蒂芙尼看好海外市場拓展前景

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於紐約的珠寶商的銷售額大多由美國本土消費者所驅動，然而現在情況正在發生變化。截至10月31的第三財政季度，蒂芙尼在美國開業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遊客的紐約旗艦店。

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.

蒂芙尼首席執行長邁克爾?科瓦爾斯基(Michael Kowalski)正設法把這些遊客轉變爲常客，希望他們回國後繼續光顧蒂芙尼。蒂芙尼於1993年開設了第一家日本店鋪。現在，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.

該公司的另一個目標市場是中國。蒂芙尼目前已在中國運營24家專賣店，打算在可預見的未來每年開設3家新店，試圖在這個競爭激烈的市場迎戰對手，並讓中國消費者相信蒂芙尼擁有最好的切割工藝、設計和服務。

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，爲蒂芙尼傳奇黃鑽石展示會造勢。他在北京接受了《華爾街日報》(The Wall Street Journal)的採訪，談到了在亞洲打造蒂芙尼品牌的計劃。

Edited excerpts:

以下是經過編輯的訪談摘錄：

WSJ: What are your goals for moving beyond the U.S. in the next three years?

《華爾街日報》：未來三年蒂芙尼在美國以外市場的目標是什麼？

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：我們相信蒂芙尼會有很好的地域擴張機會。我們已經試圖建立了多元化的地理組合，不會依賴於任何一個地區或任何一個國家。近期我們擴大了在中東的業務，並打算於明年春季在俄羅斯開設第一家直營專賣店。

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。整個公司的計劃是，在可預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3-4家新店。當然，我們想靈活處理，看看市場會如何發展。這就是我們的戰略目標。很顯然，如果我們把中國視爲未來增長最快的市場，這就意味着蒂芙尼在中國的銷售額增速將遠遠高於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》：眼下中國政府正在提倡節儉，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慎態度。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，蒂芙尼在中國的業績表現將令我們滿意，但波動也比較大。中國市場在2011年的表現相當不錯，2012年不那麼驚人，但2013年有所回暖，剛剛公佈的季度業績就說明了這一點。

WSJ: What is behind the volatility?

《華爾街日報》：波動較大背後的原因是什麼？

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：業績表現主要受到了消費者情緒以及他們對經濟形勢看法（例如經濟是真正改善還是一時的好轉）的影響。歐洲消費者信心的波動要小一些。中國的波動性最大，美國處於中間。我不清楚是什麼原因造成的，但這是蒂芙尼在中國持續面臨的一個挑戰。

WSJ: Consumers are becoming increasingly global, particularly the Chinese consumer. How is tourism changing your approach?

《華爾街日報》：消費者正變得日趨全球化，中國的消費者尤其如此。旅遊業如何影響着你們的經營方式？

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：亞洲消費者和旅遊業的崛起促使我們調整了一些店鋪運營方式。我們也接待說非本地語言的客戶。但會講普通話的專業銷售人員比較難找，我們必須努力去找。

WSJ: What are you doing beyond language?

《華爾街日報》：除了克服語言方面的障礙你們要做些什麼？

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者光顧的市場增加專賣店數量。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。我們正在裝修門店，並在提高專業銷售人員的服務品質以及升級店內一切設施。

We're changing the ratio of selling space to provide more seating space. More casual sit-down environment, more private areas.

我們正在調整銷售空間所佔的比例，以便提供更大的休息空間。我們力爭提供更好的隨意休閒環境、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》：你們在亞洲做生意有哪些經驗教訓？

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：我們的經驗之一是亞洲人對高標準服務和門店體驗的要求。幾年之前我們在日本瞭解到這一點，這對我們的成功至關重要。亞洲的經營氛圍比美國緊張得多，我們的服務標準還需要進一步提高。

WSJ: What specifically have you learned in China?

《華爾街日報》：那你們在中國又學到了什麼呢？

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品牌。專賣店標識就是個很好的例子。如果你仔細觀察紐約第五大道的專賣店，我們在大門兩側都刻上了“蒂芙尼”的鋼字，雕刻在花崗岩的門面上，長約2英尺，高6英寸。這也是專賣店唯一有標識的地方。

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.

當我們首次進入中國市場時，我們在呈現品牌方面也同樣謹小慎微，但卻出現了問題。人們完全看不到我們的品牌標識。他們不明白這家店是幹什麼的。在如何溝通品牌信息方面，我們必須更加直接，不要太精細。在講述品牌故事時，我們需要做得更好，在消費者眼中樹立一個更深沉、更豐富、更強有力的品牌形象。我們意識到，儘管我們的品牌在消費者中贏得了廣泛知名度，但我們仍需非常努力，進一步加大消費者對品牌的深度瞭解。人們對我們的品牌傳承瞭解有限，不知道鑽石是我們的核心業務，也不知道我們自己切割鑽石。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》：基於你們汲取的經驗，你們如何調整策略？

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：其中一點是，我們開始在專賣店和店面外觀上大量使用蒂芙尼的藍色。

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.

另外一點是，我們在中國市場主打鑽石。蒂芙尼是享譽全球的鑽石權威，與在全球其他地區相比，我們在中國格外強調這一點。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。

WSJ: You've had success in China recently, but what are some of the challenges you face?

《華爾街日報》：你們最近在中國取得了成功，但還面臨哪些挑戰？

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：鑽石在中國被視爲貴重商品，而貴重也是鑽石吸引力的核心所在。但我們在中國面臨的挑戰之一是婚禮傳統，也就是訂婚戒指傳統。在過去十年，這種傳統已經有所發展。但這是我們業務的核心部分。我們希望，蒂芙尼品牌能夠激勵中國這一傳統的發展。