宜家擬與第三方合作走向線上

Ikea has become the latest big-name retailer to radically overhaul its sales strategy in the face of online competition, launching a test to sell its flat-pack furniture through big ecommerce websites amid a fall in visitors to its out-of-town outlets.

面對線上競爭，宜家(Ikea)成為了最新一家徹底轉(zhuǎn)變銷售策略的大牌零售商。在通常位于郊區(qū)的門店客流下滑之際，宜家啟動了一項測試：通過大型電子商務網(wǎng)站來出售其平板包裝式家具。

Torbjörn Lööf, chief executive of Inter Ikea, said the decision to turn to online retailers — which could include Amazon and Alibaba, though he declined to comment on who he would be working with — is part of a broader overhaul that has also forced the company to turn to new types of stores, particularly in city centres.

Inter Ikea的首席執(zhí)行官托爾比約恩•勒夫(Torbjörn Lööf)表示，轉(zhuǎn)向線上零售商的決定服務于一項整體大調(diào)整，這項調(diào)整還迫使宜家轉(zhuǎn)向了新型門店，特別是在市中心。盡管他拒絕透露將與哪些線上零售商合作，但亞馬遜(Amazon)和阿里巴巴(Alibaba)可能在列。

“[This] is the biggest development in how consumers meet Ikea since the concept was founded,” he told the Financial Times.

“這是自宜家這個理念誕生以來，宜家在消費者面前呈現(xiàn)方式的最重大發(fā)展，”勒夫向英國《金融時報》表示。

Mr Lööf’s overhaul comes amid unprecedented upheaval in retailing, with some of the world’s best-known chains, including Sears and Toys ‘R’ Us, pushed into bankruptcy and large malls across the US suffering drops in sales because of shoppers moving online.

勒夫的大調(diào)整正值零售業(yè)遭遇前所未有的動蕩之際，由于購物者轉(zhuǎn)向線上消費，包括西爾斯(Sears)和玩具反斗城(Toys ‘R’ Us)等全球最知名的一些連鎖品牌被推入破產(chǎn)深淵，美國各地的大型購物中心都遭遇了銷售額下滑的困境。

Amazon has threatened to spread disruption throughout the retail sector, most recently moving into groceries with its $13.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods and starting its own clothing line.

亞馬遜可能顛覆整個零售業(yè)，最近該公司以137億美元收購全食(Whole Foods)、進入生鮮超市業(yè)，此外還開創(chuàng)了自有服裝品牌。

Ikea’s move comes as other large retailers are also scrambling to adjust. Walmart is moving to streamline its returns process at bricks-and-mortar stores, arguing its physical presence in thousands of markets gives it an edge over Amazon, which requires shoppers to return items through the post. Walmart has vowed customers will be in and out of their stores in about 30 seconds when making a return.

其他大型零售商也在競相進行調(diào)整。沃爾瑪(Walmart)正準備對其實體店的退貨流程進行簡化，它認為自己在成千上萬個市場上的實體存在賦予了它相對亞馬遜(要求購物者通過郵寄退回商品)的一個優(yōu)勢。沃爾瑪承諾，到店退貨的顧客只需要30秒左右的時間就能完事走人。

Ikea, like many traditional high street names, was slow to move online. There was heavy internal resistance to interfering with its successful business model of using labyrinthine store layouts to generate impulse purchases and requiring shoppers to drive to stores and construct their own furniture.

和很多傳統(tǒng)實體店品牌一樣，宜家進軍線上的步伐遲緩。宜家內(nèi)部對干涉其成功的商業(yè)模式——利用迷宮似的店面布局來刺激沖動消費、并且要求購物者驅(qū)車到店以及自己組裝家具——存在強烈抵制。

But the world’s largest furniture retailer is looking at changes to all parts of that model. Mr Lööf said a priority would be to offer its full range of goods online in all countries. Ikea is also experimenting with new store formats including city-centre pick-up points and specialised pop-up stores as well as smaller shops that have fewer car parking spaces and less inventory.

但這家全世界最大的家居零售商正準備徹底改變這一模式。勒夫稱，當務之急是在所有國家都提供線上購買全系列商品的服務。宜家也在嘗試全新的門店模式，其中包括市中心提貨點、特定商品的快閃店、以及停車位較少且?guī)齑孑^少的小型店。

“Traditionally the whole Ikea value chain has been designed to deliver to stores. That is changing and it is challenging a number of ways of doing business. We are fast learners and we are moving,” Mr Lööf said.

“在傳統(tǒng)上，整個宜家價值鏈的設計目的就是為了向門店送貨。這一點正在改變，挑戰(zhàn)著很多種經(jīng)營方式。我們學習得很快，我們在行動。”勒夫說。

Ikea also recently agreed a deal to buy TaskRabbit, a pioneer of the gig economy that could help it offer assistance with furniture assembly to its customers. It also launched an app that allows users of Apple devices to visualise placing Ikea furniture into their own homes using augmented reality.

不久前，宜家也達成了收購TaskRabbit的協(xié)議，TaskRabbit是零工經(jīng)濟的先驅(qū)，或許能幫助宜家提供家具組裝服務。宜家還上線了一款應用，讓蘋果(Apple)設備用戶可使用增強現(xiàn)實(AR)技術(shù)，看到宜家家具放在自己家中的效果。

Ikea’s shift on giving customers more choice in terms of delivery or help with assembly moves away from its founder Ingvar Kamprad’s idea that getting customers to build their own furniture would keep costs down.

宜家在發(fā)貨和組裝服務方面改變立場、給予客戶更多選擇，這偏離了其創(chuàng)始人英瓦爾•坎普拉德(Ingvar Kamprad)的想法：讓客戶自己組裝家具能夠保持低價。

But the push to sell through ecommerce retailers could be the biggest change yet, marking the first time Ikea has sold products through a third party and radically revamping its business model.

但是，通過電子商務零售商售貨可能是宜家迄今最大的改變，這不僅標志著宜家第一次通過第三方平臺出售商品，還徹底改變了其商業(yè)模式。

“We want to learn, and know what it is for a company like Ikea to be there. We want to find out how we could keep our identity on a third-party platform,” Mr Lööf said.

“我們想了解、知道像宜家這樣一家公司如何實現(xiàn)這一點。我們想找到在第三方平臺上保持自我認同的方法。”勒夫說。

Following a recent internal shake-up in Mr Kamprad’s empire, Inter Ikea has been strengthened. It is now not just the owner of the Ikea brand and concept but also in charge of product design, manufacturing and the supply chain. It purchased the latter responsibilities from Ikea Group, which is now solely concentrated on being a retailer.

在不久前對坎普拉德帝國進行一次內(nèi)部大改造之后，Inter Ikea得到了加強。目前，它不僅是宜家品牌和理念的擁有者，而且掌管著產(chǎn)品設計、制造和供應鏈——Inter Ikea從宜家集團(Ikea Group)手中買下了后幾項業(yè)務。宜家集團如今僅僅專注于做零售商。

Mr Lööf’s move came as Inter Ikea said that total sales in the business year until the end of August had risen 5 per cent to €38.3bn. Ikea Group, which accounts for about 94 per cent of sales with the rest made up by other franchisees, reports its own numbers on Tuesday.

勒夫采取行動之際，Inter Ikea表示，在截至8月的這一財年，銷售總額增加了5%，至383億歐元。宜家集團約占銷售總額的94%，剩余部分由其他特許經(jīng)銷商完成。周二宜家集團發(fā)布了自己的年報。