[FT] Brands look east as western wallets close

Brands look east as western wallets close

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: April 8 2009 19:46 | Last updated: April 8 2009 19:46

On Shanghai’s trendiest shopping street a glittering pink monument to the west’s faith in the Chinese consumer has just opened.
서양브랜드들이 중국으로 눈을 돌리고 있다.

Inside the six-story Barbie flagship store an escalator carries curious Shanghainese up a long, pink illuminated tunnel echoing with recordings of giggling children and disgorges them into a plastic wonderland of frills and accessories. “100per cent plastic beauty” reads a sign on the wall of the Barbie spa and beauty salon on the second floor.
럭셔리한 바비샵들도 생겼다.

With much of the world expected to remain in recession this year, big consumer brands are pinning their hopes on China’s billion customers to prop up sales amid the global downturn.
세계경기가 침체기에 들어가면서 10억인구가 있는 중국이 새로운 시장으로 떠오르고 있다.

Beijing’s confident predictions that gross domestic product will grow 8 per cent in 2009 are convincing global companies open stores conceived in the boom days of 2007.
베이징이 8%성장할 것이라는 예상때문에 각국의 기업들이 지점을 열고 있다.

The optimism is backed with figures that show retail sales grew 15.2 per cent in the first two months of this year from the same period a year earlier – down from 20 per cent growth recorded every month last year but still very strong in the current environment. “What’s amazing is that Chinese consumption has held up so well,” says Frank Gong, chief China economist at JPMorgan. “China is the only place in the world where retail sales are growing.”
올 해 2달간 소비성장률이 작년대비 15.2%성장.
작년에 20%씩 성장했던 것에 비하면 낮지만 불황인 요즘을 생각해 본다면 높은 수치
중국은 세계에서 유일하게 소비가 늘어나고 있는 국가

There are questions about the accuracy of consumption statistics in a country as vast as China. The World Bank predicts GDP growth will hit just 6.5 per cent this year but the government is intent on boosting private consumption, which made up 38 per cent of GDP last year, compared with about 70 per cent in developed economies such as the US.
중국이 내놓는 통계치는 의심간다.
세계은행은 중국성장률이 6.5%라고 예상
정부는 경기부양책을 내놓아 소비를 늘릴생각
작년에는 전체 GDP중 정부지출이 38%차지

As part of efforts to avoid the worst of the economic downturn Beijing has promised to spend huge sums on improving the country’s woeful health, education and social welfare safety nets. This is intended to convince anxious citizens to spend more of their historically high savings rates to rebalance economic growth away from investment to a more consumption-led model.
정부는 사회보장제도를 확충해서 역사상 가장 높은 저축률을 보이고 있는 소비자들의 소비를 늘리려고 함
이로인해 소비는 늘어나더라도 투자는 줄어들 것

  Ben Simpfendorfer, an RBS economist based in Hong Kong, says the resilience of retail growth figures masks the fact many retailers have begun slashing prices, which they would not do unless they were worried about falling sales.
많은 유통업체들이 가격을 낮추고있다. 이는 매출이 줄고 있기 때문이다.

In an upscale mall not far from the Shanghai Barbie headquarters, Giorgio Armani opened a store two weeks ago, bringing the number of Armani-branded shops in the city to six. An hour after a ribbon-cutting ceremony it was deserted.
알마니 개장

The Barbie emporium appears to be suffering from a different problem, with crowds of sightseers but very few people making big purchases. “Attracting large numbers of people to your store in China is not hard but getting them to walk out with a bag with your name on it is a different story,” according to Paul French, founder of Access Asia, a market research company.
매장에 오는 사람은 많아도 사는 사람은 적다.
소비자들을 매장에 끌어올 수는 있지만 물건을 사게 하기는 어렵다.

The glitz of Shanghai belies the fact that China is still a poor country, where the average urban disposable income rose 8 per cent last year to Rmb15,781 ($2,310, €1,740, £1,575). China’s 750m rural citizens survive on a total average income of Rmb4761. That means they can afford to buy 19 Barbie dolls a year each, as long as they do not buy anything else.
중국은 여전히 빈국이다.
도시생활자의 가처분소득은 작년대비 8%올라서 2,310달러이다.
7억 5천만명 되는 중국의 농민들은 800달러로 생활하고 있다.
그들은 바비인형을 19개 사면 1년 내내 아무것도 못산다.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009