Lex專欄 被寵壞的中國超市顧客

In a modern supermarket the problem is often an excess of choice, not a shortage. In China, the consumer is spoilt for choice among retailers themselves. The promise of a $640bn grocery market, which Euromonitor thinks will grow by a quarter over the next five years, has vendors lining up.

在現代化超市裏，問題往往在於選擇太多而不是商品短缺。在中國，對零售商本身的選擇就已把消費者寵壞了。6400億美元食品市場的誘人前景令銷售商排起了長隊。而按照歐睿(Euromonitor)的預測，今後五年期間該市場規模還將增長四分之一。

The future may be bright. The present is a nasty fight in which local and foreign retailers are suffering. This week, China Resources Enterprise announced that it will sell its non-beer businesses back to its state-owned parent, China Resources Holdings. Retail and the associated property make up two-thirds of revenues outside of beer. This looks like an admission of defeat. Just last year, CRE consolidated Tesco’s Chinese supermarket business, forming a joint venture in which the UK food retailer still owns one-fifth (a stake it recently partly wrote down). The combined entity is the market leader, with share of just 3 per cent, according to Euromonitor. Still, the venture’s performance was weak enough to drag down CRE’s subsequent results.

前景或許是光明的。然而眼下本土和外國零售商正處於痛苦的激烈競爭之中。就在本週，華潤創業(China Resources Enterprise)宣佈將把其非啤酒業務賣給其國有母公司華潤控股(China Resources Holdings)。在啤酒業務以外，零售業務及與之相關的物業佔了華潤創業營收的三分之二。該公司此舉似乎是在零售業認輸。就在去年，華潤創業還曾整合樂購(Tesco)的中國超市業務，組建了一家合資企業。合併後這家英國食品零售商仍然持有該合資企業五分之一的股份（最近樂購對其所持股份進行了部分減記）。根據歐睿的數據，合併後的實體雖然是市場領軍企業，卻也只有3%的市場份額。話雖如此，該合資企業的疲弱業績仍拖累了華潤創業後來的業績。

Carrefour, in China for two decades, has also struggled. The country’s contribution to the company’s top line has doubled from 3 to 6 per cent over the past eight years. Still, last year the French food retailer had its first year-on-year drop (2 per cent) in Chinese revenues since at least 2008. Organic sales fell 6 per cent. In the first quarter this year, the trend worsened, like-for-like sales dropping 13 per cent in an environment the company described as “frugal”.

進入中國市場已有20年的家樂福(Carrefour)也處境艱難。在過去8年裏，中國對家樂福總營收的貢獻比例已經從3%增長一倍至6%。然而，去年這家法國食品零售商遭遇了至少自2008年以來的首次在華營收同比下滑（跌幅爲2%）。其中有機銷售額下滑了6%。今年第一季度，這一趨勢進一步惡化，同店銷售額下滑13%。家樂福稱，當前中國處於一種“節儉”的大環境。

The situation is unlikely to improve. Tesco may have bowed out, but the remaining players are expanding. Euromonitor forecasts that over the next five years supermarkets will increase their number of outlets by a third. Meanwhile, internet operators such as Alibaba and are facilitating the delivery of fresh products from New Zealand milk to American cherries. The retail environment is spoiling.

局面不太可能出現改善。樂購也許已經告退，其餘商家卻在擴張之中。據歐睿預測，今後五年中國超市的門店數目將增加三分之一。與此同時，從新西蘭牛奶到美國櫻桃，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和京東()等互聯網運營商也在推出新鮮農產品遞送服務。零售環境正在寵壞消費者。