经济学人271:特易购进军金融市场 会员卡制度保证其竞争优势

 　　Loyalty¹ cards and insurance

　　忠诚卡和保险

　　Every little helps

　　点滴皆有助益

　　As it pushes into finance, Tesco’s Clubcard gives it a competitive edge

　　特易购进军金融市场，会员卡制度保证其竞争优势

　　SOME young drivers get tanked up and wrap their cars round lampposts; others drive carefully, and sober. Insurers would love to collect more background information on the personal habits of those buying motor, household and life policies, but do not want to put off potential customers with intrusive² questionnaires. So they end up pooling groups of people by such basic factors as age, occupation and postcode, which means that some low-risk customers are lumped in with risky³ ones and subsidise their cover.

　　一些年轻的司机总爱喝的酩酊大醉或把车草草停在路灯旁，而另一些司机却能谨慎而冷静。保险公司永远热衷于搜集那些购买汽车，家居用品和人寿保险的人群的个人信息，但他们早已明白那些恼人的问卷会赶走潜在的顾客。于是他们最终选择了收集顾客群基本信息如年龄，收入和邮编的方式。这意味着低风险客户群与高风险客户群无形中被集中来弥补其损失。

　　If only insurers could stealthily gather a few titbits about their potential policyholders’ consumption habits. Such hints might help them more accurately⁵ target those customers least likely to make claims, and attract them with better rates. As it happens, Tesco routinely collects such information from holders⁴ of its Clubcard loyalty card. As it bulks up in financial services, that may give Britain’s largest supermarket chain an edge over traditional insurers.

　　要是保险公司能够暗地搜集到潜在投保客户的相关消费偏好记录就好了。这些信息也许能帮助他们更精准的锁定最不可能索赔的目标人群，然后用更实惠的保险费率吸引他们。特易购就能做到这点，他们时不时会从持卡客户端搜集此类信息。随着特易购在金融服务领域的业务膨胀，也许相较传统保险公司，这一全英最大的连锁超市将会因此取得明显优势。

　　To give an obvious example, it would be worth offering pet insurance to someone who has started buying kitty-litter. Buying lots of booze does not make you a drunk-driver, but someone who buys little or none seems less likely to be one. Buyers of window locks are likely to be more security-conscious, and so on.

　　也许举例更能说明问题，向一个刚购买猫砂的人推销宠物保险无疑为明智之举。又如此例，大批量买酒的人不一定会醉驾，反而是那些平日少买或不买酒的人，才最有可能满身酒气的上路。再者购买窗锁的人可能更加重视安全问题，等等。

　　Tesco declined to discuss how it uses Clubcard data for this article. But a group of students at the London School of Economics carried out a class project in which they made several applications for Tesco car insurance. When they gave the number of an unused Clubcard it earned a 1% discount. When they gave the same personal details but quoted the numbers of heavily used Clubcards, the discounts varied⁶ greatly, reaching 18%. To paraphrase⁷ Tesco’s slogan, it seems that every little scrap⁸ of information helps.

　　特易购方面拒绝为本文提供关于会员卡使用的具体信息。但是来自伦敦政治经济学院的学生就此进行课题项目研究。他们在向特易购提交汽车险时发现，若提供未使用的会员卡，只能获得1%的折扣，但若用提供使用频率较高的会员卡，就算提供的是相同个人信息，折扣竟能飙升至18%。由此我们或许可以这样解读特易购的标语，点滴皆有助益。

1 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

2 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

3 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

4 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

5 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

6 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

7 paraphrase   

vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义

参考例句：

• You may read the prose paraphrase of this poem.你可以看一下这首诗的散文释义。
• Paraphrase the following sentences or parts of sentences using your own words.用你自己的话解释下面的句子或句子的一部分。

8 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。