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A well-known fixture on New York's Fifth Avenue, U.S. jewelry giant Tiffany & Co. is aiming to improve its luster overseas and particularly in Asia, where demand for gold and gems appears to be insatiable.
紐約第五大道上的知名品牌蒂芙尼(Tiffany & Co., TIF)打算提升在海外、尤其是亞洲市場的吸引力。亞洲消費(fèi)者對黃金和珠寶的需求似乎源源不斷。
U.S. shoppers have largely driven sales for the New York-based high-end jeweler, but that picture is changing. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, comparable sales in the U.S.-at stores open at least a year-rose by a modest 1%, with the bulk of sales logged at the New York flagship store, which sells mostly to tourists.
長期以來這家總部位于紐約的珠寶商的銷售額大多由美國本土消費(fèi)者所驅(qū)動(dòng)，然而現(xiàn)在情況正在發(fā)生變化。截至10月31的第三財(cái)政季度，蒂芙尼在美國開業(yè)至少一年的同店銷售額同比僅增長1%，其中大部分銷售額來自主要面向游客的紐約旗艦店。
Michael Kowalski, Tiffany's chief executive, is looking for ways to turn those tourists into regular customers when they return home. Adding to Tiffany's Japan-based stores, which the company first opened in 1993, the jeweler plans to open in markets such as Russia and in France.
蒂芙尼首席執(zhí)行長邁克爾?科瓦爾斯基(Michael Kowalski)正設(shè)法把這些游客轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槌？停Ｍ麄兓貒罄^續(xù)光顧蒂芙尼。蒂芙尼于1993年開設(shè)了第一家日本店鋪。現(xiàn)在，除了在日本的店鋪，該公司打算在俄羅斯、法國等市場開設(shè)新店。
The other target is China, where the company operates 24 stores and plans to open three a year for the foreseeable future, attempting to take on rivals in a competitive market and convince Chinese consumers that Tiffany has the best cuts, designs and service.
該公司的另一個(gè)目標(biāo)市場是中國。蒂芙尼目前已在中國運(yùn)營24家專賣店，打算在可預(yù)見的未來每年開設(shè)3家新店，試圖在這個(gè)競爭激烈的市場迎戰(zhàn)對手，并讓中國消費(fèi)者相信蒂芙尼擁有最好的切割工藝、設(shè)計(jì)和服務(wù)。
Mr. Kowalski recently traveled to China to show off Tiffany's yellow diamond collection and spoke to The Wall Street Journal in Beijing about plans to build its brand in Asia.
科瓦爾斯基近期到訪中國，為蒂芙尼傳奇黃鉆石展示會(huì)造勢。他在北京接受了《華爾街日報(bào)》(The Wall Street Journal)的采訪，談到了在亞洲打造蒂芙尼品牌的計(jì)劃。
Edited excerpts:
以下是經(jīng)過編輯的訪談?wù)洠?/div>
WSJ: What are your goals for moving beyond the U.S. in the next three years?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：未來三年蒂芙尼在美國以外市場的目標(biāo)是什么？
Mr. Kowalski: We do believe there are wonderful geographic expansion opportunities for us. We've tried to build a diversified geographic portfolio so that we aren't dependent on any one region or any one country. We've only recently become a stronger presence in the Middle East and we'll open our first-owned-and-operated store in Russia this spring.
科瓦爾斯基：我們相信蒂芙尼會(huì)有很好的地域擴(kuò)張機(jī)會(huì)。我們已經(jīng)試圖建立了多元化的地理組合，不會(huì)依賴于任何一個(gè)地區(qū)或任何一個(gè)國家。近期我們擴(kuò)大了在中東的業(yè)務(wù)，并打算于明年春季在俄羅斯開設(shè)第一家直營專賣店。
We're also optimistic about potential in China. Our companywide plan is for Tiffany sales to grow between 10% and 12% for the foreseeable future.
我們也很看好中國市場的潛力。整個(gè)公司的計(jì)劃是，在可預(yù)見的未來蒂芙尼銷售額增長10%-12%。
Right now, we have 24 stores and will probably open three to four stores here per year for the future. We certainly want to be flexible and watch how the market develops. That's our strategic objective. Clearly if we regard China as the fastest-growing market going forward, that implies a growth rate meaningfully in excess of that 10% to 12%. We're reasonably confident about that.
目前我們在中國擁有24家專賣店，未來可能每年開設(shè)3-4家新店。當(dāng)然，我們想靈活處理，看看市場會(huì)如何發(fā)展。這就是我們的戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)。很顯然，如果我們把中國視為未來增長最快的市場，這就意味著蒂芙尼在中國的銷售額增速將遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高于10%-12%。對此我們很有信心。
WSJ: Some luxury companies are wary of China, where an austerity campaign has hit luxury sales. What makes you confident?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：眼下中國政府正在提倡節(jié)儉，這打擊了奢侈品在中國市場的銷售，所以一些奢侈品公司對中國市場持謹(jǐn)慎態(tài)度。你的信心緣何而來呢？
Mr. Kowalski: We think the growth curve in China will be something we'll love in terms of slope. But it'll also be volatile. In 2011, it was a fantastic year here and 2012 wasn't so wonderful. [But] 2013 is stronger and we just had a great quarter here.
科瓦爾斯基：從增長率曲線上升斜率來看，蒂芙尼在中國的業(yè)績表現(xiàn)將令我們滿意，但波動(dòng)也比較大。中國市場在2011年的表現(xiàn)相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)，2012年不那么驚人，但2013年有所回暖，剛剛公布的季度業(yè)績就說明了這一點(diǎn)。
WSJ: What is behind the volatility?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：波動(dòng)較大背后的原因是什么？
Mr. Kowalski: It's driven largely by consumer sentiment and reaction to economic conditions perceived-real or of the moment. Consumer confidence is less volatile in Europe. China is at the higher end, [while] the U.S. is in the middle. I don't know what drives that, but it's a continuing challenge here.
科瓦爾斯基：業(yè)績表現(xiàn)主要受到了消費(fèi)者情緒以及他們對經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢看法（例如經(jīng)濟(jì)是真正改善還是一時(shí)的好轉(zhuǎn)）的影響。歐洲消費(fèi)者信心的波動(dòng)要小一些。中國的波動(dòng)性最大，美國處于中間。我不清楚是什么原因造成的，但這是蒂芙尼在中國持續(xù)面臨的一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。
WSJ: Consumers are becoming increasingly global, particularly the Chinese consumer. How is tourism changing your approach?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：消費(fèi)者正變得日趨全球化，中國的消費(fèi)者尤其如此。旅游業(yè)如何影響著你們的經(jīng)營方式？
Mr. Kowalski: [The] rise of the Asian consumers and tourism has caused us to change some of our store practices. We accommodate customers who are speaking other languages. It's a struggle to find Mandarin-speaking sales professionals. We have to work hard to find them.
科瓦爾斯基：亞洲消費(fèi)者和旅游業(yè)的崛起促使我們調(diào)整了一些店鋪運(yùn)營方式。我們也接待說非本地語言的客戶。但會(huì)講普通話的專業(yè)銷售人員比較難找，我們必須努力去找。
WSJ: What are you doing beyond language?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：除了克服語言方面的障礙你們要做些什么？
Mr. Kowalski: It has caused us to increase our store presence in markets that are heavily visited by Chinese customers. We're building a flagship store in Paris on the Champs-Elysees.
科瓦爾斯基：我們還在有大量中國消費(fèi)者光顧的市場增加專賣店數(shù)量。我們正在巴黎香榭麗舍大道新建一家旗艦店。
We are enhancing the store experience in the U.S. and all over the world. We're renovating stores and upgrading the quality in sales professionals and everything you see in the store.
我們還在美國和全球市場提升門店體驗(yàn)。我們正在裝修門店，并在提高專業(yè)銷售人員的服務(wù)品質(zhì)以及升級(jí)店內(nèi)一切設(shè)施。
We're changing the ratio of selling space to provide more seating space. More casual sit-down environment, more private areas.
我們正在調(diào)整銷售空間所占的比例，以便提供更大的休息空間。我們力爭提供更好的隨意休閑環(huán)境、更多的私人空間。
WSJ: What are some of the lessons you have learned by doing business in Asia?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：你們在亞洲做生意有哪些經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)？
Mr. Kowalski: One thing we've learned is the need for high standards of service and store experience. We learned that several years ago in Japan and it was critical to our success. Here, we operate in a more intense environment than back in the U.S. and we need even higher standards of service.
科瓦爾斯基：我們的經(jīng)驗(yàn)之一是亞洲人對高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)服務(wù)和門店體驗(yàn)的要求。幾年之前我們在日本了解到這一點(diǎn)，這對我們的成功至關(guān)重要。亞洲的經(jīng)營氛圍比美國緊張得多，我們的服務(wù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)還需要進(jìn)一步提高。
WSJ: What specifically have you learned in China?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：那你們在中國又學(xué)到了什么呢？
Mr. Kowalski: We learned we need to be more overt about how we present our brand. A great example would be the store signage. If you were to look closely at the New York Fifth Avenue store, Tiffany & Co. is written in steel letters on both sides of the doors, perhaps two [feet] in length, six inches in height and it's carved into the granite of the facade. And that's the only signage there is.
科瓦爾斯基：在中國，我們需要更加直白地呈現(xiàn)品牌。專賣店標(biāo)識(shí)就是個(gè)很好的例子。如果你仔細(xì)觀察紐約第五大道的專賣店，我們在大門兩側(cè)都刻上了“蒂芙尼”的鋼字，雕刻在花崗巖的門面上，長約2英尺，高6英寸。這也是專賣店唯一有標(biāo)識(shí)的地方。
When we first came to China, we were equally discreet and subtle in how we presented the brand and that created a problem. People simply didn't see or couldn't see the brand. They couldn't understand what the store was about. We've had to be more direct and less subtle in how we communicate the brand. We need to do a better job of telling brand stories to give a deeper, richer more robust sense of brand. We've recognized that while there's a broad awareness of consumers, we need to work very hard to increase the depth of that knowledge. There is limited understanding of our heritage and that diamonds are central to our business, that we cut our own diamonds. We need to work much harder to communicate that in China than in America or even in Japan.
當(dāng)我們首次進(jìn)入中國市場時(shí)，我們在呈現(xiàn)品牌方面也同樣謹(jǐn)小慎微，但卻出現(xiàn)了問題。人們完全看不到我們的品牌標(biāo)識(shí)。他們不明白這家店是干什么的。在如何溝通品牌信息方面，我們必須更加直接，不要太精細(xì)。在講述品牌故事時(shí)，我們需要做得更好，在消費(fèi)者眼中樹立一個(gè)更深沉、更豐富、更強(qiáng)有力的品牌形象。我們意識(shí)到，盡管我們的品牌在消費(fèi)者中贏得了廣泛知名度，但我們?nèi)孕璺浅ＥΓM(jìn)一步加大消費(fèi)者對品牌的深度了解。人們對我們的品牌傳承了解有限，不知道鉆石是我們的核心業(yè)務(wù)，也不知道我們自己切割鉆石。與美國甚至日本相比，我們在中國市場的品牌溝通方面還需做出更多努力。
WSJ: How are you changing your strategy based on what you've learned?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：基于你們汲取的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，你們?nèi)绾握{(diào)整策略？
Mr. Kowalski: One thing we've started to do is use Tiffany blue far more aggressively in the stores and in the facade.
科瓦爾斯基：其中一點(diǎn)是，我們開始在專賣店和店面外觀上大量使用蒂芙尼的藍(lán)色。
The other thing we've done in China is focus on diamonds. We are the world's authority on diamonds and we've emphasized that more dramatically than anywhere else in the world. We're also speaking more about the Tiffany heritage. We are 176 years old and more longer-lived than many of the luxury brands.
另外一點(diǎn)是，我們在中國市場主打鉆石。蒂芙尼是享譽(yù)全球的鉆石權(quán)威，與在全球其他地區(qū)相比，我們在中國格外強(qiáng)調(diào)這一點(diǎn)。我們對蒂芙尼品牌傳承介紹得也更多。我們擁有176年的歷史，比很多奢侈品牌的歷史更加久遠(yuǎn)。
WSJ: You've had success in China recently, but what are some of the challenges you face?
《華爾街日報(bào)》：你們最近在中國取得了成功，但還面臨哪些挑戰(zhàn)？
Mr. Kowalski: Diamonds are seen as value items here, which is at the core of their attraction. But one of the challenges with them in China is the bridal tradition, the engagement ring tradition. It has developed some in the last 10 years. But that's a core part of our business. We'd like to think our presence here is encouraging that development of the tradition.
科瓦爾斯基：鉆石在中國被視為貴重商品，而貴重也是鉆石吸引力的核心所在。但我們在中國面臨的挑戰(zhàn)之一是婚禮傳統(tǒng)，也就是訂婚戒指傳統(tǒng)。在過去十年，這種傳統(tǒng)已經(jīng)有所發(fā)展。但這是我們業(yè)務(wù)的核心部分。我們希望，蒂芙尼品牌能夠激勵(lì)中國這一傳統(tǒng)的發(fā)展。
