Jen Foyle: Sure. I think, I’ve said this before in my past. For both brands, we’re up to comfort soft and that in conjunction with our price value equation, and our quality I think is like no other. So, where I do — you’re hearing there’s conversations out there and there has been some shift into going out that was earlier on this year, dresses, some of those categories. But at the end of the day, our core demographics, they want comfort. We haven’t seen a shift in fleece. We’re seeing upticks there for both businesses. They just — American casual comfort is not going away. And I think that’s the most important thing any brand can do is stand for what they represent. Both brands are fit intensive. So our bra categories in Aerie and our denim, bottoms categories in AE, it’s so important.
Our customers want to look good in their clothing and that’s where I think we stand apart. We focus on the best fits in the industry, comfort, like I said. And on the go forward, I think we’re just — we’re going to continue to deliver what our customer expects from us. We’re a bottoms based business in American Eagle. We’re shifting underneath the covers there. And in Aerie, we’re still going to stand for our intimates business, but we like some of these new categories that we’re adding. And the thing I like about Aerie is, customers are demanding more from us every day. I mean, literally, they want more categories from Aerie, because they love what we stand for. They love the platform, and they want to be part of that community.
Operator: Our next question is from Dan Stroller.
Dan Stroller: Just — I think it was brought up in the prepared remarks, AUR versus pre-COVID. Was that quantified at the grants? And if not, I guess, where is it and where you think opportunity may exist? Thank you.
Mike Mathias: We didn’t cover it in the prepared remarks, but it is up — pre-pandemic levels for both brands. We don’t have specifics for you right now. But yes, AUR is healthy and up in both brands.
Judy Meehan: Okay. Paul, I think we can take one more question.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Jonna Kim with Cowen.
Jonna Kim: Just one question on marketing costs. We are seeing some elevated costs for customer acquisition. Curious as to how you’re managing your costs at the moment and what your plans are for next year? Thank you so much.
Mike Mathias: Thank you. Yes. Yes, you’re correct. There’s definitely sort of headwinds in terms of advertising and marketing costs. We’ve got a lot of different moving parts within our advertising spend. So, we are prioritizing that spend to make sure that we can offset those costs, not incrementally incur expense for the company, but then redirect spend where we need to for customer acquisition and retention. So the teams are hard at work at that. It’s kind of week-to-week, month-to-month conversation in terms of where investments are made. And then on a kind of preseason planning basis that’s definitely the focus they have looking into next year. But we believe we can spend to similar levels and similar rate of sales to generate what we need to from an acquisition retention perspective without incrementally incurring expense, as the opportunities we’re uncovering.
Jay Schottenstein: All right. And on that note, as Mike has said, we are intently focused on improving profitability and cash flow, and we’re maintaining strong discipline around inventory, expenses and capital expenditures. Our brands are healthy, our operations are resilient, and I’m confident we will emerge from the current macro stronger. I look forward to updating you on our continued progress. I wish everyone a happy and a safe holiday season. And on a personal note, go Buckeyes.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
