2024-09-26 Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) Q4 2024 Earnings Conference Call September 26, 2024 5:00 PM ET
好市多批发公司（纳斯达克：COST）2024 年第四季度收益电话会议 2024 年 9 月 26 日 5:00 PM ET
Company Participants 公司参与者
Gary Millerchip - EVP & CFO
Gary Millerchip - 执行副总裁兼首席财务官
Ron Vachris - CEO
罗恩·瓦希里斯 - 首席执行官
Conference Call Participants
会议通话参与者
Simeon Gutman - Morgan Stanley
西摩·古特曼 - 摩根士丹利
Chris Horvers - JPMorgan
克里斯·霍弗斯 - 摩根大通
Chuck Grom - Gordon Haskett
Brandon Cheatham - Citigroup
布兰登·切瑟姆 - 花旗集团
John Heinbockel - Guggenheim Securities
约翰·海因博克尔 - 古根海姆证券
Scott Ciccarelli - Truist Securities
斯科特·西卡雷利 - 真理证券
Rupesh Parikh - Oppenheimer
鲁佩什·帕里赫 - 奥本海默
Kelly Bania - BMO Capital Markets
凯利·巴尼亚 - 加拿大蒙特利尔银行资本市场
Michael Baker - D.A. Davidson
迈克尔·贝克 - D.A.戴维森
Karen Short - Melius Research
Greg Melich - Evercore ISI
Greg Melich - 摩根士丹利华鑫证券
Operator 操作员
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Krista and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Costco Wholesale Corporation Fourth Quarter 2024 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you.
女士们，先生们，感谢您的耐心等待。我叫 Krista，今天我将担任您的会议操作员。现在，我想欢迎大家参加 Costco Wholesale Corporation 2024 年第四季度电话会议。所有线路都已静音，以防止任何背景噪音。在演讲者发言后，将进行问答环节。[操作员指示] 谢谢。
I will now turn the conference over to Gary Millerchip, Chief Financial Officer. Gary, the floor is yours.
我现在将会议交给首席财务官 Gary Millerchip。Gary，请开始。
Gary Millerchip
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Costco's Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. I'd like to start by reminding you that these discussions will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events, results, and/or performance to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those outlined in today's call, as well as other risks identified from time to time in the company's public statements and reports filed with the SEC.
下午好，各位，感谢您参加 Costco 2024 年第四季度收益电话会议。我想首先提醒大家，这些讨论将包括 1995 年《私人证券诉讼改革法》意义上的前瞻性陈述。这些陈述涉及可能导致实际事件、结果和/或表现与这些陈述所表明的内容实质性不同的风险和不确定性。风险和不确定性包括但不限于今天电话会议中概述的风险，以及公司公开声明和向 SEC 提交的报告中不时识别的其他风险。
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and the company does not undertake to update these statements except as required by law. Comparable sales and comparable sales excluding impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange are intended as supplemental information and are not a substitute for net sales presented in accordance with GAAP.
前瞻性陈述仅反映其发布时的观点，公司不承担更新这些陈述的义务，除非法律要求。可比销售额和排除汽油价格变动和外汇变动影响的可比销售额旨在作为补充信息，并不替代按照 GAAP 编制的净销售额。
Now before we dive into our financial results for the quarter, I'm delighted to say that Ron Vachris is joining us for the call today. I'll now hand over to Ron for some opening comments.
现在在我们深入讨论本季度财务结果之前，我很高兴地宣布，Ron Vachris 今天将加入我们的电话会议。我现在将把话筒交给 Ron，让他发表一些开场评论。
Ron Vachris
Thank you, Gary, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. As we turn the page on fiscal year 2024, let me make a few comments on our progress during the year as a whole. Throughout the fiscal year 2024, we will continue to execute on our strategy of growing the top-line through delivering the highest quality goods at the lowest possible price to our members. As a management team, we continue to be incredibly proud of our 333,000 employees worldwide and the culture that they foster. The consistency of our financial results is a reflection of the commitment of our entire team to member service and the Costco experience.
感谢 Gary，下午好，各位。感谢大家今天加入我们。随着我们翻开 2024 财年的新篇章，让我对过去一年整体进展发表几点评论。在 2024 财年全年，我们将继续执行我们的战略，通过向会员提供最高质量的产品以最低的价格来增长收入。作为管理团队，我们对我们全球 333,000 名员工以及他们培养的文化感到无比自豪。我们财务成果的稳定性反映了我们整个团队对会员服务和 Costco 体验的承诺。
高质量、低价，不一致总归是阻力。
Most of these employees are led by our fantastic warehouse managers, who we view as executives in our company. Succession planning continues to be a key focal point for us, as we're continually working on identifying the future leaders of our company. In fiscal year 2024, we promoted 95 new warehouse managers. 85% of those promoted, started at Costco as an hourly employee. This promote from within culture and the long-term career it helps to build is core to who we are as a company, community member, and retailer.
大多数这些员工都由我们出色的仓库经理领导，我们将他们视为我们公司的管理人员。继任计划继续是我们关注的重点，因为我们一直在努力确定我们公司的未来领导者。在 2024 财年，我们晋升了 95 名新的仓库经理。晋升的 85%都是从 Costco 的计时员工开始的。这种内部晋升的文化以及它帮助建立的长期职业生涯是我们作为公司、社区成员和零售商的核心。
A few other highlights I'd like to mention. In fiscal 2024, we hit our target of 30 new warehouse openings. This included one relocation and resulted in 29 net new buildings. Highlights included our first-ever building in Maine, bringing us to 47 states, and our 600th US Building in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We also continue to see significant opportunities worldwide, and our fiscal 2025 plan has 12 of our planned 29 openings coming outside of the US, including our fifth building in Spain, which opened in Zaragoza two weeks ago. With three of these warehouses being relocations, we expect to add 26 net new buildings in fiscal 2025.
我还想提到一些其他亮点。在2024财年，我们达成了30家新仓库的开业目标，其中包括一次搬迁，净增29个新建筑。亮点包括我们在缅因州的首家仓库，使我们在美国覆盖的州数量达到了47个，以及我们在威斯康星州欧克莱尔开设的第600家美国仓库。我们还在全球看到显著的机会，我们2025财年的计划中，29个新开业仓库中有12个将位于美国以外地区，包括我们两周前在西班牙萨拉戈萨开设的第五家仓库。由于其中有三个仓库为搬迁，我们预计2025财年将净增26个新建筑。
We continue to grow our e-commerce business, and Costco Logistics has had a remarkable year. Appliances and furniture in big and bulky has led the way, and Logistics delivered over 4.5 million items this last year, up 29% over the year prior. Improvements in our items sortment, delivery times, and scheduling functionality all enhance the member experience. We have great momentum with this business and expect big and bulky items will be a key part of our continued progress with e-commerce in the coming year.
我们继续扩大我们的电子商务业务，Costco 物流在过去一年取得了显著成绩。大件和笨重家电和家具引领了潮流，物流部门去年交付了超过 450 万件商品，比前一年增长了 29%。我们对商品分类、配送时间和调度功能的改进都提升了会员体验。我们对这个业务充满信心，并预计大件和笨重商品将在未来一年我们电子商务持续进步中发挥关键作用。
Turning to technology, we're starting to realize the benefits from the work that was done this past year. Members are very excited about being able to check warehouse inventory via the Costco app. And the membership card scanners installed at the front doors have delivered on the goal of speeding up the checkout process. This has been very well received by our members. More improvements are currently underway, which should further benefit our business both online and in our warehouses.
转向技术，我们开始意识到过去一年所做工作的好处。成员们对能够通过 Costco 应用程序检查仓库库存感到非常兴奋。安装在入口处的会员卡扫描仪已经实现了加快结账流程的目标。这一点受到了我们成员的广泛好评。目前正在进行的更多改进将进一步提高我们的在线和仓库业务。
With that, I'll turn it back over to Gary to discuss the results for the quarter, and I'll jump back on during Q&A to field some questions.
因此，我将把讨论本季度结果的任务交还给 Gary，并在问答环节再次加入，回答一些问题。
Gary Millerchip
Thanks, Ron. In today's press release, we reported operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, the 16 weeks ended September 1st. As we did last quarter, we published a slide deck on our investor site, under Events and Presentations, with supplemental information to support today's press release. You might find it helpful to have this presentation in front of you as I walk through our results.
谢谢，Ron。在今天的新闻稿中，我们报告了 2024 财年第四季度的运营结果，即截至 9 月 1 日的 16 周。正如我们上一季度所做的那样，我们在投资者网站上发布了幻灯片演示文稿，位于“活动和演示”部分，其中包含支持今天新闻稿的补充信息。在我介绍我们的结果时，您可能觉得在面前有这份演示文稿会有所帮助。
Throughout this discussion, when we're comparing to last year's fourth quarter, the best way to normalize for the extra week is to multiply last year's results by [16-17] (ph). Net income for the 16-week fourth quarter came in at $2.354 billion, or $5.29 per diluted share, up from $2.16 billion and $4.86 per diluted share in the 17-week fourth quarter last year. This year's results included a non-recurring net tax benefit of $63 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, related to a transfer pricing settlement and true-ups of various tax reserves.
在整个讨论中，当我们与去年第四季度进行比较时，为了对额外的一周进行标准化处理，最佳方法是将去年的结果乘以[16-17]（ph）。16 周第四季度的净收入为 23.54 亿美元，或每股摊薄收益 5.29 美元，高于去年 17 周第四季度的 21.6 亿美元和每股摊薄收益 4.86 美元。今年的结果包括了一次性净税收收益 6300 万美元，或每股摊薄收益 0.14 美元，这与转移定价协议和各项税收准备金的调整有关。
Reported net income was up 9% year-over-year. Excluding this year's non-recurring tax benefit and normalized for the extra week, last year, net income and earnings per diluted share were up 12.7% and 12.6% respectively. Net sales for the fourth quarter were $78.2 billion, an increase of 1% from $77.4 billion in the fourth quarter last year. Adjusting for the extra week last year, net sales would have been up 7.3%. The following comparable sales reflect comparable locations year-over-year and 16 comparable retail weeks.
报告的净利润同比增长了9%。排除今年的一次性税收优惠并按去年额外的一周调整后，净利润和每股摊薄收益分别增长了12.7%和12.6%。第四季度的净销售额为782亿美元，比去年的774亿美元增长了1%。调整去年额外的一周后，净销售额将增长7.3%。以下的可比销售额反映了年同比可比门店和16个可比零售周的数据。
U.S. comp sales were up 5.3% or 6.3% excluding gas deflation. Canada comp sales were up 5.5% or 7.9% excluding gas deflation and FX. And other international comp sales were up 5.7% or 9.3% adjusted. This all led to total company comp sales of plus 5.4% or plus 6.9% adjusted for gas deflation and FX. Finally, e-commerce comp sales were up 18.9% or 19.5% adjusted for FX. In terms of Q4 comp sales metrics, foreign currencies relative to the US dollar negatively impacted sales by approximately 0.9%, while gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 0.6%.
美国可比销售额上涨 5.3%，或 6.3%（扣除汽油价格下跌）。加拿大可比销售额上涨 5.5%，或 7.9%（扣除汽油价格下跌和外汇）。其他国际可比销售额上涨 5.7%，或 9.3%（调整后）。这导致公司总可比销售额上涨 5.4%，或 6.9%（调整后扣除汽油价格下跌和外汇）。最后，电子商务可比销售额上涨 18.9%，或 19.5%（调整后扣除外汇）。就第四季度可比销售额指标而言，相对于美元的外币对销售额产生了约 0.9%的负面影响，而汽油价格下跌对销售额产生了约 0.6%的负面影响。
Traffic or shopping frequency increased 6.4% worldwide and 5.6% in the US. Our average transaction, or ticket was negative 0.9% worldwide and negative 0.3% in the US. This includes the headwinds from gas deflation and FX. Adjusted for those items, ticket would have been positive 0.5% worldwide and positive 0.6% in the US. Moving down the income statement to membership fee income, we reported membership fee income of $1.512 billion, an increase of $3 million, or 0.2%, on one less week year-over-year.
全球范围内客流量或购物频率增加了6.4%，在美国则增长了5.6%。我们的平均交易额或票据金额在全球范围内下降了0.9%，在美国下降了0.3%。这包括了油价下跌和外汇带来的不利影响。若排除这些因素，全球票据金额将增长0.5%，美国则增长0.6%。在损益表的会员费收入部分，我们报告的会员费收入为15.12亿美元，同比少一周的情况下增加了300万美元，即0.2%。
FX negatively impacted membership fee income by 0.9%. Excluding the impacts from the extra week last year, and FX normalized membership fee income was up 7.4%. In terms of renewal rates, at Q4 end, our US and Canada renewal rate was 92.9%, down one-tenth of a percent from Q3 end. This slight decrease related to an online membership promotion that we ran for a short period in fiscal year 2023, which resulted in over 200,000 new sign-ups. As those members entered the renewal rate calculation during Q4 fiscal year 2024, the lower renewal rates for that cohort, which is typical for digital promotions, had a negative impact on the overall US renewal rate.
FX 对会员费收入产生了-0.9%的负面影响。排除去年额外一周的影响，FX 正常化的会员费收入增长了 7.4%。在续订率方面，截至第四季度末，我们美国和加拿大的续订率为 92.9%，较第三季度末下降了十分之一个百分点。这种轻微的下降与我们 2023 财年短期运行的在线会员促销活动有关，该活动导致超过 20 万名新注册。随着这些会员在 2024 财年第四季度进入续订率计算，该群体较低的续订率（这是数字促销的典型情况）对整体美国续订率产生了负面影响。
Outside of those sign ups, there were no meaningful changes in the US renewal rate. The worldwide rate came in at 90.5%, the same as Q3, with improvement internationally offsetting the slight negative in the US. We ended Q4 with 76.2 million paid household members, up 7.3% versus last year, and 136.8 million cardholders up 7% year-over-year. About half of new member signups in fiscal year 2024 were under 40 years of age. This percentage has been growing since COVID, and has lowered the average age of our member over the last few years.
除了这些新会员注册之外，美国的续费率没有显著变化。全球续费率为90.5%，与第三季度持平，国际上的提升抵消了美国的轻微负面影响。我们在第四季度末拥有7620万付费家庭会员，同比增长7.3%，持卡人数达到1.368亿，同比增长7%。2024财年约有一半的新会员注册者年龄在40岁以下。自疫情以来，这一比例一直在增加，降低了我们会员的平均年龄。
At Q4 end, we have 35.4 million paid executive memberships, up 9.6% versus last year. Executive members now represent 46.5% of paid members and 73.5% of worldwide sales. Turning to gross margin. Our reported rate in the fourth quarter was higher year-over-year by 40 basis points, coming in at 11% compared to 10.6% last year and up 33 basis points, excluding gas deflation. Core was lower by 5 basis points and lower by 11 basis points without gas deflation.
截至第四季度末，我们有 3540 万付费执行会员，同比增长 9.6%。执行会员现在占付费会员的 46.5%和全球销售的 73.5%。转向毛利率。我们第四季度的报告比率比去年高出 40 个基点，达到 11%，而去年为 10.6%，剔除通货膨胀因素后上升了 33 个基点。核心比率下降了 5 个基点，剔除通货膨胀因素后下降了 11 个基点。
In terms of core margins on their own sales, our core-on-core margins were higher by 9 basis points. Ancillary and other businesses' gross margin was higher 44 basis points and higher 42 basis points, excluding gas deflation. This increase year-over-year was driven by gas and e-commerce. E-commerce benefited from strong sales growth, item mix, and fulfillment productivity. And gas margins benefited from some moderate tailwinds and lapping a slightly weaker quarter last year, but nothing as significant as the benefit in Q1 2024, as a result of the volatility from world events in that quarter.
就自身销售的核心利润率而言，我们的核心对核心利润率提高了9个基点。附属和其他业务的毛利率提高了44个基点，不计油价下跌则提高了42个基点。同比增长的推动因素是油价和电子商务。电子商务受益于强劲的销售增长、产品组合以及履约效率的提升。油品毛利受到了适度的顺风推动，并且比去年同期略弱的季度有所反弹，但这次的影响不如2024年第一季度因全球事件波动带来的显著收益。
2% rewards was higher by 4 basis points or 3 basis points without gas deflation, reflecting higher sales penetration from our executive members. And LIFO was a benefit of 5 basis points. We had an $8 million LIFO credit in Q4 this year compared to a $30 million charge in Q4 last year. Moving to SG&A. Our reported SG&A rate in the fourth quarter was higher year-over-year by 8 basis points, coming in at 9.04% compared to last year's 8.96%.
2%奖励提高了4个基点，不计油价下跌则为3个基点，反映了执行会员的销售渗透率提高。LIFO（后进先出）带来了5个基点的收益。今年第四季度我们获得了800万美元的LIFO抵免，而去年第四季度则是3000万美元的费用。接下来是销售和管理费用（SG&A）。我们第四季度报告的SG&A费用率同比提高了8个基点，达到9.04%，而去年为8.96%。
SG&A was higher by 2 basis points adjusted for gas deflation. The operations component of SG&A was higher 4 basis points, but was flat excluding gas deflation. Higher wages went into effect for the last six weeks of the quarter in the US and Canada, which was a headwind for the quarter of approximately 4 basis points. Investing in our employees remains a key part of our strategy, and we will continue to focus on driving top-line sales and improving productivity to mitigate the incremental costs.
调整油价下跌影响后，SG&A费用率上升了2个基点。SG&A的运营部分上升了4个基点，但在不计油价下跌的情况下保持不变。美国和加拿大在季度最后六周实施了加薪，这对本季度带来了约4个基点的不利影响。投资于员工仍然是我们战略的关键部分，我们将继续专注于推动销售增长和提高生产率，以减轻新增成本的影响。
Central was higher by 3 basis points and 2 basis points without gas deflation. Stock compensation was flat year-over-year, and pre-opening was higher 1 basis point but flat without gas deflation. Below the operating income line, interest expense was $49 million versus $56 million last year, reflecting $1 billion of debt paydown in the second-week of Q4 this year.
中央费用上升了3个基点，不计油价下跌则上升了2个基点。股票薪酬同比持平，开业前费用上升了1个基点，但不计油价下跌则持平。在营业收入以下，利息费用为4900万美元，而去年为5600万美元，反映了今年第四季度第二周偿还的10亿美元债务。
Interest income for the quarter was $138 million versus $201 million last year, primarily due to the $6.7 billion special dividend paid in January 2024. Interest income will continue to be a headwind in the first half of this year due to lower year-over-year cash balances and lower interest rates. FX and other was an $18 million loss this year versus a $37 million gain last year. This was primarily due to foreign exchange. In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in Q4 was 24.4%, compared to 27.1% in Q4 last year. As mentioned earlier, this year's rate benefited from $63 million of net tax discrete items. Adjusted for this benefit, the tax rate for the quarter would have been 26.4%.
本季度的利息收入为1.38亿美元，而去年为2.01亿美元，主要原因是2024年1月支付的67亿美元特别股息。由于现金余额同比减少和利率下降，利息收入在今年上半年仍将面临压力。今年的外汇及其他损失为1800万美元，而去年则有3700万美元的收益，主要原因是外汇波动。在所得税方面，我们第四季度的税率为24.4%，相比去年第四季度的27.1%。如前所述，今年的税率受到了6300万美元净税收离散项目的有利影响。调整此收益后，本季度的税率将为26.4%。
Turning now to some key items of note in the quarter. We opened 14 new warehouses in the fourth quarter, 10 in the US, 2 in Japan, and 1 each in Korea and China. Capital expenditure in Q4 was approximately $1.58 billion, bringing the total year spent to $4.71 billion. Taking a deeper look into core merchandising sales, once again, non-foods led the way with the highest comparable sales in Q4. Our buyers have done a fantastic job finding new and exciting items at great values. Golden jewelry, gift cards, toys and seasonal, home furnishings, tires, and housewares all were up double digits in the quarter.
现在转向本季度的一些重要事项。我们在第四季度开设了 14 个新仓库，其中美国 10 个，日本 2 个，韩国和中国各 1 个。第四季度的资本支出约为 15.8 亿美元，使全年支出总额达到 47.1 亿美元。深入分析核心商品销售，非食品类再次以第四季度最高的可比销售额领先。我们的采购团队在寻找新颖且性价比高的商品方面做得非常出色。黄金珠宝、礼品卡、玩具、季节性家居用品、轮胎和家居用品在季度内的销售额都实现了两位数的增长。
Health and beauty aids also performed well, as we have expanded and elevated that category with new high-end SKUs, both online and in warehouse, including assorted luxury fragrances at a 30% to 70% value to retail. Across the fresh departments, we saw high single digit growth, as our continued focus on value is resonating with our members. An example of this in the meat department is our Kirkland Signature boneless chicken tenderloins, where we lowered the price 13% and saw a 21% lift in pounds sold. In food and sundries, the introduction of more international food products such as paneer cheese, Punjabi cookies, and fried tofu kimbap are resonating extremely well with our members.
健康与美容产品也表现良好，因为我们通过推出新的高端 SKU，包括 30%至 70%折扣的各类奢侈品香水，在线和仓库都进行了扩展和提升。在新鲜部门，我们看到了高个位数增长，因为我们持续关注的价值观念与我们的会员产生了共鸣。在肉类部门的一个例子是我们的 Kirkland Signature 无骨鸡胸肉，我们将其价格降低了 13%，销量增长了 21%。在食品和杂货方面，推出更多国际食品产品，如印度干酪、旁遮普饼干和炸豆腐卷，与我们的会员产生了极大的共鸣。
We're also delivering greater value by adding some new Kirkland Signature items, such as our KS Organic Golden Maple Syrup and KS aerosol whipped cream. Kirkland Signature offers significant member value compared to the national brands and continues to grow at a faster pace than our business as a whole. Our goal is always to be the first to lower prices where we see the opportunities to do so. And just a few examples this quarter include KS Standard Foil, reduced from $31.99 to $29.99, KS Macadamia Nuts, reduced from $18.99 to $13.99, KS Spanish Olive Oil, 3 liter, reduced from $38.99 to $34.99, and KS Baguette 2-Packs reduced from [$5.99 to $4.99] (ph).
我们通过增加一些新的 Kirkland Signature 产品，如我们的 KS 有机金枫糖浆和 KS 喷雾奶油，提供了更大的价值。与全国品牌相比，Kirkland Signature 为会员提供了显著的价值，并且继续以比我们整体业务更快的速度增长。我们的目标始终是第一个降低价格，只要我们看到降低价格的机会。本季度的一些例子包括 KS 标准箔纸，从 31.99 美元降至 29.99 美元，KS 夏威夷果，从 18.99 美元降至 13.99 美元，KS 西班牙橄榄油，3 升，从 38.99 美元降至 34.99 美元，以及 KS 法棍 2 包装，从 5.99 美元降至 4.99 美元（电话）。
Our commitment to sustainability and achieving lower emissions is also presenting opportunities to lower our costs. A great example of this is our KS laundry packs, which we recently converted from a rigid plastic tub to a pouch. This allowed us to reduce the plastic packaging by 80% and pass these cost savings onto the member, lowering the price by $1 from $19.99 to $18.99. We've also found success working with suppliers to localize production of bulky items, such as water, paper, and laundry detergents. By manufacturing these goods closer to the countries in which they're sold, both costs and emissions associated with the shipment of these goods are greatly reduced.
我们致力于可持续发展和降低排放，这也为我们降低成本提供了机会。一个很好的例子是我们的 KS 洗衣套装，我们最近将其从硬塑料桶转换为袋装。这使得我们减少了 80%的塑料包装，并将这些成本节约转嫁给会员，将价格从 19.99 美元降至 18.99 美元。我们还发现与供应商合作，本地化生产大型物品，如水、纸张和洗衣剂，也取得了成功。通过在销售这些商品的国家附近制造这些商品，大大降低了与这些商品运输相关的成本和排放。
This quarter, we introduced our new Japan-produced Kirkland Signature paper towels. In addition to the emissions benefits from no longer shipping millions of units of paper towels from the US to Asia, the reduced freight allowed us to lower the price by approximately 30%, or $8 per unit in that market. As production ramps up, we are in the process of transitioning our other Asian markets to locally produce skews. Shifting the production country of this one product will result in annual member savings of $30 million.
本季度，我们推出了由日本生产的 Kirkland Signature 纸巾。除了不再从美国向亚洲运输数百万单位纸巾带来的排放效益外，降低的运费使我们能够将该市场的价格降低约 30%，即每单位 8 美元。随着生产规模的扩大，我们正在将其他亚洲市场过渡到本地生产。将这一产品的生产国转移到本地将每年为会员节省 3000 万美元。
Within ancillary businesses, pharmacy have the strongest sales percentage increase, driven by double digit growth in script counts. Our optical department also performed well, as more members have taken advantage of the exceptional values in brand name frames and sunglasses. On a like-for-like 16-week basis, gas sales were negative low single digits in the quarter as a result of the average price per gallon being 5% lower. This was partially offset by gallon growth of 3%.
在辅助业务中，药房的销售百分比增长最强，这得益于处方数量两位数的增长。我们的光学部门也表现良好，因为更多会员利用了品牌镜框和太阳镜的卓越价值。在类似的基础 16 周内，由于每加仑的平均价格比上季度低 5%，汽油销售在季度中呈负增长，个位数较低。这部分的负面影响部分被每加仑增长 3%所抵消。
Inflation was once again effectively flat in the quarter across all core merchandise. Food and sundries and fresh foods were slightly inflationary and this was offset by deflation in non-foods. In the supply chain, we are seeing good flow of products through Panama and Baltimore. The Red Sea is a remaining pain point and is causing some relatively minor shipping delays. Product availability has generally been good with a few exceptions.
通货膨胀在所有核心商品中再次有效持平。食品和杂货以及新鲜食品略有通货膨胀，这被非食品的通货紧缩所抵消。在供应链中，我们看到了产品通过巴拿马和巴尔的摩的良好流动。红海是剩余的痛点，导致一些相对较小的运输延误。产品可用性总体良好，但有少数例外。
Egg supplies are still being negatively impacted by avian influenza and prime beef and a handful of vegetable SKUs have been tight. As Ron shared earlier, we are pleased with the momentum in our digital business and continue to make good progress with our technology priorities. Our app was downloaded 3.5 million times in the quarter, bringing total downloads to approximately 39 million, and we recently upgraded the native search function on our US mobile app, leading to a doubling of the click-through rate on search results.
鸡蛋供应仍受禽流感影响，优质牛肉和一些蔬菜 SKU 供应紧张。正如 Ron 之前分享的，我们对数字业务的势头感到满意，并继续在技术优先事项上取得良好进展。我们的应用在季度内下载了 350 万次，总下载量达到约 3900 万次，我们最近升级了美国移动应用的本地搜索功能，导致搜索结果的点击率翻倍。
E-commerce traffic, conversion rates and average order value were all up year-over-year, helping to drive another strong quarter of comparable sales growth. While continued strength in bullion, was a meaningful tailwind to e-commerce comps, appliances, health and beauty aids, tires, toys, gift cards, hardware, housewares, home furnishings, optical and pharmacy all grew double digits year-over-year. The rollout of buy online and pickup in warehouse for TVs in the US market was also completed in Q4. This allows same-day pickup of a new TV for members who prefer not to wait for delivery.
电子商务流量、转化率和平均订单价值均同比上升，有助于推动可比销售额的强劲增长。尽管贵金属持续强劲，对电子商务、家电、健康与美容产品、轮胎、玩具、礼品卡、硬件、家居用品、家居装饰、光学和药店等领域的增长也实现了两位数的同比增长。在美国市场，电视的“在线购买、仓库取货”服务也在第四季度完成推出。这允许那些不愿等待送货的会员当天取走新电视。
While buy online pickup in warehouse isn't cost effective for us on lower-priced items, for high-value items with high shipping costs like TVs, the freight savings more than offset the added labor, required in warehouses to fulfill those orders. We're now testing a similar program on laptops. Costco Next, our curated marketplace, while still small, continued to grow nicely in the quarter. We added 11 new vendors, bringing the total to 86 and adjusting for the extra week, gross sales grew nearly 40% year-over-year. A brief comment on the membership fee increase that went into effect on September 1.
尽管对于价格较低的商品来说，“在线下单，仓库自提”对我们而言并不具成本效益，但对于像电视机这样具有高运输成本的高价值商品，节省的运费足以抵消仓库履行这些订单所需的额外人工成本。目前我们正在对笔记本电脑进行类似的测试。Costco Next 是我们精选的市场平台，虽然规模仍然较小，但在本季度实现了良好增长。我们新增了11家供应商，使总数达到86家，并且在调整去年额外的一周后，毛销售额同比增长了近40%。关于9月1日生效的会员费上涨，我简单说明一下。
Due to deferred accounting, this will have minimal impact early in the year. The vast majority of the benefit will come in the back half of fiscal year 2025 and into fiscal year 2026. With that being said, our commitment to invest in our employees and members is continuous as evidenced by the July wage increase and lower prices such as the example shared on today's call.
由于推迟的会计处理，这将在年初产生最小影响。大部分好处将在 2025 财年下半年和 2026 财年出现。话虽如此，我们投资于员工和会员的承诺是持续的，正如 7 月份的工资增长和今天电话会议中分享的降价示例所证明的那样。
In closing, we are encouraged by our momentum exiting fiscal year 2024 and are excited about the growth opportunities ahead as we continue to execute our strategy of delivering exciting new items and greater value for members, innovating with Kirkland Signature and growing our warehouse footprint and digital capabilities globally. In terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our September sales results for the five weeks ending Sunday, October the 6th on Wednesday, October 9th after market close. That concludes our prepared remarks. We'll now open the line up for Q&A.
在结束之际，我们对我们退出 2024 财年的势头感到鼓舞，并期待着在继续执行我们的战略，即提供令人兴奋的新产品、为会员带来更多价值，与 Kirkland Signature 进行创新，以及在全球范围内扩大我们的仓库足迹和数字能力时，未来的增长机会。关于即将发布的消息，我们将在周三 10 月 9 日市场收盘后，宣布 9 月为期五周的销售额结果，截止日期为 10 月 6 日星期日。这结束了我们的准备发言。现在我们将开启问答环节。
Question-and-Answer Session
问答环节
Operator 操作员
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
感谢。我们现在开始问答环节。[操作员指示]您的第一个问题是来自摩根士丹利的西梅恩·古特曼。请开始。
Simeon Gutman 西梅昂·古特曼
Questions. On the previous earnings call, there was a discussion about the possibility of greater SG&A leverage in the future as a lot of foundational investments have already been made shortly after Costco announced a membership fee increase and reinvestment into employee wages as well. While wage investments are clearly the right thing for the business and instrumental for Costco's culture and success, how should we reconcile this potential posture of driving more leverage but also adopting the same prior approach of putting upside back into wages.
问题。 在之前的财报电话会议中，讨论了未来可能实现更高的SG&A杠杆，因为许多基础性投资已经完成，不久之后，Costco也宣布了会员费上涨和对员工工资的再投资。尽管工资投资显然对业务有利，并对Costco的文化和成功至关重要，但我们该如何调和这种推动更高杠杆的潜在策略，同时又采用将收益再次投入工资的以往做法呢？
Gary Millerchip
Hi, yes. Good afternoon. Thanks for the question. As we think about our overall model for the company, our focus is on really achieving a balance across the business. And as you know, over the years, what we've done successfully at Costco is, continue to invest in members, continue to invest in lowering prices and value for our members and continuing to invest in our employees. And we believe that's going to be a critical part of our overall strategy going forward to make sure that we keep driving our top-line sales growth.
您好，是的。下午好。感谢提问。当我们思考公司的整体模式时，我们的重点是真正在业务中实现平衡。正如您所知，多年来，我们在 Costco 成功做到的是，继续投资会员，继续投资降低会员的价格和价值，并继续投资我们的员工。我们相信，这将是我们未来整体战略的关键部分，确保我们持续推动销售额增长。
You're absolutely right, during the quarter. And in fact, I think 3 times during the year, we shared -- we made various investments in our employees back in September 2023, we announced an increase in the starting wage. And then in March this year, we announced that we were increasing wages for a number of our managerial roles in the warehouses. And as you mentioned, we recently announced a further increase for all of our hourly employees in the warehouses and across our distribution network.
您完全正确，在季度期间。事实上，我认为在一年中我们有三次分享——我们在 2023 年 9 月对员工进行了各种投资，宣布了起薪的提高。然后在今年 3 月，我们宣布提高仓库中多个管理职位的工资。正如您提到的，我们最近宣布进一步提高仓库和整个分销网络中所有小时工的工资。
And so from our perspective, we think that's an important part of continuing to support the top-line growth in the company. As you saw in the quarter, when you adjust SG&A for gas deflation and for looking particularly at the operational part of the business, the good news was we were able to effectively offset that cost -- those cost increases by driving productivity and driving sales leverage. And I think we've done that pretty consistently over time. And our expectation of ourselves is that we'll continue to do that.
因此，从我们的角度来看，我们认为这是继续支持公司主要增长的重要部分。正如你在季度中看到的那样，当你调整 SG&A 以应对能源通胀并特别关注业务的运营部分时，好消息是我们能够有效地抵消这些成本——这些成本增加，通过提高生产力和推动销售杠杆。我认为我们在过去的时间里一直做得相当一致。并且，我们对自己的期望是，我们将继续这样做。
So I think for us, it's less about giving specific guidance on a particular measure but more looking over the long term of how we expect to be able to keep making those investments, but also driving leverage in our model to ensure we're sustainably driving top-line and driving profitable growth. Ron, anything you'd like to add?
因此，我认为对我们来说，与其在特定措施上提供具体指导，不如从长远角度考虑我们如何预期继续进行这些投资，同时推动我们模型中的杠杆作用，以确保我们可持续地推动收入增长和实现盈利增长。Ron，你有什么要补充的吗？
Ron Vachris
No, I have to agree with you, Gary.
不，我必须同意你，加里。
Simeon Gutman 西梅昂·古特曼
Got it. That's really helpful. And just as a quick follow-up, can you speak to the impact of the card readers at the different stores you've rolled out so far? Should we be modeling potentially a lift in member counts or growth in addition to the MFI bump from the fee increase as well?
明白了，这非常有帮助。作为一个快速的跟进问题，能否谈谈到目前为止在不同门店安装的会员卡读卡器的影响？除了会员费上涨带来的收入增长外，我们是否应该在模型中考虑会员数量或增长的潜在提升呢？
Ron Vachris
This is Ron. The purpose of the card readers at the front door, this is a system we've been using for over two years now in Europe and especially in the UK and we've piloted here in the US for about six months. Several different benefits for it. It gives our operators real-time traffic counts throughout the day. So we're able to adjust front-end lines that we need to open and close lines based on the fluctuations of business. We can monitor our fresh foods a little better because we know what the traffic counts look like and so forth.
我是Ron。入口处的会员卡读卡器，我们在欧洲，尤其是英国，已经使用了两年多，在美国试点了大约六个月。它带来了多方面的好处。首先，它可以为我们的运营人员提供全天实时的客流统计数据。因此，我们可以根据业务波动来调整前端的开关线路。我们还能更好地监控生鲜食品，因为我们能够了解到客流数据等情况。
And it has also taken the friction of membership verification away from the front-end registers and move that to the front door, where we're able to look at people's membership status. We let them know if their renewals is due before they get to the front-end. So we've realized some very nice, healthy front-end improvements in productivity, and it's allowed our operators to manage the business much better throughout the day.
此外，它还将会员验证的流程从收银台转移到了入口处，我们可以在入口查看会员的状态，并在他们到达收银台前提醒他们续费情况。因此，我们在前端的生产力方面实现了一些非常显著的提升，这也使我们的运营人员能够更好地在一天中管理业务。
封闭系统的有它自己的效率，在一堆竞争对手中敢这么做的很少。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from Chris Horvers with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自摩根大通的 Chris Horvers。请继续。
Chris Horvers 克里斯·霍弗斯
Thank you. Good evening. I’m going – hopefully you can hear me. The question is can you talk about the risk around the port strike that's emerging here. What percentage of the product do you -- comes through those defected ports. Any description on maybe the categories that are more exposed versus the others? And to what extent have you tried to bring in product early for the holidays to try to manage that risk?
感谢。晚上好。我正在去——希望你能听到我。问题是，你能谈谈这里出现的港口罢工的风险吗？有多少比例的产品——是通过那些有缺陷的港口运输的？有没有关于可能比其他类别更易受影响的类别的描述？你为了在假日提前引入产品以管理风险，尝试到了什么程度？
Ron Vachris
Yes. This is Ron again. Yes, I'll take that question. The port strike is something we've been watching very closely for some time. We knew about the timing of this as well. When you think about the impact to our business, we import primarily nonfoods and some limited food and sundries come in, but nonfoods is less -- about 25% of our total business and only a subset of that is important. There's some domestic goods in there as well that are not imported in nonfoods.
好的。我是Ron。是的，我来回答这个问题。港口罢工是我们密切关注了一段时间的问题，我们也清楚其发生的时间。谈到对我们业务的影响，我们的进口主要集中在非食品领域，只有少量食品和杂货，而非食品仅占我们总业务的约25%，其中只有一部分是进口商品。非食品中也有一些国内商品，并非全部都是进口的。
We have done a little bit of everything that you spoke about. We've got contingency plans, we've cleared the ports, we've pre-shipped. We've done several different things that we could to get holiday goods in, ahead of this time frame and looked at alternate plans that we could execute with moving goods to different ports and coming across the country if needed. It could be disruptive based on how impactful, I can't tell you until we know length and what could happen out there. But it is in our sights. Our buyers are all over it. They're watching it closely, and we've taken as many preemptive measures as we could to prepare for this.
我们已经做了你提到的每一件事。我们制定了应急计划，清空了港口，提前发货。我们做了几件不同的事情，以确保在规定时间内将假日商品运进来，并考虑了其他可能的计划，包括将货物运往不同的港口，如果需要的话，穿越整个国家。具体影响程度，我无法告诉你，除非我们知道持续时间以及可能发生的情况。但这是我们关注的焦点。我们的买家都在密切关注，他们正在密切关注，我们已经尽可能地采取了预防措施来准备应对这种情况。
Chris Horvers 克里斯·霍弗斯
And then just as a quick follow-up. As you think about the risk around ocean freight rates, is your expectation that freight rates are maybe elevated right now because of all this and perhaps come down into next year as we think about contract renewal periods? Thanks.
然后，作为一个快速跟进。当您考虑海洋运费的风险时，您的预期是不是运费现在可能因为所有这些而上升，也许在明年我们考虑合同续签期时又会下降？谢谢。
Ron Vachris
I'm not good at predicting the future, but I can tell you that from what we're seeing a big chunk of our freight comes in under contract. So we've been insulated from that. The spot market has peaked in the last quarter. We see that coming off now. If a port disruption could happen or something else could happen in the Red Sea, could that go up? Absolutely, it could go up. But from what we're seeing now, the spot market did increase is coming off at this point. And again, our team did a great job by insulating us with good solid contracts for this year.
我不擅长预测未来，但可以告诉你，从我们所看到的情况来看，我们的大部分货运都是在合同下进行的。因此，我们已对此有所保护。现货市场在上一季度达到了顶峰。我们现在看到它正在下降。如果红海地区的港口出现中断或其他情况，价格会上涨吗？绝对会。但从我们现在看到的情况来看，现货市场确实在这一点上有所上升。再次强调，我们的团队通过为我们今年签订的良好稳定的合同，做得非常出色。
Chris Horvers 克里斯·霍弗斯
Thanks so much. 非常感谢。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 Chuck Grom 和 Gordon Haskett 一行。请继续。
Chuck Grom
Thanks. Good afternoon, Gary and Ron, just to go back to the membership card scanners. Can you just speak to where you are on the rollout of that across the US? And any positive reactions you've seen so far? Our checks have shown that in some locations you guys are actually seeing a double-digit increase in new sign-ups.
谢谢。下午好，Gary 和 Ron，只是想回顾一下会员卡扫描仪的推广情况。你们目前在美国的推广进展如何？以及你们迄今为止看到的任何积极反应？我们的检查显示，在一些地方，你们实际上看到了新注册人数的两位数增长。
Ron Vachris
Yes. We have about 350 US warehouses rolled out at this point and through the process, reaction has been very positive. Myself, all our operators, and we really rely on feedback of our warehouse managers and what's been done. And our head operator, Russ Miller, and myself have been met with great positive reactions both from the members and from the operators as well. We have seen some lift in member sign-ups from that. We have also seen a lift in renewals because before people get to the front end, now they're aware that my renewal is going to be due when I get to the registers, so members are very appreciative about that. They know that and they get up to the front, and they're not shocked by that process as well.
是的，目前我们在美国大约有350家仓库已经部署了该系统，反应非常积极。包括我在内的所有运营人员，我们非常依赖仓库经理们的反馈，系统实施的效果也得到了验证。我和我们的首席运营官Russ Miller都收到了来自会员和运营人员的积极反馈。我们看到会员注册有所提升，续费率也在增加，因为在会员到达收银台之前，他们已经知道自己的续费即将到期，所以会员对此非常感激。他们了解这一情况，来到前端时不会对续费流程感到意外。
So improved productivity, improved interaction. And as we know, as our volumes grow, we're looking for everything we can find to use technology to help get our members through the front ends in a good, smooth manner.
因此提高了生产力，改善了互动。众所周知，随着我们的数量增长，我们正在寻找一切可以利用的技术来帮助我们的成员以良好的、顺畅的方式通过前端。
Chuck Grom
That's very helpful. And then my follow-up, just, Gary, on the other business line and within the margin build up 42 basis points ex-gas. Can you add a little bit of color on the sequential change? How much came from e-comm or how much came from the improvement in gas margins? Thank you.
非常有帮助。然后我的跟进问题是，Gary，关于其他业务线以及不包括油价在内的42个基点的利润率提升。能否详细说明一下环比变化？其中有多少来自电商，有多少来自油品利润率的改善？谢谢。
Gary Millerchip
Sure. Yes, we called those two out because they were the two biggest factor in the results. I think of them as being relatively similar in terms of the impact. E-commerce actually has been a nice trend that we've seen for the last couple of quarters. We've been really pleased with the momentum in e-commerce. Of course, the headline sales growth has been very positive, which is a great starting point.
好的。是的，我们提到这两点是因为它们是业绩中影响最大的两个因素。我认为它们对业绩的影响相对相似。电子商务实际上在过去几个季度表现出了良好的趋势，我们对电子商务的增长势头感到非常满意。当然，销售额的增长非常积极，这是一个很好的起点。
But then the team's done a really nice job of improving fulfillment, efficiency and driving better sell-through in terms of the product and the inventory management as well. And the mix has improved. As I mentioned, on the prepared remarks, we've seen really good growth, really a balance across the board around e-commerce growth. So e-commerce has been a sort of a sustained trend that we've been pleased with the last couple of quarters.
但是，团队在提高履行、效率和推动产品及库存管理方面的销售方面做得非常好。混合比例也有所改善。正如我提到的，在准备好的发言中，我们看到了非常好的增长，真正实现了电子商务增长的全方面平衡。因此，电子商务已经成为一种持续的趋势，我们在过去几个季度都对此感到满意。
On the gas side of things, it was really -- I wouldn't say there was anything unusual during the quarter. It was really more a case that we had a little bit of tailwind in margin. And as I mentioned earlier, we're cycling some lighter margin in the same quarter in 2023.
关于加油方面，本季度没有什么特别异常的情况。实际上，我们的利润率有一些顺风推动。正如我之前提到的，我们正与2023年同季度较低的利润率进行比较。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Paul Lejuez with Citigroup. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自花旗集团的保罗·莱约兹。请继续。
Brandon Cheatham 布兰登·切瑟姆
Hi, everyone. This is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. Thank you Gary and Ron. I want to talk about new store growth. You mentioned 26 net in 2025, with I guess, an increasing focus on international. Anything you can share on why the US would step down from 24 levels? Should we think about international being a more important growth vertical for you? And then on the US side, how many of those are new markets versus infill where you're trying to alleviate traffic congestion from a nearby store?
大家好。我是Brandon Cheatham，代替Paul发言。谢谢Gary和Ron。我想谈谈新店增长的问题。你们提到2025年净增26家门店，并且我猜重点逐渐转向国际市场。能否分享一下为何美国的门店数量会低于2024年的水平？我们是否应该认为国际市场是你们更重要的增长方向？然后在美国方面，这些新店中有多少是进入新市场的，多少是为了缓解附近门店的客流拥挤？
Ron Vachris
On the international to domestic new openings, it really is based on timing through the system. I mean, in larger markets, we may have a building that's taken us three years to get to fruition, where some markets move quite quickly. So there is no specific plan that we have. We put the buildings in queue. We agree that we're going to go there. And then it's following the process all the way through to how utilities come along, infrastructure, those types of things.
在国际到国内的新开张方面，这确实是基于系统的时间安排。我的意思是，在更大的市场上，我们可能有一个花费了我们三年时间才得以实现的项目，而有些市场发展得相当快。所以我们没有具体的计划。我们将建筑排队。我们同意我们将去那里。然后就是按照流程一直进行，直到公共设施、基础设施等这些类型的事情都安排好。
As far as the outlook on international versus domestic growth, it's pretty balanced, again, more of a timing thing than anything. I think we've got 12 next year that will be outside of the US. And we've got some -- you could imagine in some countries, it takes us a few more years to get a building opened up. So it really is about the cadence of them opening. But we continue to look forward that we feel pretty good, balanced growth. We see infills as being very positive for us, both in US, Canada and all of North America that we have plenty of opportunities for infills in North America for the next several years ahead.
关于国际与国内增长的展望，相当平衡，再次强调，这更多的是一个时机问题。我认为我们明年将有 12 个不在美国的项目。而且我们有一些——你可以想象在一些国家，我们可能需要几年时间才能建成一座建筑。所以这实际上真的是关于它们开放节奏的问题。但我们仍然期待着，我们感觉相当良好，增长平衡。我们认为填充项目对我们来说非常积极，无论是在美国、加拿大还是整个北美，我们都有很多填充项目的机会，在未来几年内。
And then a good market of new regions of the world. I don't think we have anything lined up for next year but new markets. I'd say that we're probably looking at 5 to 6 new markets that we'll be expanding into next year.
然后是全世界的新区域市场。我认为我们明年没有安排其他事情，只有新市场。我可以说，我们可能正在寻找 5 到 6 个新市场，我们将在明年拓展。
Brandon Cheatham 布兰登·切瑟姆
Got it. Okay. Thanks. And just one follow-up on the [MFI fee] (ph) increase. I know you all typically reinvest in the member experience and price. And I think we already talked about wages. How should we think about the timing of that? Because you realize the MFI fee increase over a longer period? Is there any near-term pressure that might flow through the P&L as you do kind of focus on delivering that value to the member after you've increased that fee?
明白了。好的，谢谢。关于会员费（MFI费）上涨的跟进问题。我知道你们通常会将这部分收入再投资于会员体验和价格方面。我想我们已经讨论过了薪资问题。我们该如何看待其时间安排？因为会员费上涨的收益会在更长的时间内逐步实现。在费用上涨后，你们专注于为会员提供更多价值的过程中，是否会对利润表带来短期压力？
Gary Millerchip
Sure. Yes, thanks for the question. We mentioned a couple of these things in the prepared comments, too, but we certainly think about as we increase the membership fee, our goal is always to find ways to deliver more value for the member. And we think about that pretty holistically. It can be lowering prices. It can be launching new Kirkland Signature products. It's also investing in ways that we can improve member experience and some of the things that Ron mentioned earlier. And we believe a critical part of delivering a better experience for our members is also in employee wages.
当然。是的，感谢你的问题。我们在准备好的评论中也提到了这些事情中的一两点，但我们确实认为，随着会员费的提高，我们的目标始终是找到为会员提供更多价值的方法。我们认为这一点非常全面。可以是降低价格。可以是推出新的柯克兰品牌产品。也是投资于我们可以改善会员体验的方式，以及罗恩之前提到的一些事情。我们相信，为我们的会员提供更好的体验的关键部分也在于员工工资。
简单有效的想法。
So we very much look at it holistically and how do we make sure we feel confident that we are delivering more value to our members over time. And some of those things that you heard in Q4, we've already started that journey with some of the wage increases and some of the ways in which we've been able to lower prices and deliver more value through new Kirkland Signature products in the quarter. To answer maybe the broader question that you mentioned, as you know, we generally don't provide guidance as part of our updates for the results of the company.
因此，我们非常全面地看待它，以及我们如何确保我们随着时间的推移为我们的会员提供更多价值。至于您在第四季度听到的一些事情，我们已经开始了一些旅程，包括一些工资增长和降低价格以及通过新的 Kirkland Signature 产品在季度内提供更多价值的方式。为了回答您提到的可能更广泛的问题，如您所知，我们通常不会在我们的业绩更新中提供公司结果的指导。
That being said, I would say, overall we feel very good about our momentum ending fiscal year '24. And as we head into the new fiscal year, we feel very good about the opportunity ahead of us. As always, we've set ourselves high internal expectations for how we expect to grow the top-line and to do so profitably. And we'll be doing that by continuing to invest in member value and employees while driving efficiencies and leverage.
说到这里，我想说，总体而言，我们对结束的财政年度'24 的势头感到非常满意。随着我们进入新的财政年度，我们对面前的机会也感到非常乐观。一如既往，我们为自己设定了很高的内部期望，希望如何增长收入并实现盈利。我们将通过继续投资于会员价值和员工，同时提高效率和利用杠杆来实现这一点。
And we still see many opportunities to find ways to improve gross margin and SG&A in terms of opportunities to fund those investments. We wouldn't normally comment on cadence for the year ahead either. But as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, there are a few unusual items this year with the deferred accounting for the membership fee increase, as you mentioned. And that will generally sort of really the most part of that will come in, in the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026.
我们仍然看到许多机会来寻找提高毛利率和销售、一般和管理费用（SG&A）的方法，从为这些投资提供资金的机会来看。我们通常也不会对明年的节奏发表评论。但正如我在准备好的发言中提到的，今年有一些不同寻常的事项，比如你提到的会员费增加的递延会计处理。这将在 2025 年下半年和 2026 年上半年基本上全部实现。
And then there were also a couple of specific factors to Q1, namely the interest income, where we'll be cycling higher cash balances and higher interest rates from last year and gas profit, while it is really been pretty stable over the years, there was certainly some volatility due to world events in Q1 last year. So the one thing I think I would say is that as you think about our cadence of our earnings growth across '25, it's likely to be less linear than you would probably typically expect.
然后，第一季度还有一些特定因素，例如利息收入，我们将与去年较高的现金余额和较高的利率进行比较。尽管加油利润多年来一直相对稳定，但去年第一季度由于全球事件确实出现了一些波动。所以我想说的是，在考虑我们2025年全年的盈利增长节奏时，这种增长可能不像通常预期的那样线性。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Securities. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自高盛证券的约翰·海因博克尔。请继续。
John Heinbockel 约翰·海因博克尔
And Gary, I wanted to start with -- I think you said right, core-on-core was up 9 bps. What was the color by product category of fresh foods, sundries and non-food?
并且 Gary，我想从——我认为你说得对，核心对核心增长了 9 个基点。新鲜食品、杂货和非食品的副产品颜色按类别是什么？
Gary Millerchip
Yes. Food and sundries were slightly negative. Fresh was slightly positive and non-food was the strongest of the three, which was really, again I think, from the mix perspective and the strong sell-through in the year, but that was sort of the breakout of it, John.
是的。食品和杂货略有负面影响。新鲜食品略有正面影响，非食品类是三者中最强的，我认为这主要来自于混合视角和年度强劲的销售，但这可以说是它的突破点，约翰。
John Heinbockel 约翰·海因博克尔
And then maybe second for both of you guys. How do you -- when you think about Kirkland Signature, you talked about -- you gave some price decreases that you've taken and all of those that you cited anyway were Kirkland Signature. So maybe talk about that, those price decreases maybe versus brand name product. Where Kirkland signature penetration is now? And is that business because you're getting scale -- is that just becoming a lot more profitable than it used to be or you're trying to manage to a flatter -- an unchanged margin on Kirkland Signature?
然后可能是你们两个人的第二个问题。你怎么看——当你想到 Kirkland Signature 时，你提到了——你给出了一些你采取的价格下降，你提到的所有那些都是 Kirkland Signature。所以也许可以谈谈这一点，这些价格下降可能和品牌产品相比。Kirkland Signature 的渗透率现在是多少？这是否是因为你获得了规模——它现在是否比以前更有利可图，或者你正在努力维持 Kirkland Signature 的——一个不变的利润率？
Ron Vachris
I guess I'll take that one. We continue to see the penetration grow. And it's in the high 20s now as it continues to grow as our penetration across the board goes. We are not only seeing investment in price in Kirkland Signature. But with Claudine and her team, they have a commitment that if we're going to expect that of our suppliers, we're going to start with setting that example and showing the benefits of investing in price and driving unit volume.
我来回答这个问题。我们继续看到渗透率的增长，现在已经达到了20%多的高位，并且随着整体渗透率的增加而持续增长。我们不仅在Kirkland Signature品牌上投入价格，而且Claudine和她的团队也致力于以身作则。如果我们希望供应商做到这一点，我们会率先树立榜样，展示在价格上投资以及推动销量增长的益处。
So we are doing that, but we are also seeing great support from our suppliers and our partners around the world. That are also interested in driving their business and using Costco as that partner to get that done. So we continue -- I think we've got some great items coming up this next year in Kirkland Signature that will continue to enhance that value proposition to our members and continues to build the loyalty with our members because this is a place you come to get Kirkland Signature. So we see good things coming. We see the penetration continue to grow, and we continue to see the value and the benefits to the members improving over time.
因此，我们正在做这件事，同时也在得到全球供应商和合作伙伴的大力支持。他们也对推动自己的业务并利用 Costco 作为合作伙伴来完成此事感兴趣。所以我们将继续——我认为我们将在明年的 Kirkland Signature 中推出一些非常好的商品，这将继续提升我们对会员的价值主张，并继续增强与会员的忠诚度，因为这是一个您来购买 Kirkland Signature 的地方。因此，我们看到了美好的前景。我们看到市场份额持续增长，我们也继续看到随着时间的推移，会员的价值和好处在不断提高。
Gary, if you would --.
can you translate the following text into Simplified Chinese?
Gary Millerchip
Yes, maybe, Ron, just to add to the comment also, John, you were asking around the margin opportunity. Obviously, we stay very disciplined about -- we have a cap on the margin that we expect to make on a Kirkland Signature product. But as that mix continues to grow, it definitely creates some overall tailwind in our margin overall. And I mentioned a couple of examples in the prepared comments. We're also seeing some really great opportunities as we're thinking more globally across our merchandising team is really working together and finding ways to buy more efficiently and in-country production that we mentioned.
是的，也许，Ron，只是想补充一下评论，John，你刚才在询问关于边缘机会的事。显然，我们在边缘利润方面非常自律——我们对 Kirkland Signature 产品的预期利润率有一个上限。但随着这种混合比例的不断增长，这无疑为我们整体的利润创造了顺风。我在准备好的评论中也提到了几个例子。我们还看到了一些真正的好机会，因为我们更全面地思考我们的商品团队，他们正在真正地合作，找到更高效地购买和在本地生产的方法。
So when you take all those combined, I think that's creating opportunity for us to win-win in the sense that we can create more value for the member, stick within our commitments around the margins that we work within, but I do think it creates tailwinds and ways to balance the investment in the member while continuing to grow long term.
所以当你把所有这些结合起来，我认为这为我们创造了一个双赢的机会，即我们可以为会员创造更多价值，同时坚守我们在工作范围内所做的承诺，但我确实认为这创造了顺风和平衡会员投资的方法，同时继续长期增长。
John Heinbockel 约翰·海因博克尔
Thank you. 谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Scott Ciccarelli with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 Scott Ciccarelli（Truist Securities）一行。请继续。
Scott Ciccarelli 斯科特·奇卡雷利
Hi, guys. Scot Ciccarelli. Another question on the ID scanning. Any feel for how often nonmembers were shopping at Costco? And then secondly, just given some of the price reductions that you highlighted earlier, can you comment on your broader inflation and deflation expectations for fiscal '25? Thanks.
嗨，大家好。Scot Ciccarelli。关于 ID 扫描的另一个问题。非会员在 Costco 购物的频率如何？其次，鉴于您之前强调的一些价格降幅，您能就您对财政'25 年的通货膨胀和通货紧缩预期发表评论吗？谢谢。
Ron Vachris
As far as the scanning, I really couldn't give you a number. I mean, we've been exclusive for -- since the inception of the company that we're exclusive to members. There are shop cards and those type of things that people come in with, but I really couldn't give you a set number of what percent of people coming in are non-members. And as far as inflation, I think Gary is signing, that he'd like to take that one.
关于扫描方面，我无法给出具体数字。我们公司自成立以来一直是只对会员开放的。当然，有一些人会带着购物卡等进入，但我无法提供非会员进入的比例。而关于通胀问题，我想Gary表示他会来回答这个问题。
Gary Millerchip
Yes, happy to. Probably similar to Ron's comment earlier, I don't know we would be particularly good at telling you what we forecast for the market overall, but what I can maybe give you some a little bit more color from what we're seeing, Scott from our perspective, we shared for the quarter overall inflation was essentially flat. We saw a little bit of inflation in fresh. That was mainly driven by produce right now. That was sort of the key category there that drove -- but again very low inflation, nothing meaningful to talk about. We're still seeing it very quiet in terms of the inflationary impact on prices and on the business.
是的，很高兴。可能和罗恩早些时候的评论类似，我不知道我们特别擅长告诉你我们对整体市场的预测，但我可以或许给你一些我们看到的更多细节，从我们的角度来看，斯科特，我们分享的季度整体通胀基本上是平稳的。我们在新鲜食品方面看到了一点通胀。这主要是由于现在的农产品。那是一个关键的类别，推动了——但再次强调，通胀非常低，没有什么有意义的可以讨论。我们仍然看到通胀对价格和业务的影响非常微弱。
Food would have been slightly inflationary as well, but it's a remarkable actually how the small range now between the different categories, really nothing between positive 2% and negative 2% and sort of all coming back out to even just very slightly inflationary, but nothing much there either that we're seeing. We are seeing more of a mixed view on commodities. Things like corn and flower and sugar are all deflationary, which is causing the bakery category as a whole to be deflationary. But then on things like butter and cocoa and eggs, as I mentioned earlier on the call, and cheese, we're seeing more inflation.
食品也会略有通货膨胀，但实际上非常令人瞩目，现在不同类别之间的范围很小，实际上在正负 2%之间几乎没有差别，而且似乎都在回归到仅仅略微通货膨胀的水平，但我们看到的东西并不多。我们在商品方面看到了更多混合的观点。像玉米、花卉和糖这样的东西都是通货紧缩的，这导致整个烘焙类别都是通货紧缩的。但像黄油、可可和鸡蛋，正如我之前在电话中提到的，以及奶酪，我们看到了更多的通货膨胀。
So, I don't know that we're seeing anything today that's causing us to believe that where we are today is what the world looks like. And our goal, of course is always to find ways to lower our costs and therefore, hold prices down for our members. So, I wouldn't say that we are seeing anything dramatically different from how our quarter looked for this quarter, but of course, like everybody we're susceptible to shocks and changes that can happen in the market.
因此，我不知道我们今天看到了什么，让我们相信我们今天所在的地方就是世界的样子。当然，我们的目标始终是找到降低成本的方法，从而为我们的会员保持价格稳定。所以，我不会说我们看到了与这个季度相比有显著不同的东西，但当然，像所有人一样，我们也容易受到市场可能发生的冲击和变化的影响。
Scott Ciccarelli 斯科特·奇卡雷利
Helpful. Thanks a lot guys.
有帮助。非常感谢大家。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser with UBS. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 UBS 的 Michael Lasser。请继续。
Unidentified Analyst 未识别分析师
This is [indiscernible] on for Michael Lasser. Thanks very much for taking our questions. While it's early, what has been the customer response to the MFI increase? And do you expect to see a rise in customer attrition? Why or why not? Thank you.
这是对迈克尔·拉瑟的[无法辨认]。非常感谢您回答我们的问题。虽然还早，客户对 MFI 增加的反应如何？您预计会看到客户流失率上升吗？为什么或为什么不呢？谢谢。
Gary Millerchip
Yes. Thanks for the question. As you are familiar with the membership fee increase, we were very deliberate about the timing. In fact, we are really delayed by 2 years from when we've traditionally increased the fee every 5 years and that was initially because of what we thought our members were experiencing with COVID and then we saw higher inflation. So, we were very deliberate in delaying the increase until we felt that we started to see inflation dissipate and our members were spending more in non-food categories seeing that they were coming through the inflationary period.
是的。感谢提问。由于您熟悉会员费增加，我们在时间上非常谨慎。事实上，我们实际上比我们传统上每 5 年增加一次费用的时间晚了 2 年，这最初是因为我们认为我们的会员在 COVID 期间的经历，然后我们看到了更高的通货膨胀。因此，我们在推迟增加直到我们感觉到通货膨胀开始消散，并且我们的会员在非食品类别上的支出增加，因为他们正在度过通货膨胀期时，我们非常谨慎。
From a member reaction perspective, I'd say, we haven't really heard a significant member reaction. Our membership renewal rates. There's no real change in trend, as I mentioned in some of my prepared remarks. I think the fact that we've been able to stave off inflation on things like the hot dog pricing at $1.50 and the rotisserie chicken at $4.99. And generally, demonstrating the way that we're lowering prices for members wherever we can.
从会员反馈的角度来看，我会说我们并未听到显著的会员反应。我们的会员续费率没有出现趋势上的实质变化，正如我在一些准备好的发言中提到的。我认为，我们能够在一些项目上抵御通胀，比如热狗仍然保持在$1.50，烤鸡保持在$4.99。同时，我们也在尽可能降低会员的其他商品价格，这一点得到了认可。
I think there's been a recognition that in the context of what's happened more broadly over the last seven years that we stayed true to our principles of really trying to help the member and deliver the value. And as we mentioned earlier on the call, we’ve been making investments, whether it be in wages for our employees in lowering cost to show our members that we want to make sure that the increase is delivering value to them.
我认为，在过去七年更广泛发生的事情的背景下，我们已经认识到，我们始终忠于我们的原则，即真正帮助会员并交付价值。正如我们在电话会议中提到的，我们一直在进行投资，无论是提高员工工资还是降低成本，以向我们的会员展示我们想要确保增加的价值。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.
您的下一个问题来自 Rupesh Parikh 和 Oppenheimer 一行。
Rupesh Parikh 鲁佩什·帕里赫
Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. So just on the consumer front, just curious how you guys are feeling about the health of your consumer? And then any changes in consumer behavior of note during the quarter?
晚上好。感谢您回答我的问题。那么，就在消费者方面，我想了解一下大家对消费者健康状况的看法？然后，在季度中是否有值得注意的消费者行为变化？
Gary Millerchip
Sure. Thanks, Rupesh. I think we see the consumer or member through a course through our lens. And what I would say is that it is very clear that quality and value have never been more important. That's something that has very clearly coming through in our insights and how we're seeing our members shop. I think the encouraging thing for us is, as you know, as you look at our trends in the year-to-date, we have seen that as inflation has dissipated, our members have started to spend more on non-food items, which is really encouraging in our mind.
好的，谢谢，Rupesh。我认为我们通过自己的视角来看待消费者或会员。我会说，现在质量和价值的重要性比以往任何时候都更加明显。这一点在我们的洞察和会员购物行为中表现得非常清晰。对我们来说令人鼓舞的是，正如你所知道的，观察今年迄今为止的趋势，随着通胀消退，我们的会员开始在非食品类商品上花费更多，这让我们感到非常振奋。
And what we're really pleased about is the widespread nature of that across the different categories that we've seen in non-foods. I would say that on some categories like appliances and electronics, definitely, they've become more promotional over time. That would be a factor, I think, that members are looking for more deals. And for us, of course, we are always going to be there on price, but we also include within what we're offering to our members, the installation and the removal of the old product, if that's necessary in the delivery.
我们感到非常高兴的是，非食品类的各个不同品类中这种趋势十分广泛。我会说，在一些品类上，比如家电和电子产品，促销力度确实有所增加。我认为这是因为会员更加注重优惠。而对我们来说，当然价格始终具有竞争力，但我们也在提供的服务中加入了安装和旧产品的移除服务，如果在配送中需要的话。
传统上就不太好的商业模式。
So, we kind of trend to try and differentiate there on the overall experience as well as being a great everyday low value. I think they're the kind of key trends in non-foods. On the food side of things, we've definitely seen some signals that would suggest that members and consumers in general are maybe shifting a little bit of spend from food away from home to food at home. Under the food and the sundry side of our business, alcohol would still be relatively soft, but as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, we're seeing really strong growth in our ethnic food categories and also in Kirkland Signature products, particularly in the new ones that we've been introducing.
因此，我们倾向于在整体体验上进行差异化，同时提供优质的日常低价。我认为这些是非食品类的主要趋势。在食品方面，我们确实看到了一些迹象，表明会员和消费者总体上可能将部分支出从外食转向在家用餐。在食品和杂货业务中，酒类依然相对疲软，但正如我在准备发言中提到的，我们在民族食品类别和Kirkland Signature自有品牌产品（尤其是我们引入的新产品）中看到非常强劲的增长。
And then on the fresh side of things, really strong growth across meat, produce and bakery. I would say, we've certainly seen a continued acceleration in some of those lower-cost protein items like poultry, cheaper cuts of beef like ground beef and pork. So, there is definitely some signs that the consumer is being very choiceful in how they are spending their dollars, but thankfully, with the quality and value that we're offering is definitely resonating with our members.
然后，在新鲜食品方面，肉类、蔬菜和面包房都实现了强劲增长。我想说，我们确实看到了一些低成本蛋白质产品，如家禽、碎牛肉和猪肉等产品的持续加速增长。因此，确实有一些迹象表明消费者在如何花费他们的美元方面非常挑剔，但幸运的是，我们提供的质量和价值确实与我们的会员产生了共鸣。
Rupesh Parikh 鲁佩什·帕里赫
Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. Big focus out there on alternative revenue streams, including media. Just curious on the latest on the efforts from Costco. And is there more -- is there maybe a more aggressive push in growing that area?
好的，然后再问一个跟进问题。当前对替代收入来源的关注很大，包括媒体领域。想了解一下Costco在这些方面的最新进展。是否会有更多——是否可能会更积极地推动这一领域的增长？
Gary Millerchip
Yes. I think we still see it as a significant opportunity. It’s definitely a journey for us. It’s the foundations of that journey are getting our technology infrastructure in a position where we feel really good about the capabilities that will allow us to deliver to the member in terms of the offers that we can give to them and the level of targeting and personalized capabilities that creates.
是的。我认为我们仍然将其视为一个重大机遇。这绝对是我们的一次旅程。这次旅程的基础是我们将技术基础设施置于一个我们能对将允许我们向会员提供的服务、我们能给予他们的优惠以及我们创造的定位和个性化能力感到非常满意的位置。
We’ve already started to build out those plans and starting to identify how we can capture the low-hanging fruit where there are opportunities, but we would see it as a significant opportunity over the long term, to drive new revenue. We will approach this probably a little bit differently than many others and we’ll be reinvesting the vast majority of those dollars as we always do to drive top line growth. And we think that will be a competitive advantage with our CPG partners because it will show them that every dollar they’re spending is really intended to drive overall growth for the company. That being said, I do think it will help also with e-commerce business is typically less profitable, on this case, a way to offset some of those costs in delivery and fulfillment as well.
我们已经开始制定这些计划，并着手确定如何在有机会的地方捕捉“低垂的果实”，但我们认为从长期来看，这将是推动新收入的重要机会。我们的方式可能会与其他公司有所不同，我们会像一贯做的那样，将绝大部分收入再投资于推动销售增长。我们认为这将成为与我们的消费品公司合作伙伴的一项竞争优势，因为这表明他们投入的每一美元都是真正用于推动公司整体增长的。尽管如此，我确实认为这也将有助于我们的电子商务业务，因为电商业务通常利润较低，这也将是抵消一些配送和履约成本的一种方式。
Rupesh Parikh 鲁佩什·帕里赫
Great. Thank you. 好的。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 BMO 资本市场凯利·巴尼亚。请继续。
Kelly Bania 凯利·巴尼亚
Hi, good evening, Gary and Ron. Just wanted to ask about e-commerce, obviously, continued strength there. Can you just give us a broad update on the penetration, the profitability and how that is impacting margins at this growth level? And just an update on what the penetration would be if you included Instacart, like others do in that penetration?
您好，晚上好，Gary 和 Ron。只是想了解一下电子商务，显然，那里的实力持续增强。您能否就渗透率、盈利能力和这种增长水平对利润率的影响给我们一个全面的更新？还有，如果您像其他人那样在渗透率中包含 Instacart，渗透率会是多少的更新？
Gary Millerchip
Yes. Thanks, Kelly. As we look at the progress, we're really pleased with the momentum that we've seen in digital. Actually, we were looking at the data recently over a 10-year period, and we've grown our compounded annual growth rate in e-commerce, it's been over 20% for that 10-year period. So, it's been a significant growth story for us and members clearly evaluating the additional ways in which we're giving them opportunities to find new deals and value for the member.
是的。谢谢，凯利。当我们查看进展时，我们对数字领域的势头感到非常满意。实际上，我们最近在查看过去 10 年的数据，我们的电子商务复合年增长率已经超过 20%。因此，这对我们来说是一个显著的增长故事，并且成员们显然在评估我们为他们提供寻找新交易和价值的额外方式。
Overall, it would be -- the penetration will be in the sort of high single-digit range based on how we report e-commerce today. If you kind of -- to your point earlier, we don't include some of those digitally started sales transactions, if I could say it that way. So Instacart, Uber, the ways in which members might be buying groceries and food and sundries. If you added those in, and of course, we also include gas in our total sales, we would be into the double-digit penetration when you include all those elements in the number.
总体而言，电商渗透率将处于高个位数范围，这是基于我们目前对电商业务的报告方式。如果按照你之前的观点来说，我们并未包括某些数字化起始的销售交易，可以这么说。例如，Instacart、Uber等渠道，会员可能通过这些方式购买杂货、食品和日用品。如果将这些也算进去，当然我们还包括油品在总销售额中，那么将所有这些因素纳入后，渗透率将达到双位数。
Kelly Bania 凯利·巴尼亚
Okay. And any comments on profitability and how that's -- how e-commerce is impacting profitability?
好的。关于盈利能力和电子商务如何影响盈利的任何评论吗？
Gary Millerchip
Yes. I would still say it's marginally, it's lower than the traditional shopping in the warehouse, and that's obviously intuitively makes sense given that we're doing more of the picking and shopping for the member. As I mentioned in the prepared remarks that we have seen some good improvements as we've grown our sales numbers, that's created some leverage in the model. We’re improving the efficiency of our fulfillment costs. So it is continuing on an improving trend over time because of the sales growth and the leverage that’s creating, but also some of the improvements the team are making in the business to drive more efficiency as well.
是的，我仍然认为它只是略微低一些，它低于传统的仓库购物，这显然从直觉上来说是合理的，因为我们更多地为客户挑选和购物。正如我在准备好的发言中提到的，随着我们销售数字的增长，我们已经看到了一些良好的改进，这为模型创造了一些杠杆作用。我们正在提高我们的履行成本效率。因此，由于销售增长和由此产生的杠杆作用，它将继续随着时间的推移而持续改善，同时团队在业务中也进行了一些改进，以推动更高的效率。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Baker with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 Michael Baker 和 D.A. Davidson 一行。请继续。
Michael Baker 迈克尔·贝克
Great. Thanks. Two questions. One, can you talk about competitive pricing, particularly in grocery. There's been a lot of talk about some grocery chains investing in price, et cetera. What are you seeing how your price gaps? And then I'll have a follow-up after that. Thanks.
很好。谢谢。有两个问题。一是，你能谈谈竞争性定价，尤其是在杂货方面。关于一些杂货连锁店投资价格等的话题已经有很多讨论。你看到了你的价格差距是什么？然后我会继续追问。谢谢。
Gary Millerchip
Yes, thanks for the question. I think the key thing for us is we're our own biggest competitor. As you heard us mention earlier, we want to be the first to lower prices and the last to raise prices. And at every one of our regular budget meetings, we're talking about how can we find ways to do that. And the majority of our price investments are proactive, not that we're reacting. But of course, we're always watching and staying very close to competition.
是的，感谢你的问题。我认为对我们来说，关键是我们最大的竞争对手就是我们自己。正如你之前听我们提到的，我们希望成为第一个降低价格的人，最后一个提高价格的人。在我们每一次的常规预算会议上，我们都在讨论如何找到实现这一目标的方法。而且，我们的大部分价格投资都是主动的，并不是我们在反应。当然，我们始终在关注并保持与竞争对手的紧密联系。
I would say that the promotional environment has been increasing. That would be with us, as Ron mentioned earlier, that our CPG partners are investing to find ways to drive units, and that would certainly be the case across some of the competition as well. I mentioned earlier, appliances and consumer electronics would be an area where we've seen more of that activity. But I think if you took it all on balance, we wouldn't say that we're seeing the activity sort of outside of normal in the food space. And we feel very good about our position relative to the market and continue to be proactive in finding ways to provide the best quality, best value for our members.
我会说，促销环境确实在加强。正如Ron先前提到的，我们的消费品合作伙伴正在投资寻找增加销量的方法，这在一些竞争对手中也是如此。我之前提到过，家电和消费电子产品是我们看到这种活动增加的领域。但总体而言，我们并未看到食品领域的活动超出正常范围。我们对自己在市场中的地位感到非常满意，并将继续积极寻找方法，为我们的会员提供最佳质量和最佳价值。
Michael Baker 迈克尔·贝克
Excellent. That makes sense. Follow-up when gas prices fall, I think gas prices are down now 15%, 16% year-over-year, broadly speaking, at least in the latest data. Does that hurt your traffic at all? Because I think you guys say 50% of people will come to get gas -- come into the club and buy something, I think the unit growth -- the gallons growth did decelerate a little bit this quarter. Is that something that you guys look at or have any concern over?
非常好。这很有道理。当油价下跌时再跟进，我认为油价现在同比下降了 15%，16%，从广义上讲，至少根据最新的数据。这对您的客流量有影响吗？因为我觉得你们说 50%的人会来加油——进俱乐部买点东西，我认为单位增长——加仑增长在这个季度有所放缓。这是你们关注的吗？或者有什么担忧？
Ron Vachris
Yes. This is Ron. I don't see it as a concern. Gallons were up 3%, which was a little bit softer than the prior quarter. So when you do hit those peaks in prices, we will see a greater attraction to the Costco gas stations. But our balance of transactions, dual transactions that we have looks very positive. And so we're not seeing traffic dropping off at all in the warehouse based on the slightly softer gallon growth that we're seeing out in the gas stations.
是的。这是罗恩。我不认为这是一个问题。加仑量上涨了 3%，这比上一个季度稍微软一些。所以当您遇到价格高峰时，我们会看到 Costco 加油站有更大的吸引力。但我们的交易平衡，我们有的双重交易看起来非常积极。因此，我们没有看到由于我们在加油站看到的加仑增长略微放缓，仓库中的客流量有任何下降。
Michael Baker 迈克尔·贝克
Excellent. Thank you. 优秀。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Your next question comes from the line of Karen Short with Melius Research. Please go ahead.
您的下一个问题来自 Melius Research 的 Karen Short。请继续。
Karen Short Short Karen
Hi, thanks a lot. And good to talk to you again. So thanks for taking my question. So my question is, when you look at your pre-tax margin, I know you don't manage to that in any way, shape or form. But it obviously has been creeping up. So when you look at the actual delta on a 10 basis point increase in that margin, it's not immaterial to get to earnings and/or valuation, obviously. So wondering how you think about that.
你好，非常感谢，很高兴再次与你交流。感谢回答我的问题。我的问题是，当你观察你的税前利润率时，我知道你不会以任何方式对其进行管理。但显然它一直在逐步上升。所以，当你看到该利润率上升10个基点时，这对盈利和/或估值的影响并非微不足道。所以我想了解你是如何看待这个问题的。
Gary Millerchip
Hi, Karen, I think the way we think about it is really back to some of the comments that we were referring to earlier is that our goal is always to drive top line. That's the top priority for the company, and we're focused on investing and delivering value for the member and delivering improved investments in our employees as well to make sure that we're an employer of choice.
嗨，Karen，我认为我们思考的方式实际上回到了我们之前提到的一些评论，那就是我们的目标始终是推动业绩增长。这是公司的首要任务，我们专注于为会员投资并创造价值，同时也致力于提高员工的投资，以确保我们成为雇主的首选。
I think I appreciate the comment because I think, we have been successful over the years in doing that because there are ways for us to continue to lower our costs in our gross margin part of our business and drive more value for the member. Some of the things that we've been focused on, like global buying and the Kirkland Signature growth that we've seen, e-commerce growth, as we mentioned earlier. And there will be opportunities for things like Retail Media in the future.
我认为我欣赏这个评论，因为我们认为，多年来我们在做这件事上取得了成功，因为我们有降低我们业务毛利润部分成本的方法，并为会员创造更多价值。我们一直关注的一些事情，比如全球采购和我们所看到的 Kirkland Signature 增长，电子商务增长，正如我们之前提到的。未来还将有机会出现像零售媒体这样的东西。
So I think there are a number of ways in gross margin and also a number of ways in SG&A where we can continue to be more efficient to drive that investment. Our focus is always to drive, as I mentioned, the top line and if that, over time, allows us to continue to grow the margins, then obviously, that's something that we're pleased with, and it's a good outcome for our investors. But I wouldn't say, as you mentioned, it's a targeted outcome. It's really about making sure that we're driving that top line growth and the history, as you've mentioned, would suggest that when we've done that well as we continue to look for opportunities, it has allowed us to expand margin slightly as well.
因此，我认为在毛利率和 SG&A 方面有许多方法可以使我们更加高效，以推动投资。我们的重点始终是推动，正如我提到的，收入增长，如果随着时间的推移，这使我们能够继续提高利润率，那么显然，这是我们感到高兴的事情，这对我们的投资者来说是一个好的结果。但我不认为，如您所说，这是一个有针对性的结果。这实际上是为了确保我们推动收入增长，正如您提到的，历史表明，当我们在这方面做得很好时，我们继续寻找机会，这也使我们能够略微扩大利润率。
Ron Vachris
I agree with Gary. I would add to that, there are several levers that our operators and our buyers have to improve margin. And our buyers speak often about the fact that we can lower prices while improving margin as well. And that comes with the efficiencies that we're seeing, comes with very good sell-throughs that we're realizing in the goods that we're buying, newness and bringing in new items to the market that that could have a little bit better margins. And our operating shrinkage has been improving. And we saw a nice solid year this year and picked up some margin on improving shrink results in the business as well. So those are some different levers that will augment lowering prices and continue to improve margins.
我同意加里。我还会补充说，我们的操作人员和买家有几个杠杆需要提高利润率。我们的买家经常提到，我们可以在提高利润率的同时降低价格。这得益于我们所看到的效率，得益于我们在购买的商品中实现的非常好的销售率，以及引入新商品到市场，这些商品可能会有更好的利润率。我们的运营损耗也在改善。今年我们看到了一个很好的稳定年份，并在改善业务损耗结果上提高了利润率。所以，这些都是一些不同的杠杆，将增加降低价格并继续提高利润率。
Karen Short Short Karen
But is it fair to think that 4%-ish maybe going up from there is realistic?
但是认为 4%左右可能会继续上升是否公平呢？
Ron Vachris
Yes, Kare, I think we wouldn't get into it, as you know, into sort of guidance of what we're expecting in the future. I do think, as Ron shared, that we don't see it as -- a if you like, a zero-sum game. I think we believe there's an opportunity to continue to find ways to invest in our members and our employees, and we do believe you can do that through the way that we manage the business to continue to improve profitability over time, but I wouldn't want to really provide any specific guidance related to that.
是的，Kare，我认为我们不会深入讨论这个问题，正如你所知，关于我们未来期望的某种指导。我认为，正如 Ron 分享的，我们不把它看作——如果你喜欢，一种零和游戏。我认为我们相信有机会继续寻找投资我们成员和员工的方法，我们也相信你可以通过我们管理业务的方式，随着时间的推移持续提高盈利能力，但我不希望提供任何具体的关于这方面的指导。
Karen Short Short Karen
Great. Thank you. 好的。谢谢。
Ron Vachris
Thanks Karen. 谢谢 Karen。
Operator 操作员
Laura Champine from Loop Capital. Your next question comes from Greg Melich with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.
劳拉·尚平来自 Loop Capital。您的下一个问题来自 Evercore ISI 的格雷格·梅利奇。请继续。
Greg Melich
Hi, thanks. I want to go back to the profitability and gross margin, particularly gasoline, the tailwind. What -- are we now back at $0.20 of penny profit per gallon? Or what should we think of that as sort of a normalized range going forward?
您好，谢谢。我想回到盈利能力和毛利率，特别是汽油，顺风。那么——我们现在每加仑的利润是 0.20 美元吗？还是我们应该如何看待这作为一种未来的正常范围？
Gary Millerchip
Yes. I think, Greg, we generally aren't sharing specific breakdown of profitability, and that would be true obviously across a number of areas of the business. But on gas, as I mentioned earlier, I would think of gas as being sort of fairly stable in general for us. There are peaks and troughs because of volatility in the market in the short-term sometimes. I wouldn't think of this quarter, while it showed up in -- as part of the overall improvement in other businesses, I wouldn't call it out as being like anything that was particularly changing the trajectory of gas or that would cause us to be wanting to share any more sort of detailed color because generally, we're expecting the gas side of the business to be relatively stable.
是的。我认为，Greg，我们通常不会分享具体的盈利分解，这在业务中的许多领域显然也是正确的。但在汽油方面，正如我之前提到的，我认为汽油对我们来说在总体上是比较稳定的。由于短期内市场波动，有时会有高峰和低谷。我不会认为这个季度，尽管它作为其他业务整体改善的一部分出现，我不会将其称为任何特别改变汽油轨迹的事情，或者会导致我们想要分享更多详细情况的事情，因为一般来说，我们预计汽油业务方面将相对稳定。
As I mentioned, next quarter -- this quarter, I should say, that was an example of where there was some really very unusual volatility because of world events. But in the main, I would think of gas as not being a major sort of underlying change in trajectory or something to look at differently in our model. Obviously, we do provide color where there is something unusual that pops up, but I wouldn't think of that as being a directional change.
正如我提到的，下个季度——或者说，应该是这个季度，那是一个由于世界事件而出现了一些非常不寻常波动的例子。但总的来说，我认为汽油并不是轨迹或我们模型中需要不同看待的主要变化。显然，当出现不寻常的情况时，我们会提供一些信息，但我不认为那是一个方向性的变化。
Greg Melich
Got it. And given the recent wage increase, could you help level set us, so maybe on what your average wages are now in the US or globally? I think in the past, the number was something like $26 an hour?
明白了。鉴于最近的工资上涨，你能帮我们调整一下水平，比如现在你在美国或全球的平均工资是多少？我想过去的数据可能是每小时 26 美元左右？
Ron Vachris
No. Currently, the average wage is just north of $30 an hour.
目前，平均工资略高于每小时 30 美元。
Greg Melich
Just north of 30%. Great. And that's for the US?
仅北于 30%。很好。这是美国的吗？
Ron Vachris
Yes. US and Canada [Equivalent] (ph) in Canada. Go ahead.
是的。美国和加拿大[等效]（ph）在加拿大。继续。
Greg Melich
So my last question was just given the nonfood, the success there. You called out the gold bullion Boeing again. I'm just curious, are there any plans to maybe bring Kirkland Signature into the gold bullion market?
我的最后一个问题是，鉴于非食品类的成功。你再次提到了黄金金条的销售情况。我很好奇，是否有计划将Kirkland Signature品牌引入黄金金条市场？
Ron Vachris
No plans at this time.
目前没有计划。
Greg Melich
All right. Thanks a lot and good luck guys.
好的。非常感谢，祝大家好运。
Ron Vachris
Thank you. 谢谢。
Operator 操作员
And ladies and gentlemen, that's all the time we have for questions today. I will now turn the conference back over to Gary for closing comments.
各位女士们、先生们，今天我们提问的时间就到这里。现在我将会议交还给 Gary，让他进行闭幕致辞。
Gary Millerchip
Thank you, Krista. Thank you all for joining the call today, and we look forward to talking to you at the next quarterly earnings call. That will conclude our call. Thank you.
感谢，Krista。感谢大家今天加入通话，我们期待在下次季度收益电话会议中与您交谈。这就结束了我们的通话。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.
女士们，先生们，这标志着今天电话会议的结束。感谢您的参与，现在您可以挂断电话了。
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