优衣库成功学 | 经济学人商业

Business | Faster, please

商业 | 火力全开

Business | Faster, please

商业 | 火力全开

Uniqlo’s success mirrors the growth of Japan’s industrial giants

优衣库的成功，日本工业巨头的发展缩影

Automation and expansion go hand in hand

自动化水平和业务扩展齐头并进

Drive through any city in South-East Asia and Japan’s commercial presence is visible everywhere: vehicles made by Toyota, Honda and Nissan clog the roads, the result of decades of market dominance in the region. If Fast Retailing, the parent company behind Uniqlo, a clothing retailer, has its way, the drivers of those vehicles will soon be wearing Japanese clothes, too.

驱车穿行在东南亚的任何一座城市，日本的商业影响力都无处不在。日本汽车统治东南亚市场长达数十年，满大街都是丰田、本田、日产汽车。若优衣库的母公司——迅销（FastRetailing）这一服装零售集团能能像日本汽车一样占据市场，不久后，开着日本车的司机也会穿上日本品牌的服装。

The company’s latest results were a boon for shareholders, with operating profits of ¥103bn ($760m) in the three months to the end of February, up by 48% compared with the same period last year. They already had good reason for cheer: the company’s shares have risen by 53% in the past 12 months, making it one of the best-performing large listed companies in Japan. Its shares are now just 10% shy of their all-time highs in February 2021, and, with a market capitalisation of $76bn, it is the country’s sixth-largest listed firm.

该公司的最新业绩对股东来说是一大利好。截至2月底，优衣库在此前三个月的营业利润总计达1030亿日元（相当于7.6亿美元），同比增长48%。股东们有充分理由欢呼雀跃，因为过去一年间，优衣库的股价上涨了53%，跻身日本业绩最佳的大型上市公司。作为日本第六大上市公司，其市值高达760 亿美元，且其现阶段股价仅比 2021 年 2 月的历史最高点低 10%。

At first glance, Uniqlo is an unusual story of a Japanese retailer succeeding overseas. Fast Retailing’s main international competitors—Hennes & Mauritz ab, the parent company of h&m, and Inditex, the parent of Zara—are based in Sweden and Spain respectively. But the firm’s growth abroad follows as much in the footsteps of Japan’s industrial and manufacturing firms as its European peers.

乍一看，优衣库的发展历程就是一家日本零售集团在海外成功的传奇故事。其母公司迅销的主要国际竞争对手是H&M的母公司Hennes&Mauritz ab和Zara母公司Inditex，它们的总部分别位于瑞典和西班牙。但与这两家欧洲企业如出一辙的是，迅销海外业务的扩展也紧紧跟随日本工业公司和制造公司开疆拓土的脚步。

Japanese industrial firms, carmakers in particular, made South-East Asia a second home from the 1960s onwards. Fast Retailing is also expanding particularly rapidly in Asia, where sales are up by 71% in the six months to the end of February, compared with the same period a year ago. The region now accounts for 16% of sales, up from 11% a year ago, and it is closing in China, which dropped from 25% to 22% over the same period. In the 1960s the focus of Japanese firms was on exploration for oil, the supply of natural resources and producing industrial goods in countries with import-substitution policies. Now the region represents a promising market for Uniqlo rather than somewhere to put factories.

从20世纪60年代起，日本的工业公司（尤其是汽车制造商）就一直把东南亚视为自己的第二大本营。在亚洲市场，迅销的扩张尤为迅速——从去年9月初到今年2月底，其市场销售额同比增长71%，销售贡献从一年前的11%跃升至16%，进一步缩小了与中国的差距，后者的市场占比则从25%下降到22%。20世纪60年代，日本公司将重心放在石油勘探、自然资源供给以及在实行进口替代政策的国家进行工业品本土生产上。而如今这些地区成为了优衣库的新兴市场，不再仅仅是（制造业企业）的海外工厂。

The comparison extends beyond geography. Exposed to demographic constraints in fast-ageing Japan, Fast Retailing has used technology and automation to replace workers, further mimicking the country’s large manufacturers. Keyence, a largely unheralded giant of industrial automation, is Japan’s second-largest listed firm, worth $111bn. Since 2017 Uniqlo has embedded all its garments with tiny identification tags, which enable automatic scanning at checkouts.

与日本制造业企业的相似之处不仅体现在地缘层面上。日本人口老龄化严重，迅销也受其人口结构制约，因此积极推动科技革新与自动化来替代工人，该做法与日本的其他大型制造商可谓异曲同工。日本第二大上市公司基恩士公司（KEYENCE）便是工业自动化巨头，它虽名气不大，但市值已达1110亿美元。2017年起，优衣库在每一件衣服中都嵌入了一个微型标签码，凭此在结账时就能自动扫描。

The reliance on automation goes deep into the company’s business operations and supply chain, too. In 2019 it joined up with Japan’s Mujin and France’s Exotec Solutions, both small robotics companies, with the aim of automating the jobs in its warehouses. It had already joined forces in 2018 with Daifuku, a larger automation firm, which helped reduce the workforce at a warehouse in Tokyo by 90%.

优衣库的商业运营与供应链也高度依赖自动化。2019年，为了实现仓库工作自动化，迅销同两家小型机器人公司——日本Mujin与法国Exotec Solutions达成合作。2018年，迅销就已经和大型自动化公司大福（Daifuku）合作，帮助其位于东京的某一仓库的雇员人数下降了90%。

注释：

Uniqlo（优衣库）的母公司日本迅销集团（Fast Retailing Co Ltd）与两家机器人初创企业——日本机器人控制器制造商 MUJIN Inc.（以下简称 Mujin）和法国机器人初创企业 Exotec Solutions SAS（以下简称 Exotec Solutions）签订全球战略合作协议，以实现更高的仓储物流自动化水平，进一步提高分拣和配送效率。

https://www.sohu.com/a/354369782_487885

The savings are no longer just a bonus for the firm’s bottom line. Uniqlo raised salaries for some employees by up to 40% in March, in an effort to make corporate wages comparable to similar firms internationally, in order to compete for talent, and will set pay based on global standards in future. Savings from automation will be a necessity if the company wants to avoid eating into its profit margins to bump up salaries for its staff.

节省的人力成本不仅仅有助于公司盈利。今年3月，优衣库将部分员工的薪资上调了40%，使其企业工资能与国际上的同类型公司相匹敌，从而更有力的竞争人才。此外，优衣库还将在未来参考全球标准来设定薪资。如果它想在给员工加薪的同时，避免压缩自身的利润空间，那就必须靠自动化来节省成本。

注释：

bottom line: 1) the line at the bottom of a financial report that shows the net profit or loss; 2) financial considerations (such as cost or profit or loss)

翻译组：   

Charlie，往者不谏，来者可追

Des，愿你半生追逐便士，归来依旧心有月光

Octavia，键盘手和古风爵士，逃离舒适圈，有只英短叫八爷 

校核组：

Vince，语言是前进路上的一道光

Collin，男，崇拜科比的一枚小翻译

Rachel，学理工科，爱跳芭蕾，热爱文艺的非典型翻译

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