Williams-Sonoma Inc (WSM) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 2023 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Jeremy Brooks, Chief Accounting Officer and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給首席會計官兼投資者關係主管傑里米·布魯克斯 (Jeremy Brooks)。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining our third quarter earnings call. I'm here this morning with Laura Alber, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Howie, our Chief Financial Officer; Yasir Anwar, our Chief Digital and Technology Officer; and Felix Carbullido, our President of the Williams-Sonoma brand.

早安，感謝您參加我們的第三季財報電話會議。今天早上我和我們的總裁兼執行長勞拉·阿爾伯 (Laura Alber) 一起來到這裡。 Jeff Howie，我們的財務長； Yasir Anwar，我們的首席數位和技術長；以及我們的 Williams-Sonoma 品牌總裁 Felix Carbullido。

Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that during this call, we will make forward-looking statements with respect to future events and financial performance, included updated guidance for fiscal '23 and our long-term outlook. We believe these statements reflect our best estimates. However, we cannot make any assurances these statements will materialize, and actual results may differ significantly from our expectations. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after today's call.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，在這次電話會議中，我們將就未來事件和財務業績做出前瞻性陳述，包括 23 財年的最新指導和我們的長期前景。我們相信這些陳述反映了我們的最佳估計。然而，我們不能保證這些陳述一定會實現，實際結果可能與我們的預期有很大差異。該公司沒有義務公開更新或修改任何這些聲明以反映今天電話會議後可能出現的事件或情況。

Additionally, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures should not be considered replacements for and should be read together with our GAAP results. A detailed reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures appears in Exhibit 1 to the press release we issued earlier this morning. This call should also be considered in conjunction with our filings with the SEC. Finally, a replay of this call is available on our Investor Relations website.

此外，我們將參考某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些措施不應被視為替代我們的 GAAP 結果，而應與我們的 GAAP 結果一起閱讀。非 GAAP 指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的詳細調整結果請參閱我們今天早上早些時候發布的新聞稿的附件 1。這項呼籲也應與我們向 SEC 提交的文件結合起來考慮。最後，我們的投資者關係網站上提供了本次電話會議的重播。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Laura.

現在我想把電話轉給勞拉。

Thank you, Jeremy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. Before we get into our Q3 results, I would like to take a minute to thank the incredible team at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. for another quarter of great results. Without their hard work, dedication and focus, none of the results we are reporting today would have been achievable.

謝謝你，傑瑞米。大家早安，感謝您加入通話。在我們討論第三季的業績之前，我想花一點時間感謝 Williams-Sonoma, Inc. 令人難以置信的團隊在另一個季度取得了出色的業績。沒有他們的辛勤工作、奉獻和專注，我們今天報告的任何成果都不會實現。

We are proud to deliver another quarter of strong earnings, significantly exceeding expectations despite a challenging economic backdrop for our industry. We beat profitability estimates with a record third quarter operating margin of 17%, with earnings per share of $3.66. Our comp sales, which reflect the larger macroeconomic backdrop, ran negative 14.6% in Q3 and our 2-year comp was negative 6.5% and our 4-year comp to 2019 was positive 34.8%. These results were achieved in an environment filled with ongoing consumer hesitancy on high-ticket discretionary furniture and elevated levels of promotional activity.

儘管我們行業的經濟背景充滿挑戰，但我們很自豪能夠再次實現強勁的季度獲利，遠遠超出預期。我們第三季營運利潤率達到創紀錄的 17%，每股收益為 3.66 美元，超出了獲利預期。我們的比較銷售反映了更大的宏觀經濟背景，第三季為負 14.6%，我們的 2 年比較為負 6.5%，我們到 2019 年的 4 年比較為正 34.8%。這些結果是在消費者對高價可自由支配家具持續猶豫不決以及促銷活動水平提高的環境中取得的。

Despite this environment, we continue to drive results because of our unique proposition in the marketplace and our relentless focus on customer service. Our advantage is our portfolio of brands serving a wide range of categories, aesthetics and life stages. While people are currently buying fewer large-ticket furniture pieces than last year, our portfolio of brands and product offerings has us positioned well for this shift into kitchen purchases, fashion textiles, dorm, baby and seasonal holiday offerings.

儘管面臨這種環境，我們仍然憑藉我們在市場上的獨特主張和對客戶服務的不懈關注，繼續推動業績的成長。我們的優勢是我們的品牌組合服務於廣泛的類別、美學和生命階段。雖然人們目前購買的大件家具比去年少，但我們的品牌和產品組合使我們能夠很好地適應廚房採購、時尚紡織品、宿舍、嬰兒和季節性假日產品的轉變。

Our in-house design capabilities and vertically integrated supply chain are also key in producing proprietary products at the best quality value relationship in the market. We remain firmly committed to reducing promotions despite elevated levels of discounting in the industry. In fact, our third quarter promotional levels were meaningfully lower than last year.

我們的內部設計能力和垂直整合的供應鏈也是以市場上最佳品質價值關係生產專有產品的關鍵。儘管行業折扣水平較高，但我們仍堅定致力於減少促銷活動。事實上，我們第三季的促銷水準明顯低於去年。

Instead, we are meeting our customers' needs for value by introducing a larger offering of new products at mid-tier and lower price points. Not only is this strategy good for profits, but we have also reduced friction with our customers as we give them better value without confusing them with short-term discounts. We strongly believe that this is the right way to run our business as it preserves the design value price equation that we offer and our customers appreciate.

相反，我們透過推出更多中階和較低價位的新產品來滿足客戶的價值需求。這種策略不僅有利於利潤，而且還減少了與客戶的摩擦，因為我們為他們提供了更好的價值，而不會將他們與短期折扣混淆。我們堅信，這是經營我們業務的正確方式，因為它保留了我們提供且客戶欣賞的設計價值價格等式。

Moving on to customer service and the supply chain. We are seeing the year-over-year benefit of selling through inventories with lower supply chain costs. And we continue to increase selling margins by reducing out-of-market multiple shipments. We have improved our customer service, returning to pre-pandemic and best-in-class levels.

轉向客戶服務和供應鏈。我們看到了透過庫存銷售以較低的供應鏈成本帶來的逐年效益。我們透過減少市場外多次發貨來繼續提高銷售利潤。我們改善了客戶服務，恢復到大流行前的一流水平。

Investments in the final mile delivery experience have resulted in fewer customer accommodations, lower returns, lower damages and lower replacements. And customer metrics like on-time delivery are at record highs, and backorder create rates have substantially improved. The total benefit from these supply chain and customer service improvements is significant, and you can see it in our results today.

對最後一哩交付體驗的投資減少了客戶住宿、退貨率、損壞率和更換率。按時交貨等客戶指標創下歷史新高，缺貨訂單創建率也大幅提高。這些供應鏈和客戶服務改進的總效益是巨大的，您可以在我們今天的結果中看到這一點。

Regarding marketing, we increased our spend from Q2 but still leveraged in the quarter. We continue to ensure that our marketing investment gives us the ability to test new formats, to connect with new customers and to showcase our offering to our existing customer base and our highly engaged brand loyalists. We've seen increasing success with our marketing and product collaborations, and we will continue to build upon them.

在行銷方面，我們從第二季開始增加了支出，但本季仍處於槓桿狀態。我們繼續確保我們的行銷投資使我們能夠測試新格式、與新客戶建立聯繫並向現有客戶群和高度參與的品牌忠誠者展示我們的產品。我們的行銷和產品合作取得了越來越大的成功，我們將繼續在此基礎上再接再厲。

Our ongoing investment in building our proprietary e-commerce technology continues to improve our online experience. We're focused on offering customers inspiring content and dynamic tools to assist with their design projects, and AI is accelerating these efforts. We see many opportunities for our business from developments from AI. And as early adapters of integrating AI, we look forward to leading the retail industry in the area, and we will focus on quality, authenticity and responsiveness of this new technology.

我們對建立專有電子商務技術的持續投資不斷改善我們的線上體驗。我們專注於為客戶提供鼓舞人心的內容和動態工具來協助他們的設計項目，而人工智慧正在加速這些努力。我們從人工智慧的發展中看到了我們業務的許多機會。作為整合人工智慧的早期適應者，我們期待引領該領域的零售業，我們將專注於這項新技術的品質、真實性和回應能力。

And as focused as we are on our e-commerce capabilities, we are also continuing to focus on delivering a best-in-class retail business. Our stores are beautifully designed and curated with inspirational assortments, and our continued retail optimization efforts have refocused our fleet on the most profitable, inspiring and strategic locations.

在我們專注於電子商務能力的同時，我們也將繼續致力於提供一流的零售業務。我們的商店設計精美，商品種類豐富，我們持續的零售優化工作使我們的車隊重新集中在最有利可圖、最鼓舞人心和具有戰略意義的地點。

On the sustainability front, we are proud to report that in Q3, we were named the top scorer on the Sustainable Furnishings Council's Wood Furniture Scorecard for the sixth consecutive year. Using sustainable wood has been a key focus of our strategy and a differentiator of our business.

在永續發展方面，我們很自豪地報告，在第三季度，我們連續第六年被永續家具委員會的木製家具記分卡評為最高分。使用永續木材一直是我們策略的重點，也是我們業務的差異化因素。

Now I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about our brands. Pottery Barn ran a negative 16.6% comp in Q3, but ran a positive 3% on a 2-year basis and a positive 43% on a 4-year basis. We have substantially reduced the promotional offerings in the brand and have successfully introduced new low- and mid-tier programs at great value. And while furniture demand has been most impacted, we are seeing strength in textiles and seasonal decorating. We're excited for the holiday season given strong early reads on our innovative proprietary collections.

現在我想花幾分鐘談談我們的品牌。 Pottery Barn 第三季的綜合成長率為 16.6%，但 2 年成長率為 3%，4 年成長率為 43%。我們大幅減少了品牌的促銷活動，並成功推出了極具價值的新中低端計劃。儘管家具需求受到的影響最大，但我們看到紡織品和季節性裝飾的強勁勢頭。鑑於對我們創新專有系列的早期閱讀，我們對假期感到興奮。

Earlier this week, we announced the launch of a new mobile shopping and design app for Pottery Barn following the success of our Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen apps. The Pottery Barn mobile app delivers a convenient customer shopping experience and makes it easy to create and manage a registry on the go. Now customers can explore and shop full rooms, easily share their favorite products and connect with the design experts, all through the convenience of their phone or tablet.

本週早些時候，繼 Pottery Barn Kids 和 Pottery Barn Teen 應用程式取得成功之後，我們宣佈為 Pottery Barn 推出新的行動購物和設計應用程式。 Pottery Barn 行動應用程式提供了便利的客戶購物體驗，並且可以輕鬆地在旅途中建立和管理註冊表。現在，客戶可以透過手機或平板電腦輕鬆探索和購物整個房間，輕鬆分享他們喜愛的產品並與設計專家聯繫。

The Pottery Barn children's business ran a negative 6.9% comp in Q3 and was negative 11.7% on a 2-year basis and positive 29% on a 4-year basis. Across these life stage brands, we are focused on delivering compelling innovation and elevating the customer experience.

Pottery Barn 兒童業務第三季的綜合成長率為負 6.9%，以 2 年計算為負值 11.7%，以 4 年計算為正值 29%。在這些生命階段的品牌中，我們專注於提供引人注目的創新並提升客戶體驗。

One key area of focus in the quarter has been the evolution of our back-to-school offering. Here, we saw standout growth in our dorm business as customers gravitated to higher design and quality. We offer a compelling, complete solution that is easy to shop on our Pottery Barn Teen app. And given the size of the dorm market, we believe this represents a significant opportunity for us for years to come.

本季的一個重點關注領域是我們返校產品的演變。在這裡，隨著客戶對更高設計和品質的青睞，我們的宿舍業務取得了顯著成長。我們提供引人注目的完整解決方案，可以輕鬆在我們的 Pottery Barn Teen 應用程式上購物。考慮到宿舍市場的規模，我們相信這對我們來說是未來幾年的重大機會。

We also continue to focus on another key life stage offering, which is baby, the entry point to the children's home furnishings brand. Here, we are winning with our innovative nursery seating and a curated selection of high-quality baby gear. In our stores and across our mobile app, customers can register with Pottery Barn Kids and receive help from our nursery experts.

我們也繼續關注另一個關鍵的生命階段產品，即嬰兒，這是兒童家居品牌的切入點。在這裡，我們憑藉創新的嬰兒座椅和精選的高品質嬰兒用品贏得了勝利。在我們的商店和行動應用程式中，顧客可以註冊 Pottery Barn Kids 並獲得我們的托兒所專家的幫助。

Also, we're really encouraged by the strength of our innovative product introductions and fresh product collaborations with strong response to recent Super Mario and LoveShackFancy launches. And as we look to the quarter ahead, we believe we have a compelling pipeline of collaborations that our customer will love.

此外，我們的創新產品推出和新鮮產品合作的實力以及對最近推出的《超級瑪利歐》和《LoveShackFancy》的強烈反響，讓我們深受鼓舞。當我們展望未來季度時，我們相信我們擁有客戶會喜歡的引人注目的合作管道。

Moving on to West Elm. West Elm is the brand that has been most impacted by the customer pullback in furniture. In Q3, West Elm ran a negative 22.4% and was negative 18.2% on a 2-year basis and ran a positive 26.1% on a 4-year basis. West Elm has the highest percentage of its assortment in furniture, the most underdeveloped in other categories and a customer base that's the most impacted by the current macro environment. Despite current challenging dynamics, West Elm saw very strong reception to their new fall products, which marked a real evolution in the brand's modern design voice.

繼續前往西榆樹。 West Elm 是受家具消費減少影響最大的品牌。第三季度，West Elm 的業績為負 22.4%，兩年為負 18.2%，四年為正 26.1%。 West Elm 在家具類別中所佔比例最高，在其他類別中最不發達，且其客戶群受當前宏觀環境的影響最大。儘管當前充滿挑戰，但 West Elm 的秋季新品受到了強烈歡迎，這標誌著該品牌現代設計風格的真正演變。

Sales from this year's fall assortment are up to last year, with positive customer response to fresh, furniture forms, mixed materials and new textures and innovations in textile. Early holiday reads have also been positive in seasonal trim and tabletop, as well as hosting and entertaining categories. Given these positive reads, we see sizable opportunity in West Elm as it rebalances more into textiles, decorative accessories, entertainment and seasonal offerings. We continue to be very optimistic on the long-term growth trajectory of West Elm with its industry-leading design and value.

今年秋季系列的銷售量與去年持平，客戶對新鮮家具形式、混合材料以及新紋理和紡織品創新反應積極。早期假期閱讀在季節性裝飾和桌面以及主持和娛樂類別方面也很積極。鑑於這些積極的解讀，我們看到西榆樹有相當大的機會，因為它更多地重新平衡到紡織品、裝飾配件、娛樂和季節性產品。我們仍然對 West Elm 以其業界領先的設計和價值的長期成長軌跡非常樂觀。

The Williams-Sonoma brand, which includes Williams-Sonoma Home, ran a negative 1.9% comp in Q3. On a 2-year basis, the brand ran negative 3.4% and was positive 34.6% on a 4-year basis. The Williams-Sonoma Kitchen business ran a positive comp for the second consecutive quarter this year, primarily driven by retail.

包括 Williams-Sonoma Home 在內的 Williams-Sonoma 品牌第三季的綜合業績為負 1.9%。以 2 年為基礎，品牌的表現為負 3.4%，以 4 年為基礎，為正 34.6%。威廉斯-索諾瑪廚房業務今年連續第二個季度實現了積極的業績成長，這主要是由零售業推動的。

Earlier this quarter, we launched a successful collaboration in cookware with Stanley Tucci, who designed an exclusive collection with GreenPan for Williams-Sonoma. Collaborations like Tucci's have been an excellent vehicle for growth and new customer acquisition.

本季早些時候，我們與 Stanley Tucci 成功開展了炊具合作，後者與 GreenPan 為 Williams-Sonoma 設計了一個獨家系列。像 Tucci 這樣的合作一直是成長和獲取新客戶的絕佳工具。

Kitchen continues to see strength in high-end electrics, particularly in coffee and espresso. And the Williams-Sonoma Home business, while still negative, is beginning to see improved trends, with a refreshed more editorial point of view that showcases updated textiles and decorative accessories.

廚房繼續看到高端電器的優勢，特別是在咖啡和濃縮咖啡方面。威廉斯-索諾瑪家居業務雖然仍然消極，但開始看到改善的趨勢，以更新的更具編輯性的觀點展示更新的紡織品和裝飾配件。

Looking to Q4, Williams-Sonoma becomes a bigger part of our business, and early reads on holiday are positive, indicating a strong season of entertaining and gifting ahead. We have an impressive pipeline of new launches, with engaging content and corresponding events for our customers to experience both in-store and online.

展望第四季度，威廉斯-索諾瑪將成為我們業務的重要組成部分，假期的早期讀數是積極的，表明未來的娛樂和送禮旺季將非常強勁。我們擁有令人印象深刻的新品發布管道，提供引人入勝的內容和相應的活動，讓顧客在店內和線上體驗。

Now I'd like to update you on our other initiatives. We are pleased to report Business-to-Business delivered a positive quarter, running positive 1.5% in Q3, driven by 30% growth in the contract business. Exciting wins in the quarter included a brand standard program for Pottery Barn with Pendry Hotels for custom outdoor furniture and a new partnership with a premier developer partner, Jamestown, for 2 new properties, including a senior living tower and a new residential development.

現在我想向您介紹我們其他舉措的最新情況。我們很高興地報告，在合約業務成長 30% 的推動下，B2B 業務實現了積極的季度業績，第三季度實現了 1.5% 的正成長。本季令人興奮的勝利包括與Pendry Hotels 合作的Pottery Barn 品牌標準計劃，用於定制戶外家具，以及與頂級開發商合作夥伴Jamestown 建立新的合作夥伴關係，開發2 個新物業，包括一座高級生活塔和一個新的住宅開發案。

We're also excited by the success of specific B2B product developments like the expansion of our restaurant furniture program that has been key to gaining momentum in the food and beverage space with clients like Dave & Buster's, along with clients in the sports and entertainment space. The future remains bright for this business.

我們也對特定 B2B 產品開發的成功感到興奮，例如餐廳家具計劃的擴展，這對於與 Dave & Buster's 等客戶以及體育和娛樂領域的客戶一起在食品和飲料領域獲得動力至關重要。這項業務的未來仍然光明。

Now I'd like to talk about our global business. Our global strategy has not changed, and we continue to focus on a franchise-first model. This business has, of course, been affected by the uncertain macro environment, particularly in the Middle East. We are excited to see our brands exceed expectations in other markets like India.

現在我想談談我們的全球業務。我們的全球策略沒有改變，我們繼續專注於特許經營優先的模式。當然，這項業務受到了不確定的宏觀環境的影響，特別是在中東。我們很高興看到我們的品牌在印度等其他市場超出了預期。

We opened our third West Elm retail location in Pune, and expanded our Pottery Barn brands into the world famous Jio World Plaza now open in Mumbai. The Mexico market is also showing strength, driven by improved in-stocks in furniture and strong back-to-school and seasonal assortments. And we continue to see momentum in our Canada business, fueled by our commitment to enhancing the customer experience both online and in retail. We have also grown the brand and service offerings available to Canadian customers by launching Rejuvenation and Mark and Graham online, and relaunching Gift Registry in Canada.

我們在浦那開設了第三家 West Elm 零售店，並將我們的 Pottery Barn 品牌擴展到世界著名的 Jio 世界廣場，現已在孟買開業。受家具庫存增加以及返校季和季節性品種強勁的推動，墨西哥市場也表現出強勁勢頭。在我們致力於增強線上和零售客戶體驗的推動下，我們的加拿大業務繼續保持成長勢頭。我們也透過推出 Rejuvenation 和 Mark and Graham 線上服務，以及在加拿大重新推出 Gift Registration，拓展了為加拿大客戶提供的品牌和服務。

Lastly, I'd like to update you on our emerging brands. Rejuvenation delivered a positive quarter, driven by our remodel and refresh categories as well as new growth initiatives. Customers continue to update their homes, specifically in the spaces of kitchen and bath. We are continuing to grow the brand in new markets by opening a new store in the San Diego market and another new store opening this weekend in North Carolina. We continue to be excited by the opportunity we have for growth from the Rejuvenation brand.

最後，我想向您介紹我們新興品牌的最新情況。在我們的改造和更新類別以及新的成長計劃的推動下，復興帶來了積極的季度業績。客戶不斷更新他們的房屋，特別是廚房和浴室的空間。我們將在聖地牙哥市場開設一家新店，並於本週末在北卡羅來納州開設另一家新店，從而繼續在新市場中發展該品牌。我們繼續對 Rejuvenation 品牌的成長機會感到興奮。

We are also pleased with our results in Mark and Graham, our gifting and personalization brand. We are optimistic for Q4 as we head into the key gift-giving holiday season. Customers will benefit from the brand's inspiring content and curated monogram gift guides organized by both recipients and price points.

我們也對我們的禮品和個人化品牌 Mark and Graham 的表現感到滿意。隨著我們進入關鍵的送禮節日季節，我們對第四季度持樂觀態度。客戶將受益於該品牌鼓舞人心的內容和按收件人和價格點組織的精心策劃的字母組合禮物指南。

And at GreenRow, we continue to gain momentum in this new brand, which utilizes sustainable materials and manufacturing practices to create colorful air and quality products. While it's early, we remain optimistic about the potential of this brand and its aesthetic. These successful and exciting emerging brands demonstrate our ability to develop new businesses that expand our portfolio of brands and address white space in our product offerings, all with minimal investment and low cost of entry, leveraging our knowledge and infrastructure.

在 GreenRow，我們繼續在這個新品牌中獲得動力，該品牌利用永續材料和製造實踐來創造色彩繽紛的空氣和優質產品。雖然現在還為時過早，但我們仍然對該品牌的潛力及其美學持樂觀態度。這些成功且令人興奮的新興品牌展示了我們開發新業務的能力，這些業務擴大了我們的品牌組合併解決了我們產品中的空白，所有這些都以最少的投資和較低的進入成本，利用我們的知識和基礎設施。

In summary, our outperformance this quarter drove a record Q3 operating margin of 17%. Although customers are shifting their spending temporarily away from high-ticket furniture purchases, we have a powerful portfolio of brands serving a range of categories, aesthetics and life stages to meet the demands of customers. And despite our sales running down this year, our execution and the strength of our operating model produced strong earnings again this quarter, driven by our full-price selling, supply chain efficiencies and best-in-class customer service.

總而言之，我們本季的出色表現推動第三季營業利潤率達到創紀錄的 17%。儘管顧客暫時不再購買高價家具，但我們擁有強大的品牌組合，服務一系列品類、美感和生命階段，以滿足顧客的需求。儘管我們今年的銷售額有所下降，但在我們的全價銷售、供應鏈效率和一流的客戶服務的推動下，我們的執行力和營運模式的優勢在本季度再次產生了強勁的收益。

Our early seasonal reads are strong, and we are optimistic about the holiday season. As we put this all together, we are raising our guidance for the year. We now expect full year revenues to come in at a range of down 10% to down 12%, and we are raising our outlook on operating margin to a range of 16% to 16.5%. It is important to note that the reduction in our revenues outlook is more than offset by our raised operating margin outlook.

我們的早期季節性讀數強勁，我們對假期持樂觀態度。當我們把所有這些放在一起時，我們正在提高今年的指導。我們現在預計全年收入將下降 10% 至 12%，並將營業利潤率預期上調至 16% 至 16.5%。值得注意的是，我們提高的營業利潤率預期足以抵銷收入預期的下降。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Jeff to walk you through the numbers in detail.

接下來，我會將電話轉給傑夫，讓他詳細介紹這些數字。

Thank you, Laura, and good morning, everyone. As Laura said, we're proud that, once again, we've delivered earnings substantially exceeding expectations.

謝謝勞拉，大家早安。正如勞拉所說，我們感到自豪的是，我們的利潤再次大大超出了預期。

Our Q3 results reinforce the themes we've consistently communicated over the past several quarters: First, our steadfast commitment to maintain price integrity and not run site-wide promotions; second, how our earlier supply chain cost pressures will become tailwinds in the second half and beyond; and third, our ability to control costs and manage inventory levels. Our strong profitability this quarter, despite softer top line revenues, demonstrates the durability of our operating margin.

我們第三季的業績強化了我們在過去幾季中一直傳達的主題：首先，我們堅定地致力於保持價格完整性，而不是進行全站促銷；其次，我們早期的供應鏈成本壓力將如何成為下半年及以後的順風車；第三，我們控製成本和管理庫存水準的能力。儘管營收疲軟，但我們本季的強勁獲利能力證明了我們營業利潤率的持久性。

Now let's dive into our Q3 results, followed by an update on our fiscal year guidance. In addition to year-over-year results, I'll reference 2019 as it's helpful to compare our performance with pre-pandemic levels. Net revenues came in at $1.854 billion. While below our expectations, our revenues reflect the larger home furnishing backdrop and our commitment to maintain price integrity even if it means forgoing some revenues in the short term.

現在讓我們深入了解第三季的業績，然後更新我們的財年指引。除了同比結果之外，我還將參考 2019 年，因為這有助於將我們的表現與疫情前的水平進行比較。淨收入為 18.54 億美元。雖然低於我們的預期，但我們的收入反映了更大的家居背景以及我們對保持價格完整性的承諾，即使這意味著在短期內放棄一些收入。

Our revenue growth in Q3 came in at negative 14.6% comp. Our 2-year stack was negative 6.5% and our 4-year stack against 2019 grew 34.8%. Our Q3 demand comp at negative 11.8% was materially unchanged from our Q2 trend. Our 2-year demand stack was negative 13.8%, and our 4-year demand stack was a positive 33.2%.

我們第三季的營收成長為負 14.6%。我們的 2 年籌碼為負 6.5%，而我們的 4 年籌碼較 2019 年增長了 34.8%。我們第三季的需求比較為負 11.8%，與第二季的趨勢基本上沒有改變。我們的 2 年需求堆疊為負 13.8%，我們的 4 年需求堆疊為正 33.2%。

Our revenue comps this quarter reflect a normalized spread between demand and net comps. Our improvement across returns and appeasements offsets the majority of last year's outsized back order fill. From a cadence perspective, our demand trends continue to be inconsistent and choppy, especially after Labor Day.

我們本季的收入比較反映了需求與淨比較之間的正常差異。我們在退貨和綏靖政策方面的改善抵消了去年大量缺貨訂單的大部分。從節奏的角度來看，我們的需求趨勢仍然不一致且波動，特別是在勞動節之後。

Moving down the income statement. Gross margin at 44.4% exceeded our expectations. The 290 basis point improvement over last year reflects the supply chain tailwinds we've been guiding for several quarters. Merchandise margins increased materially over last year, driven by lower ocean freight costs flowing into our income statement and our focus on full price selling and price integrity. In fact, merchandise margins were substantially higher than Q3 2019.

將損益表向下移動。 44.4%的毛利率超出了我們的預期。比去年提高 290 個基點反映了我們幾個季度以來一直引導的供應鏈順風。由於流入損益表的海運費降低以及我們對全價銷售和價格完整性的關注，商品利潤率比去年大幅增加。事實上，商品利潤率大幅高於 2019 年第三季。

Selling margin also improved materially over last year, driven by supply chain efficiencies. Through our improved execution and investment in supply chain, we substantially improved our customer experience. Key metrics, including out-of-market shipping, multiple deliveries per order, returns, accommodations, damages and replacements are all performing at pre-pandemic levels, if not better. I'd like to congratulate and thank our supply chain organization for delivering these results. Altogether, our selling margins were 450 basis points higher than last year, reflecting the full impact to our profitability of the supply chain tailwinds.

在供應鏈效率的推動下，銷售利潤率也較去年大幅提高。透過改善供應鏈的執行和投資，我們大幅改善了客戶體驗。包括市場外運輸、每個訂單多次交付、退貨、住宿、損壞和更換在內的關鍵指標都達到了大流行前的水平，甚至更好。我要祝賀並感謝我們的供應鏈組織取得了這些成果。總的來說，我們的銷售利潤率比去年高出 450 個基點，反映出供應鏈順風對我們獲利能力的全面影響。

Occupancy costs of $200 million were 1% lower than last year and decreased 2% quarter-over-quarter. Coming in at 10.8% of net revenues, occupancy deleveraged 160 basis points to last year driven by the softer top line. Our Q3 gross margin at 44.4% is 840 basis points higher than 2019's 36%. Our SG&A expenses of $507 million were down 11% to last year, once again reflecting our ability to control costs. Our 27.4% rate deleveraged 140 basis points to last year, driven by general expenses offsetting variable expense savings.

入住成本為 2 億美元，比去年下降 1%，季減 2%。由於營收疲軟，入住率較去年下降了 160 個基點，佔淨收入的 10.8%。我們第三季的毛利率為 44.4%，比 2019 年的 36% 高出 840 個基點。我們的 SG&A 費用為 5.07 億美元，比去年下降 11%，再次反映出我們控製成本的能力。由於一般費用抵銷了變動費用節省，我們 27.4% 的利率比去年下降了 140 個基點。

Employment expense decreased double digits versus last year, but deleveraged, primarily driven by favorability in last year's stock-based compensation. We continue to manage variable employment costs in accordance with top line trends. Our advertising expense slightly leveraged in Q3 despite increased funding quarter-over-quarter as we continue to test into higher levels of advertising spend.

與去年相比，就業支出下降了兩位數，但去槓桿化了，這主要是因為去年基於股票的薪資受到青睞。我們繼續根據營收趨勢管理可變的就業成本。儘管隨著我們繼續測試更高水準的廣告支出，資金則是環比增加，但我們的廣告支出在第三季略有槓桿化。

Our rate leverage reflects the competitive advantage of our agile performance-driven marketing organization. Our in-house capabilities, first-party data and multi-brand platform continue to drive efficient advertising spend. General expenses drove the majority of the deleverage on the quarter, resulting from timing of asset disposals and legal settlements. Overall, our year-to-date SG&A through 39 weeks is down 12% to last year and flat on a rate basis. And it's 100 basis points lower than 2019's SG&A rate of 28.4%.

我們的費率槓桿反映了我們敏捷的績效驅動行銷組織的競爭優勢。我們的內部能力、第一方數據和多品牌平台持續推動高效率的廣告支出。由於資產處置和法律和解的時機，一般費用推動了本季去槓桿化的大部分。總體而言，我們今年迄今 39 週的 SG&A 比去年下降了 12%，與費率持平。比 2019 年 28.4% 的 SG&A 率低 100 個基點。

Regarding the bottom line, our results speak for themselves. Q3 operating income came in at $315 million and operating margin at 17%, a record operating margin for our third quarter. 17% is 150 basis points above last year and 940 basis points above 2019's 7.6%. Our diluted earnings per share of $3.66 was slightly below last year's third quarter earnings per share of $3.72, but significantly above 2019 earnings per share of $1.02.

就底線而言，我們的結果不言而喻。第三季營業收入為 3.15 億美元，營業利益率為 17%，創下第三季營業利益率紀錄。 17%比去年高出150個基點，比2019年的7.6%高出940個基點。我們的稀釋每股收益為 3.66 美元，略低於去年第三季的每股收益 3.72 美元，但明顯高於 2019 年的每股收益 1.02 美元。

On the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with a cash balance of $699 million with no debt outstanding. This was after we invested $42 million in capital expenditures supporting our long-term growth, and we returned over $61 million to our shareholders through quarterly dividends and share repurchases.

在資產負債表上，本季末我們的現金餘額為 6.99 億美元，沒有未償債務。在此之前，我們投資了 4,200 萬美元用於支持長期成長的資本支出，並透過季度股息和股票回購向股東返還了超過 6,100 萬美元。

Merchandise inventories at $1.4 billion were down 17.2% to last year. Three important points I'd like to emphasize once again: First, we are well positioned to maintain our price integrity as we proactively manage our inventory levels in line with our demand trends; second, going into the holiday season, our in-stock levels are near historical highs, and our regional inventory balance and composition is well positioned; third, our Q3 ending inventory levels are up only 11% versus same period in 2019, and that's with revenue comps of 34.8% over the same time frame. This discipline highlights how we've improved both our inventory efficiency and turnover.

商品庫存為 14 億美元，比去年下降 17.2%。我想再次強調三個要點：首先，我們有能力維持價格完整性，因為我們根據需求趨勢主動管理庫存水準；第二，進入假日，我們的庫存水準接近歷史高位，區域庫存平衡和構成處於有利位置；第三，我們第三季期末庫存水準與 2019 年同期相比僅成長了 11%，而同期營收比較為 34.8%。這項原則強調了我們如何提高庫存效率和周轉率。

Summing up our Q3 results, we're proud to have delivered earnings substantially exceeding expectations. I'd like to thank all our associates for delivering these outstanding results.

總結我們第三季的業績，我們很自豪我們的利潤大大超出了預期。我要感謝我們所有的員工取得了這些出色的成果。

Now let's turn to our outlook. Based on our Q3 results, we are updating our full year outlook. Our new guidance reflects both the ongoing top line uncertainty and the strength in our operating margin. We now expect full year '23 net revenues to be in a range of down 10% comp to down 12% comp, and we are raising our operating margin outlook to a range of 16% to 16.5%. It's important to note that our lower sales outlook is more than offset by our increased operating margin, producing higher implied EPS guidance.

現在讓我們來談談我們的展望。根據第三季的業績，我們正在更新全年展望。我們的新指引既反映了持續的收入不確定性，也反映了我們營業利潤率的強勁表現。我們現在預計 23 年全年淨收入將下降 10% 至 12%，並且我們將營業利潤率預期上調至 16% 至 16.5%。值得注意的是，我們較低的銷售前景被我們增加的營業利潤率所抵消，從而產生了更高的隱含每股收益指引。

On the top line, our updated guidance is based upon the facts and trends we know today from our Q3 results. Specifically, a conservative view of our 1-, 2- and 4-year trends in Q3 connects with the implicit Q4 guide in our updated full year '23 net revenue guidance. Given the macroeconomic environment, we believe this outlook is prudent.

最重要的是，我們更新的指導是基於我們今天從第三季業績中了解到的事實和趨勢。具體來說，我們對第三季 1 年、2 年和 4 年趨勢的保守看法與我們更新的 23 年全年淨收入指引中隱含的第四季指引相關。考慮到宏觀經濟環境，我們認為這一前景是審慎的。

On the bottom line, our supply chain tailwinds will continue to bolster our profitability, producing full year operating margin within our updated range of 16% to 16.5%, with implied Q4 operating margins in line with historical builds from Q3. We continue to expect our full year income tax rate to be approximately 26%. Our 2023 capital expenditures are now anticipated to be $225 million due to timing of project spend.

總而言之，我們的供應鏈順風將繼續增強我們的盈利能力，使全年營業利潤率保持在我們更新的16% 至16.5% 範圍內，隱含的第四季度營業利潤率與第三季度的歷史增長一致。我們仍然預計全年所得稅稅率約為 26%。由於專案支出的時間安排，我們 2023 年的資本支出預計為 2.25 億美元。

As we have communicated quarterly, we are committed to returning excess cash to our shareholders through dividends and opportunistic stock repurchases. We will continue to pay our quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, and we have almost $700 million remaining under our current $1 billion share repurchase authorization to repurchase our stock opportunistically.

正如我們每季通報的那樣，我們致力於透過股利和機會性股票回購將多餘現金返還給股東。我們將繼續支付每股 0.90 美元的季度股息，並且根據目前 10 億美元的股票回購授權，我們還剩下近 7 億美元，可以趁機回購我們的股票。

As we look forward to 2024, we will balance the macroeconomic uncertainty with our long-term growth potential, and we'll provide guidance in March. As we look further into the future beyond '24, we are reiterating our long-term guidance of mid- to high single-digit top line growth with operating margins exceeding 15%.

展望 2024 年，我們將平衡宏觀經濟的不確定性與長期成長潛力，並將在 3 月提供指引。當我們進一步展望 24 年後的未來時，我們重申我們的長期指導，即營業利潤率超過 15%，實現中高個位數收入成長。

We're confident we'll continue to outperform our peers and deliver shareholder growth for these reasons: our ability to gain market share in the fragmented home furnishings industry; the strength of our in-house proprietary design; the competitive advantage of our digital-first but not digital-only channel strategy; the ongoing strength of our growth initiatives; and the resiliency of our fortress balance sheet.

我們相信，我們將繼續超越同業並實現股東成長，原因如下：我們有能力在分散的家居產業中獲得市場份額；我們內部專有設計的實力；我們數位優先而非純數位通路策略的競爭優勢；我們的成長計劃的持續優勢；以及我們堡壘資產負債表的彈性。

With that, I'll open the call for questions.

接下來，我將開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Chuck Grom 和 Gordon Haskett 的線路。

The compression in your top line in the third quarter and the implied slowdown in the fourth quarter really isn't all that surprising given the backdrop today. But at what point do you run the risk of losing market share or mind share by not engaging? And then as a follow-up, gross margin control was actually more impressive. Can you talk about the drivers there and the sustainability into 2024, particularly on the supply chain front?

考慮到今天的背景，第三季營收的壓縮和第四季隱含的放緩實際上並不令人意外。但什麼時候你會因為不參與而面臨失去市場佔有率或思想份額的風險呢？然後作為後續，毛利率控制其實更可觀。您能否談談那裡的驅動因素以及 2024 年的可持續性，特別是在供應鏈方面？

Chuck, why don't we start with the last one, and I'll talk about gross margin, and then I'll turn it over to Laura to talk about our promotional posture.

Chuck，我們為什麼不從最後一項開始，我來談談毛利率，然後我會把它交給勞拉來談談我們的促銷姿態。

Gross margin exceeded our expectations this quarter, really driven by the tailwinds I've been guiding for the past several quarters. There were 3 main drivers in order of magnitude: first, our lower ocean freight from rate normalization flowing into our income statement; second, supply chain efficiencies, including lower out-of-market shipping, fewer multiple deliveries per order and decreased returns, accommodations, damages and replacements; and third, reduced promotional activity as we focused on full-price selling and maintained our price integrity.

本季的毛利率超出了我們的預期，這實際上是由我過去幾季一直引導的順風推動的。有 3 個主要驅動因素（按數量級排列）：首先，由於費率正常化，我們的損益表中的海運費較低；其次，供應鏈效率，包括減少市場外運輸、減少每個訂單的多次交付以及減少退貨、住宿、損壞和更換；第三，由於我們專注於全價銷售並保持價格完整性，因此減少了促銷活動。

Overall, the majority of the improvement came from ocean freight and supply chain efficiencies. We've made significant improvements in our customer service, and you can see it in our results. And I want to once again thank our supply chain organization for really knocking the cover off the ball.

整體而言，大部分的改善來自海運和供應鏈效率。我們在客戶服務方面取得了重大改進，您可以從我們的結果中看到這一點。我想再次感謝我們的供應鏈組織真正解決了這個問題。

Going to your question about how these will continue, here's what you need to remember. Our Q3 margins represent the start of the tailwinds we will see from supply chain efficiencies. And while we don't guide specific lines, we anticipate similar tailwinds in Q4 and even into 2024.

關於這些將如何繼續的問題，您需要記住以下內容。我們第三季的利潤率代表著我們將從供應鏈效率中看到的順風車的開始。雖然我們沒有指導具體的路線，但我們預計第四季甚至 2024 年也會出現類似的順風車。

Chuck, so I don't think we should think about gross margin as a trade per share. The two are not necessarily as correlated as one might think. In fact, it's not clear that people who are running more promotions are going to gain more share, especially long term. And for our target customer, we are confident that we are gaining share. And at the high-quality, regular price customer is the one that we best serve given what we do with brands.

查克，所以我認為我們不應該將毛利率視為每股交易。兩者並不一定像人們想像的那樣相關。事實上，目前尚不清楚進行更多促銷活動的人是否會獲得更多份額，尤其是長期而言。對於我們的目標客戶，我們有信心獲得份額。鑑於我們對品牌所做的努力，以高品質、正常價格提供服務的客戶是我們最好的服務對象。

And trust me, we are very focused on returning to growth. In fact, we're very confident about our strategies and our ability to execute. It's the environment that is really the question mark for us as we look at the balance of the year in the short term. And so we continue to test different things to see what makes sense, whether it's pricing up, down, more marketing, less marketing. And trust me, as we see things that do not just benefit short term, we are definitely focused on pushing them and building upon them for the long term.

相信我，我們非常注重恢復成長。事實上，我們對我們的策略和執行能力非常有信心。當我們在短期內審視今年的平衡時，環境確實是我們的問號。因此，我們繼續測試不同的東西，看看什麼是有意義的，無論是定價上漲還是下跌，更多的行銷，更少的行銷。相信我，當我們看到那些不僅僅有益於短期的事情時，我們肯定會專注於推動它們並在它們的基礎上長期發展。

Okay. Great. And then can we just talk a little bit about like-for-like SKU pricing today relative to 2019? I know there's been a lot of improvements, but if you find that are actually like-for-like, where do we stand today relative to back then?

好的。偉大的。那麼我們今天可以談談相對於 2019 年的同類 SKU 定價嗎？我知道已經有了很多改進，但如果你發現這些改進實際上是類似的，那麼我們今天相對於當時處於什麼位置？

That's a good question, Chuck. I didn't expect that one. So 2019, well, it was a long time ago, it's hard to remember. We took some price increases during the pandemic, as you know. And a lot of them have stuck and some we've backed off. And we've also gotten a lot of vendor price reductions, which is a great thing to see. And we've used some of those to reduce prices to our consumers so that we are very competitive with our value quality relationship.

這是個好問題，查克。我沒想到會有這樣一個。所以2019年，嗯，已經是很久以前的事了，很難記得了。如您所知，我們在大流行期間提高了價格。其中很多都陷入了困境，有些我們已經退縮了。我們還得到了很多供應商的降價，這是一件好事。我們已經使用其中一些來降低消費者的價格，以便我們的價值品質關係非常有競爭力。

The thing to remember also is that it's not just about reducing prices on existing products. We bring in a fair amount of exclusive, exciting newness. And we've been building into both our mid-tier and low price points, and those things are full margins. And so it's a very good way to continue to build value into the business. But vis-a-vis 2019, I actually don't have that number on how we exactly stand with the entire assortment versus 2019 in pricing.

還要記住的是，這不僅僅是降低現有產品的價格。我們帶來了大量獨特的、令人興奮的新事物。我們一直在打造中階和低價位，這些都是全額利潤。因此，這是繼續為業務創造價值的好方法。但相對於 2019 年，我實際上沒有關於我們對整個產品系列與 2019 年定價的具體立場的數字。

Your next question will come from the line of Cristina Fernández with Telsey Advisory Group.

您的下一個問題將來自特爾西諮詢小組的克里斯蒂娜·費爾南德斯 (Cristina Fernández)。

Congratulations on the profitability. I wanted to ask on promotions, Laura, your comment that you were less promotional than a year ago. I know you've pulled back from the site-wide promotions a while back. So where -- I guess, where are you lowering promotions? Is it clearance? Is it other items like rewards, et cetera? It would be helpful to understand that trend.

恭喜扭虧為盈。我想問關於促銷的問題，蘿拉，你的評論是，你的促銷活動比一年前少了。我知道您不久前已經取消了全站促銷活動。那麼，我想，你們在哪些方面降低了促銷力道？是清關嗎？是不是還有其他的東西，像是獎勵之類的？了解這一趨勢將很有幫助。

Yes. Thank you for the question. We've, in fact, pulled back promotions both sequentially this year and versus last year. And we've pulled back in -- we took away all up down pricing that was site-wide. The site-wide promotions have been gone. We also did remove e-mail overlay, all those hidden promo tactics that other people use, coupon matches, double points, we don't offer any of those. But the level of clearance and promotions during our sale periods, which we call warehouse sales, is also lower.

是的。感謝你的提問。事實上，我們今年和去年都連續取消了促銷活動。我們已經撤回了——我們取消了全站範圍內的所有上下定價。全站促銷活動已經消失。我們還刪除了電子郵件覆蓋、所有其他人使用的隱藏促銷策略、優惠券匹配、雙倍積分，我們不提供任何這些。但我們的銷售期間（我們稱之為倉庫銷售）的清倉和促銷水平也較低。

Our next question will come from the line of Peter Benedict with Baird.

我們的下一個問題將來自彼得·本尼迪克特和​​貝爾德的路線。

I guess just maybe can you expand a little more on retail optimization, where you stand in that process, what's still to come. Jeff, you mentioned the occupancy cost down slightly year-over-year in the third quarter. Is flat to down something that's sustainable in that line as you think into 4Q and then into '24? That's my first question.

我想也許你可以在零售優化方面做更多的擴展，你在這個過程中處於什麼位置，接下來會發生什麼。傑夫，您提到第三季的入住成本比去年同期略有下降。當您考慮到第四季度和 24 世紀時，這方面的情況是否會持平或下降？這是我的第一個問題。

Peter, we continue to operate a world-class retail business, and our stores serve as billboards for the brand and operate as profit centers. They're beautifully designed and curated with aspirational assortments, and we believe we will continue to serve as a competitive advantage.

彼得，我們繼續經營世界一流的零售業務，我們的商店充當品牌的廣告看板並作為利潤中心運營。它們設計精美，品種齊全，我們相信我們將繼續保持競爭優勢。

We continue on our journey of retail optimization. Since 2019, we've closed about 15% of our store count. And over the next 3 to 5 years, about 50% of our leases come due, and we'll continue to guide that we anticipate about 20% of the will close over time.

我們繼續我們的零售優化之旅。自 2019 年以來，我們關閉了約 15% 的門市。在接下來的 3 到 5 年裡，我們大約 50% 的租約到期，我們將繼續指導，預計大約 20% 的租約將隨著時間的推移而關閉。

Now there's multiple aspects to our retail optimization strategy. And first, obviously, we'll close any of the least-performing stores from a profitability standpoint or a brand denigrating, that's the low-hanging fruit. The second point, which is really the exciting one, is the repositioning of our retail fleet. And this is where we're taking a look at some of our older stores that in our older malls that the customer is not shopping as frequently in or moving in more vibrant lifestyle centers. And here, we're seeing not only a better customer engagement, better top line, but better economics as well. And we'll continue to look to reposition our fleet to right locations as leases come due.

現在我們的零售優化策略有多個面向。首先，顯然，我們將關閉任何從獲利角度或品牌誹謗角度來看表現最差的商店，這是唾手可得的成果。第二點，也是真正令人興奮的一點，是我們零售團隊的重新定位。這就是我們正在研究的一些舊商店的地方，在我們的舊購物中心中，顧客不會經常去購物或搬到更有活力的生活方式中心。在這裡，我們不僅看到了更好的客戶參與度、更好的營收，而且還看到了更好的經濟效益。當租賃到期時，我們將繼續尋求將我們的機隊重新部署到正確的位置。

And of course, it all comes down to negotiations. It's part of the real estate business, as we all know. We're probably -- and from an innings standpoint, we're probably in inning 6, I think, inning 5 or 6. And on our journey here, there's more work to do. We have -- like I said, we have a lot of lease coming due.

當然，這一切都取決於談判。眾所周知，這是房地產業務的一部分。我們可能——從局的角度來看，我們可能在第 6 局，我想，第 5 局或第 6 局。在我們的旅程中，還有更多的工作要做。正如我所說，我們有很多租約即將到期。

But the key point here is we continue to improve our retail profitability. And I'll give one example of where this is continuing to resonate. And I know [you used] in the last call, but it continues to be an outstanding example of where the strategy of retail positioning, retail optimization really works, and that's our Pottery Barn store in Westport, Connecticut, which we moved from downtown Westport, not the best location for us to -- a location on the post road that is more vibrant, more customer-friendly.

但這裡的關鍵是我們繼續提高零售獲利能力。我將舉一個例子來說明這一點在哪裡繼續引起共鳴。我知道[你在上次通話中使用了]，但它仍然是零售定位、零售優化策略真正發揮作用的傑出例子，這就是我們位於康涅狄格州韋斯特波特的Pottery Barn 商店，我們從韋斯特波特市中心搬到了這裡，這不是我們的最佳位置——郵政路上的一個位置更有活力，對客戶更友好。

And I said in Q3 that the results were 30% better than the prior store -- I mean, in Q2, that the results were 30% better than prior store. They're now up 45% to the prior store. So this strategy continues to gain traction.

我在第三季度說過，結果比之前的商店好 30%——我的意思是，在第二季度，結果比之前的商店好 30%。現在他們的價格比之前的商店上漲了 45%。因此，這一策略繼續受到關注。

The key thing for us is that our world-class stores, coupled with our best-in-class e-commerce tools, demonstrates a digital-first but not digital-only channel strategy as a key differentiator in the home furnishings industry.

對我們來說，關鍵是我們的世界級商店，加上我們一流的電子商務工具，展示了數位優先但不僅僅是數位的通路策略，作為家居產業的關鍵差異化因素。

Well, good. Nice to see my recent visit to the Westport store showing up in the numbers there, I guess.

嗯，很好。我想很高興看到我最近訪問的西港商店出現在那裡的數字中。

Thank you for your business, Peter.

謝謝您的光臨，彼得。

Yes. Not exactly. So next question just would be around the cash balance, obviously, it continues to rise. You've slowed the buyback here of late. Just curious, is this just prudent caution given all the macro pressures, the risks that are out there? Or is there something more strategic that's maybe at play here in terms of building the cash balance?

是的。不完全是。因此，下一個問題將圍繞現金餘額，顯然，現金餘額繼續上升。你最近放慢了回購速度。只是好奇，考慮到所有宏觀壓力和風險，這只是謹慎的謹慎嗎？或者在建立現金餘額方面是否存在更具策略性的因素？

Yes. Peter, as you know, we don't commit to a consistent cadence of share repurchases. We do remain committed to driving long-term shareholder returns, and will opportunistically buy back stock and drive shareholder returns.

是的。彼得，如你所知，我們不承諾保持一致的股票回購節奏。我們仍然致力於推動長期股東回報，並將機會主義地回購股票並推動股東回報。

In Q3, we had extremely strong performance in our stock price relative to the broader market. We exceeded all 3 major indexes, a collection of hardlines retail and softlines retail. So we outperformed. So it's not what we consider opportunistic.

在第三季度，我們的股價相對於大盤表現極為強勁。我們超過了所有 3 個主要指數，包括硬裝零售和軟裝零售的集合。所以我們表現出色。所以這不是我們認為的機會主義。

Your next question comes from the line of Max Rakhlenko with TD Cowen.

你的下一個問題來自 Max Rakhlenko 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

Congrats on the nice quarter. So first, Laura, how are the brands performing against your own internal expectations? And which brands do you view to have the bigger opportunities to take market share from some of your struggling or closing peers?

恭喜這個美好的季度。首先，勞拉，這些品牌的表現與您的內部預期相比如何？您認為哪些品牌有更大的機會從陷入困境或倒閉的同行手中奪取市場份額？

It's a great question. We are disappointed in the top line performance. As you know, in most of our brands this year, except for our emerging brands, we've seen slower-than-expected furniture performance. That said, we've seen really strong seasonal performance, and these life stage businesses and certain categories are better than expected. So it's a big change for us that we've really focused on and made the shift into quickly with our marketing and our inventory purchases.

這是一個很好的問題。我們對營收表現感到失望。如您所知，今年除了新興品牌外，我們的大多數品牌的家具表現都低於預期。也就是說，我們看到了非常強勁的季節性表現，而這些生命週期業務和某些類別的表現優於預期。因此，這對我們來說是一個巨大的變化，我們真正專注並透過行銷和庫存採購迅速實現轉變。

But as I think about the long term and we think about where we sit vis-a-vis the market, the market as you know is very large and very fractured. And so there's huge opportunity for us to gain share with all of our brands. I think that the names of our brands are stronger than the volumes that they produce.

但當我考慮長期發展以及我們相對於市場的定位時，正如你所知，市場非常大且非常分散。因此，我們有巨大的機會獲得所有品牌的份額。我認為我們品牌的名字比它們生產的數量更強大。

When you think about the Williams-Sonoma name, the brand, Williams-Sonoma, and you think about how small it is, and the consolidation of the industry with Bed Bath & Beyond closing its retail footprint and others going out of business, and not seeing anyone deliver on exclusive proprietary products for high-end kitchen, you can see what a tremendous opportunity we have.

當您想到 Williams-Sonoma 這個名字、Williams-Sonoma 這個品牌時，您會想到它有多小，以及隨著 Bed Bath & Beyond 關閉其零售業務和其他公司倒閉而導致的行業整合，而不是看到有人為高端廚房提供獨家專有產品，您將看到我們擁有多麼巨大的機會。

And with that also, we have Williams-Sonoma Home, which sits in that higher-end space where there's not many, particularly in the aesthetic that we're serving. I actually have Felix sitting right next to me. And I -- we invited him today because we're upon the very large holiday season that we're looking forward to. And as you know, Williams-Sonoma really spikes during the holiday season.

除此之外，我們還有威廉斯-索諾瑪之家，它坐落在高端空間中，但空間並不多，特別是在我們所服務的美學方面。實際上菲利克斯就坐在我旁邊。我——我們今天邀請了他，因為我們正面臨著我們所期待的非常盛大的假期。如你所知，威廉斯-索諾瑪在假期期間確實會出現高峰。

And so Felix, do you want to make a few comments about how you see your brand gaining market share in the future?

Felix，您想對您的品牌未來如何獲得市場份額發表一些評論嗎？

Sure. I don't want to give away too much of our winning formula, but it includes curating the best products out there, right, inspiring customers how to use it, offering it in their channel of choice, whether it be online or in-store. I think some houseware brands offer products that don't inspire, and some inspire but don't have 150-plus stores and a great website to purchase from. As Jeff said, our beautiful stores, our well trained and passionate store associates, our inspiring catalog and our multidimensional website are competitive advantages I don't think anyone really has.

當然。我不想透露太多我們的成功秘訣，但它包括策劃最好的產品，對吧，啟發客戶如何使用它，在他們選擇的管道中提供它，無論是在線還是店內。我認為有些家居用品品牌提供的產品並不具有啟發性，而有些品牌雖然具有啟發性，但沒有 150 多家商店和出色的購買網站。正如傑夫所說，我們美麗的商店、訓練有素且熱情的店員、鼓舞人心的目錄和多維網站都是我認為沒有人真正擁有的競爭優勢。

And as we head into the fourth quarter, this is the time that we celebrate the most. We have Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Eve, these are reasons for people to come visit our stores. And I think we've pulled together the best assortment of gifts and holiday decor that we ever have had. So we're excited, and we want to continue to gain market share, and all indicators are that in the kitchen business, it appears we are.

當我們進入第四季時，這是我們最值得慶祝的時刻。我們有感恩節、光明節、聖誕節、除夕夜，這些都是人們來參觀我們商店的原因。我認為我們已經收集了我們曾經擁有過的最好的各種禮物和節日裝飾。所以我們很興奮，我們希望繼續獲得市場份額，所有指標都表明，在廚房業務中，我們似乎是這樣。

And then as you look at our other brands, both the big ones, both West Elm and Pottery Barn, we have shown this year that there's areas within each brand that are very underdeveloped and where there's sizable opportunity from accessible furniture for Pottery Barn and dorm to -- in West Elm, filling out the modern accessory textile piece, which we haven't addressed and also more modern seasonal assortments. That's a big opportunity and one that has never been built. So we see us being able to pick up share in those two brands in specific categories.

然後，當你看看我們的其他品牌時，無論是West Elm 還是Pottery Barn，這兩個大品牌，我們今年都表明，每個品牌中都有一些非常不發達的領域，而為Pottery Barn 和宿舍提供無障礙家具有相當大的機會- 在西榆樹，填寫我們尚未提及的現代配件紡織品以及更現代的季節性品種。這是一個巨大的機會，也是一個從未實現的機會。因此，我們看到我們能夠在特定類別中提高這兩個品牌的份額。

And of course, the temporary furniture pullback is just that. This, too, shall reverse. And the great news is that we won't have built our business or held it up with promotions like others are at this time. That is getting out of our base, and it's going to continue to allow us to focus on delivering proprietary products and not just thinking about markdowns all the time, but thinking about how to build better collaborations and more relevant product lines that the customer loves.

當然，暫時的家具回調就是這樣。這也將發生逆轉。好消息是，我們不會像其他人此時那樣建立我們的業務或透過促銷來維持業務。這超出了我們的基礎，它將繼續讓我們專注於提供專有產品，而不僅僅是一直考慮降價，而是考慮如何建立更好的合作和客戶喜歡的更相關的產品線。

The last thing I'll just say is, we've talked about B2B, it's across all brands. It's a big driver of market share for us because nobody is doing what we're doing. And so it's a very, very large industry, and we're still scratching the surface. And we are still -- as Josie who runs it likes to say, we are still doing more gathering than hunting. And we have a lot more that we can do as we continue to build this muscle. So we're excited about the growth algorithm for the future. And we do recognize that it's been softer than expected this year, particularly in furniture, but we're completely focused on that growth posture looking out into the future.

我要說的最後一件事是，我們討論了 B2B，它涉及所有品牌。這對我們來說是市場份額的重要推動力，因為沒有人做我們正在做的事情。所以這是一個非常非常大的產業，而我們仍處於接觸表面。我們仍然——正如該公司的經營者喬西喜歡說的那樣，我們仍然進行更多的採集而不是狩獵。當我們繼續增強這塊力量時，我們還有很多事情要做。因此，我們對未來的成長演算法感到興奮。我們確實意識到今年的情況比預期要疲軟，尤其是在家具領域，但我們完全專注於展望未來的成長態勢。

That's great. Super helpful. And Jeff, I have to ask you a margin question. But when we think about the updated margin guidance, is there anything in it that makes you think that you can at least hold it as we think ahead, especially once you start to leverage fixed expenses on top line growth?

那太棒了。超有幫助。傑夫，我必須問你一個保證金問題。但是，當我們考慮更新後的利潤指引時，其中是否有任何東西讓您認為您至少可以按照我們的預期持有它，特別是當您開始利用固定費用來實現營收成長時？

As I said in the answer to Chuck's question on gross margin, we anticipate that the results we saw in Q4, the tailwinds I've been talking about will continue -- I'm sorry, the results from Q3, the tailwinds I've been talking about will continue into Q4. These are pretty strong tailwinds. I talked about the impact of ocean freight, our supply chain efficiencies and our full price selling.

正如我在回答查克關於毛利率的問題時所說，我們預計我們在第四季度看到的結果，我一直在談論的順風將繼續 - 對不起，第三季度的結果，我一直在談論的順風一直在談論的將持續到第四季。這些都是相當強勁的順風。我談到了海運、我們的供應鏈效率和全價銷售的影響。

While we're talking about guidance, I also want to just point out that while we don't guide specific lines, in last year's Q4, our SG&A materially benefited from some large favorable items we recorded that we don't anticipate reoccurring this year. But here's the key takeaway, it's all contemplated in our guidance, which we've raised our full year outlook for implied EPS.

在我們談論指導的同時，我還想指出，雖然我們沒有指導具體的產品線，但在去年第四季度，我們的銷售及管理費用從我們記錄的一些大型有利項目中受益匪淺，但預計今年不會再出現。但關鍵的一點是，這一切都在我們的指導下得到考慮，我們提高了對隱含每股收益的全年展望。

Your next question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自西蒙古特曼 (Simeon Gutman) 與摩根士丹利 (Morgan Stanley) 的對話。

This is Zach on for Simeon. On your view for top line, do you think this year will be the bottom? Your updated guidance implies an underlying deceleration in the fourth quarter across stacks. So do you think that the trends could inflect in '24?

這是紮克替補西蒙。從您對營收的看法來看，您認為今年會是谷底嗎？您更新的指導意味著第四季度各個堆疊的潛在減速。那麼您認為趨勢會在 24 年改變嗎？

We'll talk more about next year after we get through the really important holiday season. Right now, that's where our focus is. And as Laura just touched on, our primary objective in '24 will be to drive both growth and margin, and we'll balance the macroeconomic certainty with our long-term growth potential. But we'll talk more about that in March.

度過了真正重要的假期後，我們將進一步討論明年的情況。現在，這就是我們的重點。正如勞拉剛剛談到的，我們 24 年的主要目標將是推動成長和利潤，我們將平衡宏觀經濟的確定性與長期成長潛力。但我們將在三月詳細討論這一點。

Our next question will come from the line of Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Loop Capital Markets 的 Anthony Chukumba。

Let me add my congratulations as well on the strong profitability. So you talked about introducing a larger ordering of new products at mid-tier and lower price points. And then you talked specifically about Pottery Barn introducing some of those products.

讓我對強勁的獲利能力表示祝賀。因此，您談到了在中端和較低價位推出更多新產品的訂單。然後您特別談到了 Pottery Barn 推出的一些產品。

I guess just 2 questions related. Are there any other brands that have -- where you've introduced those mid- and lower-tier products? And then how do the merchandise, the selling margins on those products, compare to some of your higher price point offerings?

我想只有兩個相關問題。有其他品牌推出過中低階產品嗎？那麼，與你們的一些更高價位的產品相比，這些產品以及這些產品的銷售利潤如何？

Thanks, Anthony. The margin profile is the same as the rest of our products. So it's not that they're lower at all, in fact, they're great margins. And we've done the same thing also in West Elm. And you're going to see us West Elm, which I'm really excited about, continue to have more and more newness sequentially. So for fall, you might have heard in my prepared remarks that we had some just superb winners in the furniture assortment.

謝謝，安東尼。保證金概況與我們其他產品相同。所以這並不是說它們的利潤率較低，事實上，它們的利潤率很高。我們也在西榆樹做了同樣的事情。你將會看到我們西榆樹，我真的很興奮，繼續有越來越多的新鮮感。因此，對於秋季，您可能在我準備好的演講中聽說過，我們在家具分類中擁有一些出色的獲勝者。

And in some cases, they were also at the higher price points. So we're building upon those. Many of them are sold out right now. And we're thrilled, but we are also chasing those products, and we'll be getting back in stock in Q1 in those. And that gives us confidence about where we want to take the brand aesthetically, not just from a price point, but where we think the modern customer wants to be now where that evolution is going.

在某些情況下，它們的價格也較高。所以我們正在這些基礎上繼續發展。其中許多現在已經售罄。我們很興奮，但我們也在追逐這些產品，我們將在第一季恢復這些產品的庫存。這讓我們對品牌美學的定位充滿信心，不僅是從價格角度，而是我們認為現代客戶現在想要的發展方向。

And so as we go into Q1 and Q2, I'm just really excited about the product line that you're going to see in West Elm. And based on the wins that we have currently, I think it's going to be a big change and the next really big step in the evolution, the next chapter, if you will, for West Elm's winning strategy.

因此，當我們進入第一季和第二季時，我對您將在 West Elm 看到的產品線感到非常興奮。基於我們目前所取得的勝利，我認為這將是一個巨大的變化，也是發展中的下一個真正的重大步驟，如果你願意的話，西榆樹獲勝策略的下一個篇章。

Your next question comes from the line of Jason Haas with Bank of America.

您的下一個問題來自美國銀行的傑森哈斯 (Jason Haas)。

So I wanted to also ask about how you're thinking about the trade-off between comps and margins. I'm curious if you think that you could have driven gross profit dollars higher this year if you had used more promotions. Or do you think that, that wouldn't have actually driven the gross profit dollars higher?

所以我還想問一下您如何考慮補償和利潤之間的權衡。我很好奇您是否認為如果您使用更多促銷活動，今年的毛利會更高。或者您認為這實際上不會推高毛利？

My question is, obviously, if you could, but didn't, the reason would be because you don't want to destroy the pricing power over the long term. You don't want to harm the brand image. So I'm curious if you feel like that's the dynamic where you're basically sacrificing in the short term to hopefully have better results once the industry turns in your favor.

我的問題是，顯然，如果你可以，但沒有，原因是你不想長期破壞定價能力。您不想損害品牌形象。所以我很好奇你是否覺得這就是你在短期內基本上做出犧牲的動態，以便在產業對你有利時希望獲得更好的結果。

Yes. Jeff and I are fighting over your question. I would say it's both short term and long term. It's not clear as reducing prices drives more. If you have less people buying furniture, you just reduce the price 20%, you get 20% more people buy it just to be even, right? So you may think you're doing something, it's what retailers do, they mark stuff down when they want more sales, and it's not necessarily the case. In fact, we've done a lot of testing up and down to see where that sensitivity is. So that's one.

是的。傑夫和我正在為你的問題爭論不休。我想說的是，這既是短期的，也是長期的。目前尚不清楚，因為降低價格會帶來更多。如果你買家具的人變少了，你只要把價格降低20%，你就會多20%的人買它，只是為了公平，對嗎？因此，您可能認為您正在做某事，這就是零售商所做的，當他們想要更多銷售時，他們會降價，但事實不一定如此。事實上，我們已經進行了大量的上下測試，以了解敏感度在哪裡。這就是其中之一。

Secondly, for sure, it's not good for the long term. And you can see that -- the race to the bottom with promotions, if you look at the history of retailers who've done that, it's a bad idea. And we are not a low-price provider. We are quality, high-service, high-design retailer. And so pricing is not usually why you come to us. You want the price to be great for the value and the design. But our quality is so much higher, and we're not willing to sacrifice it in the short term or long term to sustain a promotional strategy.

其次，從長遠來看，這肯定不是好事。你可以看到，透過促銷進行逐底競爭，如果你看看零售商這樣做的歷史，你會發現這是一個壞主意。而且我們不是低價供應商。我們是高品質、高服務、高設計的零售商。因此，定價通常不是您來找我們的原因。您希望價格與價值和設計相符。但我們的品質要高得多，我們不願意在短期或長期內犧牲它來維持促銷策略。

That makes sense. And then as a follow-up, I was curious to ask about the West Elm performance in particular. It's good to see Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma performing well, both on a year-over-year basis and then also versus 2019. That used to not be the case, where previously, you'd see West Elm as the stronger performer.

這就說得通了。然後作為後續行動，我特別好奇地詢問了 West Elm 的表演。很高興看到 Pottery Barn 和 Williams-Sonoma 表現良好，無論是同比還是與 2019 年相比。但過去的情況並非如此，以前，您會認為 West Elm 表現更強。

I'm curious to know how much you think of that is external, given West Elm, I believe, tends to serve a younger, maybe less-affluent customer than those other brands versus how much of it is internal. You've talked about some of them. Can you talk about what changes are being made at West Elm and when we should expect to see improvement from those?

我很想知道你認為這有多少是外部的，因為我相信西榆樹傾向於為比其他品牌更年輕、可能不太富裕的客戶提供服務，而其中有多少是內部的。你已經談到了其中一些。您能否談談 West Elm 正在做出哪些改變以及我們何時應該看到這些改變？

Sure. There's no doubt that the metrics -- the makeup of the West Elm business makes it more vulnerable to the external, right? You mentioned it. The younger customer, the less-affluent customer, the higher furniture, the less-developed seasonal business or less-developed decorative and textile business, those are all factors in the West Elm underperformance.

當然。毫無疑問，West Elm 業務的指標使其更容易受到外部影響，對嗎？你有提到過。年輕的客戶、較不富裕的客戶、高檔家具、季節性業務欠發達或裝飾和紡織業務欠發達，這些都是西榆樹表現不佳的因素。

That said, we do not think about not being able to do anything about anything. We are focused on what we can do being served this set of circumstances. So we have been working very diligently to give the customer other options other than just furniture, and to make sure our stores have those things ready to go versus having them only online. It's a big change for us to push that business into the stores to drive repeat traffic not just when you come to buy furniture.

也就是說，我們不認為對任何事都無能為力。我們專注於在這種情況下我們能做些什麼。因此，我們一直非常努力地為客戶提供家具以外的其他選擇，並確保我們的商店備有這些東西，而不是只在網路上提供。對我們來說，將這項業務推向商店以增加重複流量，而不僅僅是當您來購買家具時，這是一個很大的改變。

So we've talked about not just the development of those things, but I want to make sure you understand, too, the way we're using the channel strategy is to push things that are lower ticket and that are more for easy updates for the home versus the whole home. Also, we've been pushing collaborations. We've had some really great success lately with Colin King and Joseph Altuzarra. Those things sold out, and we've got some really exciting ones in that pipeline, and we have more confidence now to buy into those. And collaborations are very exciting for brands because they bring in new customer groups. And so that's a nice incremental change for us as well.

因此，我們不僅討論了這些東西的開發，而且我想確保您也理解，我們使用渠道策略的方式是推送價格較低且更容易更新的東西家與整個家。此外，我們一直在推動合作。最近，我們與 Colin King 和 Joseph Altuzarra 一起取得了一些非常巨大的成功。這些東西已經賣完了，我們在管道中已經有了一些非常令人興奮的東西，我們現在更有信心購買這些東西。合作對於品牌來說非常令人興奮，因為它們帶來了新的客戶群。所以這對我們來說也是一個很好的漸進式改變。

And then in terms of the product design, and without going into it too competitively, you always want to lead, right? You always want to lead with design. And we are making, as I just said previously, some pretty significant improvements in what we're bringing in, in terms of newness quantity and also the relevancy, in my opinion. And so that's very exciting. And it's in the hopper, it's on order. We're filling in where we're out of stock currently on some winners. And we're excited to see that come to fruition next year.

然後在產品設計方面，在不過度競爭的情況下，你總是想領先，對嗎？你總是想以設計為主導。正如我之前所說，在我看來，我們正在對我們引入的內容進行一些相當重大的改進，無論是在新穎性數量還是相關性方面。這非常令人興奮。它在料斗裡，是按訂單生產的。我們正在填補一些獲獎者目前缺貨的情況。我們很高興看到明年這項成果得以實現。

So it's not to me the -- that's what all of our brands do with their designs. It's not that there's a problem, it's more that you want to stay on top and you want to lead. And this new leadership at West Elm and the focus on product and focus on design is really exciting.

所以這對我來說不是——這就是我們所有品牌的設計所做的。這並不是說有問題，更多的是你想保持領先，你想領導。 West Elm 的新領導層以及對產品和設計的關注確實令人興奮。

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

你的下一個問題來自布萊恩·內格爾和奧本海默的對話。

So first off, I too, would like to add my congratulations on your continued profitability beats. So the question I want to ask, and I know it's a bit of a follow-up here, but just with respect to just the overall promotional environment. So I'll ask maybe a couple of questions within this question. I mean, one, as you're monitoring the environment and the actions of your competitors, is it -- if you look at the promotions that have accelerated, do you believe this is more temporary, either backdrop-driven, clearance-driven? Or is this the kind of the return to levels we saw pre-pandemic?

首先，我也想對你們持續獲利表示祝賀。所以我想問的問題，我知道這是一個後續行動，但只是針對整體促銷環境。所以我會在這個問題中問幾個問題。我的意思是，第一，當你監控環境和競爭對手的行為時，如果你看看加速的促銷活動，你是否認為這只是暫時的，要么是背景驅動的，要么是間隙驅動的？或者這是回到我們在大流行前看到的水平嗎？

And then the second question I have -- and look, you've done a great job holding the line on your pricing. We clearly see that in the margins. I guess the question I'm asking is, is you're communicating with your customers then, has there been a shift in marketing or shifts otherwise that you say to your customers, look, we have great brands, these are high quality and you should not expect promotions from us?

然後是我的第二個問題——看，你們在控制定價方面做得很好。我們在邊緣清楚地看到了這一點。我想我要問的問題是，您在與客戶溝通時，行銷方面是否發生了變化，或者您對客戶說的其他方面是否發生了變化，看，我們有很棒的品牌，這些都是高品質的，而且您不應該期待我們的促銷活動嗎？

And there's still plenty of things on sale because we clear products. So you can find -- if you're a promotional shopper, you can find sale prices on our websites for sure. So let's not pretend we don't have any. It's just that the quantity of those is so much lower than it's been, it's so much lower than our competitors. I don't like to name people by name, but we have scrubbed everybody's websites. And look at them, and they're littered with -- I mean, in some cases, it's 80% red lines, 100% red lines of some really good names out there.

而且還有很多東西在打折，因為我們清倉了產品。因此，您可以發現 - 如果您是促銷購物者，您肯定可以在我們的網站上找到促銷價格。所以我們不要假裝我們沒有。只是這些數量比以前少了很多，比我們的競爭對手少了很多。我不喜歡直呼其名，但我們已經清理了每個人的網站。看看它們，它們到處都是——我的意思是，在某些情況下，這是 80% 的紅線，100% 的紅線是一些非常好的名字。

And I don't know what they're doing, but I can tell you what the customer sees. And I don't know when they're going to go back to regular price or if this is the new strategy, but this is what's going on in the marketplace. And it's very important to us that the customer can count on the price. Because if you buy a piece of furniture, it's likely not delivered for 4 to 5 weeks, if that price changes and it hasn't even been delivered, you're never going to -- you're going to always wait until you get the sale and you just create this up-and-down curve customers waiting for sale. It's not a good cycle.

我不知道他們在做什麼，但我可以告訴你客戶看到了什麼。我不知道他們什麼時候會恢復正常價格，也不知道這是否是新策略，但這就是市場上正在發生的事情。客戶可以信賴的價格對我們來說非常重要。因為如果你買一件家具，它很可能在 4 到 5 週內都不會交付，如果價格發生變化而它甚至還沒有交付，你永遠不會——你將永遠等到你得到銷售，你只需建立這條上下曲線等待銷售的客戶。這不是一個好的循環。

And what I said before about the new selling. When you bring out an incredible product, and this is today, even with this depressed furniture, but I'm talking about furniture. It sells out. Because when you have a product that good, customers want to buy it. But the key thing is the first time you price it, that price value relationship needs to be great. So that is where we're focused. What is the first price, is that a great value? Is it the best value in the marketplace? And now we're looking at the competition and assuming they're going to be 20% off, assuming they're going to be 30% off.

以及我之前所說的關於新銷售的內容。當你推出一款令人難以置信的產品時，這就是今天，即使是這款令人沮喪的家具，但我說的是家具。它賣完了。因為當你擁有那麼好的產品時，顧客就會想要購買它。但關鍵是你第一次定價時，價格價值關係必須很好。這就是我們關注的重點。第一個價格是多少，性價比高嗎？它是市場上最有價值的嗎？現在我們正在研究競爭對手，假設他們將提供 20% 的折扣，假設他們將提供 30% 的折扣。

So we're not just saying is it the best versus the regular price, we're saying is it the best versus their sale price. And that's the key driver here on creating value for the consumer and having them trust us. And when they trust us, they furnish their whole house with us.

因此，我們不僅說它與正常價格相比是最好的，我們還說它與促銷價相比是否是最好的。這是為消費者創造價值並讓他們信任我們的關鍵驅動力。當他們信任我們時，他們就會用我們來佈置他們的整個房子。

No, that's very helpful. If I could ask just a follow-up, unrelated. But with regard to -- again, gross margins, I mean, now we're seeing the benefit of moderating shipping costs. And recognizing that there's a lot of accounting noise in how these costs are capitalized but -- I guess, Jeff, maybe this is more for you, but I mean, how long will this dynamic prove a tailwind for gross margins for Williams-Sonoma?

不，這非常有幫助。如果我可以問一個後續問題，無關的。但說到毛利率，我的意思是，現在我們看到了降低運輸成本的好處。並且認識到這些成本的資本化方式存在著許多會計噪音，但是——我想，傑夫，也許這對你來說更適合，但我的意思是，這種動態能在多長時間內證明威廉姆斯-索諾瑪毛利率的順風車？

Look, we've certainly said in the call that it will continue into Q4. And previously, I've said it will continue to be a tailwind into 2024. But we're starting to hinge on 2024 guidance, which we'll address in March. But meanwhile, we're really laser-focused on delivering our Q4 results with the all-important holiday season ahead of us.

看，我們在電話會議中確實說過，它將持續到第四季。之前，我說它將繼續成為 2024 年的順風車。但我們開始以 2024 年指導為重點，我們將在 3 月討論這個問題。但同時，我們真正專注於交付第四季度的業績，因為最重要的假期即將到來。

I will now turn the call back over to Laura Alber for any closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉回給勞拉·阿爾伯 (Laura Alber)，讓其發表結束語。

Well, thank you all. We really appreciate your time, and I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a great beginning to the exciting and beautiful holiday season with your family and friends. We look forward to talking to you again after the new year, and take care.

嗯，謝謝大家。我們非常感謝您抽出寶貴的時間，祝福大家度過一個美好的感恩節，並與家人和朋友一起度過一個激動人心、美麗的假期。我們期待新年後再次與您交談，並保重。