为什么星巴克在中国“糊”了 | 纽约时报

Starbucks has a China problem: coffee and tea drinkers who want more for less.

星巴克有一个中国难题：咖啡和茶饮爱好者们想要物美价廉的商品。

Vivian Yan tried her first Starbucks coffee eight years ago. She was desperate for a jolt of caffeine at work, and the store was nearby. “It didn’t necessarily mean I love Starbucks,” she said, “nor was it my first choice.”

维维安·严（音）第一次喝星巴克咖啡是八年前。上班的时候，她特别需要一些咖啡因，而那家星巴克就在附近。“这并不一定意味着我爱喝星巴克，”她说，“它也不是我的首选。”

These days, she thinks a cup of Starbucks is a little too expensive and prefers to get her coffee from McDonald’s. But what she really loves is ChaGee, HeyTea and other Chinese chains that sell coconut milk lattes, boba milk teas with cheese cream and sugary jasmine tea frappés. “They are delicious and offer more choices,” said Ms. Yan, 35, who is from China’s eastern province of Jiangsu.

这些日子里，她觉得一杯星巴克咖啡有点太贵了，更爱去麦当劳喝咖啡。但她真正喜欢的是霸王茶姬、喜茶，以及其他中国连锁店，这些连锁店里有椰奶拿铁、芝士奶盖珍珠奶茶，以及用茉莉花茶制作的甜味冰沙。“它们很好喝，而且有更多的选择，”现年35岁的严女士说道，她来自东部省份江苏。

Ms. Yan’s preference for more diverse flavors poses an acute challenge for Starbucks. It is losing customers at a rapid pace. Brian Niccol, the new chief executive, sounded the alarm in October, calling the competition “extreme” in the company’s second-biggest market behind the United States.

严女士对更多样化口味的偏好给星巴克带来了一个十分严重的挑战。星巴克的客户正在迅速流失。新任首席执行官布莱恩·尼科尔已在今年10月敲响了警钟，称星巴克在中国这个仅次于美国的第二大市场面临的竞争“异常激烈”。

When Starbucks opened its first shop in China in 1999, tea dominated and coffee culture was practically nonexistent. But the company quickly built a thriving market alongside a swelling middle class that was turning to iPhones, Gucci handbags and other international brands to signal its newfound wealth.

1999年，星巴克在中国开设第一家门店时，茶在当地占主导地位，咖啡文化几乎不存在。但该公司很快建起了一个蓬勃发展的中国市场，那时，中国的中产阶级不断壮大，他们正在转向iPhone、古驰手袋，以及其他国际品牌来彰显新获得的财富。

Today, consumers are less interested in foreign brands, more cost conscious and enticed by local rivals that are popping up on corners all around the country offering something a little different. Dozens of competitors to Starbucks spin out new flavors of tea and coffee every week, at lower prices, creating competition so ferocious that Starbucks saw a 14 percent plunge in same-store sales in China in its most recent financial quarter.

如今，中国消费者对外国品牌的兴趣已大不如前，他们对价格更敏感，并受到了本土竞争对手的吸引，这些提供略微不同产品的商家已在全国各地的街头涌现。星巴克的数十家竞争对手们每周都在推出新口味的茶和咖啡，而且价格更低，竞争如此之激烈，以至于星巴克中国的同店销售额在最近的财季中下降了14%。

Luckin Coffee, a Chinese brand that started seven years ago, now generates more revenue in the country than Starbucks. It has nearly three times as many stores, and opens a new one, on average, every hour.

瑞幸咖啡是七年前创立的中国品牌，目前在中国的营收已超过星巴克。瑞幸门店的数量几乎是星巴克的三倍，并以平均每小时开一家新门店的速度增长。

Mr. Niccol, who took over as Starbucks’s chief executive in September, has to not only figure out how to help the coffee chain regain its footing in the United States, where its 17,000 stores generated $26.7 billion in revenue last year, but also find a solution in China, where its 7,600 stores bring in around $3 billion in annual sales.

尼科尔今年9月接任了星巴克首席执行官，他不仅要想办法帮助这家咖啡连锁店在美国重新站稳脚跟，也需要在中国找到解决方案。星巴克在美国有1.7万家门店，去年在美国的营收是267亿美元；在中国有7600家门店，去年在华销售额约合30亿美元。

In China, “we need to figure out how we grow in the market now and into the future,” Mr. Niccol told Wall Street analysts on an earnings call in October. That growth could come with the help of a strategic partner, he added.

尼科尔今年10月与华尔街分析师举行财报电话会议时说，“我们需要（在中国）找到实现当前和未来增长的办法。”他还表示，可能要在战略合作伙伴的帮助下实现增长。

Starbucks declined to make any executives available for this article.

星巴克拒绝让任何高管接受本文记者的采访。

“We have a world-class team and a strong brand in China, and we see significant long-term growth potential in the market,” Marc Birtel, a spokesman for the company, said in an emailed statement.

“我们在中国有一个世界一流团队和一个强大品牌，我们在中国市场看到巨大的长期增长潜力，”公司发言人马克·伯特尔在发给记者的电子邮件中表示。

第一，学习footing的用法。这个词做名词，表示the conditions or arrangements on which something is based，状况；基础；立足之本，例：He wanted to put their relationship on a permanent footing. 他想长久维系他们的关系。

Starbucks is hardly the only foreign company grappling with China. Brands that once looked at the country as a booming growth market are wrestling with slower demand for their products. Consumers remain stubbornly unwilling to spend money, shaken by a real estate crisis and weak labor market that have been a drag on China’s economy.

星巴克远非在中国苦苦挣扎的唯一外国公司。许多曾经将中国视为蓬勃发展市场的品牌如今正在努力应对产品需求放缓的问题。中国消费者们仍然缺少花钱意愿，房地产危机和疲软的劳动力市场拖累了中国经济。

In early December, General Motors said it would take a more than $5 billion hit to its profits as it restructured its ailing China operations, which have been losing money as its car sales here have dropped sharply. Estée Lauder’s stock tumbled 21 percent in one day after the beauty company cut its dividend and pulled its 2025 forecast because of uncertainty over China’s economy.

今年12月初，通用汽车表示，因为在对近年来一直亏损的中国业务进行重组，公司四季度的利润将降低至少50亿美元。随着公司在中国的汽车销量大幅下降，通用汽车的中国业务一直在亏损。雅诗兰黛因中国经济的不确定性撤回了对2025年的预测后，这家美容产品公司的股价在一天内暴跌了21%。

In almost all categories, homegrown companies are willing to price their cars, coffee and clothing at steep discounts to crush the competition.

本土公司愿意对几乎所有类别的商品大幅降价，让它们的汽车、咖啡、服装在价格上击败竞争对手。

Starbucks has diversified its menus in China, offering more milk teas and flavors that cater to local tastes, but they are typically more costly than their competitors and have occasionally missed the mark.

星巴克已将其中国菜单多样化，上面有更多迎合当地口味的饮品（如奶茶），但价格通常贵于竞争对手，有时也没能达到目标。

Many young consumers in China are also eschewing foreign brands in favor of Chinese companies amid a wave of nationalism known as guochao, or Chinese fad. The country’s leaders have a history of dialing up the patriotism with propaganda during moments of tension with other countries. If President-elect Donald J. Trump follows through on his promise to impose tariffs on all products going into the United States from China, the government in Beijing could turn on American brands.

受民族主义浪潮影响，许多中国年轻消费者也在避开外国品牌，转向中国品牌，这个现象被称为“国潮”，即中国的潮流风尚。中国领导人在与其他国家关系紧张时动用宣传工具激发爱国主义情绪的做法由来已久。如果候任总统特朗普兑现他的承诺，对所有从中国进入美国的产品加征关税，中国政府可能会把矛头指向美国品牌。

In a nod to this, Starbucks, which offers more American-centric drinks like Pumpkin Spice Latte in its stores in China, recently said its business faced risks from “escalating U.S.-China tension and increased anti-Americanism, potential tariff increases, retaliations, restrictive regulations or boycotts, and increasing political sensitivities in China.”

星巴克已经意识到这个问题。它的中国门店提供的饮品更多是美国人喜欢的口味（如南瓜拿铁），公司最近表示，其中国业务面临的风险包括“美中紧张关系升级，（中国人的）反美情绪加剧，潜在的提升关税，中国的反制措施、限制性法规或抵制，以及中国日益增长的政治敏感性”。

The sense of patriotism is an increasingly important factor for foreign brands, according to Jin Lu, a public relations expert who has worked with many multinational brands in China, including PepsiCo and McKinsey.

曾与百事可乐、麦肯锡等多家在华跨国品牌合作的公关专家卢进（音）说，对外国品牌来说，爱国意识是一个越来越重要的因素。

“This momentum of China nationalism has grown very, very strong,” Mr. Lu said. “People tend to think: ‘OK, this country is stronger and the second largest economy. Do we really need this foreign investment?’”

“中国的民族主义势头已变得非常非常强劲，”卢先生说。“人们往往这样想：‘这个国家更强大了，已经是第二大经济体。我们真的需要外国投资吗？’”

At a Starbucks in Hong Kong in December, Liu Ning, 47, who was visiting from the northern Chinese city of Zhengzhou, begrudgingly ordered a matcha latte. He was tired from shopping and needed a place to sit.

今年12月，现年47岁的刘宁（音）不情愿地在香港一家星巴克点了一杯抹茶拿铁。他从中国北方城市郑州来香港玩，逛街逛累了，需要找个地方坐坐。

“The coffee at Starbucks tastes terrible and has an industrial feel,” Mr. Liu said. The restaurant was mostly empty except for a few tables occupied by students and some workers on their laptops.

“星巴克咖啡的味道很差劲，给人一种工业生产的感觉，”刘先生说。这家店几乎空无一人，除了坐在几张桌边的学生和几个使用笔记本电脑的上班族。

But just around the corner, dozens of people stood outside ChaGee, a Starbucks competitor, waiting for Lapsang Souchong tea lattes and Da Hong Pao snowy frappés. They posed in front of the sign and took photos of their red and blue takeaway cups, posting to their social media accounts about the quality and price, which was generally cheaper than drinks from Starbucks.

但就在拐角处，几十个人站在星巴克竞争对手霸王茶姬门店外，等着取他们的正山小种茶拿铁和大红袍奶茶。他们在门店招牌前摆姿势，手持红色或蓝色的外带杯自拍，发到社交媒体上，还配有评测和价格信息，霸王茶姬的饮品通常比星巴克的便宜。

China now has more coffee shops than the United States, according to the World Coffee Portal, a market research firm. The market grew 25 percent from 2018 to 2023, according to Bain & Company estimates.

据市场研究公司World Coffee Portal的数据，中国目前的咖啡店数量已超过美国。据贝恩公司估计，中国的咖啡市场在2018到2023年间增长了25%。

“Chinese consumers are very spoiled in some ways because it is a very competitive market and all the suppliers are trying to make consumers happy with new launches,” said Nancy Zheng, a partner at Bain in Shanghai.

“从某种意义来说，中国消费者被宠坏了，因为中国是一个竞争非常激烈的市场，所有的卖家都在试图推出新产品，取悦消费者，”贝恩上海合伙人郑思远说。

Luckin, for instance, goes through about 60 new products each year, offering a new drink every week. Its new coconut latte sells nearly $140 million worth annually, Ms. Zheng said.

例如，瑞幸咖啡每年推出约60种新产品，每周推出一款新饮品。瑞幸咖啡的新款椰奶拿铁每年的销售额接近1.4亿美元，郑思远说。

With its spacious stores and couches, Starbucks is often still the place where professionals meet to talk deals, students go to study or tired shoppers find respite. This, in some ways, positions Starbucks in a different category from its competitors, which tend to have smaller storefronts that focus on churning out orders made on smartphone apps.

星巴克的店面往往更宽敞，里面有沙发，仍是专业人士见面谈生意、学生学习，或疲惫的购物者歇脚的地方。从某种意义上来说，这让星巴克处于与竞争对手不同的层次，后者的店面往往较小，它们关心的是处理顾客用智能手机应用程序下的大量订单。

Starbucks is “still a strong brand,” said Fred Hu, founder of the investment firm Primavera Capital and an nonexecutive chairman of Yum China, the exclusive licensee of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands in the country. “There is no reason they cannot succeed going forward.”

星巴克“仍然是一个强大的品牌”，投资公司春华资本创始人胡祖六说，他也是百胜中国的非执行董事长，百胜中国是肯德基、必胜客和塔可钟品牌在中国的独家授权商。“没有理由说他们不能在未来取得成功。”

“But,” he added, “they do need to make changes.” Those could include finding a local partner or spinning off the China business, as Yum did in 2016. Depending on the direction Mr. Niccol takes, Primavera Capital could be a future suitor for a partnership.

“但是，”他补充道，“他们确实需要改变。”这些改变可能包括寻找当地合作伙伴或剥离中国业务，像百胜在2016年做的那样。要看尼科尔采取什么做法，春华资本可能在未来有意收购一个合作伙伴的股份。

Whatever Mr. Niccol ends up doing, time may be running out, experts said.

专家们说，无论尼科尔最终怎么做，时间可能已经不多了。

This year, Howard Schultz, Starbucks’s former chief executive, insisted that the coffee chain would not enter a price war in China. “As customers become more knowledgeable about coffee, they will want to upgrade from lower-end or discounted products,” he said in a talk at Fudan University in Shanghai. “As long as we continue to earn the market’s respect, they will choose to upgrade to Starbucks.”

今年，星巴克前首席执行官霍华德·舒尔茨坚称，这家咖啡连锁店不会加入中国的价格战。“随着顾客对咖啡的了解越来越多，他们会希望从低端或打折产品升级，”他在上海复旦大学发表讲话时说。“只要我们继续在市场上赢得尊重，他们就会选择升级到星巴克来。”

At the same time, the company has been trying some of the tactics used by its local competitors. It ramped up promotions and provided coupons throughout much of the summer. The coffee giant also began to follow domestic competitors like Luckin and Cotti into smaller cities. During the Lunar New Year holiday this year, Starbucks released a pork flavor latte. It cost more than $9 and was widely seen as a disaster.

与此同时，公司一直在尝试其中国竞争对手使用的一些策略。星巴克中国在整个夏季的大部分时间都在加大促销力度并提供优惠券。这家咖啡巨头也开始效仿瑞幸和库迪等中国境内竞争对手的做法，进入更小的城市。今年春节假期，星巴克中国推出了一款红烧肉拿铁。这款售价68元的饮品被广泛视为一大失败。

“They are the first coffee brand in China, so definitely it’s going to be challenging to defend their position because all the new products are taking their customers,” Ms. Zheng said.

“星巴克是中国的第一个咖啡品牌，因此捍卫自己的地位肯定会很有挑战性，因为所有新产品都在抢他们的顾客，”郑思远说。

Starbucks, she added, has “lost a lot customers to Chinese brands.”

她补充道，星巴克的“许多顾客已被中国品牌抢走”。