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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.
纽约第五大道上的知名品牌蒂芙尼(Tiffany & Co., TIF)打算提升在海外、尤其是亚洲市场的吸引力。亚洲消费者对黄金和珠宝的需求似乎源源不断。
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.
长期以来这家总部位于纽约的珠宝商的销售额大多由美国本土消费者所驱动，然而现在情况正在发生变化。截至10月31的第三财政季度，蒂芙尼在美国开业至少一年的同店销售额同比仅增长1%，其中大部分销售额来自主要面向游客的纽约旗舰店。
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.
蒂芙尼首席执行长迈克尔?科瓦尔斯基(Michael Kowalski)正设法把这些游客转变为常客，希望他们回国后继续光顾蒂芙尼。蒂芙尼于1993年开设了第一家日本店铺。现在，除了在日本的店铺，该公司打算在俄罗斯、法国等市场开设新店。
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.
该公司的另一个目标市场是中国。蒂芙尼目前已在中国运营24家专卖店，打算在可预见的未来每年开设3家新店，试图在这个竞争激烈的市场迎战对手，并让中国消费者相信蒂芙尼拥有最好的切割工艺、设计和服务。
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.
科瓦尔斯基近期到访中国，为蒂芙尼传奇黄钻石展示会造势。他在北京接受了《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)的采访，谈到了在亚洲打造蒂芙尼品牌的计划。
Edited excerpts:
以下是经过编辑的访谈摘录：
WSJ: What are your goals for moving beyond the U.S. in the next three years?
《华尔街日报》：未来三年蒂芙尼在美国以外市场的目标是什么？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：我们相信蒂芙尼会有很好的地域扩张机会。我们已经试图建立了多元化的地理组合，不会依赖于任何一个地区或任何一个国家。近期我们扩大了在中东的业务，并打算于明年春季在俄罗斯开设第一家直营专卖店。
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.
我们也很看好中国市场的潜力。整个公司的计划是，在可预见的未来蒂芙尼销售额增长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.
目前我们在中国拥有24家专卖店，未来可能每年开设3-4家新店。当然，我们想灵活处理，看看市场会如何发展。这就是我们的战略目标。很显然，如果我们把中国视为未来增长最快的市场，这就意味着蒂芙尼在中国的销售额增速将远远高于10%-12%。对此我们很有信心。
WSJ: Some luxury companies are wary of China, where an austerity campaign has hit luxury sales. What makes you confident?
《华尔街日报》：眼下中国政府正在提倡节俭，这打击了奢侈品在中国市场的销售，所以一些奢侈品公司对中国市场持谨慎态度。你的信心缘何而来呢？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：从增长率曲线上升斜率来看，蒂芙尼在中国的业绩表现将令我们满意，但波动也比较大。中国市场在2011年的表现相当不错，2012年不那么惊人，但2013年有所回暖，刚刚公布的季度业绩就说明了这一点。
WSJ: What is behind the volatility?
《华尔街日报》：波动较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.
科瓦尔斯基：业绩表现主要受到了消费者情绪以及他们对经济形势看法（例如经济是真正改善还是一时的好转）的影响。欧洲消费者信心的波动要小一些。中国的波动性最大，美国处于中间。我不清楚是什么原因造成的，但这是蒂芙尼在中国持续面临的一个挑战。
WSJ: Consumers are becoming increasingly global, particularly the Chinese consumer. How is tourism changing your approach?
《华尔街日报》：消费者正变得日趋全球化，中国的消费者尤其如此。旅游业如何影响着你们的经营方式？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：亚洲消费者和旅游业的崛起促使我们调整了一些店铺运营方式。我们也接待说非本地语言的客户。但会讲普通话的专业销售人员比较难找，我们必须努力去找。
WSJ: What are you doing beyond language?
《华尔街日报》：除了克服语言方面的障碍你们要做些什么？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：我们还在有大量中国消费者光顾的市场增加专卖店数量。我们正在巴黎香榭丽舍大道新建一家旗舰店。
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.
我们还在美国和全球市场提升门店体验。我们正在装修门店，并在提高专业销售人员的服务品质以及升级店内一切设施。
We're changing the ratio of selling space to provide more seating space. More casual sit-down environment, more private areas.
我们正在调整销售空间所占的比例，以便提供更大的休息空间。我们力争提供更好的随意休闲环境、更多的私人空间。
WSJ: What are some of the lessons you have learned by doing business in Asia?
《华尔街日报》：你们在亚洲做生意有哪些经验教训？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：我们的经验之一是亚洲人对高标准服务和门店体验的要求。几年之前我们在日本了解到这一点，这对我们的成功至关重要。亚洲的经营氛围比美国紧张得多，我们的服务标准还需要进一步提高。
WSJ: What specifically have you learned in China?
《华尔街日报》：那你们在中国又学到了什么呢？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：在中国，我们需要更加直白地呈现品牌。专卖店标识就是个很好的例子。如果你仔细观察纽约第五大道的专卖店，我们在大门两侧都刻上了“蒂芙尼”的钢字，雕刻在花岗岩的门面上，长约2英尺，高6英寸。这也是专卖店唯一有标识的地方。
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.
当我们首次进入中国市场时，我们在呈现品牌方面也同样谨小慎微，但却出现了问题。人们完全看不到我们的品牌标识。他们不明白这家店是干什么的。在如何沟通品牌信息方面，我们必须更加直接，不要太精细。在讲述品牌故事时，我们需要做得更好，在消费者眼中树立一个更深沉、更丰富、更强有力的品牌形象。我们意识到，尽管我们的品牌在消费者中赢得了广泛知名度，但我们仍需非常努力，进一步加大消费者对品牌的深度了解。人们对我们的品牌传承了解有限，不知道钻石是我们的核心业务，也不知道我们自己切割钻石。与美国甚至日本相比，我们在中国市场的品牌沟通方面还需做出更多努力。
WSJ: How are you changing your strategy based on what you've learned?
《华尔街日报》：基于你们汲取的经验，你们如何调整策略？
Mr. Kowalski: One thing we've started to do is use Tiffany blue far more aggressively in the stores and in the facade.
科瓦尔斯基：其中一点是，我们开始在专卖店和店面外观上大量使用蒂芙尼的蓝色。
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.
另外一点是，我们在中国市场主打钻石。蒂芙尼是享誉全球的钻石权威，与在全球其他地区相比，我们在中国格外强调这一点。我们对蒂芙尼品牌传承介绍得也更多。我们拥有176年的历史，比很多奢侈品牌的历史更加久远。
WSJ: You've had success in China recently, but what are some of the challenges you face?
《华尔街日报》：你们最近在中国取得了成功，但还面临哪些挑战？
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.
科瓦尔斯基：钻石在中国被视为贵重商品，而贵重也是钻石吸引力的核心所在。但我们在中国面临的挑战之一是婚礼传统，也就是订婚戒指传统。在过去十年，这种传统已经有所发展。但这是我们业务的核心部分。我们希望，蒂芙尼品牌能够激励中国这一传统的发展。
