Gucci owner sees silver lining in China crackdown
开云从奢侈品困境中看到曙光
广州产品翻译公司：开云集团董事长认为，从长期来看，中国对奢侈品加税，能减少通过第三方渠道销售的奢侈品数量。
The sun is pouring through the window of François-Henri Pinault’s London office where the head of Kering, the lifestyle group, looks remarkably relaxed given the turmoil in the luxury market.
阳光从弗朗索瓦-亨利•皮诺(Francois-Henri Pinault)位于伦敦的办公室窗户洒进来，考虑到奢侈品市场的动荡，身为时尚集团开云(Kering)首席执行官兼董事会主席的皮诺看起来令人意外地气定神闲。广州产品翻译公司。
High-end retail groups including Kering brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent have suffered as terror attacks have cut the flow of free-spending tourists to Europe, and from sharply falling sales in Macau and Hong Kong since the 2014 pro-democracy protests began.
包括开云集团旗下的古驰(Gucci)和伊夫圣罗兰(Yves Saint Laurent)在内的各高端零售集团近来面临困境——恐怖袭击导致来到欧洲的出手大方的游客变少，澳门和香港自2014年亲民主抗议开始以来销售业绩急剧下滑。广州产品翻译公司。
Even worse, Beijing’s crackdown on lavish spending and gift-giving, laun­ched more than three years ago, has flattened sales in China after a decade of remarkable growth. In 2014, followingafter the abrupt change in policy, luxury spending in mainland China fell for the first time, according tosay consultants Bain & Co.
更糟糕的是，北京方面自3年多以前开始的打击奢侈消费和送礼的运动，让快速增长了10年的在华销售业绩停下了前进的脚步。 贝恩公司(Bain & Co)的咨询师表示，2014年政策突然改变后，中国内地的奢侈品消费首次下滑。广州产品翻译公司。
But, Mr Pinault, husband of Salma Hayek, the Hollywood actor, believes his Paris-based company and investors more widely will ultimately benefit from Chinese president Xi Jinping’s campaign.
皮诺相信，总部位于巴黎的开云及其股东最终将从中国国家主席习近平发起的这场运动中受益。皮诺是好莱坞影星塞尔玛•海耶克(Salma Hayek)的丈夫。广州产品翻译公司。
“If you look at emerging economies, in those economies that reached a ceiling and couldn’t go beyond, it was usually because there was no rule of law,” says the French billionaire. “It had a negative impact short-term, but it is probably a very good decision long-term for China — and for investors in China.”
“如果你看一看新兴经济体，那些达到一个上限、无法超越的经济体，通常是因为没有法治，”这位法国亿万富翁表示，“它在短期有负面影响，但从长期来看，它对中国以及在华投资者而言很可能是一个非常好的决定。”广州产品翻译公司。
Faced with the crackdown, many Chinese consumers changed the way they bought luxury goods. Exane BNP Paribas estimates that Gucci went from serving two-thirds of Chinese demand with sales inside the country before the crackdown to as little as one-third at the lowest point afterwards.
面对这场打击奢侈消费的运动，许多中国消费者改变了购买奢侈品的方式。法国巴黎银行证券部(Exane BNP Paribas)估计，在这场运动前，古驰在中国境内售出的商品满足了中国市场需求的三分之二，在这场运动后，这个比例最低的时候只有三分之一。广州产品翻译公司。
That shift has left Kering and its rivals vulnerable to another Chinese challenge: increased taxes, as well as greater enforcement at customs, on people bringing in more than one luxury item from overseas.
这一转变让开云及其竞争对手在面对中国市场的另一个挑战时处于弱势，这一挑战就是：中国对从境外带入超过一件奢侈品的人们加税和加强海关执法。广州产品翻译公司。
Mr Pinault, who has headed the group since 2005, acknowledges that those measures will probably hit sales to Chinese customers in Europe and other markets. But here too he sees a silver lining — the taxes should also reduce the number of luxury items sold in China through third-party channels.
自2005年起执掌开云集团的皮诺承认，这些措施很可能打击欧洲和其他市场对中国顾客的销售业绩。但在这方面，他也看到值得庆幸的地方——这些税也会减少中国市场上通过第三方渠道销售的奢侈品数量。广州产品翻译公司。
“You don’t control anything,” he says of such sales. “We are not just selling products, we are selling brands and brand values. It is about what is behind the product — and that completely disappears when people buy on the parallel market.”
“你什么都控制不了，”他谈到这种第三方销售时说，“我们不仅仅是在卖出产品，我们也在卖出品牌和品牌价值。这是产品背后的东西——当人们从平行市场上买产品，这些东西就完全消失了。”广州产品翻译公司。
Mr Pinault says China continues to offer huge potential. “The Chinese tradition to offer gifts is still there and will remain,” he says. “But part of that gift giving used to be related to corruption, and you cannot build a business on this . . . it’s not sustainable.”
皮诺表示，中国依然蕴含巨大潜力。“中国送礼的传统依然并且将继续存在，”他说，“但过去部分送礼和腐败联系在一起，你不能把业务建立在这之上……这是不可持续的。”广州产品翻译公司。
Mr Pinault, a rugged-looking but softly spoken figure, joined his family’s company in 1987 when it was known as PPR. He held a string of managerial positions in the retail group created by François Pinault, his father, including its wood supply company and its distribution arm.
面容坚毅，但语调柔和的皮诺在1987年加入了父亲弗朗索瓦•皮诺(François Pinault)创办的这家企业，当时的企业名称还叫PPR。他在这家零售集团（包括旗下的木材供应公司和分销部门）中担任过一系列管理职位。广州产品翻译公司。
Since taking over more than 11 years ago, he has transformed the retail empire into what is today the world’s second-biggest luxury group by sales — beyond Gucci, brands include Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Boucheron — by sales. Revenue last year was €11.6bn, 68 per cent from luxury sales and the rest from Kering’s sport and lifestyle division, which includes the Puma brand.
接手开云11年多以来，他将这个零售帝国打造成为今天按销售额计的世界第二大奢侈品集团，旗下除了古驰以外，还拥有巴黎世家(Balenciaga)、葆蝶家(Bottega Veneta)和宝诗龙(Boucheron)。去年集团收入为116亿欧元，其中68%来自于奢侈品销售，其余来自于开云的运动和生活时尚品牌（包括彪马(Puma)）。广州产品翻译公司。
But during the past year or so, more challenges have surfaced. Europe has been hit by terrorism, which led to a sharp decline in tourism flows. Mr Pinault says that tourists account for 60 to 70 per cent of luxury sales in markets such as Paris and Milan.
但在过去一年左右的时间里，出现了更多挑战。欧洲遭到恐怖主义打击，导致游客人数急剧下滑。皮诺表示，在巴黎和米兰这样的市场，游客占奢侈品销售的60%到70%。广州产品翻译公司。
Many experts believe that the attacks mark a structural change. Mr Pinault is surprisingly upbeat, however. “I hope and I am confident that we won’t see such terrorist attacks every six months,” he states. “The European authorities are doing everything it takes to make the countries safer.”
很多专家相信，这些恐怖主义袭击标志着一种结构性变化。然而，皮诺却出奇地乐观。“我希望，而且我也确信，我们不会每半年就看到一次这样的恐怖袭击，”他表示，“欧洲当局正在尽一切努力让欧洲国家更加安全。”广州产品翻译公司。
In 2014, Mr Pinault moved with his family to London, though Kering stresses that he continues to pay taxes in France. He enjoys the relative anonymity. “I’m not a celebrity but people recognise me in Paris,” he explains.
2014年，皮诺和家人移居伦敦，不过开云集团强调，皮诺依然在法国缴税。他喜欢生活在没有那么多人认识自己的地方。“我不是个名人，但在巴黎人们能认出我，”他解释道。广州产品翻译公司。
He also likes London’s cosmopolitan profile. “At private dinners here, there are five or six nationalities around the table, and it’s normal — it’s not a big deal,” he says. “It’s not exactly the same in Paris.”
他也喜欢伦敦的大都会特质。“在这里的私人晚宴上，同桌坐着五六种国籍的人是很正常的——不值得大惊小怪，”他说，“巴黎则不是这样。”广州产品翻译公司。
Amid the multiple complexities facing luxury, Kering can point to several bright spots. Sales at Gucci, which accounts for half the group’s luxury revenue, have been picking up after the appointment last year of Alessandro Michele as creative director — a move aimed at breathing new life into what was then considered a flagging brand.
在奢侈品行业面临诸多复杂问题之际，开云可以指出几个亮点。在去年任命亚历山德罗•米凯莱(Alessandro Michele)担任创意总监后，古驰的销售额一直增长（古驰占开云集团奢侈品收入的一半）。米歇尔的任命旨在为这家当时被视为在走下坡路的品牌注入新的生机。广州产品翻译公司。
The shake-up has produced a change of focus. Gucci is moving away from an emphasis on craftsmanship to one that puts “trendy” centre stage. It seems to be working: women’s ready-to-wear sales, typically the first category to show the performance of a new designer, have grown 66 per cent in the year to date.
这一调整带来了重心的变化。古驰正将在关注的重心从工艺调整到“时尚”上。这种战略似乎在奏效：今年迄今，女性成衣销售业绩增长66%，女性成衣一般是最能体现新设计师工作成效的产品类别。广州产品翻译公司。
Mr Pinault says there is more to come: Gucci’s product range will only fully reflect Mr Michele’s designs by the end of this year. “We are addressing category after category,” he says. “The products that come from the brand’s new positioning are growing very, very fast. The more we increase their share in the complete offering, the better.”
皮诺表示，未来还将出现更多变化：到今年年底，古驰的产品系列才会完全反映米凯莱的设计。“我们正逐个解决每个产品类别的问题，”他表示，“按照新的品牌定位推出的产品增长非常、非常快。我们在整个产品线中为这些产品安排的份额越大越好。”
One of the biggest questions in the industry is whether luxury brands can successfully embrace ecommerce — an area in which leading groups have, for the most part, hesitated. But Mr Pinault says: “Luxury cannot afford not to think about digital.”
奢侈品行业最大的一个问题是奢侈品牌能否成功拥抱电子商务——领先奢侈品集团大多对这个领域犹豫不决。但皮诺表示：“不考虑向数字化转型的后果，是奢侈品行业承受不起的。”
Yet he acknowledges that the shift online “is an ongoing process”. Kering, like other groups, has struggled to provide the same level of service for online purchases as customers who buy in-store, such as personal fittings and alterations. “Can you offer an alteration service that is available at home?” he asks. “These are basic things. We are dealing with the same person online and offline so you have to deliver the same experience.”
然而，他承认，转向线上的“过程还在进行之中”。与其他集团一样，开云一直无法为在线购买的客户提供与在门店购买的客户同样水准的服务，例如量体试穿以及修改。“你能提供让客户足不出户就能享受到的成衣修改服务吗？”他问道，“这些是基本的事情。我们在线上和线下服务同一个人的时候，必须提供相同的体验。”
Mr Pinault says Kering brands are shifting more of their advertising budgets to digital offerings, which he says are ideal for reaching a wider audience. “We sell to few people but you need to communicate to the many.” “What is specific to our industry is that you also need to communicate towards people who will probably never buy your brand because this is part of the dream and the sense of exclusivity.”
皮诺表示，开云品牌正将更多广告预算转移到数字营销方面，他表示，这是触及更多人的理想方式。“我们的产品卖给一小部分人，但你需要让大众了解你。”“我们所在行业的特别之处在于，你还需要让那些可能永远不会购买你这个品牌的人了解你，因为这是梦想和奢华感的一部分。”
