经济学人:百货商店 中式快餐

 　　Department stores

　　百货商店

　　Chinese takeaway

　　中式快餐

　　Old British brands get a lift in Asia

　　老牌英国品牌搭上亚洲顺风车

　　CLARKS shoes have more cachet with Chinese shoppers than with British ones. DAKS, an upmarket British clothing brand, has two stores in Britain but sells through 43 in Asia. Marks & Spencer is labouring to coax¹ matronly Britons back into its shops, but plans to open 250 new ones overseas. Now House of Fraser, a 165-year-old department-store chain, is to seek more growth and glamour² abroad than it can find at home.

　　与英国消费者相比，其乐鞋（CLARKS）在中国消费者群体中享有更高的品牌知名度。达克斯（DAKS）是英国一家高端服饰品牌，在英国本土仅有2家专卖店，但在亚洲设有43个专卖店。玛莎百货（Marks & Spencer）对哄回那些慢条斯理的英国国民感到力不从心，因而转变策略，打算在海外市场中增开250家新店。如今拥有165年历史的老牌百货连锁弗雷泽百货（House of Fraser），也在海外市场中寻求比国内更多的发展空间和品牌声誉。

　　中式快餐.jpg

　　Yuan Yafei,China's joint³ 92nd-richest person, says he wants to “bring the House of Fraser to the whole China”. Nanjing Xinjiekou, a department store controlled by his Sanpower Group, is to take an 89% stake, valuing House of Fraser at 450m($754m). A complication is Mike Ashley, owner of the Sports Direct chain of sportswear shops (and of Newcastle United football club), who snapped up an 11% stake in House of Fraser after Sanpower made its offer. His intentions are unclear.

　　在中国富豪中排名并列第92的袁亚非表示，他想“把弗雷泽百货带给全中国”。他创建的三胞集团所属的南京新街口百货商场，正洽购弗雷泽百货89%的控股权，其市值估价约4.5亿英镑（约合7.54亿美元）。但是动向体育（Sports Direct）运动服饰连锁商店（以及纽卡斯尔足球俱乐部）的老板麦克·阿什利却让这笔收购变得稍显复杂，在三胞集团提出收购提议之后，阿什利抢购了弗雷泽百货11%的股份。目前尚不明了其意欲何为。

　　House of Fraser is not a glittering prize. It is burdened with debt and a deficit⁴ in its pension plan. The holding company that owns it reported a pre-tax loss of 8.2min the year ending January 2013. Trading has perked⁵ up, thanks to online sales and popular own-label products. Last Christmas was its “best ever”. But the layout of some of House of Fraser's 60 stores is “not ideal”, says Tony Shiret, a retail⁶ analyst⁷ at Espirito Santo Investment Bank. It will take a lot of investment to spruce them up.

　　弗雷泽百货并不是一个闪闪发光的战利品。它负债累累，又因养老计划有着赤字亏空。控股公司报告，截至去年年一月底，其税前亏损已达到820万英镑。多亏了线上销售及其颇受欢迎的自有产品，销售才略有起色。去年圣诞节还曾达到“历史最高值”。圣埃斯皮里图州投资银行（Espirito Santo Investment Bank）的零售业分析员托尼·史瑞特称，在弗雷泽百货60家分店中，有些店的布局陈列“并不理想”。要对此改善将会耗资巨大。

　　Department stores have suffered since the 1970s, when customers started driving out of town to buy big-ticket items such as televisions. Harrods and Selfridges have firmly positioned themselves as purveyors of luxury goods. House of Fraser, along with Debenhams and Marks & Spencer, occupy less elevated ranks between them and “fast-fashion” retailers⁹ such as Primark. The “murky middle” is an uncomfortable place for most brands, says Allyson Stewart-Allen, a marketing¹⁰ consultant¹¹. Grocery giant Tesco is losing market share to discounters and upmarket emporia; its finance director quit on April 4th.

　　从上世纪七十年代开始，百货商店就开始走下坡路，消费者开始自驾出城购买诸如电视机之类的大额商品。哈洛兹百货（Harrods）和塞弗里吉斯百货（Selfridges）一直坚定的把自己定位在高档奢侈品经销商的位置。弗雷泽百货（House of Fraser）与德本汉姆百货（Debenhams）、玛莎百货（Marks & Spencer）等级稍逊于前两家百货以及普利马克（Primark）等高端经销商。营销顾问艾利森·斯图尔特·艾伦称，对大部分品牌而言，“暧昧的中档”都不是一个舒服的位置。杂货店连锁企业乐购（Tesco）正慢慢把市场占有率输给折扣店以及高档商场；本月4日，其财务总监从乐购辞职。

　　Chinaoffers a fresh start (though plenty of British retailers, including Tesco, have found the going hard there). Mr Yuan hopes that House of Fraser's British heritage and its royal warrant will entranceChina's burgeoning¹² consumer class.Hong Kong's Fung brothers made a similar bet by buying Gieves & Hawkes, a Savile Row tailor, in 2012. Department stores may be past their prime inBritain, but inChinatheir sales will grow by more than 38% by 2019, predicts Verdict, a retail consultancy.

　　中国市场为弗雷泽百货提供了一个全新的开始（即使包括乐购在内的一众英国零售企业，都发现在中国市场的日子并不好过）。袁亚非希望，弗雷泽百货承袭的英国传统及其王室认证能够确保其打入中国发展迅猛的消费者市场。香港冯氏兄弟曾做过一个相似的赌注，那就是在2012年收购来自萨维尔街的服装品牌吉凡克斯（Gieves & Hawkes）。英国的百货商店也许风光不再，但是零售咨询公司Verdict预测，在中国他们的营业额到2019年将会增长38%以上。

　　Mr Ashley's thinking is more difficult to discern. Does he hope to make a quick profit, as he did in January after Sports Direct bought, and then quickly re-sold, a 4.6% stake in Debenhams? (He has swapped¹³ his holding for the right to buy 6.6% of the retailer⁸ if its share price falls to a certain level.) Perhaps he wants another outlet¹⁴ for flogging sportswear. House of Fraser has challenged Mr Ashley's purchase, saying the seller should have offered the stake to other shareholders¹⁵ first. In the 1980s House of Fraser was the subject of a histrionic row between a British tycoon¹⁶, Tiny Rowland, who coveted¹⁷ the company, and an Egyptian investor¹⁸, Mohamed Al Fayed, who bought it. The retailer hopes to sell itself more quietly this time.

　　麦克·阿什利的想法愈发难以理解。他在一月买进动向体育（Sports Direct），再迅速转手卖出，他是想用这种方式利用他在德本汉姆4.6%的股权一夜暴富？（如果股价回落到一定水平，他将把自己的股份换成购买德本汉姆6.6%的股权）。又或许是他想为抛售运动服饰另寻出路？弗雷泽百货（House of Fraser）已经对阿什利的抢购表示质疑，并表示出售方应把股权优先提供给其他股东。在上世纪八十年代，弗雷泽百货（House of Fraser）曾是两大巨亨商业争夺的对象，最后结果是，垂涎已久的英国巨头蒂尼·罗兰德惜败，埃及投资商默罕默德·法耶德成功收购。这次，弗雷泽百货希望这次的收购能够更加平静的进行。

　　1.plan to 打算；计划

　　例句:Both chambers¹⁹ plan to vote on that policy before January 15th.

　　两院都打算在1月15日前对那一政策进行投票表决。

　　2.want to 想去；想要

　　例句:When life gets hard and you want to give up, remember that life is full of ups and downs, and without the downs, the ups would mean nothing.

　　当生活很艰难，你想要放弃的时候，请记住，生活充满了起起落落，如果没有低谷，那站在高处也失去了意义。

　　3.snap up 抢购；争购

　　例句:Pass it back. Tell them to snap up.

　　往后传. 叫他们加快步伐。

　　4.such as 例如；诸如；比如

　　例句:Issues such as these were not really his concern.

　　他其实并不关心诸如此类的问题。

1 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。

2 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 perked   

（使）活跃( perk的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）增值； 使更有趣

参考例句：

• The recent demand for houses has perked up the prices. 最近对住房的需求使房价上涨了。
• You've perked up since this morning. 你今天上午精神就好多了。

6 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

9 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

10 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

11 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

12 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

13 swapped   

交换（工作）( swap的过去式和过去分词 )； 用…替换，把…换成，掉换（过来）

参考例句：

• I liked her coat and she liked mine, so we swapped. 我喜欢她的外套，她喜欢我的外套，于是我们就交换了。
• At half-time the manager swapped some of the players around. 经理在半场时把几名队员换下了场。

14 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

15 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

16 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

17 coveted   

adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图

参考例句：

• He had long coveted the chance to work with a famous musician. 他一直渴望有机会与著名音乐家一起工作。
• Ther other boys coveted his new bat. 其他的男孩都想得到他的新球棒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

19 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网