新增實體門店計劃放緩 沃爾瑪要花大精力做電商

Wal-Mart announced at its October 6th Investor's meeting that it "plans to slow new-store openings," shifting its capital investments towards e-commerce technology.

沃爾瑪在10月6日的投資者會議上宣佈，計劃"暫緩新店開張的步伐"，將資本投資轉向電子商務技術。

In its superstore segment, Wal-Mart will drop from 69 new big box stores in FY 16, to 60 in FY 17, and only 35 by FY 18.

在其大型超市領域，沃爾瑪決定將2016財年新開69家賣場的計劃，縮減到2017財年的60家，到2018財年可能只剩35家了。

In his comments, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon flatly stated: "We are a company that must become more of an e-commerce and technology company. There's no doubt that e-commerce is going to become a much more important part of our business."

沃爾瑪首席執行官董明倫斬釘截鐵地表示："我們公司必須進一步重視電子商務與技術了。毫無疑問，電子商務將成爲我們業務中越來越重要的一部分。"

Without once mentioning his desperate fixation on catching rival Amazon, McMillon promised customers a "fast and easy" shopping experience "when, where and how they want."

這次他並沒有提及與對手亞馬遜的病態競爭。董明倫承諾會給消費者"便捷"的購物體驗，"不管他們何時何地提出什麼樣的需求"。

The huge Dinostores, once seen as the dominant species of retailing, are now viewed as ill-adapted to the climate change overtaking the marketplace, most notably the global warm-up of online shopping.

大型賣場曾經被視爲零售業的主力軍，但是現在隨着在線購物強勢崛起，市場風雲變幻，大型賣場已經表現出了適應不良。

Wal-Mart became over-reliant on these vast retail caverns, hard to navigate and time-consuming to shop. Now they are trying to catch up to the Amazon model of fulfillment warehouses strategically placed around the globe.

沃爾瑪太依賴這些對消費者來說極爲耗時的零售賣場而難以自拔。現在他們試着追趕亞馬遜在全球實現戰略倉儲的模式。

Wal-Mart's Retail Ice Age is a result of its own misreading of the market. As I wrote in this space nine months ago: "Wal-Mart headquarters announced January 15th that the company will close a total of 269 stores world-wide, of which 154 are locations in the U.S. This store implosion represents the end of the line for Wal-Mart's smallest format, the so-called Wal-Mart Express. But it also reveals the giant retailer's over-saturation of American markets."

沃爾瑪的零售冰川期是其對市場錯誤解讀的結果。正如我九個月以前所寫的一樣："沃爾瑪總部1月15日宣佈，將在全球範圍內關閉269家門店，其中154家在美國。這次關店潮代表着其所謂的'沃爾瑪便利店'格局的終結。但它也揭示了這個零售業巨頭在美國市場的超飽和。"

Wal-Mart has been cannibalizing its own stores for years by over-saturating market penetration.

因爲超飽和的市場滲入，數年來沃爾瑪一直在裁撤自家門店。

In 2007, John Menzer, Wal-Mart's Chief Administrative Officer, told shareholders: "We also have been focused this year on reducing cannibalization of existing stores via our more strategic selection of U.S. real estate projects. As we continue to add new stores in the United States, we do so with an understanding that additional stores may take sales away from existing units."

2007年，沃爾瑪首席行政官約翰·門澤爾對股東們說："通過我們對美國房地產項目的戰略選擇，我們今年也在專注於盡量不裁撤門店。我們將繼續在美國開設新門店，我們這麼做，是因爲我們認爲多出來的門店會分走現有門店的銷售額。"

The Dinostores are dying. Wal-Mart knows it. Shoppers know it. Perhaps by FY 19 Wal-Mart will be announcing no new superstore units at all, and the widespread closure of its outdated concrete mausoleums.

實體店氣數將盡，而沃爾瑪也知道這一點，消費者更知道這一點。也許，在2019財年，沃爾瑪一家新店都不會開了，關店潮也會進一步蔓延，過時的門店成了一座座水泥墳墓。