36.The super store(715)

Passage Thirty-Six

The super store

超级市场

【1】In the nearly 40 years that The Economist has served up its Big Mac index, the price of the McDonald’s burger in America has more than tripled. In that same period the cost of another meaty treat—a hot-dog-and-drink combo at Costco—has remained steady(stable) at $1.50.

在《经济学人》杂志向读者提供“巨无霸经济指数”的近40年里，美国麦当劳的汉堡价格上涨了两倍。在同一时期，另一个多肉美食，开市客的热狗饮料套餐，售价一直稳定在1.5美元。

【2】Last year customers of the American big-box retailer devoured 200m of them. Richard Galanti, Costco’s longtime finance boss, once promised to keep the price frozen(fixed) “for ever”.

去年，开市客这一美国大牌零售商的顾客购买了2亿份热狗饮料套餐。开市客的长期财务经理查德·加兰蒂曾承诺这一套餐的价格永不变动。

【3】Customers are not the only fans of Costco, as the outpouring(pour) of affection(admiration) from Wall Street analysts after Mr Galanti announced his retirement on February 6th made clear.

喜爱开市客的可不仅仅只有顾客，加兰蒂在2月6日宣布自己将退休后，华尔街经济分析师对他倾泻的赞赏也可见一斑。

【4】The firm’s share price is 430 times what it was when he took the job nearly four decades ago, compared with 25 times for the S&P 500 index of large companies. It has continued to outperform(exceed) the market in recent years. What lies behind its enduring success?

与加兰蒂近40年前担任该职位相比，公司的股价已上涨430倍，而标普500指数里的其他大公司平均上涨25倍。近年来开市客的表现持续超出市场平均表现。那么它经久不衰的秘诀在哪？

【5】Costco is the world’s third-biggest retailer, behind Walmart and Amazon. Though its sales are less than half of Walmart’s, its return on capital, at nearly 20%, is more than twice as high. Charlie Munger, a famed(famous) investor who served on Costco’s board from 1997 until his death last year, called it a “perfect damn company”.

开市客是仅次于沃尔玛和亚马逊的世界第三大零售商。虽然它的销售额不及沃尔玛的一半，但其资本回报率将近20%，是沃尔玛的两倍还多。著名投资者查理·芒格从1997年开始直至去世一直是其董事会成员，他称这是一个“太过完美的公司”。

【6】Mr Galanti, who describes Costco’s business model as “arrogantly simple”, says the company is guided by a simple idea—hook shoppers by offering high-quality products at the lowest prices. It does this by keeping markups(profits) low while charging a fixed membership fee and stocking fewer distinct(different) products, all while treating its employees generously.

加兰蒂将开市客的经营模式描述为“极其简单”，并称公司由一个简单的理念指导，通过物美价廉的产品抓住顾客的心。开市客保持较低的利润率，同时收取固定会员费，减少不同的库存产品种类，并对其员工十分慷慨。

【7】Start with margins(profits). Most retailers boost profits by marking up prices. Not Costco. Its gross margins hover around 12%, compared with Walmart’s 24%.

首先谈谈利润。多数零售商靠提价来增大利润。开市客不这么做。其毛利润率徘徊在12%左右，而沃尔玛的毛利润率约为24%。

【8】The company makes up the shortfall through its membership fees: customers pay $60 or more a year to shop at its stores. In 2023 fees from its 129m members netted(earned) $4.6bn, more than half of Costco’s operating profits.

该公司通过收取会员费来补足利润缺口，顾客需要每年支付60美金及以上才能进店购物。2023年，开市客的1.29亿会员的会员费为其净赚46亿美元，超过了开市客运营利润的一半。

【9】Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, a research firm, argues that the membership model creates a virtuous(innocent) circle. The more members the company has, the greater its buying power, leading to better deals with suppliers, most of which are then passed on to its members. The fee also encourages customers to focus their spending at Costco, rather than shopping around. That seems to work: membership-renewal rates are upwards of 90%.

调查公司德尔西咨询集团的分析师乔·费尔德曼表示，会员制度开启了良性循环。公司拥有的会员数越多，购买力就越强，因此能与供应商达成更利好的交易，当中大部分都惠及会员。会员费同时鼓励顾客专注在开市客消费，而不是去货比三家。此举似乎很奏效，开市客会员续费率高达90%。

【10】Next, consider the way the company manages its product lineup. Costco stores stock a limited(finite) selection of about 3,800 distinct items. Sam’s Club, Walmart’s Costco-like competitor, carries about 7,000.

接下来要说开市客管理产品链的方式。开市客商超存储约3800种各色产品，选择有限。而沃尔玛旗下的开市客竞争者山姆会员商店存储类别数约为7000。

【11】A Walmart superstore has around 120,000. Buying more from fewer suppliers gives the company even greater bargaining heft, lowering(reducing) prices further. By limiting its range, Costco can better focus on maintaining(keeping) quality.

而一个沃尔玛超级市场则有约12万类别产品。从更少的供应商手上购买更多的货品能够给公司更强的议价能力，进一步降低进货价。通过限制产品类别范围，开市客能更好地专注于维持品质。

【12】Less variety in stores helps it use space more efficiently: its sales per square foot are three times that of Walmart. And with fewer products, Costco turns over its wares almost twice as fast as usual for retailers, meaning less capital gets tied up in inventory.

商品种类更少使超市能更有效地利用空间，开市客每平方英尺的销售量为沃尔玛的三倍。并且由于产品种类较少，开市客比其他零售商通常的货品周转速度快几乎两倍，这意味着在库存上的资本花销更少。

【13】It has also expanded its own brand, Kirkland Signature, which now accounts for over a quarter of its sales, well above average for a retailer. Its margins on its own-brand products are about six percentage points higher than for brands such as Hershey or Kellogg’s.

开市客也扩大了自己的品牌科克兰，如今科克兰的销售额已占据公司的四分之一，远高于零售商的平均水平。开市客在自有品牌上获得的利润比好时、家乐氏等品牌高约6个百分点。

【14】Last, Costco stands out among retailers for how it treats its employees. Some 60% of retail employees leave their jobs each year. Staff turnover at Costco is just 8%; over a third of workers have been there for more than ten years. One reason for low attrition is pay. Its wages are higher than the industry average and it offers generous medical and retirement benefits(welfare).

最后，开市客在对待员工方面也尤为突出。每年约有60%的零售业从业人员离职。而开市客的员工流动率仅为8%，超过三分之一的员工已在开市客工作了10多年。人员流失率维持在低水平的一大原因是薪资待遇。开市客的薪资水平高于业内平均水平，并给予员工不菲的医疗和退休福利。

【15】Another is career prospects(foregrounds). The company prefers to promote leaders from within. Although Mr Galanti’s successor has come from outside, the rest of Costco’s executive team has been with the company for more than 20 years. The late Mr Munger was confident that Costco had “a marvellous(wonderful) future”. Its customers could be enjoying $1.50 hot dogs for many years to come.

另一大原因是职业前景。开市客更乐意从内部选拔员工担任领导。尽管加兰蒂的继任者来自公司外部，但其他开市客管理层人员都在公司效力了20多年。已故的芒格先生坚信开市客有着“极好的未来”。开市客的顾客也能继续多年享用1.5美元的热狗。