星巴克擬在中國大規模增加新店
【英文原文】
Starbucks Plans Big Expansion In China
Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz said China is set to usurp Japan as its biggest market outside North America, as the coffee titan plans to open 'thousands of stores' in China over time.
He also said the Seattle-based chain was eager to crack the potentially lucrative Indian and Vietnamese markets, where it doesn't yet have a presence.
'Asia clearly represents the most significant growth opportunity on a go-forward basis,' said Mr. Schultz, in an interview.
Starbucks has searched for new areas of growth following a deep retrenchment in the U.S. during the past year, which involved Starbucks closing hundreds of underperforming stores and shaving nearly $600 million of costs.
Mr. Schultz says the company has turned its fortunes around, allowing it to now shift its attention to international markets. In January, Starbucks reported its first quarter of same-store sales growth since the end of 2008.
But he said the company would plan its China growth carefully. 'Over time there will be thousands of stores in China,' said Mr. Schultz. 'But it's a complicated market that requires significant discipline and thoughtfulness.'
Despite its long presence in the Chinese market -- Starbucks opened its first shop in Beijing in 1999 -- the coffee company only has 376 stores on the China mainland, compared with 878 in Japan.
'Cracking the code in China for any company is not an easy task -- there will be a number of winners and lots of losers of people who go there and rush to judgment and don't succeed,' said Mr. Schultz. 'The thing I am most interested in when I go to China is whether or not local Chinese are buying Starbucks coffee and sitting in our stores.'
【中文譯文】
星巴克擬在中國大規模增加新店
星巴克公司(Starbucks Corp.)首席執行長舒爾茨(Howard Schultz)說，中國將超過日本成爲其北美之外最大的市場。這家咖啡巨頭計劃在中國開設數千家連鎖店。
他在接受採訪時說，從未來發展來看，亞洲顯然是最有可觀增長機會的。
星巴克去年在美國大幅收縮業務後，已在尋找新的業務增長區域。去年星巴克在美關閉了數百家經營欠佳的連鎖店，降低成本近六億美元。
舒爾茨說，公司已經時來運轉，因而目前可轉而關注國際市場。1月份，該公司報告第一季度同店銷售額出現增長，爲2008年末來的第一次。
星巴克CEO談中國市場
星巴克公司CEO霍華德·舒爾茨(Howard Schultz)說，中國將超過日本成爲其北美之外最大的市場。這家咖啡巨頭計劃在中國開設數千家連鎖店。他說公司將精心籌備在中國的擴張方案。他說，假以時日，中國將出現數千個星巴克咖啡店。但中國市場情況複雜，需要紀律嚴明與深思熟慮。
星巴克登陸中國市場時間已不短，第一家店1999年在北京開設。但星巴克迄今在中國大陸僅有376家店，而在日本已有878家。
舒爾茨說，對任何公司而言，破解中國市場的規則並不容易。進入這個市場的，將有不少的成功者，也會有爲數衆多、急於做出決斷的失敗者。他表示，每次到中國他最想知道的是，中國人是否購買星巴克咖啡，並在店中啜飲休憩。
