中國“最悲慘北極熊”突顯實體商業(yè)困境

Pizza, a polar bear notorious in China as being the “world’s saddest”, has been removed from his cramped enclosure and placed in an animal reserve after months of controversy that have highlighted the sorry state of Chinese shopping malls.

因生活環(huán)境糟糕而被稱為“世界上最悲慘北極熊”的Pizza，告別了它生活的狹小館舍，被送到了一處動物保護場所。數(shù)月來圍繞Pizza展開的爭論突顯出中國購物中心的艱難處境。

Pizza’s plight was the result of a trend for using animals, entertainment and children’s playgrounds to pull customers into China’s giant shopping centres and department stores, which have been built in their thousands despite the nation’s growing preference for buying online.

中國最近出現(xiàn)了用動物、娛樂設(shè)施和兒童游樂場來吸引顧客進入大型購物中心和百貨商場的趨勢，Pizza的遭遇就是這種趨勢的結(jié)果。盡管中國人越來越喜歡網(wǎng)購，但數(shù)千家購物中心和百貨商場仍拔地而起。

Bricks-and-mortar stores are grappling not just with ever-greater competition from online retailers such as Alibaba and JD.com, they must also contend with an underlying slowdown in the retail sector. Sales growth, which in 2008 reached an annual rate well above 20 per cent, has been falling steadily in recent years and hit 10 per cent in October, according to National Bureau of Statistics data released on Monday.

實體商店不僅要艱難應(yīng)對阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和京東(JD.com)等在線零售商的激烈競爭，而且還得應(yīng)對零售業(yè)根本性放緩帶來的影響。2008年中國零售總額年增長率曾遠超20%，但最近幾年持續(xù)下降。中國國家統(tǒng)計局周一發(fā)布的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，今年10月的零售總額同比僅增長10%。

Pizza became an internet celebrity in July when a shopper uploaded a photo of the three-year-old bear in an enclosure at the Grandview Mall in the southern city of Guangzhou. The country’s nascent animal rights community launched a rescue campaign and cheered when the Grandview said over the weekend that it would “temporarily” return him to the ocean park in northern China where he was born.

今年7月，廣州正佳廣場(Grandview Mall)的一位顧客將3歲Pizza被關(guān)在館舍里的圖片上傳到網(wǎng)上，Pizza因此成為了網(wǎng)紅。中國新興的動物權(quán)益保護組織發(fā)起了營救行動，這一行動終于成功——上周末正佳方面表示，將把Pizza“臨時”送回其位于華北某海洋公園的出生地。

Other Chinese netizens have outed an elephant used to attract mobile phone buyers to a Suningelectronics outlet in Beijing and a “sad tortoise” housed alongside reptiles in grimy tanks in a mall in the northwestern city of Xi’an.

其他中國網(wǎng)民還曝光了蘇寧電器(Suning electronics)北京一家門店利用大象來吸引顧客購買手機，還有西安一家購物中心把一只“悲慘的烏龜”與其他一些爬行動物養(yǎng)在骯臟的水箱里。

The use of animals and other attractions comes as malls combat overcapacity, a problem immediately apparent to anyone who has turned up at a dusty, half-vacant shopping centre in China’s provincial cities. The country has an estimated 4,000 malls, more than the US, and plans to reach 7,000 by 2025, according to Mall China, an industry organisation.

中國建設(shè)了過多的購物中心(任何人只要走進首都以外城市的一家布滿灰塵、一半商鋪空置的購物中心，就能馬上發(fā)現(xiàn)這個問題)，正努力應(yīng)對這個問題的購物中心不得不使用動物和其他法子招攬顧客。行業(yè)組織中購資訊(Mall China)表示，據(jù)估計中國有4000家購物中心，比美國還多，而且按計劃到2025年時會達到7000家。

“Foot traffic is dropping dramatically,” said Shaun Rein, founder of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group, describing “a lot of panic” as e-commerce decimates mall sales. “Shops are becoming more choosy. Before, they said: ‘Who cares which mall?’ Now they are looking at the mall’s business and its other attractions.”

中國市場研究集團(China Market Research)創(chuàng)始人雷小山(Shaun Rein)表示，“客流量大幅下降”，隨著電子商務(wù)導(dǎo)致購物中心銷售一落千丈，購物中心“非?？只?rdquo;。“商鋪越來越挑剔。以前他們說，‘入駐哪家購物中心不都一樣’?如今他們要考慮購物中心的生意如何以及有哪些其他招攬顧客的招數(shù)。”

“Malls are starting to bring in a lot more entertainment and a lot more food,” he added. “There is also a big focus on children — playgrounds, learning centres, even museums.”

他補充稱：“購物中心開始引入更多的娛樂設(shè)施以及更多的美食，并且致力于吸引兒童——用游樂場、學(xué)習(xí)中心，甚至是博物館。”

Last year 83 shopping malls gave up the fight and closed, according to a blue book on the commercial sector by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. They will be joined this year by Marks and Spencer, which announced last week it would close several stores in China in an effort to boost its flagging fortunes.

中國社會科學(xué)院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)發(fā)布的商業(yè)領(lǐng)域藍皮書顯示，去年有83家購物中心放棄努力關(guān)門大吉。今年，馬莎百貨(Marks and Spencer)也會加入進來——該公司上周表示，將關(guān)閉中國的數(shù)家門店以求扭轉(zhuǎn)命運。