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来源于《商业》版块
Lego v Barbie in China
乐高和芭比娃娃在中国的竞争
Yellow brick road
黄砖路
Why the toy brickmaker has soared but America’s favourite doll has stumbled
为什么玩具积木越来越受欢迎，而美国最喜欢的娃娃却命运多舛
Budding engineers cluster around a table-sized model of the China Art Museum, a landmark of Shanghai, adding helipads, carrot patches and other improvements with colourful bricks. Prising a child from Lego’s vast shop near People’s Square can be like unsticking two stubborn bits of Lego. Li Yang, visiting for a few days from Shenzhen, has been waiting for her daughter for two hours. Zhu Yunfei, watching his son, marvels at the variety: “Coming here to play with him is making up for my childhood,” he says. They drop by every week.
正在崭露头角的工程师们聚集在上海地标性建筑——中国美术馆的一个桌子大小的模型周围，用五颜六色的积木增加了直升机停机坪、胡萝卜块和其他改进。让一个孩子离开人民广场附近的乐高大型商店，难度好比拆下两块牢固的乐高积木。李阳从深圳来这里玩了几天，她已经等女儿两个小时了。看着儿子的朱云飞惊叹于这种多样性:“来这里和他一起玩弥补了我的童年，”他说。他们每周都会来。
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Lego’s rise in China has been vertiginous. In 2017 it overtook Alpha Group, a local giant, to become the country’s leading toy company (not including video games). In the past two years it has opened 89 stores. It wants 50 more by December, which will bring it to 30 cities. Its first Chinese factory started moulding bricks in 2016. The toy industry is growing by 9% annually in the country, but the Danish firm’s Chinese arm notches up “very strong double digits”, says Paul Huang, its boss.
乐高在中国的崛起令人目眩。2017年，它超越了当地巨头阿尔法集团，成为中国领先的玩具公司(不包括电子游戏)。在过去的两年里，乐高已经开了89家店。到12月，还想再开50家，届时30个城市都有店。乐高第一家中国工厂于2016年开始做积木。中国的玩具业正以每年9%的速度增长，但是这家丹麦公司的中国分公司却取得了“非常强劲的两位数增长”，其老板保罗·黄如此表示。
It has done so even as the brickmaker’s global business has looked shakier. In 2017 Lego cut 1,400 jobs and recorded its first drop in revenues and profits in over a decade. But last year both ticked up again, by 4% each. Lego has thus retained its status as the world’s biggest toymaker, snatched from Mattel in 2014—even as its American rival last year earned its highest revenues in five years from its Barbie dolls.
尽管这家积木厂的全球业务看起来更加摇摇欲坠，但在中国的业绩却蒸蒸日上。2017年，乐高裁减了1400个工作岗位，实现了10多年来的首次收入和利润下降。但去年收入和盈利都再度上涨，涨幅均为4%。因此，乐高保住了全球最大玩具制造商的地位。2014年，乐高从美泰手中拿回了乐高的市场份额。即使去年，其美国竞争对手美泰因芭比娃娃达到了五年内的最高收入。
Newly affluent parents in China have helped Lego recover. “We have not maxed out there, by far,” says Niels Christiansen, whom Lego brought in as chief executive two years ago. As in the West, the educational merits of bricks appeal to Chinese parents. Last year 98% of those surveyed by Lego said that play was essential for their child’s well-being, even more than Americans and Danes.
中国新富阶层家长帮助乐高重新辉煌起来。“到目前为止，我们还没有达到极限，”于两年前上任的乐高首席执行官尼尔斯·克里斯琴森表示。和西方一样，积木的教育价值吸引了中国家长。去年，乐高公司的调查显示，98%的中国家长认为玩耍对孩子的健康至关重要，甚至超过了美国人和丹麦人。
Lego has also astutely catered to local tastes. This year the firm launched three sets specifically for China, the first time it has done so for any country. Fans were delighted at the attention to cultural detail. One was a Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner kit, with tiny red envelopes and chunlian, lucky couplets on banners pasted around doorways. A dragon boat race set included a sticky-rice dumpling, a popular festival snack. The high-quality kits are pricey, costing up to 700 yuan ($100) apiece.
乐高也敏锐地迎合了中国家长的口味。今年，该公司专门针对中国推出了三套积木，这是该公司首次针对国家推出产品。粉丝们对文化细节的关注感到高兴。其中一个是除夕晚餐套装，里面有小红包和春联（春联是贴在门口横幅上的幸运对联）。龙舟比赛套装里面包括一个糯米团（一种受欢迎的节日小吃）。这些高质量的套装价格不菲，每件售价高达700元人民币(合100美元)。
With Barbie, Mattel tried to localise in the wrong way. A former Chinese manager at the American company calls its promotion of a line of cheaper, flimsier dolls “arrogant”. Because no effort was put into making her locally relevant, Barbie held none of her usual aspirational appeal, even for spendthrift Chinese. In 2009 Mattel opened the world’s largest Barbie shop on a luxury shopping street in central Shanghai, stuffed with 800 dolls. The six-floor pink colossus confused Chinese parents by offering mothers a spa, designer fashion and “Barbietini” cocktails, and their daughters more age-appropriate attractions. It was a flop and shut two years later.
而美泰针对芭比娃娃的本地化方式则是错误的。这家美国公司的一名前中国经理将该公司推广的一系列更便宜、更轻薄的玩偶称为“傲慢”。由于没有努力让芭比在当地变得有影响力，芭比没有像往常那样吸引人，即使对挥金如土的中国人也是如此。2009年，美泰在上海市中心的一条豪华购物街上开设了全球最大的芭比专卖店，店里塞满了800个芭比娃娃。这家六层楼高的粉色巨型酒店为妈妈们提供水疗、设计师设计的时装和“芭比尼”鸡尾酒，以及对女儿更有吸引力的东西，这让中国家长感到困惑。这个举措很失败，并在两年后闭店。
It is hard to convince prudish parents of the creative merits of frivolous dolls, and grown-up Chinese collectors prefer short and chubby Molly, a popular local poppet. The Chinese market for construction toys is six times bigger than for dolls. In Mr Zhu’s words, “there is no art to a Barbie”. Tellingly, Mattel’s most successful brand in China is a maker of educational baby toys, Fisher-Price, with a market share of 1.1%, according to Euromonitor, a data provider. Barbie, with 0.3%, comes a lowly 31st. By contrast, Lego’s 4.5% share puts it firmly in first place: a fortification that will serve it well, as China’s market for toys and video games, worth $45bn, overtakes America’s in the next few years.
很难让一本正经的家长相信不实用玩偶的创意价值，而成年的中国收藏者更喜欢矮胖的莫莉，这是一个受欢迎的本地宠物。中国建筑玩具市场的规模是玩偶市场的六倍。用朱先生的话来说，“芭比没有艺术可言”。数据提供商欧睿信息咨询的数据显示，美泰在中国最成功的品牌是教育类婴儿玩具制造商Fisher-Price，市场份额为1.1%。芭比娃娃只有0.3%，排在第31位。相比之下，乐高4.5%的市场份额使其稳居首位：这一防御措施将很好地服务于乐高，因为未来几年，中国价值450亿美元的玩具和视频游戏市场将超过美国。
来源：经济学人
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