考研英語(yǔ)閱讀:家樂(lè)福,十字路口

Exit Carrefour

家樂(lè)福，十字路口

Carrefour’s presence in Thailand is similarly modest.

家樂(lè)福在泰國(guó)的表現(xiàn)并不算出色

Whereas Britain’s Tesco has become the country ’s biggest grocery chain, Carrefour lies in a distant fourth place.

在英國(guó)的特易購(gòu)成為泰國(guó)最大的連鎖店的同時(shí)，家樂(lè)福的排名卻只有第四。

Across the border in Malaysia it trails well behind Tesco and two other foreign retailers.

在馬來(lái)西亞全境，家樂(lè)福都要遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于特易購(gòu)和其他兩家外國(guó)零售商。

And so, with a Gallic shrug, Carrefour is closing up shop in much of South-East Asia. Its 44 stores in Thailand, 23 in Malaysia and two in Singapore are for sale.

對(duì)于這種現(xiàn)狀，家樂(lè)福擺出一副“責(zé)不在我，我也沒(méi)轍”的姿態(tài)，陸續(xù)關(guān)閉東南亞大部分的門(mén)店。它準(zhǔn)備出售44 家泰國(guó)店，23 家馬來(lái)西亞店以及2家新加坡店。

Potential buyers are said to include Tesco and Casino, a French firm that already has a Thai joint venture, Big C. Analysts reckon that Carrefour’s stores could fetch up to $1 billion.

據(jù)說(shuō)潛在買(mǎi)家有特易購(gòu)和卡西諾，后者是一家擁有泰國(guó)合資企業(yè)Big C 的法國(guó)公司。分析師估算，家樂(lè)福的競(jìng)購(gòu)價(jià)可以達(dá)到10億美元。

Carrefour was one of the first foreign grocers to open shops in South-East Asia in the 1990s. But the later-arriving Tesco proved cannier in figuring out what consumers wanted.

家樂(lè)福是上世紀(jì)90 年代最早在東南亞開(kāi)設(shè)分店的外國(guó)零售商之一，但是后來(lái)者特易購(gòu)似乎更了解客戶的需求。

When the firm found out that Thai shoppers traveled for miles by bus to its “big-box” stores, it opened smaller stores in rural towns.

當(dāng)特易購(gòu)發(fā)現(xiàn)泰國(guó)消費(fèi)者需要乘坐幾英里的公交車(chē)才能到它的大型賣(mài)場(chǎng)后，就開(kāi)始在鄉(xiāng)間小鎮(zhèn)里開(kāi)設(shè)小型門(mén)店。

Carrefour focused on Bangkok’s higher spenders and stuck to its hypermarket format.

而家樂(lè)福則定位于曼谷的高端消費(fèi)群體，堅(jiān)持“大型賣(mài)場(chǎng)”路線。

Toby Desforges, founder of Engage, a marketing consultancy, calls this the “take it or leave pressure from activist shareholders to reverse the firm’s global expansion and focus on Europe.

市場(chǎng)分析機(jī)構(gòu)Engage 的創(chuàng)始人之一將家樂(lè)福的這種做法釋為“要么接受，要么摒棄”。最終，泰國(guó)消費(fèi)者選擇了將它摒棄。家樂(lè)福的股東們一直在給首席執(zhí)行官羅盛施加壓力，要求他停止家樂(lè)福在全球的擴(kuò)張計(jì)劃，而專(zhuān)注于歐洲市場(chǎng)。

Mr. Olofsson has said he prefers to leave markets where Carrefour is not one of the top two retailers or has little hope of becoming one.

羅盛說(shuō)，家樂(lè)福在有些地區(qū)不是市場(chǎng)的領(lǐng)頭羊，也沒(méi)希望成為領(lǐng)頭羊，他傾向于放棄這些市場(chǎng)。

For all that, Carrefour’s retreat from South-East Asia may be ill-timed. Compared with Europe, the region ’s economy is buoyant.

不管怎么樣，家樂(lè)福選擇從東南亞退出的時(shí)機(jī)不對(duì)。和歐洲比，這里的經(jīng)濟(jì)生機(jī)蓬勃。

Thailand’s modern retail sector is growing rapidly despite the country’s political turmoil. The same is true of Malaysia.

雖然歷經(jīng)政治動(dòng)蕩，泰國(guó)的現(xiàn)代零售業(yè)仍在快速發(fā)展。馬來(lái)西亞也是如此。

As incomes rise, more shoppers will opt to drive to large, air-conditioned stores. Some might even develop a taste for French cheese.

當(dāng)收入增加時(shí)，更多購(gòu)物者愿意驅(qū)車(chē)前往寬敞大氣、空調(diào)開(kāi)放的超市。有些人甚至還會(huì)迷上法國(guó)奶酪呢。

 

 

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