the core merchants are dealing not only in cost and Retail, they're now having to look very closely in units.

Adrienne，我只是想在這裡小心點，雖然我相信 Frank 剛才說的是絕對正確的，我們可以有負庫存，但仍然有正補償。我們還必須非常關注和了解 AUR，即零售價與單位的關係，任何從事該業務一段時間的人都知道，您需要商店中一定數量的單位才能使商店看起來很滿。因此，商家——核心商家不僅要處理成本和零售，他們現在必須非常仔細地查看單位。

Okay. And I guess that was -- my follow-up was, does -- so mall traffic, do you expect mall traffic to be negative, flat and conversion to be higher? I'm just trying to figure out if AUR is effectively flattish, units are flattish or down. So how -- what's the back fill? Is it conversion? Is it traffic has to go up, right?

好的。我想那是——我的後續行動是——所以購物中心的流量，你認為購物中心的流量會是負的、持平的，而轉化率會更高嗎？我只是想弄清楚 AUR 是否實際上是持平的，單位是持平的還是下跌的。那麼如何 - 什麼是回填？是轉換嗎？它的流量必須上升，對嗎？

I think when we look at traffic, we look at it in total. And whatever channel the customer wants to shop us, we're happy to serve the consumer, right? Whether it's digital or stores, we want to drive traffic to our business. And that always has been and always will be our jobs. And I think about the momentum that both Anthropologie and Free People have in their new acquisition, net new customers going right now as we enter into holiday and then into next year, we feel like there's good momentum that they have there to continue to drive increased transactions as we look forward next year as (inaudible) growing our customer bases.

我認為當我們查看流量時，我們會整體查看。無論客戶想通過什麼渠道向我們購物，我們都很樂意為消費者服務，對吧？無論是數字還是商店，我們都希望為我們的業務帶來流量。這一直是，也將永遠是我們的工作。我想到了 Anthropologie 和 Free People 在他們的新收購中的勢頭，隨著我們進入假期然後進入明年，淨新客戶現在正在湧入，我們覺得他們有繼續推動增長的良好勢頭交易，因為我們期待明年（聽不清）擴大我們的客戶群。

Obviously, Urban is facing a different macro environment and a different level of execution right now. But certainly, we believe with cleaner inventory and some of the work that the brand is doing right now, there is opportunity for them next year. So with AUR may not be as big of a tailwind as it was this year, I think the growing customer (inaudible) our job to continue to drive traffic whether it's digital or stores is how we're thinking about driving positive growth next year.

顯然，厄本現在面臨著不同的宏觀環境和不同的執行力。但可以肯定的是，我們相信隨著更清潔的庫存和該品牌目前正在做的一些工作，他們明年會有機會。因此，隨著 AUR 可能不像今年那樣大的順風，我認為不斷增長的客戶（聽不清）我們的工作是繼續推動流量，無論是數字還是商店，這就是我們考慮明年推動正增長的方式。

Yes. And to that point, I think that you can take a look at both the Anthropologie and Free People brands and see the difference. The Anthropologie brand had excellent store traffic and put up nice store comps as a result whereas the Free People had basically flat traffic in the stores and flat store comps. However, they grow 8% comps and all through the digital. So it's a little -- I don't think that we're necessary -- I don't think we necessarily need store traffic in the malls to go up in order to drive nice comps. If it happens and it happens because we're executing better. Wow, that's great. But I don't think it's a necessary function.

是的。就這一點而言，我認為您可以看看 Anthropologie 和 Free People 品牌，看看它們之間的區別。 Anthropologie 品牌擁有出色的店鋪客流量，因此提供了不錯的店鋪排名，而 Free People 的店鋪流量和店鋪排名基本持平。然而，他們通過數字增長了 8% 的收入。所以這有點——我認為我們沒有必要——我認為我們不一定需要增加商場的商店客流量來推動良好的競爭。如果它發生了，它發生是因為我們執行得更好。哇，太好了。但我不認為這是一個必要的功能。

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

So Dick, could you just elaborate on current selling trends that you're seeing in November, your overall view of consumer spending this holiday season? And then, Frank, on the expense front, could you just elaborate on the investments that you cited next year to drive sales? Or how best to think about SG&A dollar growth maybe relative to sales next year?

那麼迪克，你能否詳細說明一下你在 11 月份看到的當前銷售趨勢，以及你對這個假期消費者支出的總體看法？然後，弗蘭克，在費用方面，你能否詳細說明你明年為推動銷售而引用的投資？或者如何最好地考慮與明年銷售額相關的 SG&A 美元增長？

Sure, Matt, pleased to do that. If you look at the quarter-to-date performance by brand, Retail segment comps for Anthropologie are currently high single-digit positive. For Free People, they're mid single-digit positive just on the cusp of high digits. And for Urban Outfitters, low double-digit negative. When you put all these together of the Retail segment comp in November is currently running a strong low single-digit positive comp. This is basically what we believe the quarter will end with.

當然，馬特，很高興這樣做。如果您按品牌查看季度迄今的表現，Anthropologie 的零售細分市場目前處於高個位數正數。對於 Free People，他們是中等個位數的正數，剛好處於高位數字的風口浪尖。而對於 Urban Outfitters，則為低兩位數負值。當你將所有這些放在一起時，11 月份的零售部門 comp 目前正在運行一個強勁的低個位數正 comp。這基本上就是我們認為本季度將結束的結果。

So we did see in the first 10 days or so of November a slightly softer sales. I think a number of people have reported that, and we saw it as well. And we're attributing it to the prior year's strength when we saw an awful lot of customers shopping early because of the media around -- there won't be any Christmas if there's not enough inventory. And so everybody seemed to have purchased their holiday gifts in the first couple of weeks.

因此，我們確實在 11 月的前 10 天左右看到銷售略有疲軟。我想很多人都報告了這一點，我們也看到了。我們將其歸因於前一年的強勁勢頭，當時我們看到大量顧客因為媒體的原因提前購物——如果庫存不足，就不會有聖誕節。因此，每個人似乎都在前幾週購買了節日禮物。

We don't think it will be like that this year. We believe that the consumer is quite aware of the fact that there's plenty of inventory out there. And what they're doing is waiting for big promotional events that normally occur on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to make their purchases. To support that, we see record amounts of product being put in carts, probably waiting for this coming Friday and next Monday.

我們認為今年不會是這樣。我們相信消費者非常清楚市場上有大量庫存這一事實。他們所做的是等待通常在黑色星期五和網絡星期一舉行的大型促銷活動，以便進行購買。為了支持這一點，我們看到有創紀錄數量的產品被放入購物車，可能要等到本週五和下週一。

So we think that overall, the holiday is likely to be more promotional than last year, but it's not going to be -- I don't believe it will be a total blood bath. It will be more based on the type of stores and the customers that the stores are serving.

所以我們認為，總體而言，這個假期可能比去年更具促銷性，但它不會——我不相信這會是一場徹底的血洗。它將更多地基於商店的類型和商店所服務的客戶。

Matt, this is Melanie. Just wanted to take your question about next year's investments. Right now, we're currently in the middle of our budget process for next year. So we're still finalizing plans, and I can't give you a number quite yet. But I will say that we work really hard to manage SG&A growth expense closer to sales next year. So stay tuned in March.

馬特，這是梅蘭妮。只是想回答你關於明年投資的問題。現在，我們正處於明年的預算過程中。所以我們還在敲定計劃，我還不能給你一個數字。但我要說的是，我們非常努力地管理 SG&A 增長費用，使其更接近明年的銷售。所以三月敬請期待。

Our next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

Just a couple of quick follow-ups. The November slowdown that you saw, I was curious if that was even across all 3 brands? And then sorry if I missed it in the discussion of inventory, but did you say how you're managing units in the first half of next year? And then last, just curious if you can give us any sense of mall versus off-mall, suburban versus urban performance this quarter.

只是幾個快速跟進。您看到的 11 月經濟放緩，我想知道這是否適用於所有 3 個品牌？然後很抱歉，如果我在庫存討論中錯過了它，但是你有沒有說明年上半年你是如何管理單位的？最後，如果您能告訴我們本季度購物中心與非購物中心、郊區與城市的表現，我只是好奇。

Sure, Paul. The November slowdown we did observe it with all 3 brands. I would say -- but I want to emphasize it was a slight, slight slowdown and -- detectable, but slight. And we have -- that has since passed and our sales right now are performing very nicely. As far as next year's units, if I was saying, the merchants in our business have to be very aware of and concerned about when there's this kind of increase in retail prices that they don't buy to those retail prices solely, but take a look at the units that are available because the size of our stores, even though we are opening smaller stores across the board than we did 3 or 4 or 5 years ago, we still have to fill those stores.

當然，保羅。 11 月的放緩我們確實觀察到了所有 3 個品牌。我會說——但我想強調的是，這是輕微的、輕微的放緩，而且——可以檢測到，但很輕微。我們已經 - 那已經過去了，我們現在的銷售表現非常好。至於明年的單位，如果我是說，我們行業的商家必須非常了解和關注零售價格何時會出現這種上漲，他們不會僅僅按照這些零售價格購買，而是採取看看可用的單位，因為我們的商店規模，即使我們正在全面開設比 3、4 或 5 年前更小的商店，我們仍然必須填補這些商店。

And customers are very sensitive to how full a store is in terms of number of units. So that's one of the parts of the equation. That is not to say that we can't do more business with fewer units and fewer retail dollars. It's just to say that, that is a factor that we have to take into consideration.

顧客對商店的商品數量非常敏感。所以這是等式的一部分。這並不是說我們不能用更少的單位和更少的零售美元做更多的生意。只是說，這是我們必須考慮的一個因素。

Our next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey with Telsey Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Telsey Group 的 Dana Telsey。

Dick, as you think about the channel performance, the difference between stores and digital, how would you highlight each by brand? And then it seemed like intimates was softer in some of the different brands. Is that the casual cozy in favor of the occasion dressing? Or any way you'd frame it in terms of difference in performance by brand?

迪克，當你考慮渠道績效、商店和數字之間的差異時，你會如何按品牌突出每個？然後，一些不同品牌的內衣似乎更柔軟。那是有利於場合著裝的休閒舒適嗎？或者你會根據品牌的性能差異來構建它？

Sure, Dana. I'll do my best, but I'm going to rely on the brand groups to kick me under the table if I say something that isn't correct. As far as channel differences are concerned, in the Anthropologie brand, they were very similar, actually. And the comps were double-digit in both channels. So that was good. And I'd say that when you look at it by category, what they classify as intimates or loungewear was a little softer than their apparel, but that was largely because they deemphasized that in this year because they're going out "apparel" was doing so incredibly well.

當然，達娜。我會盡力而為，但如果我說錯的話，我將依靠品牌團體將我踢到桌子底下。就渠道差異而言，在 Anthropologie 品牌中，它們實際上非常相似。兩個頻道的收入都是兩位數。所以那很好。我想說的是，當你按類別看時，他們歸類為貼身內衣或家居服的東西比他們的服裝要柔軟一些，但這主要是因為他們在今年不再強調這一點，因為他們出去的“服裝”是做得非常好。

So they did that on purpose. If I look at the Free People business, the -- as I said, I think earlier, the digital business outperformed the store business. And there, I don't -- I think intimates did very well.

所以他們是故意的。如果我看一下 Free People 業務，正如我之前所說，我認為數字業務的表現優於商店業務。在那裡，我不——我認為親密關係做得很好。

It's improved. Our intimate business has consistently improved every quarter coming off of how to react to the customer from a lounge perspective into a more fashion perspective and intimate.

它得到了改善。我們的親密業務每個季度都在不斷改進，從如何從休息室的角度對客戶做出反應，轉變為更時尚和親密的角度。

Okay. Well, that's what I would consider very well. So thank you. And actually, in the Urban Outfitters brand, both channels performed similar in that they were both down. But in that particular case, intimates was their best category. So I don't know what you're going to draw from all that. But I don't think there's a consistent theme there.

好的。好吧，這就是我會考慮的很好。所以謝謝。實際上，在 Urban Outfitters 品牌中，這兩個渠道的表現相似，因為它們都在下滑。但在那種特殊情況下，親密是他們最好的類別。所以我不知道你會從中得出什麼結論。但我認為那裡沒有一致的主題。

Our next question comes from the line of Janet Kloppenburg with JKR.

我們的下一個問題來自 Janet Kloppenburg 與 JKR 的對話。

Congratulations on the continued nice results. I just had a couple of questions on Urban Outfitters, Dick. It seems like you've got the inventory plan in place and the pricing strategy evolving. What I was wondering about is how you feel about a turn in the business from a merchandising execution standpoint, when will the assortments be positioned the way the team thinks that they should be? And when might we see an inflection there? And how you're thinking about an inflection there?

祝賀您取得了持續的好成績。迪克，我剛剛有幾個關於 Urban Outfitters 的問題。看起來您已經制定了庫存計劃並且定價策略也在不斷發展。我想知道的是，從營銷執行的角度來看，您對業務轉變有何看法，什麼時候才能按照團隊認為應該的方式來定位分類？我們什麼時候可以在那裡看到拐點？您如何看待那裡的拐點？

And then we've seen some softness in the upper-end furniture business. And I know Anthropologies have been tracking pretty nicely at least through the third quarter. Maybe you could talk about your outlook there, that would help a lot.

然後我們看到高端家具業務有些疲軟。而且我知道人類學至少在第三季度一直很好地跟踪。也許你可以在那裡談談你的看法，那會有很大幫助。

Sure, Janet. Again, I'll make a shot briefly and then ask Tricia to talk about it because she's much closer than I. In general, the furniture business that Anthropologie is doing quite well. Now they are a little bit more promotional than they were last year. But I will say little. Other than that, the sales are quite strong with Urban Outfitters. When you look at the merchandising, I assume you're talking about both in-store and online. Online, we're interested in redoing our website and renovating that.

當然，珍妮特。同樣，我會簡單地拍一下，然後請 Tricia 談談這件事，因為她比我更接近。總的來說，Anthropologie 的家具業務做得很好。現在他們的促銷活動比去年多了一點。但我會說很少。除此之外，Urban Outfitters 的銷售額相當強勁。當您查看商品陳列時，我假設您在談論店內和網上。在網上，我們有興趣重做我們的網站並翻新它。

And that would, I think, give a whole new look to what we're doing. And I hope that we would get to that by midyear or a little bit after that. As far as the store is concerned, we have plenty of things that we're planning to do in the store to draw more attention to what we think are the alpha items, the better items. And that's done with imagery and also done with just taking out some of the styles, so there's fewer styles available. And the ones that are available have more depth behind us. And so I think you will see changes, and that should start early in the season.

我認為，這將使我們正在做的事情煥然一新。我希望我們能在年中或之後一點點實現這一目標。就商店而言，我們計劃在商店中做很多事情，以吸引更多人關注我們認為是 alpha 商品，即更好的商品。這是通過圖像完成的，也是通過刪除一些樣式來完成的，所以可用的樣式更少。而可用的那些在我們身後有更多的深度。所以我認為你會看到變化，而且應該在賽季初開始。

And Janet, I would add on the Anthropologie home business. I think nice double-digit demand in Q2 and the nice high single-digit demand and great price demand as well as some promotionality as we head into Black Friday. But we're also getting the benefit, I think, of shorter transit times. And we're able to ship and lessen our backorders pretty significantly. So demand trend remains consistent. And our net is doing quite well as we now are shipping out and shortening our back order time line.

還有珍妮特，我想補充一下人類學家庭業務。我認為第二季度的兩位數需求很好，單位數需求很高，價格需求很大，在我們進入黑色星期五時還有一些促銷活動。但我認為，我們也從更短的運輸時間中獲益。而且我們能夠顯著發貨和減少我們的延期交貨。因此需求趨勢保持一致。我們的網絡做得很好，因為我們現在正在發貨並縮短我們的延期交貨時間。

I think I can also add to the Urban Outfitters group. The speed to market is going to be a key to Urban's continued success to react to the customers trend, evolution of the trend of what they want, the customers in Urban is very fast and being able to keep up with them going into the spring season, I think will be a big change that we need to see.

我想我也可以加入 Urban Outfitters 小組。上市速度將成為 Urban 持續成功響應客戶趨勢、他們想要的趨勢演變的關鍵，Urban 的客戶非常快，並且能夠在進入春季時跟上他們的步伐，我認為這將是我們需要看到的一個重大變化。

Our next question comes from the line of Jay Sole with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Jay Sole。

Dick, would it be possible to elaborate on what you're seeing in the denim category right now?

Dick，能否詳細說明一下您現在在牛仔布類別中看到的內容？

Sure. I can elaborate on it. For most of the year, denim has been downtrending some from the prior years. And we think that will continue into the fourth quarter. However, I think we're all pretty excited about where denim might go next year. And so I hope that we will have a comp -- a positive comp in the denim category next year with -- that's in Urban Outfitters. In Anthropologie, they've seen amazing numbers in their denim by going into, I guess, what you'd call a little bit dressier denim. And their denim business is extremely strong. And Free People denim business have done nothing but go up for the last 4 years, 5 years. So we're very pleased with that.

當然。我可以詳細說明。在今年的大部分時間裡，牛仔布的趨勢都比往年有所下降。我們認為這將持續到第四季度。然而，我認為我們都對牛仔布明年的發展方向感到非常興奮。因此，我希望我們將在 Urban Outfitters 中有一個競爭——明年在牛仔布類別中的積極競爭。在 Anthropologie 中，他們通過進入，我猜，你會稱之為更講究的牛仔布，在他們的牛仔布中看到了驚人的數字。他們的牛仔佈業務非常強勁。 Free People 牛仔佈業務在過去 4 年、5 年裡除了增長外什麼也沒做。所以我們對此非常滿意。

Our final question comes from the line of Marni Shapiro, The Retail Tracker.

我們的最後一個問題來自 The Retail Tracker 的 Marni Shapiro。

But I wanted to dig a little bit more into Urban. I feel like everyone is picking on them, but I want to understand the customer is obviously under pressure. She's coming in less frequently to the store and the site. You're watching her buy on promotions. But I'm curious, is she buying the fashion there? Entering Q1 and Q2, there was not much of what I would deem, I guess, the right fashion, the fashion I see her going for.

但我想更深入地了解 Urban。我覺得每個人都在挑剔他們，但我想了解客戶顯然承受著壓力。她來商店和網站的頻率降低了。您正在觀看她的促銷活動。但我很好奇，她在那裡買時裝嗎？進入第一季度和第二季度，我認為並沒有太多我認為正確的時尚，我認為她追求的時尚。

And ending Q3, there's more than there was a quarter ago or 2 quarters ago. And even walking there this week, it looked the front of store looked very different. Obviously, still inventory to clear, but it felt very different. I guess I'm asking in a way, how do you know that it's the economy pressuring the customer and not the assortment pressuring the customer, is she buying this fashion on full price or is you even holding back there?

在第三季度結束時，比一個季度前或兩個季度前還要多。即使本週走到那裡，店面看起來也大不相同。很明顯，還有庫存要清理，但感覺很不一樣。我想我在某種程度上是在問，你怎麼知道是經濟給顧客帶來壓力，而不是商品分類給顧客帶來壓力，她是在全價購買這種時裝，還是你在猶豫呢？

I will take a shot at it and pass it over to Sheila to probably get the perfect answer. What we see with the Urban customer is we believe that it's a tough macro environment for them, and they certainly have less disposable income, discretionary income to spend, certainly less than the prior year when the government gave them a lot of money. So that's one thing. But we see them pulling back more than you would expect. If that were the only thing going on. So I'm led to believe that it's partially our assortment and how we are presenting that assortment.

我會嘗試一下，然後將其傳遞給 Sheila，可能會得到完美的答案。我們從城市客戶身上看到的是，我們認為這對他們來說是一個艱難的宏觀環境，他們的可支配收入和可支配收入肯定更少，肯定比政府給他們很多錢的前一年少。所以這是一回事。但我們看到他們的退縮比你想像的要多。如果那是唯一發生的事情。所以我相信這部分是我們的分類以及我們如何展示該分類。

We do see the customer responding to fashion items. And they seem to be responding very strongly to those fashion items. I would say the problem we're having is there are not enough of them. Now that could be our problem or that can just be a macro problem of she doesn't need that many. So I -- this is a question that we ask ourselves on a daily -- at least a weekly basis, if not daily. Is it the price architecture? Is it the assortment? Or is it a macro issue?

我們確實看到客戶對時尚商品做出反應。他們似乎對那些時尚單品反應非常強烈。我會說我們遇到的問題是它們不夠多。現在這可能是我們的問題，也可能只是她不需要那麼多的宏觀問題。所以我——這是我們每天問自己的一個問題——至少每週一次，如果不是每天的話。是價格架構嗎？是品種嗎？還是宏觀問題？

And I guess, every time we talk about it, where we come down is it's probably a combination of the 3, and it would be very difficult for me to even hazard a guess at which of those 3 is most important. Sheila, do you have anything you want to add to it?

我想，每次我們談論它時，我們得出的結論可能是這 3 個的組合，我什至很難猜測這 3 個中哪一個最重要。希拉，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

No. I would say, obviously, we take the merchants to take the assortment as the most controllable aspect of our business. And we take that 100% of it on as an assortment issue even though we believe it's not 100%. So there's definitely more that we can do. She's reacting to fashion in embellishment and sparkle in a very nice way. We wish we owned more. There's definitely key highlights within our bottoms assortment that feel very strong.

不，我會說，很明顯，我們讓商家把分類作為我們業務中最可控的方面。我們將 100% 視為分類問題，儘管我們認為它不是 100%。所以我們肯定還有更多可以做的。她以一種非常好的方式對時尚的裝飾和閃光做出反應。我們希望我們擁有更多。在我們的下裝系列中，絕對有一些關鍵亮點讓人感覺非常結實。

So we just have to -- as we go in and I spoke to speeding opportunity because I think as the Urban changes trend more quickly than not, we have the ability to react that much stronger. We are setting some warm stores with some fresh ideas in December. So hopefully, we'll have an indication of some sense of forward change that will help the merchants do a stronger job coming Q1 next year.

所以我們必須——當我們進入時，我談到了加速機會，因為我認為隨著城市變化趨勢的加快，我們有能力做出更強大的反應。我們在12月設置了一些有溫度的店面，裡面有一些新鮮的點子。因此，希望我們能有一些前瞻性變化的跡象，這將有助於商家在明年第一季度做得更好。

Okay. I think that, that concludes the call. I wish you all a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving. Look forward to speaking with you in a few months. And that includes Kimberly Greenberger that other folks got wrong. So thank you very much, and have a nice day.

好的。我認為，電話會議到此結束。祝大家感恩節快樂。期待幾個月後與您交談。這包括其他人弄錯的 Kimberly Greenberger。非常感謝你，祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。