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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 coax 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 glamour 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。
Yuan Yafei,China's joint 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 deficit 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 perked 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 retail analyst 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” retailers such as Primark. The “murky middle” is an uncomfortable place for most brands, says Allyson Stewart-Allen, a marketing consultant. 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 burgeoning 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 swapped his holding for the right to buy 6.6% of the retailer if its share price falls to a certain level.) Perhaps he wants another outlet for flogging sportswear. House of Fraser has challenged Mr Ashley's purchase, saying the seller should have offered the stake to other shareholders first. In the 1980s House of Fraser was the subject of a histrionic row between a British tycoon, Tiny Rowland, who coveted the company, and an Egyptian investor, 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。译者 周雨晴 校对 张丹
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