从中国到美国 高福澜能挽回沃尔玛的销售颓势吗？

On Thursday, Wal-Mart seemed to be playing the part of a losing sports team looking to turn things around by ousting the head coach. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant announced that it had hired a new chief executive to oversee its struggling U.S. stores.

上周四的沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）看起来就像是一支输了比赛的球队：希望通过解雇总教练来扭转局面。这家总部位于阿肯色州本顿维尔的零售巨头宣布，已聘请一位新高管来执掌陷于困境的美国零售业务。

Greg Foran, the current CEO of Walmart China, will take over Walmart U.S. for Bill Simon, who has held the position since 2010 and will be leaving the company. The moves comes nearly six months after Doug McMillon took over for a retiring Mike Duke as CEO of all of Wal-Mart.

沃尔玛现任中国业务CEO高福澜（Greg Foran）正是这位人选，他将接替比尔o西蒙掌管沃尔玛美国业务。自2010年以来一直担任沃尔玛美国CEO的西蒙将离开这家公司。就在近6个月前，董明伦（Doug McMillon）刚刚接替退休的麦道克（Mike Duke）出任沃尔玛全球CEO。

In many ways, you can think of Simon’s departure as a natural reaction from someone who has been passed over for the company’s top job. “We had considered Simon as a potential candidate to replace Walmart’s former CEO, Mike Duke, but Doug McMillon was given the nod over Simon,” according to a note from investor research firm Morningstar. “We aren’t completely surprised by Simon’s departure.”

从很多角度，你可以认为，西蒙的离开是一个未能问鼎公司最高职位者的自然反应。“我们曾经将西蒙列为接替沃尔玛前CEO麦道克的潜在人选，但最终董明伦胜出。”晨星（Morningstar）的一份研究报告称，“对于西蒙的离职，我们一点也不感到惊讶。”

Financial services firm Cowen and Company in its own release said that it was “surprised that [Simon] stuck around for so long, as we thought he would want to start the clock on his 2-year non-compete as quickly as possible.”

金融服务公司Cowen and Company在新闻稿中表示，“[西蒙]呆了这么久令人意外，我们原本以为他会尽快离职，尽早启动2年内不得服务于竞争对手的倒计时。”

Walmart Vice President of Communications David Tovar confirmed as much to Fortune. “Doug and Bill were two internal candidates for the top job. Doug got the job and, in those situations, it’s not uncommon for the person who didn’t get it to ultimately leave the company and go somewhere else.”

沃尔玛企业传播副总裁大卫o托瓦尔也向《财富》（Fortune）杂志证实称，“董明伦和西蒙是两位来自公司内部的CEO候选人。最终董明伦得到了这个职位。在此类情形下，未成功问鼎者最终离职他就的情况并不少见。”

Wal-Mart, in its statement announcing the management change, praised Simon for leading a “turnaround that reinvigorated the company’s focus on everyday low costs, everyday low prices and an increased product assortment,” in his time as U.S. CEO.

沃尔玛在宣布管理层变更的声明中，称赞西蒙在担任美国业务CEO期间“为公司注入了新的活力，专注于每日低成本、每日低价和增加产品种类。”

Simon introduced the retail giant’s $4 prescriptions, increased its focus on healthier foods, and led a successful makeover of its apparel department by shifting to more athletically inspired gear, says Faye Landes of Cowen and Company.

Cowen and Company的法耶o兰蒂斯表示，西蒙推出了沃尔玛的4美元处方药，加大了对健康食品的关注，并通过增加运动装备成功重塑了服装部门。

But Simon’s track record at Wal-Mart has also been marred by struggling U.S. sales. “We know that our U.S. business is critical to the success of our company and that it can be even stronger,” McMillon said in a letter to Wal-Mart employees on Thursday. “[Foran] will bring fresh eyes to an increasingly competitive market that is changing rapidly.”

但西蒙在沃尔玛的业绩也受到美国零售业整体不景气的影响。“我们知道，美国业务对于公司的成功至关重要，它可以变得更强，”董明伦在上周四发给沃尔玛员工的信中表示。“[高福澜]将为瞬息万变、竞争日益激烈的市场带来新视角。”

That’s a nice way of putting it.

这样的陈述很是委婉。

Foran faces a daunting challenge. The company’s latest quarterly earnings revealed the fifth straight decline in U.S. sales, which factored into the retailer’s 5% drop in profits for the quarter ending April 30.

高福澜面临的其实是非常棘手的挑战。沃尔玛最近的季度报告显示，公司美国销售额连续第5个季度下滑，截至4月30日的季度利润下降了5%。

Competition from online retailers like and evolving shopping patterns among Americans—who are now making more frequent trips to dollar and drug stores—are partly to blame for the slumping sales. Tovar, Wal-Mart’s spokesman, told Fortune on Thursday, that Foran will continue the store’s ongoing strategy to address those concerns: opening smaller, 10,000 to 40,000 square-foot stores like Walmart Express and Neighborhood Markets and further embracing e-commerce.

来自亚马逊（）等网络零售商的竞争以及购物模式的转变（美国人正在更加频繁地光顾1元店和药店），都造成了零售额的下降。沃尔玛发言人托瓦尔上周四告诉《财富》杂志称，高福澜将继续实施现有策略来应对这些挑战：开设沃尔玛便利店（Walmart Express）和社区店（Neighborhood Markets）等规模较小的超市（面积1-4万平方英尺），进一步拥抱电子商务。

Burt Flickinger, a retail consultant at Strategic Resource Group, for his part, attributed Wal-Mart’s poor U.S. performance in the past several quarters to “self-sabotage,” mainly its decision to cut worker hours and its well-publicized refusal to significantly raise workers wages—two big reasons why Flinckinger says Wal-Mart’s stores are increasingly sloppy and sparsely stocked. (Last year, Wal-Mart launched a program aimed at giving workers more access to open shifts.)

Strategic Resource Group的零售业顾问波特o弗里金格，将沃尔玛美国业务过去几个季度的表现疲弱归咎于“自毁前程”，主要是指该公司决定缩减工作时间以及其广为人知的拒绝大幅上调员工工资——弗里金格认为，这是沃尔玛门店变得日益杂乱和存货不足的两个主要原因。（去年，沃尔玛推出了一项旨在提供开放调班的计划。)

Underlying all of these factors is one that’s completely out of any CEO’s control: “A lot of [the declining U.S. sales] has to do, quite simply, with the fact that [Walmart's] business is skewed to the lower-end consumer, and that consumer is still hurting,” says Landes.

所有这些背后是一个完全不为CEO掌控的因素：“[美国销售额下降]很大程度上与[沃尔玛]业务偏于低端消费者有关，这些消费者仍未恢复元气，”兰德斯说。

Indeed. According to a 2013 study from economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, the top 1% of Americans earned more than one-fifth of all the income earned by Americans in 2012. And for the first two years of the recovery, the mean net worth of households in the wealthiest 7% rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to the Pew Research Center. These trends have made a dent into consumer confidence: the majority of Americans did not report feeling good about the amount of money they had to spend until their income reached the $60,000-a-year mark, according to a Gallup poll conducted last year.

的确如此。经济学家伊曼纽尔o塞斯和托马斯o皮凯蒂2013年的一项研究显示，美国最富有的1%人群收入，占2012年全体美国人收入的五分之一还多。根据皮尤研究中心（Pew Research Center）的数据，在经济复苏的前两年，最富有7%的家庭净资产均值预计增长了28%，而剩余93%的家庭净资产均值下降了4%。这些趋势已损伤到消费者信心：盖洛普（Gallup）去年进行的一项调查显示，大部分美国人在年收入达到6万美元之前，对于必要支出都感觉肉痛。

Low-earning customers are still “buying less discretionary items,” says Lande, and they’re resorting to cost-saving tactics when purchasing goods they must have, like “trading down from beef to poultry.”

低收入消费者仍在“减少购买非必需品”，兰德斯说，即使在购买必需品时也会考虑节省支出，比如“买牛肉改为买猪肉”。

And don’t think Wal-Mart hasn’t noticed. “Fundamental dynamics haven’t changed, and household incomes are still flat,” Simon said during the retailer’s earnings call in May. “As we head toward the political season and rhetoric heats up, it will continue to challenge consumer confidence.”

不要以为沃尔玛没注意到。“基本面因素没有改变，家庭收入依然平平，”西蒙5月份在沃尔玛的业绩电话会议上表示。“随着选举季临近，各种言论升温，它会继续挑战消费者信心。”

Does that mean that Wal-Mart’s chances for a U.S. sales rebound are nil, save for a full economic recovery? Not necessarily, mainly because the company has a perpetual advantage: its 4,200 U.S. stores still move enough goods to offer customers competitive prices, says Ken Perkins of Morningstar.

这意味着如果美国不出现全面的经济复苏，沃尔玛要实现销售额反弹的概率为零？不一定，主要是因为沃尔玛有一个常年的优势：晨星的肯o波金斯表示，其4,200家美国门店仍在运送足够的商品，为消费者提供有竞争力的价格。

For that same reason, though, a turnaround won’t be easy. With that big an operation running on such small margins, it’s difficult to generate sales growth. Losing a sale or customer here or there can make a noticeable difference, Perkins says. “It’s hard to move a ship the size of Wal-Mart in the right direction,” he said.

但要基于这个理由实现反弹并不容易。以这样低的利润率经营这样大规模的业务，要实现销售额增长很难。从这里或那里流失一笔销售或一个顾客，都可能产生显著的不同，波金斯表示，“要让沃尔玛这样规模的旗舰保持正确的方向航行很难。”