一个零售业巨头的崛起之路Store colossus sets a firm course for domination

For almost half a century, the business of China Resources was selling Chinese goods and commodities in Hong Kong. These days, the company makes most of its money using international retailing strategies that it imported via Hong Kong back to the mainland.

近半个世纪来，华润(China Resources)的业务就是在香港销售中国内地货品及大宗商品。而如今，该公司的大部分利润，是靠把在香港学到的国际零售策略应用于内地而实现的。

The turnround has been a great success. China Resources is now one of the mainland’s largest food retailers, with more than 3,000 stores and a much wider network in the world’s most populous country than close western rivals Carrefour and Walmart.

这样的“掉头转向”，取得了巨大成功。华润目前是中国内地最大的食品零售企业之一，在这个世界上人口最多的国家拥有逾3000家门店，销售网络比与它旗鼓相当的西方竞争对手家乐福(Carrefour)和沃尔玛(Walmart)大得多。

“Our strategy is to target the entire country,” Wang Weiyong, senior vice-president of China Resources’ retail group, says.“We want to be the leading player in the domestic market. We have more understanding of the market.”

华润零售集团高级副总裁王维勇表示：“我们的战略是瞄准全国。我们希望成为国内市场的领跑者。我们比别人更了解国内市场。”

The group’s goal, Mr Wang says, is to more than treble annual revenues from $4.6bn to $15bn within five years and become one of China’s three largest retail companies, projecting the opening of 60-80 hypermarkets among 500-600 total new stores each year.

他表示，该集团的目标是在五年之内，把年收入提高两倍以上，即从46亿美元提高到150亿美元，并进入中国前三大零售企业的行列。预计该集团每年将新开500－600家门店，其中60－80家为大型超市。

China Resources’ voracious appetite for growth contrasts with its relative stasis until the mid-1980s. At that point, it operated five downmarket department stores and a similar number of Chinese Arts & Crafts stores, all in Hong Kong.

华润现在对于增长的渴望，与它在上世纪80年代中期之前的相对停滞形成了鲜明对比。那时，它旗下拥有五家低端百货商店、以及类似数目的中艺(Chinese Arts & Crafts)商店，全部开在香港。

Both store groups were the legacy of patriotic efforts to promote Chinese products in colonial Hong Kong and earn hard currency for the mainland.

当时，在仍属殖民地的香港推销大陆产品，为内地赚取硬通货，被视为爱国行为。当时华润旗下的两类商店都属于这个性质。

As an arm of what is now China’s commerce ministry, China Resources had a monopoly over most trade between the mainland and Hong Kong, including pork and most produce. As China embraced market reforms, China Resources in 1984 capitalised on its role as food supplier to open its first supermarket in the British colony and soon became a solid but distant number three behind entrenched chains owned by Hutchison Whampoa and Jardine Matheson.

作为中国商务部前身的下属机构之一，华润当时垄断了内地与香港之间的绝大部分贸易，包括猪肉和多数农产品。随着中国逐步推行市场改革，华润利用自身所扮演的食品供应商角色，于1984年在香港开设了旗下第一家超市，市场份额很快便稳居第三，不过与和记黄埔(Hutchison Whampoa)、怡和集团(Jardine Matheson)旗下的根基雄厚的连锁商店相比，还是要远远落后。

“Business in Hong Kong was good, but the market was too small,” says Mr Wang.

王维勇表示：“那时候香港的生意很好做，但市场规模太小。”

In the early 1990s, China Resources opened its first supermarkets and department stores in the mainland.

上世纪90年代初，华润在内地开设了其第一批超市和百货商店。

Soaring consumer sales and Beijing’s desire to cultivate domestic chains that could stand up to the likes of Walmart when entry to the World Trade Organisation removed investment barriers to foreign operators led China Resources Enterprise, the group’s Hong Kong-listed arm, to set its focus on the mainland officially in 2002.

之后，华润的消费品销售额不断飙升，而中国政府也渴望培育本土连锁店（政府希望，在加入世界贸易组织（WTO），从而取消针对外国连锁店的投资壁垒时，能有可与沃尔玛之类企业抗衡的本土企业）。在这种情况下，该集团的香港上市子公司华润创业(China Resources Enterprise)于2002年正式将业务重心放在了内地市场。

Growth has come from a combination of new stores and M&A, with China Resources Enterprise gradually taking over a series of store groups with support from its parent, China Resources (Holdings). This has expanded the company’s store base from southern China up the coast toward Shanghai and Beijing and, with an acquisition this year, into several interior provinces. Sales have climbed, as the company has upgraded stores and opened niche outlets.

通过一边开设新店、一边开展并购，华润创业实现了增长。在母公司华润控股(China Resources (Holdings))的支持下，华润创业逐步收购了一系列商店集团。这使该公司的店铺基础由华南沿海岸直上，扩张至上海和北京，在今年，又借助一宗并购，扩张到几个内陆省份。随着华润创业对商店进行升级，并开设针对“利基市场”的专卖店，该公司的销售额不断攀升。

Although Hong Kong now accounts for only 6-7 per cent of China Resources Enterprise’s store count and retail revenue, the city’s outlets generated an outsize 41 per cent of the group’s retail earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

虽然香港目前只占华润创业商店数量和零售收入的6%至7%，但香港的专卖店却创造了该公司未计利息、税项、折旧及摊销前零售利润的41%，这一比例高得惊人。

The company’s profit margin is 10 times higher in Hong Kong than on the mainland owing to a combination of expansion costs and oligopolistic gains in the former colony’s mature market, according to Matthew Crabbe, managing director at Access Asia, a market research company in Shanghai.

上海市场研究机构通亚公司(Access Asia)董事总经理马修·克拉布(Matthew Crabbe)表示，华润创业在香港的利润率比在内地高10倍，原因有两点，一是扩张成本，二是香港成熟市场的寡头垄断收益。

Hong Kong remains a key centre for China Resources’ retail technology development, planning, store management and design efforts. “Hong Kong is a very good place to test new concepts,” Mr Wang says.

香港仍是华润零售技术开发、规划，商店管理和设计工作的重要中心之一。王维勇表示：“香港是测试新理念的理想地点。”

The company launched a convenience store format from Hong Kong and the neighbouring mainland city of Shenzhen three years ago. This year, it opened its first two standalone wine shops in Hong Kong and last month debuted a new health and beauty chain with two city stores. This year it also launched a new supermarket concept positioned between its mainline and upscale chains with two outlets in Hong Kong before taking the brand to Shanghai.

三年前，该公司从香港及与之毗邻的深圳推出了一种便利店模式。今年，它在香港开设了旗下头两家独立葡萄酒商店。上月，它新开了一家健身美容连锁店，在市区拥有两家门店。今年它还推出了一种新的超市概念，即介于其主线连锁店和高端连锁店之间的一种超市，它先在香港开设了两家这样的门店，而后又把这一品牌带到上海。

“Because Hong Kong is an international city and the retail market is very prosperous, it can serve as a platform for innovation,” Mr Wang says.

王维勇表示：“由于香港是一座国际化城市，零售市场高度繁荣，因此我们可以把它当作一个创新平台。”

This year, China Resources also bought Pacific Coffee, a Hong Kong-grown rival to Starbucks, for HK$330m (US$43m). The company plans to put outlets into its upscale hyper- and supermarkets in China to reinforce their affluent appeal.

今年，该公司还斥资3.3亿港元（合4300万美元）收购了星巴克(Starbucks)的一个竞争对手——香港本土企业太平洋咖啡(Pacific Coffee)。华润计划在其内地高端超市和高端大型超市中开设专卖店，让这些颇具吸引力的超市变得更加诱人。