沃尔玛对美国零售业的改革受到争议（二）

（单词翻译）

 

Wal-Mart's Controversial Growth Revolutionizes American Retail¹ (Part 2)

沃尔玛对美国零售业的改革受到争议（二）

 

Since Sam Walton founded the first Wal-Mart store more than 40 years ago, the discount retail chain has revolutionized American retailing² with both positive and negative effects on the nation's retail industry.

 

Wal-Mart took the idea of the department store and the grocery store and turned it into something revolutionary: the big box store. In it, people can purchase almost anything they can imagine, from tools to clothes, computers to food -- and virtually everything in between. Convenient? Absolutely.

 

And with Wal-Mart's traditionally low prices -- nearly 20% lower than other retailers³ -- shoppers have come in droves. Jorge Leis, a retail expert at the consulting firm Bain & Company explains.

 

Jorge Leis: The biggest impact Wal-Mart has had on the retail industry is introducing their everyday low price strategy, continually and almost ruthlessly providing goods for a lower price than the competition. And thereby⁴ forcing everyone to be more efficient with capital (and) more efficient in terms of managing costs, so they can approach at least the prices that Wal-Mart will bring into a market.

 

Unfortunately, that hasn't been possible for many stores, especially small, independent shops - the so-called Mom and Pop stores. As a result, many of these businesses have had to close their doors. And that has led some communities to oppose Wal-Mart stores opening in their regions. Throughout the United States, several hundred communities have passed laws that block the advance of retail giants such as Wal-Mart into their area.

 

Senior Vice-President of Boston Consulting Group Michael Silverstein takes a dim view of big-stores' opponents.

 

Michael Silverstein: There are a handful of communities where people said, 'We don't want to pay lower prices, we want to pay higher prices; we don't want to support efficiency, we want to support inefficiency⁵’.

 

But it is possible to compete with Wal-Mart. Some major retailers in the United States have not only survived competition with Wal-Mart, but have thrived. Target is one such company. It's a similar type of store, offering virtually everything shoppers might want under a single roof. Its prices are fairly low. But the niche⁶ it chose for itself is that of a step above Wal-Mart in terms of quality. The company has even hired designers to create its own line of products. The key to competing with Wal-Mart seems to be offering extra advantages - like the designer Target products - in addition to low prices.

 

Jorge Leis says that according to research done by his company, Bain and Company, competitors won't run Wal-Mart out of business, but they can grow alongside it.

 

Jorge Leis: What we found is that market leaders actually grew with Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart, together with the market leader, stole share from the followers⁷ in that particular market. And this happened again and again and again as we go into discreet⁸ cities and understand the phenomenon. We have [studied] a number of cities, and in every case, the leader grows with Wal-Mart, and followers decline in market share."

 

Mr. Leis says these major companies usually follow four strategies: when they open a new store, they cut into the trading zone of the other stores in that area; they survey the customer base and determine what those people need, then try to attract customers in a manner that differs from Wal-Mart's.

 

Next, they treat price-setting as a science, not an art -- they figure out which products their customers are most interested in, and set the prices of these items to more or less the same as Wal-Mart's. To maintain profit, they set prices of other goods slightly above those at Wal-Mart.

 

Finally, when it comes to operating costs, they are just as ruthless as Wal-Mart, especially with regard to supplier and management costs.

 

Mr. Leis says that by using these strategies, companies that lead a local market before Wal-Mart arrives are usually able to continue to expand their share of the market even after Wal-Mart moves in.

 

注释：

positive [5pCzEtiv] adj. 积极的

negative [5ne^Etiv] adj. 消极的

grocery store 杂货店

in droves 陆陆续续

mom and pop store [美]小零售铺，夫妻店

niche [nitF] n. 适当位置

particular market 特定市场

trading zone 自由贸易区

figure out 断定

management cost 管理费用