经济学人150:为何廉价零售如此蓬勃

 　　Business

　　商业报道
　　Mercadona
　　梅尔卡多纳
　　Spanish aisles 1
　　西班牙走廊
　　Why a low-price retailer 2 is thriving
　　为何廉价零售如此蓬勃
　　FEW domestic firms are prospering 3 in crisis-racked Spain, but Mercadona is.
　　在经历经济危机的创伤之后，西班牙很少有几家国内企业能够恢复兴旺发展，然而梅尔卡多纳除外。
　　Spain's largest supermarket by sales has enjoyed double-digit growth for most of the past decade.
　　过去十年中，西班牙最大的销售型超市在大部分时间呈两位数增长。
　　When Juan Roig, the chairman, took over in 1981, Mercadona had only eight shops, all in Valencia.
　　1981年，胡安.罗伊上任主席，任职之初，梅尔卡多纳仅有8间店铺，并且全部都在巴伦西亚。
　　Today it has 1,310 and annual sales of 16.5 billion $23.8 billion.
　　而今，它有1310家连锁店，年销售额达到165亿欧元合238亿美金。
　　Spain's economic troubles seem to have made it stronger.
　　西班牙的经济问题似乎反而让它变的更为强大。
　　Profits dipped in 2009, but surged again by 47% in 2010 after some forceful cost-cutting.
　　2009年，经济效益下滑，但是在2010年完成了一些强有力的成本削减后，又激增了47%。
　　Mercadona's strength is low prices.
　　梅尔卡多纳的优势在低价。
　　The family-owned chain does not fritter away cash on advertising 4.
　　家族式连锁不会在广告费用上造成任何浪费。
　　It mercilessly squeezes the suppliers of its own-brand products.
　　它不遗余力地要求供应商做自己的品牌的产品。
　　These suppliers, of which there are about 100, put up with Mercadona's squeezing because they have a long-term relationship with the company and have grown with it.
　　而将近100家的供应商为了与这家公司长期合作，也为了得到长远的发展，不得不接受受梅尔卡多纳的要求。
　　Since 2009 Mercadona has shaved 2.2 billion of costs from its products, often with simple adjustments such as reducing packaging.
　　自2009年以来，梅尔卡多纳利用自有品牌削减了22亿欧元的成本，并且不时地做些简单的调整，如减少包装成本等措施。
　　Tight relationships with its suppliers foster innovation.
　　与供应商的无间合作促使革新。
　　For example, sticking a plastic lid on a large tin of tuna made it easier to open and increased its sales by 60% in 2010.
　　比如说，2010年的时候，在一大罐金枪鱼罐头上使用塑料盖子可以使之更容易开启，从而让这个产品的销售量增加了60%。
　　Even so, Mercadona does not skimp 5 on technology or logistics.
　　即便如此，梅尔卡多纳在技术或者后勤方面绝不偷工减料。
　　It was the first retailer in Spain to use bar-code scanners.
　　它是西班牙第一家使用条形码扫描器的零售店。
　　And it owns a fully 6 automated 7 logistics warehouse 8 just outside Madrid.
　　并且就在马德里附近，它有一个全自动化管理的后勤仓库。
　　Robot arms stack goods in crates 9 like a game of Tetris.
　　机械臂把货物像叠俄罗斯方块一样垒起来。
　　Mercadona is unique in several ways, says Zeynep Ton of Harvard University, who wrote a case study on the chain.
　　梅尔卡多纳在很多方面都是独一无二的，哈佛大学的泽伊内普.托恩说道，他写了一个关于连锁的个案研究。
　　Its 63,500 employees are on permanent contracts with bonuses, work regular hours and receive 20 times more training than the staff of an average American retailer.
　　它有63,500名员工都是终身签约包括奖金，按规律时间上班并接受培训，而培训次数可比一般的美国零售商的员工接受的培训要多20次。
　　This makes them more productive: sales per Mercadona employee were 18% higher in 2008 than at other Spanish supermarkets. Staff turnover 10 is only 4%.
　　这使得他们生产效率更高：2008年，平均每个梅尔卡多纳员工的销售额比西班牙其他超市的销售额高出18%。而员工流动率一年仅有4%。
　　Employees constantly gather feedback from shoppers, whom they refer to, accurately 11 enough, as bosses.
　　员工们经常会收集购物者的反馈，而他们，准确的说，是指老板们。
　　Shops are designed to make shopping quick and easy.
　　商店就被设计成让人们更快更便捷地购物。
　　The selection is smaller than in other supermarkets, especially after Mercadona took the unpopular decision of eliminating 1,000 products from the shelves in 2009.
　　梅尔卡多纳的选择区比其他超市的要小，特别是2009年以后，因为梅尔卡多纳把1000种不受欢迎的产品下架了。
　　Own-label items such as Deliplus a line of cosmetics 12 account for 38 % of sales.
　　像Deliplus化妆品牌系列这样的自定商标货物占销售额的38%。
　　Mercadona products were ranked number one, in terms of value for money, in a recent survey of 5,200 households by TNS, a market researcher.
　　特恩斯的一名市场调查员对5200户家庭进行调查，在最近的一次调查中，梅尔卡多纳的产品根据经济价值位列第一。
　　There is still plenty of room to grow at home.
　　但是这个超市依然有很多发展空间。
　　Mercadona accounts for 13.1 % of the floor space in Spanish supermarkets, which makes it the third-largest chain in the country, after France's Carrefour and the co-operative Eroski.
　　梅尔卡多纳占西班牙超市面积达13.1%，它达到了全国大型连锁的第三名，仅次于法国家乐福和联合以罗斯基。
　　It aims to enter the Italian or French market next year, probably through a small acquisition.
　　明年，梅尔卡多纳计划进驻意大利或者法国市场，很可能通过小型收购这个渠道。
　　Mr Roig doubts that the Mercadona model can simply be copied abroad. We must learn everything from everyone, he says.
　　罗伊先生对梅尔卡多纳经营模式在国外市场的简单套用表示不确定。我们必须从每个人身上学习所有的东西，他这样说道。
　　Unlike most Spanish bosses, Mr Roig doesn't mince 13 his words.
　　与西班牙大多数的老板不同，罗伊先生不会装腔作势。
　　Earlier this year he said the only good thing about 2011 for Spain was that it would be better than 2012.
　　今年年初，他谈及有关2011年对西班牙有好处的唯一一点是，会比2012更好。
　　It will be worse if the Spanish people do not take up the challenge of transforming Spain, he says, by which he means bringing its colossal 14 welfare state under control.
　　如果西班牙人民不去挑战改变西班牙，那么情况会变的更糟，他说道，而他的意思是把它的臃肿的福利体系带入正轨。
　　Mr Roig believes that Spain has great human capital.
　　罗伊先生相信西班牙有极好的人力资源。
　　That is true, but Spain's youth unemployment rate-a staggering 45%-suggests that much of this talent is being squandered 15.
　　确实如此，但是西班牙的青年不在业率达令人惊讶的45%，这表明大部分的资源都被浪费了。
　　The protesters in the plazas 16 complain that Spain's politicians have lost touch with how ordinary people live.
　　广场抗议的人群控诉说，西班牙政府和普通人的生活有所隔膜。
　　That is not a mistake a supermarket can afford to make.
　　而这个失误则不是超市可以解决的。