Richemont, the world’s second-biggest luxury firm, bets on digital Its offer to buy YNAP, a leader in online luxury sales, looks likely to be accepted Jan 25th 2018 | MILANA YOUTUBE video featuring a woman sporting a gold watch and driving a?convertible, which has been viewed online nearly 5m times. A social-media “influencer” with more than 11m followers on Instagram posting photos of herself wearing the same timepiece. A limited flash sale of the watch on Net-a-Porter, a website. Purveyors?of pricey jewellery and watches have been slow to embrace things digital. But last year’s social-media campaign to relaunch Panthère, a watch made by Cartier, a French jeweller, is evidence that they are waking up to the power of the online world. On January 22nd Richemont, a Swiss luxury conglomerate that counts Cartier among its brands,?offered to buy the shares it does not already own in Yoox-Net-a-Porter group(YNAP), a leading luxury online retailer, for €2.7bn ($3.3bn). Although the deal still faces hurdles, it is likely to go ahead. convertible: able to be changed into another form 奢侈品行業(yè)開(kāi)始擁抱互聯(lián)網(wǎng)了，Richemont（歷峰集團(tuán)）要入股一個(gè)奢侈品網(wǎng)上零售專(zhuān)家，估計(jì)是要打開(kāi)網(wǎng)上銷(xiāo)售渠道 The days of double-digit growth in the luxury industry are gone—it grew by 5%, to €1.2trn, last year. Watches, in particular, have had a rough time. Chinese demand collapsed after an anti-corruption crackdown; inventory?languished, unsold. Last year Richemont’s revenues dropped by 4%, to €10.6bn. But online sales of personal luxury goods have continued to rise: they now account for 9% of the total (see chart). Bain& Company, a consultancy, reckons that they will reach 25% by 2025. languish: for a long time without activity or progress in an unpleasant or unwanted situation 奢侈品行業(yè)每年兩位數(shù)增長(zhǎng)的好日子已經(jīng)過(guò)去了，去年整個(gè)行業(yè)增長(zhǎng)5%。特別是名表，由于中國(guó)需求量減少，銷(xiāo)量下降庫(kù)存堆積。但是網(wǎng)上業(yè)務(wù)有所增長(zhǎng)！ Online sales of “hard luxury”, such as watches and jewellery, lag: they account for just 5% of digital revenues. But that is up from almost nothing a decade ago, and is predicted to reach between10% and 15% by 2025. And even if purchases are made in physical stores, buying decisions are increasingly made online:?68% of millennials’ luxury purchases are “digitally influenced”,?according to EY, a consultancy. Small wonder that Richemont wants to expand its footprint online. Last year the group hired a chief technology officer, as part of a management restructuring which also did away with the role of CEO. It was an early investor in Net-a-Porter, which it merged in 2015 with Yoox, another e-commerce firm; it kept a 50% stake in YNAP, the resulting combination. The hope is that owning YNAP outright will allow Richemont?to learn things about the online world?that it could not with a stake alone. It would also increase the Swiss firm’s exposure to “soft luxury”, such as clothes and bags, a segment in which the firm has struggled, notes Melanie Floquet of JPMorgan Chase, a bank. 68% 千禧一代的奢侈品購(gòu)買(mǎi)行為都受到網(wǎng)上的一些營(yíng)銷(xiāo)影響的，這就是為什么歷峰集團(tuán)開(kāi)始擴(kuò)展網(wǎng)上帝國(guó)版圖 它購(gòu)買(mǎi)YNAP的股權(quán)，就是為了了解網(wǎng)購(gòu)世界及其行為 For YNAP itself, the deal promises added investment at a time of intensifying competition. Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton(LVMH) has launched its own online platform, 24 Sèvres. Farfetch, another luxury e-tailer, is planning to float. Claudia D’Arpizio, a partner at Bain, suggests that Amazon, an online giant, could eventually disrupt the luxury market, too. Not everybody is convinced a takeover of YNAP is needed. It is like buying an airline to go on holiday, says Luca Solca of Exane BNP Paribas, another bank. And the deal is not without risks. One is whether Federico Marchetti, YNAP’s boss, will indeed stay on once he has sold his 4% stake (he says he will). Ms Floquet also worries that the lack of a chief executive could lead to?feuds?within the management. 不是所有人都覺(jué)得并購(gòu)YNAP是一個(gè)必須的動(dòng)作，就好像想出去旅行了，要買(mǎi)下一個(gè)航空公司一樣， 這很考驗(yàn)一個(gè)集團(tuán)管理層的戰(zhàn)略眼光，一個(gè)有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)的CEO能帶領(lǐng)公司，在重要的關(guān)口走出關(guān)鍵的一步，使公司往好的方向發(fā)展 feud: a long and angry fight or quarrel between two people or two groups Such concerns do not seem to bother Johann Rupert, Richemont’s founder and chairman. In a statement on the offer he mentioned how, a century ago, Alberto Santos-Dumont, a famous aviator, complained to his friend, Louis Cartier, about the difficulty of checking his pocket watch while flying. Cartier listened, and—eureka!—the wristwatch was born. Full ownership of YNAP should, Mr Rupert seems to reckon, allow Richemont to listen to its customers, in person or not. 但歷峰集團(tuán)的創(chuàng)始人和主席，Johann Rupert，則對(duì)網(wǎng)上銷(xiāo)售這個(gè)渠道特別有信心。 還舉了一個(gè)例子反駁別人沒(méi)遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)： 一個(gè)世紀(jì)以前，alberto像cartier 抱怨，每次都口袋里拿出表來(lái)看很麻煩，當(dāng)當(dāng)！ 腕表就因此誕生了... 總結(jié)： 能不能抓住大勢(shì)，能不能飛起來(lái)，就要看你的功力了 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Results Lexile?Measure: 1100L - 1200L Mean Sentence Length: 15.30 Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.15 Word Count: 612 這篇文章的藍(lán)思值是在1100-1200L， 適合英語(yǔ)專(zhuān)業(yè)大二的水平學(xué)習(xí)，是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人里普通難度 使用kindle斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地讀《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》三年，發(fā)現(xiàn)從一開(kāi)始磕磕碰碰到現(xiàn)在比較順暢地讀完，進(jìn)步很大，推薦購(gòu)買(mǎi)！ 點(diǎn)擊這里可以去亞馬遜官網(wǎng)購(gòu)買(mǎi)~