Vera Bradley Inc (VRA) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Vera Bradley first-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加 Vera Bradley 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I'll now turn the conference over to Mark Dely, Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Dely, you may begin.

現在，我將把會議交給首席行政官馬克·戴利 (Mark Dely)。戴利先生，您可以開始了。

Good morning and welcome everyone. We'd like to thank you for joining us for today's call. Some of the statements made during our prepared remarks in response to your questions may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expect. Please refer to today's press release in the company's most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC for discussion of known risks and uncertainties. Investors should not assume that the statements made during the call will remain operative at a later time. We undertake no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call.

早上好，歡迎大家。我們感謝您參加今天的電話會議。我們為回答您的問題而準備的發言中所做的一些陳述可能構成根據經修訂的 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款並在其含義範圍內做出的前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期有重大差異。請參閱本公司向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K 表格中今天發布的新聞稿，以了解已知風險和不確定性的討論。投資者不應假設電話會議期間所做的聲明將在以後繼續有效。我們沒有義務更新今天電話會議中討論的任何資訊。

I will now turn the call over to Vera Bradley, CEO, Jackie Ardrey. Jackie?

我現在將把電話轉給傑基·阿德雷 (Jackie Ardrey) 首席執行官維拉·布拉德利 (Vera Bradley)。傑基？

Thank you, Mark. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. We have a lot to discuss today about the upcoming rollout of project restoration, but let me begin by making a few comments on the first quarter. Overall, our first quarter performance reflected the continuation of a number of trends from last year. Many of these were driven by the same economic challenges that several other specialty retailers have noted in their earnings releases. We are also in a transitionary phase with the upcoming July public facing rollout of Project Restoration, which includes the introduction of new Vera Bradley product assortments late in the second quarter.

謝謝你，馬克。大家早安，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天我們有很多關於即將推出的專案恢復的討論，但首先讓我對第一季發表一些評論。總體而言，我們第一季的業績反映了去年許多趨勢的延續。其中許多是由其他幾家專業零售商在其財報中指出的相同經濟挑戰所推動的。我們還處於過渡階段，即將於 7 月推出面向公眾的恢復項目，其中包括在第二季末推出新的 Vera Bradley 產品系列。

Not surprisingly, our first quarter performance was a bit choppy. I'd like to note that we expected much of this turbulence and that our guidance for this year, which Michael will discuss later in the call, is unchanged. I'm especially proud of the entire Vera Bradley organization for running the ongoing business while simultaneously taking on the extraordinary amount of effort necessary to enter the launch phase of Project Restoration. While we have been working on this for well over a year, many pieces are now going into motion as we make this long anticipated transition. We are very excited.

毫不奇怪，我們第一季的表現有點不穩定。我想指出的是，我們對這種動盪有很大的預期，而且我們對今年的指導（邁克爾稍後將在電話會議中討論）沒有改變。我對整個 Vera Bradley 組織感到特別自豪，他們在經營正在進行的業務的同時，也為進入專案復原的啟動階段付出了巨大的努力。雖然我們已經為此工作了一年多，但隨著我們實現這一期待已久的過渡，許多工作現在正在啟動。我們非常興奮。

In our first quarter, Vera Bradley direct revenues fell 4%, primarily related to continued traffic challenges in our outlet channel. We are seeing the impact of reduced visits and spending across all household incomes and channels, but especially in the under $75,000 households where we have high penetration on our outlets. Full line store and e-commerce revenues were down modestly, boosted by the shift of our annual outlet sale in Fort Wayne to the first quarter this year from the second quarter last year, as well as our recently launched online outlet store, which has been successful driving revenue and new customer acquisition. Customers responded to several of our latest product collaborations and to our newer but limited quantity product offerings like leather and beaded bags. Overall, however, consumers continue to be more discriminating with their discretionary spending in light of the macroeconomic environment.

第一季度，Vera Bradley 的直接收入下降了 4%，主要與我們的直銷通路持續面臨的流量挑戰有關。我們看到了所有家庭收入和管道的訪問量和支出減少所帶來的影響，尤其是在我們的網點滲透率很高的 75,000 美元以下的家庭中。全線商店和電子商務收入小幅下降，這得益於我們韋恩堡的年度直銷店銷售從去年第二季度轉移到今年第一季度，以及我們最近推出的在線直銷店，該商店已成功推動收入和新客戶獲取。客戶對我們的一些最新產品合作以及我們更新但數量有限的產品（例如皮革和串珠包）做出了回應。然而，總體而言，鑑於宏觀經濟環境，消費者在可自由支配支出方面繼續更加挑剔。

On the Vera Bradley Indirect side, revenues fell 25% as our wholesale partners were cautious with inventory buys as they awaited our new launch products in the second quarter and as a large off-price order shifted into the second quarter this year from the first quarter last year. Pura Vida year over year first quarter sales declined 37%, an expected continuation of prior quarter trends primarily related to decreases in e-commerce and wholesale revenues. As anticipated, focus on marketing efficiency and a reduced marketing spend amidst a substantially higher cost environment decreased e-commerce performance. As a result, Pura Vida continues to focus on diversifying our marketing allocations to other channels. Wholesale revenues were also down against a strong performance last year and as our partners were more discriminating in their purchases. The Pura Vida team also continues to diligently manage expenses.

在Vera Bradley Indirect 方面，收入下降了25%，因為我們的批發合作夥伴對庫存購買持謹慎態度，因為他們等待我們在第二季度推出的新產品，並且大量折扣訂單從第一季度轉移到了今年第第二季去年。 Pura Vida 第一季銷售額年減 37%，預計將延續上一季的趨勢，這主要與電子商務和批發收入的下降有關。正如預期的那樣，在成本大幅上漲的環境中，對行銷效率的關注和行銷支出的減少降低了電子商務績效。因此，Pura Vida 繼續專注於將行銷分配多元化到其他管道。與去年的強勁表現相比，批發收入也有所下降，因為我們的合作夥伴在採購時更加挑剔。 Pura Vida 團隊也持續努力管理開支。

We continue to improve our already strong balance sheet, increasing our year-over-year cash position while continuing to strategically reduce our inventory levels. We believe in the value of a strong balance sheet as we support our Project Restoration initiatives while navigating an uncertain economic and retail environment.

我們繼續改善本已強勁的資產負債表，增加我們的現金狀況，同時繼續策略性地降低庫存水準。我們相信強大的資產負債表的價值，因為我們支持我們的專案恢復計劃，同時應對不確定的經濟和零售環境。

Now let me turn to Project Restoration. As a reminder, Project Restoration is our strategic plan to drive long-term profitable growth by addressing the consumer, brand, product, and channel components of both of our brands built upon a foundation of strong business discipline, a highly engaged team, a strong balance sheet, and a robust technology platform. Through project restoration, we are driving substantial change in nearly every aspect of the business, and we believe execution will deliver long-term value to our shareholders. Most of our work is focused on our largest brand, Vera Bradley. After more than a year of foundational work on Project Restoration we're very excited about the customer facing changes that we will unveil in mid-July particularly related to our elevated Vera Bradley brand marketing, product, store design, and website. As a result, we expect first half results to continue to be challenging as we prepare for our July launch. We expect Project Restoration to bear the fruits in the second half. Through these turnaround efforts, we're pivoting the organization towards a bright future.

現在讓我談談恢復項目。需要提醒的是，「專案恢復」是我們的策略計劃，旨在透過解決我們兩個品牌的消費者、品牌、產品和通路組成部分的問題，推動長期獲利成長，而這些組成部分建立在強大的業務紀律、高度敬業的團隊、強大的資產負債表和強大的技術平台。透過專案恢復，我們正在推動業務幾乎各個方面的重大變革，我們相信執行將為我們的股東帶來長期價值。我們的大部分工作都集中在我們最大的品牌 Vera Bradley。經過一年多的恢復專案基礎工作，我們對客戶面臨的變化感到非常興奮，我們將在7 月中旬公佈這些變化，特別是與我們提升的Vera Bradley 品牌行銷、產品、商店設計和網站相關的變化。因此，在我們為 7 月的發布做準備時，我們預計上半年業績將繼續面臨挑戰。我們預計恢復工程將在下半年取得成果。透過這些扭虧為盈的努力，我們正在使組織走向光明的未來。

At Vera Bradley, we're reintroducing our iconic brand to the market in mid-July. We are carefully coordinating the launch of new and elevated products, updated branding and marketing, renovated stores and modernized in-store displays and our improved web experience. We are seeing several green shoots in the business, like positive response to our new products by the wholesale channel and other partners and our customers' reaction to limited quantity product introductions like leather and beaded bags, which are byproducts of our new design work. For the consumer, we are focusing on restoring brand relevancy, targeting casual and feminine 35 to 54-year-old women who value both fashion and function. Our focus on this age group led us in search of data to understand where and how she shops, and our work on this initiative was informed by consumer research and current perceptions of the brand from both buyers and non-buyers. We are using this data to target new customers and embark on new partnerships, licensing deals, and collaborations to extend our reach. We believe we have the ability to attract new customers while keeping our current fans through product innovations and new marketing campaigns designed to inspire joy and connection.

在 Vera Bradley，我們將於七月中旬將我們的標誌性品牌重新推向市場。我們正在仔細協調新產品和升級產品的推出、更新的品牌和行銷、翻新商店和現代化的店內展示以及改進的網路體驗。我們看到了業務中的一些萌芽，例如批發管道和其他合作夥伴對我們的新產品的積極反應，以及我們的客戶對限量產品推出的反應，例如皮革和串珠袋，這些產品是我們新設計工作的副產品。對於消費者來說，我們專注於恢復品牌相關性，瞄準注重時尚與功能的 35 至 54 歲休閒女性。我們對這個年齡層的關注促使我們尋找數據來了解她在哪裡以及如何購物，而我們在這項計劃上的工作是根據消費者研究以及買家和非買家對品牌的當前看法提供的。我們正在利用這些數據來瞄準新客戶，並開展新的合作夥伴關係、授權交易和合作，以擴大我們的影響力。我們相信，我們有能力吸引新客戶，同時透過旨在激發歡樂和聯繫的產品創新和新行銷活動留住現有粉絲。

We've created a multi-year customer-filed growth plan with a focus on this core consumer target along with an appropriate level of marketing investment to acquire new customers as we launch new products in our refreshed brand vision in July. For the brand, we are strategically marketing our distinctive and unique position as a feminine fashionable brand that connects with consumers on a deep emotional level. Vera Bradley is a strong brand with strong recognition and we're going to make it even stronger by investing into more strategic marketing initiatives. What I want to emphasize is that we're not changing what's unique and distinctive about the brand that has been beloved by millions of customers for over 40 years. But we're just taking this competitive advantage and creating a new brand expression, making it more modern and appealing. We are taking a very sophisticated approach, fully supported by the customer data platform we invested in a few years ago. Specifically, we are refocusing our marketing efforts and shifting more marketing dollars to increase reach in a more precise way through a comprehensive plan with the right media mix. Our initiatives will include more creative campaigns, enhanced digital reach, increased public relations, and innovative store efforts to drive interest and gain new customers. We are continuing to shift our focus from channel-specific customer acquisition to a multi-channel perspective for increased media effectiveness. We're very excited about our partnership with a celebrity partner and other influencers that we will announce beginning in July. And our strategy for promotional activity will shift from discounting being the primary story we have to tell to one of a well-orchestrated plan of brand amplification, category-level storytelling featuring key items, targeted customer-level acquisition offers, strategic incentives carefully architected as demand generators, and inventory management initiatives built to move through slow-moving SKUs.

我們制定了一項多年的客戶成長計劃，重點關注這一核心消費者目標，並在 7 月根據更新的品牌願景推出新產品時，進行適當水平的營銷投資以獲取新客戶。對於該品牌，我們正在策略性地行銷我們作為女性時尚品牌的獨特地位，在深刻的情感層面上與消費者建立聯繫。 Vera Bradley 是一個擁有很高知名度的強大品牌，我們將透過投資更具策略性的行銷計劃來使其變得更加強大。我想強調的是，我們不會改變這個 40 多年來深受數百萬客戶喜愛的品牌的獨特之處。但我們只是利用這個競爭優勢，創造一種新的品牌表達方式，使其更現代化、更具吸引力。我們正在採取一種非常複雜的方法，並得到我們幾年前投資的客戶數據平台的充分支援。具體來說，我們正在重新調整行銷工作的重點，並轉移更多的行銷資金，透過採用正確的媒體組合的全面計劃，以更精確的方式擴大覆蓋範圍。我們的舉措將包括更多創意活動、增強數位影響力、加強公共關係以及創新商店努力，以激發興趣並贏得新客戶。我們正在繼續將重點從特定管道的客戶獲取轉向多管道視角，以提高媒體效率。我們對與名人合作夥伴和其他影響者的合作感到非常興奮，我們將於 7 月開始宣布這項合作關係。我們的促銷活動策略將從折扣作為我們必須講述的主要故事轉變為精心策劃的品牌放大計劃、以關鍵商品為特色的品類級故事講述、有針對性的客戶級收購優惠、精心設計的戰略激勵措施之一需求產生器和庫存管理計劃旨在應對滯銷的 SKU。

For the product, we've elegantly redesigned our product assortment for a more modern customer and her needs while retaining the elements that have classically defined Vera Bradley like our distinctive colors and quilting. We are elevating our colorful feminine heritage, keeping it distinctive, but more trend right and modern through updated prints, colors, styles, and designs. And we will continue to enter into strategic, adjacent lifestyle item introductions that make sense for our customers. Product changes have been drawn carefully after extensive customer data analysis. Updated assortments will feature a sharper category focus. By innovating and expanding within our core products, we are refocusing on items that we are best at, such as bags, including hands-free cross bodies and belt bags, backpacks, travel, and the smaller items that fit inside bags like wallets and pouches that allow her to customize her look and personalize her organization.

對於產品，我們優雅地重新設計了我們的產品組合，以滿足更現代的客戶及其需求，同時保留了 Vera Bradley 的經典元素，例如我們獨特的顏色和絎縫。我們正在提升我們豐富多彩的女性傳統，保持其獨特性，但透過更新的印花、顏色、風格和設計更符合潮流和現代。我們將繼續推出對我們的客戶有意義的策略性、鄰近的生活方式產品。經過廣泛的客戶數據分析後，我們仔細制定了產品變更方案。更新後的產品系列將更突顯品類重點。透過在核心產品方面進行創新和擴展，我們正在重新專注於我們最擅長的產品，例如包袋（包括免提斜背包和腰包）、背包、旅行包以及可放入包內的較小物品（例如錢包和小袋）這使她能夠定制自己的外觀並個性化她的組織。

We will be offering something distinctive and new in the full line accessory space under a clear product architecture of good, better, best. We're committed to increase use of preferred fibers, performance materials, and higher quality softer fabrics and to maintaining our current retail price structure. Our products will feature more modern, relevant silhouettes and designs with a focus on artistry. And we are expanding our solid penetration, which is complementary to our updated prints and patterns. Solids have been outperforming and are expected to generate approximately half of our future sales volume. Leather sales and customer reviews have been strong since our reintroduction of leather last fall, And we're building on the success by expanding our offering of bags, wallets, wristlets, and other accessories. The collection will feature a broadened color palette, which dovetails into our strategy of offering more solids. Leather will have dedicated fixture space in our full line stores. The reception from our wholesale partners who have seen our new products at the Dallas, Atlanta, and New York markets has been positive. We will offer a clearer differentiation between our full line and outlet channels in both product and experience. Our outlet stores and outlet website will get new made for outlet styles, prints and collaborations and we will introduce a collection of faux leather for the outlets this fall.

我們將在良好、更好、最好的清晰產品架構下，在全系列配件領域提供獨特、新穎的產品。我們致力於增加優選纖維、高性能材料和更高品質的柔軟面料的使用，並維持我們當前的零售價格結構。我們的產品將採用更現代、更相關的輪廓和設計，並專注於藝術性。我們正在擴大我們的穩固滲透，這與我們更新的印花和圖案是互補的。固體產品表現出色，預計將占我們未來銷售量的約一半。自從我們去年秋天重新推出皮革以來，皮革銷售和客戶評價一直很強勁，我們正在透過擴大包款、皮夾、腕帶和其他配件的產品範圍來擴大我們的成功。該系列將採用更廣泛的調色板，這與我們提供更多固體產品的策略相吻合。皮革將在我們的全線商店中設有專門的固定空間。我們的批發合作夥伴在達拉斯、亞特蘭大和紐約市場看到我們的新產品後，反應非常積極。我們將在產品和體驗方面在全線通路和直銷通路之間提供更清晰的差異化。我們的直銷店和直銷網站將針對直銷款式、印花和合作進行全新設計，我們也將在今年秋季為直銷店推出一系列人造皮革。

Product collaborations will always be an important part of our brand expression. We continue to see strong response from partnerships with Disney, Hello Kitty, and Peanuts, and those will continue in all channels. We will work with our partners to ensure the products reflect our updated brand aesthetic and product elevation, including the good, better, best product strategies within the collection. For the channel, we are building a balanced multi-channel structure that allows customers to shop when, where, and how they want to shop. We will accelerate our digital-first focus and online reach while maintaining brand-right wholesale relationships and exploring partnerships that will help us acquire new customers. We will implement changes that will more clearly differentiate our full line and outlet assortments and experience. We're focused on optimizing our real estate. Traffic is declining in some locations, but we've made significant inroads on improving store profitability through more streamlined management structure, adjusting our labor models and rent negotiations, which has allowed us to reduce the number of planned store closings and be more opportunistic on new store openings.

產品合作始終是我們品牌表達的重要組成部分。我們繼續看到與迪士尼、Hello Kitty 和 Peanuts 的合作夥伴關係的強烈反響，而這些合作夥伴關係將在所有管道中繼續下去。我們將與合作夥伴合作，確保產品反映我們最新的品牌美學和產品提升，包括該系列中良好、更好、最好的產品策略。對於通路，我們正在建立一個平衡的多通路結構，讓客戶可以在他們想要的時間、地點、方式進行購物。我們將加快數位優先的重點和線上覆蓋範圍，同時維持品牌權批發關係並探索合作夥伴關係，以幫助我們獲得新客戶。我們將實施變革，以更清晰地區分我們的全線和專賣店品種和體驗。我們專注於優化我們的房地產。一些地區的客流量正在下降，但我們透過更精簡的管理結構、調整勞動力模式和租金談判，在提高商店盈利能力方面取得了重大進展，這使我們能夠減少計劃關閉的商店數量，並在新開店時更加投機。

We see an opportunity to expand our full line store footprint over time, beginning with the addition of three new stores this year. We are also exploring new full line formats with a focus on lifestyle centers. We will update our entire existing full-line store fleet with new branding and improved shopping experience. The stores will be more modern, less cluttered, and easy to shop with new fixturing and lighting allowing the product to shine. Our current year capital budget of $12 million to $14 million is triple last year's spending, and much of this is attributable to our new stores, as well as these remodels. Updates to our full line stores with elevated products, new branding, and an improved shopping experience will also help further differentiate these stores from our outlet stores.

隨著時間的推移，我們看到了擴大全線商店足跡的機會，從今年增加三家新商店開始。我們也正在探索新的全線業態，並專注於生活風格中心。我們將透過新的品牌和改進的購物體驗來更新我們現有的整個全線商店。商店將更加現代化，更加整潔，並且易於購物，新的固定裝置和照明使產品閃閃發光。我們今年的資本預算為 1,200 萬至 1,400 萬美元，是去年支出的三倍，其中大部分歸功於我們的新店以及這些改造。我們對全線商店進行更新，提供升級的產品、新的品牌和改進的購物體驗，也將有助於進一步將這些商店與我們的直銷店區分開來。

On the outlet front, the mass majority -- the vast majority of stores are very profitable. We are focused on ensuring our stores are in high traffic, productive locations, and strategically repositioning those stores that are not. We expect to add approximately six new outlet locations this year, offset by the exit of four to six underperforming stores over the next 12 to 18 months. Delivering growth in our e-commerce channels is a key priority. We will accelerate our digital-first focus, elevate our online presence, and meaningfully enhance the shopping experience through the July relaunch of verabradley.com. We will offer more customer-focused features, storytelling, and personalized experiences. Our online outlet continues to outperform and we will launch new products throughout the year. Maintaining brand-right wholesale relationships are important and we are actively targeting new specialty retailers where we know our customer is shopping. As I noted, existing wholesale partners have already demonstrated their excitement about our new products.

在奧特萊斯方面，大多數——絕大多數商店都是非常有利可圖的。我們專注於確保我們的商店位於人流量大、生產效率高的地點，並策略性地重新定位那些人流量不大、生產力低的商店。我們預計今年將新增約 6 家新直營店，並在未來 12 至 18 個月內退出 4 至 6 家表現不佳的商店。實現電子商務通路的成長是我們的首要任務。我們將加速我們的數位優先重點，提升我們的線上影響力，並透過 7 月重新推出 veraradley.com 來顯著增強購物體驗。我們將提供更多以客戶為中心的功能、說故事和個人化體驗。我們的線上商店持續表現出色，我們將在全年推出新產品。維持品牌權批發關係非常重要，我們正在積極瞄準新的專業零售商，我們知道我們的客戶正在購物。正如我所指出的，現有的批發合作夥伴已經對我們的新產品展現了他們的興奮。

At Pura Vida, we are shifting our long-term focus to delivering profitability through cost control and gross margin expansion while balancing the e-commerce business with wholesale partnerships and retail stores. For the consumer, we are sharpening our focus on the 18 to 24-year-olds. Based on our research, we're shifting our marketing strategy to increase appeal to Gen Z. For the brand, we are re-centering our brand ethos on living life to the fullest, sharing real moments, places, and faces in our marketing campaigns. We are continuing to diversify our marketing spend and are making additional efforts to retain customers. We are investing in new tools to improve the e-commerce site experience and conversion and make our promotions more strategic and targeted. We are more analytical, utilizing detailed customer data to target customers and potential customers with a focus on customer acquisition, but especially on repeat purchases and retention. This significantly enhanced customer reporting and increased analytics have made us smarter in analyzing challenges.

在 Pura Vida，我們正在將長期重點轉向透過成本控制和毛利率擴張來實現盈利，同時平衡電子商務業務與批發合作夥伴關係和零售店。對於消費者，我們將重點放在 18 至 24 歲的人群上。根據我們的研究，我們正在改變我們的行銷策略，以增加對Z 世代的吸引力。的時刻、地點和臉孔。我們正在持續實現行銷支出多元化，並付出更多努力來留住客戶。我們正在投資新工具來改善電子商務網站的體驗和轉化，並使我們的促銷活動更具策略性和針對性。我們更具分析性，利用詳細的客戶資料來定位客戶和潛在客戶，並專注於客戶獲取，尤其是重複購買和保留。這顯著增強了客戶報告和增強的分析能力，使我們能夠更聰明地分析挑戰。

For the product, we are focusing on delivering unique, fun, playful designs that are affordable and accessible with a dominant emphasis on bracelets and jewelry, as well as other strategic adjacent categories. We will continue to innovate around string bracelets and our other jewelry and accessory categories. One of our most exciting initiatives this year is our expansion of stretch bracelets and anklets, which are a growing trend. And we will be adding a DIY bead box to our assortment. Our custom jewelry, from our Harper Charm bar to engravable items to our newly launched personalization continues to be a big growth opportunity. As always, we will pursue high profile collaborations like Hello Kitty, Shark Week, and Harry Potter, which are fan favorites and bring new customers to the brand.

對於產品，我們專注於提供獨特、有趣、俏皮的設計，這些設計價格實惠且易於使用，主要側重於手鐲和珠寶以及其他戰略相鄰類別。我們將繼續圍繞手鍊以及其他珠寶和配件類別進行創新。今年我們最令人興奮的舉措之一是擴展彈力手鍊和腳鍊，這是一種日益增長的趨勢。我們將在我們的產品系列中添加一個 DIY 珠盒。我們的訂製珠寶，從 Harper Charm 條到可雕刻物品，再到我們新推出的個人化產品，仍然是一個巨大的成長機會。一如既往，我們將追求 Hello Kitty、Shark Week 和 Harry Potter 等備受粉絲喜愛的高調合作，並為該品牌帶來新客戶。

For the channel, we continue to have a strong focus on restoring profitable e-commerce growth as well as strategic growth of wholesale. Additionally, our success in retail stores has driven us to find new store locations. We opened a new Pura Vida store in Destin, Florida, in May and expect to open an additional location later this year.

對於通路，我們繼續專注於恢復電子商務的獲利成長以及批發的策略成長。此外，我們在零售店的成功促使我們尋找新的店址。我們於 5 月在佛羅裡達州德斯坦開設了一家新的 Pura Vida 商店，並預計在今年稍後再開設一家新店。

Now let me turn the call over to CFO, Michael Schwindle to review the financial results. Michael?

現在讓我將電話轉給財務長 Michael Schwindle，以審查財務表現。麥可？

Thank you, Jackie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We will open up for questions in a few minutes, but I'd first like to cover a few highlights for the quarter and briefly update our guidance for the year. For the sake of clarity, the numbers I am discussing today are all non-GAAP numbers and exclude the charges outlined in today's press release. A complete detail of items excluded from the non-GAAP numbers, as well as a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP numbers can be found in that release.

謝謝你，傑基。大家早安，感謝您加入我們。我們將在幾分鐘內開放提問，但我首先想介紹本季的一些亮點，並簡要更新我們對今年的指導。為了清楚起見，我今天討論的數字都是非公認會計原則數字，不包括今天新聞稿中概述的費用。可以在該版本中找到從非 GAAP 數據中排除的項目的完整詳細信息，以及 GAAP 與非 GAAP 數據的調節表。

For the first quarter, our consolidated revenues totaled $80.6 million compared to $94.4 million in the prior year first quarter. First quarter net loss totaled $6.5 million, or $0.21 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million, or $0.09 per share last year. Current year first quarter Vera Bradley direct segment revenues totaled $56.4 million, a 4% decrease from $58.9 million in the prior year first quarter. As Jackie noted a few minutes ago, we have continued to experience trends that began last year, although our direct segment revenue performance sequentially improved quarter-over-quarter. Comparable sales declined 9.6%, primarily driven by weakness in the outlet channel. Total revenues were also impacted by six previous full line store closures over the last 12 months. We look forward to the future reversal of our sales trends as we roll out Project Restoration late in the second quarter.

第一季度，我們的綜合收入總計 8,060 萬美元，而去年第一季的綜合收入為 9,440 萬美元。第一季淨虧損總計 650 萬美元，即每股 0.21 美元，而去年淨虧損為 260 萬美元，即每股 0.09 美元。今年第一季 Vera Bradley 直接部門營收總計 5,640 萬美元，比去年第一季的 5,890 萬美元下降 4%。正如傑基幾分鐘前指出的那樣，儘管我們的直接部門收入業績環比連續改善，但我們繼續經歷去年開始的趨勢。可比銷售額下降 9.6%，主要是因為直銷通路疲軟所致。過去 12 個月內六家全線商店關閉也影響了總收入。隨著我們在第二季末推出專案恢復，我們期待未來銷售趨勢的逆轉。

Vera Bradley Indirect segment revenues totaled $11.5 million, a 25% decrease from $15.4 million in the prior year first quarter. The decrease was primarily related to lower sales from certain specialty partners and key accounts as well as the timing of a large off-price order shifting to the second quarter this year from the first quarter last year. As Jackie noted earlier in her comments, our indirect partners are awaiting the new launch products and our wholesale partner response to the new Project Restoration assortment is strong.

Vera Bradley 間接部門收入總計 1,150 萬美元，比去年第一季的 1,540 萬美元下降 25%。下降的主要原因是某些專業合作夥伴和主要客戶的銷售額下降，以及大量折扣訂單從去年第一季轉移到今年第二季。正如 Jackie 先前在評論中指出的那樣，我們的間接合作夥伴正在等待新推出的產品，而我們的批發合作夥伴對新的 Project Restoration 產品系列反應強烈。

Pura Vida segment revenues totaled $12.7 million, a 37% decrease from $20.1 million in the prior year first quarter, primarily due to declines in e-commerce and wholesale revenues. I remind everyone that our key focus with Pura Vida has been and continues to be managing the business for long-term profitability and not merely revenue growth. In an environment of rapidly rising digital marketing costs, the Pura Vida team is focused on marketing efficiency as well as digital marketing diversification.

Pura Vida 部門營收總計 1,270 萬美元，比去年第一季的 2,010 萬美元下降 37%，主要是由於電子商務和批發收入下降。我提醒大家，我們對 Pura Vida 的重點一直是並將繼續是管理業務以實現長期盈利，而不僅僅是收入成長。在數位行銷成本快速上升的環境下，Pura Vida團隊在關注行銷效率的同時，也注重數位行銷的多元化。

Non-GAAP first quarter gross margin totaled $42.7 million or 53% of net revenues compared to $51.7 million or 54.8% of net revenues in the prior year. The current year rate was negatively impacted by the shift of our annual outlet sale to the first quarter from the second quarter last year which was partially offset by lower shipping and freight costs.

非 GAAP 第一季毛利率總計 4,270 萬美元，佔淨收入的 53%，而去年同期毛利率為 5,170 萬美元，佔淨收入的 54.8%。我們的年度直銷銷售從去年第二季度轉移到第一季度，對本年費率產生了負面影響，但運輸和貨運成本的下降部分抵消了這一影響。

Non-GAAP SG&A expense totaled $52.4 million or 65% of net revenues compared to $55.6 million or 58.9% of net revenues for the prior year first quarter. Current quarter expenses were lower than the prior year, primarily due to the cost reduction initiatives and a reduction in variable related expenses, including marketing, related to lower sales volumes. Our teams are increasingly diligent and attentive to cost management. First quarter non-GAAP consolidated operating loss therefore totaled $9.3 million or 11.5% of net revenues compared to an operating loss of $3.5 million or 3.7% of net revenues in the prior year.

非 GAAP SG&A 費用總計 5,240 萬美元，佔淨收入的 65%，而上年第一季為 5,560 萬美元，佔淨收入的 58.9%。本季費用低於去年同期，主要是由於成本削減措施以及變動相關費用（包括與銷售下降相關的行銷費用）的減少。我們的團隊越來越勤奮並專注於成本管理。因此，第一季非 GAAP 合併營運虧損總計 930 萬美元，佔淨收入的 11.5%，而上一年營運虧損為 350 萬美元，佔淨收入的 3.7%。

Now turning to the balance sheet, our quarter-end cash and cash equivalents totaled $55.2 million compared to $25.3 million at the end of last year's first quarter. We continued to have no borrowings on our $75 million ABL facility at quarter-end. Total quarter-end inventory was $125.2 million, down 12% from $142.7 million at the end of last year's first quarter. We continue to take strategic actions to reduce our inventory levels, and we believe we are appropriately positioned as we prepare for our new product launch in July. During the first quarter, we also repurchased approximately $6.3 million of common stock, which equates to approximately 1 million shares at an average price of $6.62. We have approximately $19 million remaining on our $50 million repurchase authorization and that authorization expires in December of 2024.

現在轉向資產負債表，我們季度末的現金和現金等價物總額為 5,520 萬美元，而去年第一季末為 2,530 萬美元。截至季末，我們的 7,500 萬美元 ABL 融資中仍然沒有借款。季末庫存總額為 1.252 億美元，比去年第一季末的 1.427 億美元下降 12%。我們繼續採取策略行動來降低庫存水平，我們相信，在為 7 月的新產品推出做準備時，我們已經做好了適當的定位。第一季度，我們也回購了約 630 萬美元的普通股，相當於約 100 萬股，平均價格為 6.62 美元。我們的 5,000 萬美元回購授權還剩約 1,900 萬美元，授權將於 2024 年 12 月到期。

So, now moving on to our guidance for fiscal 2025. As a reminder, all forward-looking guidance numbers are on an non-GAAP basis. As we discussed in our last earnings call, we expect fiscal 2025 to be very much a tale of two halves. We continue to operate in a turbulent environment as a number of other retailers have already noted in their earnings releases. Fiscal 2025 for Vera Bradley is also a rebuilding year for the company and as Project Restoration enters its customer facing phase midyear. As Jackie noted at the beginning of this call, we expected much of this turbulence. We expect to continue to experience some revenue challenges in the second quarter, all of by improving sales and profitability trends in the second half of the fiscal year.

那麼，現在轉向我們對 2025 財年的指導。正如我們在上次財報電話會議中所討論的那樣，我們預計 2025 財年將分為兩半。正如許多其他零售商已經在其財報中指出的那樣，我們繼續在動盪的環境中運作。對 Vera Bradley 來說，2025 財年也是公司的重建年，專案恢復在年中進入了客戶導向的階段。正如傑基在本次電話會議開始時指出的那樣，我們對這種動盪有很大的預期。我們預計第二季將繼續面臨一些收入挑戰，所有這些都是透過本財年下半年銷售和獲利趨勢的改善來實現的。

We also continue to diligently take advantage of both gross margin and expense structure improvement opportunities. As a result, we are reconfirming our guidance for fiscal 2025 based on current and expected macroeconomic trends as well as the rollout of the customer facing phase of Project Restoration. As a point of context, please also keep in mind that the current year represents a 52-week year while the prior year was comprised of 53 weeks. Specifically, for our guidance for the full year of fiscal 2025, we expect consolidated net revenues of $460 million to $480 million.

我們也持續努力利用毛利率和費用結構改善的機會。因此，我們根據當前和預期的宏觀經濟趨勢以及面向客戶的專案恢復階段的推出，重新確認了 2025 財年的指導。作為背景，也請記住，本年度代表 52 週的一年，而上一年則由 53 週組成。具體來說，對於 2025 財年全年的指導，我們預計合併淨收入為 4.6 億至 4.8 億美元。

As a reminder, net revenues in fiscal 2024 were $470.8 million or $464.8 million on a 52-week basis. We expect Vera Bradley brand sales to grow by the low single-digits for the year with accelerating sales in the second half as we launch our new products, branding and marketing. We anticipate Pura Vida brand sales will decline in the mid-teen range as we continue to manage the business for profitability by addressing marketing inefficiencies impacting e-commerce sales, partially offset by increased retail sales. We also expect consolidated gross margin of 54% to 55% compared to 54.5% in fiscal 2024. The fiscal 2025 gross margin is expected to be relatively flat to last year due to product margin improvements and a lower supply chain cost offset by increased shipping costs.

需要提醒的是，2024 財年的淨收入為 4.708 億美元，以 52 週計算為 4.648 億美元。我們預計今年 Vera Bradley 品牌銷售額將以較低的個位數成長，下半年隨著我們推出新產品、品牌和行銷，銷售額將加速成長。我們預計 Pura Vida 品牌的銷售額將在青少年範圍內下降，因為我們將繼續透過解決影響電子商務銷售的營銷效率低下問題來管理業務以實現盈利，部分被零售額的增長所抵消。我們也預計綜合毛利率將為 54% 至 55%，而 2024 財年為 54.5%。

Consolidated SG&A expense is expected to range from $229 million to $239 million compared to $234.7 million in fiscal 2024. Year-over-year SG&A expenses are expected to be relatively flat to last year related to incremental marketing investment intended to drive sales and accelerate customer file growth offset by company-wide expense reductions and lower peer review expenses. This results in anticipated consolidated operating income of $21 million to $24.5 million compared to $22.6 million in fiscal 2024, along with diluted earnings per share of $0.54 to $0.62 compared to $0.55 last year or $0.54 on a 52-week basis. As a result, our net cash flow is anticipated to be approximately $10 million compared to $44.2 million in fiscal 2024. And we also expect, as Jackie noted earlier, net capital spending of approximately $12 million to $14 million compared to $3.8 million last year. This spend reflects investments associated with new and remodeled stores, as well as technology and logistics enhancements.

綜合SG&A 費用預計在2.29 億美元至2.39 億美元之間，而2024 財年為2.347 億美元。行銷投資相關成長被全公司費用削減和同業評審費用降低所抵銷。這導致預計綜合營業收入為 2,100 萬美元至 2,450 萬美元，而 2024 財年為 2,260 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為 0.54 美元至 0.62 美元，而去年為 0.55 美元，52 週為 0.54 美元。因此，我們的淨現金流預計約為1000 萬美元，而2024 財年為4420 萬美元。萬美元。這筆支出反映了與新店和改造商店以及技術和物流增強相關的投資。

So that concludes our formal remarks. Rob, can you please open up their line for questions?

我們的正式發言到此結束。羅布，您可以打開他們的熱線提問嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Daniel Harriman, Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）Daniel Harriman，Sidoti & Company。

I've just got a couple of questions that I'm going to try to combine if that's okay. But given the weakness you're currently experiencing both from a macro perspective and also the timing of the initiatives and the headwinds that those bring, could you just, I guess, give us your level of confidence and how strong of a back half you are going to have. And then with one first quarter sales and the weakness that you expect in the second quarter, obviously it looks like you're expecting a year-over-year increase in the back half of the year. Do you see any opportunity for additional upside to what you've already guided and then along those lines, what are the key risks that you see in the second half of the year?

我有幾個問題，如果可以的話我會嘗試合併。但是，考慮到您目前從宏觀角度以及這些舉措的時機和所帶來的阻力所經歷的弱點，我想您能否告訴我們您的信心水平以及您後半部分的實力如何？然後，考慮到第一季的銷售額以及您預計第二季的疲軟，顯然您預計下半年將出現同比增長。您是否認為在您已經指導的基礎上還有任何進一步上行的機會，然後按照這些思路，您認為下半年的主要風險是什麼？

Thanks for your question. So I'll start and then I'll let Michael take anything I've missed in my answer. But, so again, we certainly expected some of this weakness in this quarter. When you have the completeness of a transformation in Vera Bradley with product like we're doing next month, it's normal for wholesale partners to wind down their purchases in the old product and wait for the new. So we're not concerned about what's happened here, and we know that there's periods of -- it really is kind of a month to month and a week to week story where our ears are certainly to the ground listening to our indirect partners and hearing what's going on in the stores.

謝謝你的提問。那麼我就開始吧，然後讓麥可來補充我在回答中遺漏的任何內容。但是，同樣，我們當然預計本季會出現一些疲軟的情況。當你在 Vera Bradley 完成對產品的改造（就像我們下個月所做的那樣）時，批發合作夥伴減少舊產品的採購並等待新產品是很正常的。因此，我們並不關心這裡發生的事情，而且我們知道，在某些時期，這確實是一個月復一月、一周復一周的故事，我們的耳朵肯定貼在地面上，傾聽我們的間接合作夥伴的聲音，並聽到商店裡發生了什麼。

But we see that we certainly have orders booked and we're very optimistic about what's going to happen in the back half of the year. What we don't know, of course, is just consumer response. We've done everything we possibly can do, with the data that we have and the outside research that we've done, to match what we think our consumers want and the customers that we don't have to target them and create a very strong and compelling marketing plan to deliver the growth that we expect to see in the back half. What we don't know, of course, is just the macroeconomic trends.

但我們看到我們確實已經預訂了訂單，我們對今年下半年將發生的事情感到非常樂觀。當然，我們不知道的只是消費者的反應。我們已經盡我們所能，利用我們擁有的數據和我們所做的外部研究，來匹配我們認為消費者想要的東西和我們不必瞄準的客戶，並創造一個非常好的產品。的行銷計劃將實現我們預計在下半年看到的成長。當然，我們不知道的只是宏觀經濟趨勢。

We've certainly seen this quarter, as I mentioned, the real difference in our level of visits from our households that are under $75,000, which disproportionately affected the outlet business. So we're hoping that we start to see some more optimism in the consumer, but we think we're positioned in every possible way that we can be further back half to present something that's very compelling.

正如我所提到的，本季度我們確實看到了 75,000 美元以下家庭的訪問水平的真正差異，這對奧特萊斯業務造成了不成比例的影響。因此，我們希望我們開始看到消費者更加樂觀，但我們認為我們已經以各種可能的方式定位，以便我們可以進一步推出一些非常引人注目的東西。

Yeah, I’d add a couple of additional finer points to this. I think if you look at the year-over-year for the first quarter, obviously a big drag on this was the Pura Vida side. We've talked about for a couple quarters now, this is very intentional. It's very deliberate. This is about positioning that brand for long-term profitability and as such, was very much anticipated. That was not a surprise for us. I think on the wholesale side, on the Vera Bradley side, there is a bit of a choppiness there and a great deal of that is we're starting to get visibility to the oncoming book of new product, we'll call it product restoration assortments.

是的，我想對此添加一些額外的細節。我認為，如果你看看第一季的同比情況，顯然 Pura Vida 方面的拖累很大。我們已經討論了幾個季度了，這是非常有意的。這是非常故意的。這是為了將該品牌定位為長期盈利能力，因此，這是非常令人期待的。這對我們來說並不意外。我認為在批發方面，在維拉·布拉德利方面，存在一些波動，其中很大一部分是我們開始了解即將推出的新產品書，我們稱之為產品修復品種。

Our visibility to that gives us a lot of confidence that we're looking at a large amount of timing distortion that we'll start to see that pick up in the back half of the year. We'll see some of it pick up, I think, in the second quarter, but mostly the back half consistent with what we've said, is kind of this tale of two halves. To your question, that leaves the rest of it is varying degrees of lesser challenges, but certainly not to minimize, it has been a challenging traffic environment, in particular in the outlet arena. And that's also, by the way, that's also consistent with things that we have heard from some of our landlords as well about the nature of traffic that's going into outlets and frequent, the number of store visits as well as to all times.

我們對此的可見性給了我們很大的信心，我們正在考慮大量的時序失真，我們將在今年下半年開始看到這種失真。我認為，我們會在第二季度看到其中的一些回升，但大部分後半部分與我們所說的一致，是一個兩半的故事。對於你的問題，剩下的就是不同程度的較小挑戰，但當然不能最小化，這是一個充滿挑戰的交通環境，特別是在奧特萊斯競技場。順便說一句，這也與我們從一些房東那裡聽到的有關進入商店的流量性質、頻率、商店訪問次數以及所有時間的情況一致。

So I think the final point on this is by virtue of us reaffirming our guidance, a great deal of this was expected. We were expecting the first half to be choppy. We were expecting a degree of macroeconomic challenges. We do see some upside in the business in the back half of the year. In terms of your questions on the relative risk and opportunity, I'd say we're trying to strike a somewhat conservative stance, which would imply there's upside, but there's always risk as well. So I'm not going to say there's no risk, and I'm not going to say there's no opportunity either.

因此，我認為最後一點是，我們重申了我們的指導意見，這在很大程度上是可以預料的。我們預計上半場會很不穩定。我們預計會出現一定程度的宏觀經濟挑戰。我們確實看到今年下半年的業務出現了一些上升趨勢。關於您關於相對風險和機會的問題，我想說我們正在嘗試採取某種保守的立場，這意味著有上行空間，但也總是存在風險。所以我不會說沒有風險，也不會說沒有機會。

Okay, I really appreciate it, Jackie and Michael, and best of luck with the rollout next month and the last three quarters of your fiscal year. I really appreciate it.

好的，我真的很感激，Jackie 和 Michael，祝您下個月和本財年最後三個季度的推出一切順利。我真的很感激。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you, Dan.

謝謝你，丹。

Eric Beder, SCC Research.

貝爾德 (Eric Beder)，SCC 研究中心。

Good morning. Thank you for the details on Project Restoration.

早安.感謝您提供有關項目恢復的詳細資訊。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Eric.

謝謝，埃里克。

Good morning. When you look at kind of, it's really exciting to see you decide to start growing the store base on both sides. What kind of led you to decide that, and how do you think about the stores versus online as growth drivers going forward?

早安.當你看到某種程度時，看到你決定開始擴大雙方的商店基礎真是令人興奮。是什麼促使您做出這樣的決定？

I love that question, Eric. So the store base, especially just, this is a, I believe the first time we've talked a little bit more in detail about the full line stores and the fact that we really want to stop closing them. So what I think has been very influential in that decision is really determining how we can make these stores more profitable. So, and we've done an amazing job outlining just the ways in which we are going to continue and have already addressed the profitability in those stores. So as we are ramping up and planning to continue or to begin driving revenue growth, we want to get that expense structure in line in those stores so that we're ready for a really nice result when the sales do come through.

我喜歡這個問題，艾瑞克。因此，商店基礎，尤其是，我相信這是我們第一次更詳細地討論全線商店以及我們真的想停止關閉它們的事實。因此，我認為對該決定非常有影響力的是我們如何使這些商店獲得更多利潤。因此，我們已經完成了一項出色的工作，概述了我們將繼續採取的方式，並且已經解決了這些商店的盈利問題。因此，當我們加強並計劃繼續或開始推動收入成長時，我們希望使這些商店的費用結構保持一致，以便我們為銷售確實實現時取得非常好的結果做好準備。

So it was really about evaluating the profitability and looking at our labor models and rent renegotiations and determining really where we needed to be, which malls, which locations, and we're still working on that with a pretty fine detail to ensure that we can grow this store fleet again. As it comes to online, I think about online in obviously two different ways. Our vb.com business, which will have a pretty significant reset next month with all new tools, capability, creative, it's really, it'll really be a great relaunch. And then our always on VBOO site. So that launched at the end of last year and has really exceeded our expectations in terms of revenue and new customer growth.

因此，這實際上是關於評估盈利能力，研究我們的勞動力模式和租金重新談判，並確定我們真正需要去哪裡，哪些購物中心，哪些地點，我們仍在研究非常詳細的細節，以確保我們能夠再次擴大該店群。說到在線，我顯然以兩種不同的方式思考在線。我們的 vb.com 業務將在下個月進行一次相當重大的重置，提供所有新的工具、功能和創意，這真的是一次偉大的重新啟動。然後我們總是在 VBOO 網站上。該產品於去年年底推出，在收入和新客戶成長方面確實超出了我們的預期。

So we really see that in two pieces and both of those sites having a different job for the consumer and different assortments where perhaps they're a little bit too similar now. We'll definitely see with Project Restoration an elevation in the vb.com assortment and kind of a continuation of our existing product assortment on the outlet site. So overall, if you take those things together, we're expecting growth in e-commerce.

因此，我們確實看到，這兩個網站都為消費者提供不同的工作和不同的分類，也許它們現在有點太相似了。透過 Project Restoration，我們肯定會看到 vb.com 產品類別的提升，以及我們在直銷網站上現有產品類別的延續。總的來說，如果你把這些因素放在一起，我們預期電子商務將會成長。

We've mentioned several times that we're digital first. That's really reinforced here in the company. We're doing a lot to really look at what should our online assortments look like versus our store assortments. What does the customer want? How can we market to her? So there's a lot of work being done, and we'll begin to roll out next month when we see the launch of Project Restoration.

我們多次提到我們是數位化第一。這一點在公司得到了真正的加強。我們正在做很多事情來真正研究我們的線上品種與商店品種應該是什麼樣子。客戶想要什麼？我們如何向她推銷？因此，我們正在做很多工作，當我們看到恢復項目啟動時，我們將在下個月開始推出。

Great. And let's talk a little bit about the split between full price and outlets in some of the pieces here. So you mentioned leather. I know leather’s done really well for full price stores. So how are you going to take that to the outlet stores and offer, I guess, compelling value at leather at the same time? And I want to clarify something. You talked about collaborations being in both the full price and the outlets and historically that hasn't happened at the same time. Is that a change in thought process that you'd want to have some of the collaborations at the same time in the outlet stores that are in the main line stores?

偉大的。讓我們稍微討論一下這裡某些商品的全價和折扣店之間的差異。所以你提到了皮革。我知道全價商店的皮革做得非常好。那麼，您將如何將其帶到直銷店，同時提供令人信服的皮革價值？我想澄清一些事情。您談到了全價和專賣店的合作，但歷史上這種情況並沒有同時發生。您希望在主線商店的直銷店中同時進行一些合作，這是否是一種思考過程的改變？

Yeah, very insightful question. Thanks, Eric. So, we will have product collaborations in both channels, perhaps not at the same time. So, you won't necessarily see, or you may or may not see, I should say, a specific property in both the outlet and the full line assortment at the same time. But -- so we're really strategically looking at what, just our customer base and who's shopping where and where do those properties make the most sense and what's the timing of those launches. And the size of them, like everything's being really looked at. How do we have differentiation in price points, in styling, in look, so that both the outlet customer and the full-line customer can enjoy those properties no matter what price point they're shopping for or look they're shopping for.

是的，非常有見地的問題。謝謝，埃里克。因此，我們將在兩個管道進行產品合作，但可能不會同時進行。因此，我應該說，您不一定會看到，或者您可能會或可能不會同時看到折扣店和全系列產品中的特定屬性。但是 - 因此，我們實際上正在策略性地研究什麼，只是我們的客戶群以及誰在哪裡購物，這些房產最有意義，以及這些房產的推出時間是什麼。它們的大小，就像所有東西都被真正地觀察過一樣。我們如何在價位、款式、外觀上實現差異化，以便奧特萊斯客戶和全線客戶都能享受這些房產，無論他們購買什麼價位或外觀。

Okay. A question for Michael. Inventory, you've done a great job with the inventories. How are inventories going to shift now that Project Restoration is starting to go into the stores and go live?

好的。問麥可一個問題。庫存，你在庫存方面做得很好。既然恢復項目開始進入商店並投入使用，庫存將如何變化？

Thank you. I appreciate the question as well. We have made a lot of progress on our inventory. I think as we look forward, there's a fairly substantial movement that's literally in front of us right now as we migrate the new assortments into the brand stores, as well as online properties, and start a larger migration of the existing assortments over into the outlet channels and the other value channels. I think as we look at our outlook for inventory through the end of the year, we expect it to be flat to slightly down by the end of the year. That will be inclusive of maybe a little bit of average cost creep as well as this movement that will still have a little bit of hangover. So I do think we'll continue to see structural improvement in our inventory management through the end of the year as well as beyond.

謝謝。我也很欣賞這個問題。我們在庫存方面取得了很大進展。我認為，當我們展望未來時，當我們將新品種遷移到品牌商店和線上資產，並開始將現有品種更大規模地遷移到奧特萊斯時，一場相當重大的運動就在我們面前。我認為，當我們審視年底的庫存前景時，我們預計到年底庫存將持平或略有下降。這可能包括一點點平均成本攀升，以及這種仍然有一點後遺症的運動。因此，我確實認為，到今年年底及以後，我們將繼續看到庫存管理的結構性改善。

Great, congrats and we look forward to seeing the stores in July.

太好了，恭喜你，我們期待在七月見到商店。

Fantastic. Thank you, Eric.

極好的。謝謝你，埃里克。

(Operator Instructions) Doug Lane, Water Tower Research.

（操作員說明）Doug Lane，水塔研究中心。

Hi. Good morning, everybody. I want to stay on the channel mix here. You talk in terms of three broad channels, the wholesale, the bricks and mortar retail, and the digital retail. What is the approximate mix of those three as a percent of your business now, and where do you think it will be after Project Restoration is fully implemented?

你好。大家早安。我想繼續關注這裡的頻道組合。您談到了三大通路：批發、實體零售和數位零售。現在這三者在您的業務中所佔的比例大約是多少？

Our wholesale business runs in the mid-teens to 20%. It obviously shifts a little bit from time to time, from period to period. The digital side of the business runs closer in the quarter, a little bit higher than a quarter of the business in the balances than the retail side. And so, as we look forward, I'm going to articulate this, I think, more in a branded versus value kind of shift is I think the way we're looking at this. Because as we think about the consumer, we're not trying to legislate where the customer wants to purchase Vera Bradley products. Our goal is to be more positioned where the customer is and where the customer would like to see our products and purchase our products.

我們的批發業務成長率在 10% 到 20% 之間。顯然，它會隨著時間、時期的不同而發生一些變化。數位業務在本季的運作情況較為接近，比零售業務的餘額略高於四分之一的業務。因此，當我們展望未來時，我認為，我將更多地以品牌與價值的轉變來闡明這一點，我認為我們看待這個問題的方式。因為當我們考慮消費者時，我們不會試圖立法規定消費者想要在哪裡購買 Vera Bradley 產品。我們的目標是更好地定位於客戶所在的地方以及客戶希望看到我們的產品併購買我們的產品的地方。

In terms of a value versus branded perspective, we have been a little bit overweighted on the value side for a number of years, we see the opportunity here as a growth opportunity to grow our branded side of our business, branded weight of our business, full line -- the full price side of the business, I should say, and to grow that side of the business. That's where a lot of the work in terms of customer marketing is coming from, the targeting, the product, where we're exposing the new product and how we're exposing the new product. There's a lot of work on the value side as well, but clearly we've spent a great deal of time talking about the branded assortments here.

就價值與​​品牌的角度而言，多年來我們在價值方面有點偏重，我們認為這裡的機會是發展我們業務的品牌方面的增長機會，我們業務的品牌權重，全線——我應該說，業務的全價方面，並發展這方面的業務。這就是客戶行銷方面的許多工作的來源、目標、產品、我們在哪裡展示新產品以及我們如何展示新產品。在價值方面也有很多工作，但顯然我們在這裡花了很多時間討論品牌分類。

So we see a growth opportunity to get that weight shifted back to heavier on the full line, full price branded side. Jackie, you want to add anything to that?

因此，我們看到了一個成長機會，可以將重量轉移到全系列、全價品牌方面。傑基，你想補充什麼嗎？

I think, Doug, one of the other things that we really feel like we're going to have the ability to do is look at our assortment and determine which channels, which wholesale partners they should actually go into based on our kind of strategic thoughts about those product categories. So leather, for example, has specific distribution points. Obviously, it's in a full line. Part of that's in wholesale. We'll do some faux leather in outlet. But we're thinking about this not only just from a business unit point of view, but also an assortment point of view, so that we can really be strategic about where we're matching the product assortment to the customer we want. So, and I think that that is, that's a thought process that's really going to benefit us and help us to deliver on our goals.

道格，我認為我們真正有能力做的另一件事就是查看我們的產品組合，並根據我們的戰略思想確定他們實際上應該進入哪些渠道、哪些批發合作夥伴關於這些產品類別。例如，皮革有特定的分佈點。顯然，這是一條完整的線。其中一部分是批發。我們會在奧特萊斯做一些人造皮革。但我們不僅從業務部門的角度考慮這一點，而且還從品種的角度考慮這一點，這樣我們就可以真正從戰略上將產品品種與我們想要的客戶相匹配。因此，我認為這是一個真正有益於我們並幫助我們實現目標的思考過程。

Okay, that's really good color. Thank you for that. And just shifting gears to capital here, you mentioned the CapEx at $12 million to $14 million, up from just under $4 million last year and even $8 million the year before. So clearly elevated capital spending here. So as I'm looking out, is this a one year thing with Project Restoration or do you expect elevated spending to continue beyond F25?

好吧，這個顏色確實不錯。謝謝你。剛轉向資本，您提到資本支出為 1200 萬至 1400 萬美元，高於去年的近 400 萬美元，甚至前年的 8​​00 萬美元。這裡的資本支出明顯增加。因此，正如我所觀察到的，這是專案恢復的一年期事情，還是您預計 F25 之後支出會繼續增加？

So I'll take just the first part of it and then turn it over to Michael. But one of the key points in our research when we started thinking about Project Restoration and deciding what we wanted to do was that our store environments were not always places that our new target customer, this 35 to 54 year old who values both fashion and function, where she really wanted to shop. We really looked at the experience in the store, the amount of merchandise that was in the store, fixturing, all of that. And so we said we really needed to make some changes to the environment of the stores in order to ensure we can capture the new customers that are critical to our plan and our future growth.

所以我只拿它的第一部分，然後把它交給麥可。但是，當我們開始考慮專案修復並決定我們想要做什麼時，我們研究的關鍵點之一是，我們的商店環境並不總是我們的新目標客戶（這個35 至54 歲，既重視時尚又重視功能的人）所在的地方。我們確實關注了商店的體驗、商店中的商品數量、固定裝置等等。因此，我們說我們確實需要對商店的環境進行一些改變，以確保我們能夠吸引對我們的計劃和未來成長至關重要的新客戶。

Yeah, and I think that's a premise behind a lot of the refreshers remodeling activity that we're doing across many of our stores. Each store is different. Each store has a different story and has a different degree of needs depending on its current state, how long it's been in place, some of the design standards that were -- that have been employed in each store. I'd say, Doug, back to your, the specifics of your question, I would say a great deal of the elevated capital is, I'm not going to say one time, but it is definitely not consistent with trend and other ongoing maintenance kind of capital.

是的，我認為這是我們在許多商店進行的許多翻新改造活動背後的前提。每家店都不一樣。每家商店都有不同的故事，並且有不同程度的需求，取決於其當前狀態、存在時間以及每家商店採用的一些設計標準。我想說，道格，回到你的問題的具體情況，我想說，大量的高額資本是，我不會說一次，但它絕對與趨勢和其他正在進行的趨勢不一致。

We are addressing a lot of the shopping experience in our branded stores and to a lesser degree in our outlets as well. A great deal of that is kind of one-time-ish or not every year in nature, I'll say it that way. We also have some additional capital in there associated with the new stores we've talked about. And then we do have some other maintenance and other kind of ongoing kind of capital. That maintenance ongoing capital every year kind of stuff is, think about that as a sub $5 million a year kind of volume. The rest of this is more specific to either growth or specific issues around Project Restoration.

我們正在解決品牌商店中的大量購物體驗問題，以及在我們的直銷店中的較小程度的問題。我會這樣說，其中很大一部分都是一次性的，或者本質上不是每年都會發生。我們還有一些與我們討論過的新商店相關的額外資本。然後我們確實有一些其他維護和其他類型的持續資本。每年持續的維護資金是每年 500 萬美元以下的金額。其餘部分則更具體地涉及專案恢復的成長或具體問題。

Okay, that’s very helpful. Thank you, Michael. And just lastly, it begs the question, what are the uses of free cash flow going forward?

好的，這非常有幫助。謝謝你，麥可。最後，它引出了一個問題，未來自由現金流有什麼用途？

That's a great question. Obviously, this year, our net cash flow for the year will be a lot lower than the last -- most of the last several years. That is Project Restoration related predominantly, as I just said. As we look forward, we are unabashedly conservative on the balance sheet. I think this is something that the company has been very consistent about. We have no intentions of changing that at this juncture, and we believe in the value of conservatism in this regard. As we look forward, there are a number of avenues and opportunities for growth as you look forward.

這是一個很好的問題。顯然，今年我們的淨現金流量將比去年——過去幾年的大部分時間——低很多。正如我剛才所說，這主要與恢復項目有關。展望未來，我們在資產負債表上毫不掩飾地保守。我認為這是公司一直以來非常一致的事情。我們目前無意改變這一點，我們相信保守主義在這方面的價值。展望未來，正如您所期望的那樣，有許多增長的途徑和機會。

Some of them are more capital consumptive than others. We're not providing guidance on specifically which ones and to what degrees we're going to be pursuing those in future years, But we do see the opportunity for future investment and growth, as Jackie talked earlier. And we do see opportunities for other capital returns at some point in the future.

其中一些比其他的資本消耗更多。我們不會具體說明未來幾年我們將追求哪些目標以及達到何種程度，但正如傑基早些時候所說，我們確實看到了未來投資和成長的機會。我們確實看到了未來某個時候其他資本回報的機會。

And, Doug, just as a reminder, we did -- we bought back a million shares in first quarter and we still have $19.2 million remaining on our $50 million repurchase authorization that runs through the end of the year. So that's another significant place that we're looking at for capital allocation.

道格，提醒一下，我們確實這麼做了——我們在第一季回購了 100 萬股股票，而且我們的 5000 萬美元回購授權中仍有 1920 萬美元剩餘，該授權將持續到年底。因此，這是我們正在尋找資本配置的另一個重要領域。

Is there any talk of a dividend here?

這裡有討論股息嗎？

We're not providing any guidance at this time. If and when we make a decision to that with our Board, we'll announce that.

我們目前不提供任何指導。如果我們與董事會做出決定，我們將宣布這一點。

Okay, fair enough. Good luck this summer with the rollout. Thank you.

好吧，很公平。祝今年夏天的推出好運。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. We've reached the end of the question-and-answer session and I'll now turn the call over to Jackie Ardrey for closing remarks.

謝謝。問答環節已經結束，現在我將把電話轉給傑基·阿德雷 (Jackie Ardrey) 做結束語。

Thank you. Our team is dedicated to returning the company to long-term profitable growth and creating value for our shareholders through Project Restoration. We are on track with our initiatives and we're excited about our Vera Bradley brand relaunch in July. We've assembled a talented leadership team who are retail growth and turnaround experts and they have been the foundational support of Project Restoration. I want to thank our entire team for working so diligently and collaboratively over the last year to position us to deliver. Thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing our Project Restoration progress with you on our second quarter earnings call on September 11.

謝謝。我們的團隊致力於透過專案恢復使公司恢復長期獲利成長並為股東創造價值。我們的舉措正步入正軌，我們對 7 月 Vera Bradley 品牌的重新推出感到非常興奮。我們組建了一支才華橫溢的領導團隊，他們都是零售成長和扭虧為盈的專家，他們是復原專案的基礎支援。我要感謝我們整個團隊在過去一年中如此勤奮和協作，使我們能夠交付成果。感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待在 9 月 11 日的第二季財報電話會議上與您分享我們的專案恢復進度。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。