Luxury Retailers Chase Rich in U.S.
奢侈品零售商追逐美國富人
By Hiroko Tabuchi

In Houston, Chanel’s new 465 square-meter galleria is styled after Coco Chanel’s Baroque-inspired apartment, with an antique fireplace and a chandeliered shoe salon.
在休士頓，香奈兒一間465平方公尺大的新精品店，風格以可可．香奈兒的巴洛克式公寓為藍本，有古董壁爐和掛著水晶吊燈的鞋子沙龍。

Yves Saint Laurent’s 930-square-meter flagship women’s store in Beverly Hills, California, its biggest, features white marble and polished brass with a discreet entrance for celebrities.
聖羅蘭在加州比佛利山的女裝旗艦店有930平方公尺大，是聖羅蘭最大的一間，特色是白色大理石和擦得光亮的黃銅擺飾，並為名流準備了祕密通道。

And in downtown Manhattan, Hermès, Salvatore Ferragamo and Paul Smith are set to open locations at Brookfield Place, a $300 million luxurious redevelopment of the World Financial Center.
而在曼哈坦下城，愛馬仕、Salvatore Ferragamo、Paul Smith預定在布魯克菲爾德廣場開新店，這裡是斥資3億美元的世界金融中心奢華重新開發案。

Purveyors of high-end luxury goods are chasing millionaires in the United States, as spending falters in Europe and in the emerging markets once considered luxury’s promised land. And the wealth, they say, is not just confined to the American coasts.
隨著歐洲和被視為奢侈品應許之地的新興市場消費不振，高檔奢侈品商人正在追逐美國的百萬富豪。他們說，這些富人不僅侷限在美國的沿岸地區。

Fast-growing industries, like technology and energy, are transforming cities like Houston, Dallas and San Jose, California, into some of the densest aggregations of wealth in the world. Since 2012, the number of high-net-worth individuals has jumped as much as 20 percent in Dallas and 18 percent in Houston, according to a Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management tally.
快速成長的產業，例如科技和能源，正將一些城市轉變為全世界財富最集中的城市，像是休士頓、達拉斯和加州的聖荷西。根據凱捷管理顧問公司和RBC財富管理公司的統計，2012年以來，達拉斯的高淨資產個人人數激增20%，休士頓增加18%。

Propelled by a skewed economic recovery, the United States’ share of the world’s superrich is rebounding. Since mid-2013, the number of millionaires in the United States has grown by 1.6 million, by far the biggest increase in the world and dwarfing the 90,000 Chinese who crossed the million-dollar mark since then, Credit Suisse estimates.
在歪歪扭扭的經濟復甦推升下，美國的全球超級富豪占有率正在回升。瑞士信貸集團估計，自2013年中以來，美國百萬富豪增加了160萬人，是迄今全球增加最多的，遠超過自那時起越過百萬美元門檻的9萬中國人。

Luxury retailers now see America’s rich, over Hong Kong magnates or Russian moguls, as their biggest drivers of growth.
奢侈品零售商現在認為美國富人是帶動業績成長的最大戶，超越香港權貴和俄國大亨。

“If you look in the past year, the United States has been at the top of our investment plans,” said Michele Norsa, chief executive of Salvatore Ferragamo, the Italian luxury shoemaker.
義大利奢侈鞋商Salvatore Ferragamo執行長米歇爾．諾沙說：「你若看過去一年，美國一直是我們投資計畫的首選。」

“There are opportunities on the West Coast, with the tech industry there and Asian tourism,” Mr. Norsa said. “There are opportunities in Miami, which is becoming important as a window to Latin America.”
「西岸有機會，那裡有科技產業和亞洲觀光客。邁阿密有機會，那裡已成為拉丁美洲的窗口。」

The strong luxury spending is welcome news for an industry grappling with slowing growth in Europe and in emerging markets that once seemed to offer the most potential for growth, but are now hit by weaker asset prices, currency pressures and economic and political turmoil.
對於正在與歐洲和新興市場成長減緩奮戰的奢侈品產業來說，美國奢侈品消費強勁是受歡迎的消息。新興市場一度似乎提供最大的成長潛力，但如今受到資產價格較疲弱、貨幣壓力和經濟與政治動盪的打擊。

Luxury sales in China, especially, have slowed in the face of a crackdown on bribery, according to Bain, the consultancy. A weak ruble and low consumer confidence have taken a toll on spending by another group of big luxury spenders: moneyed Russians.
貝恩策略顧問公司指出，面臨打貪的中國大陸，奢侈品銷售減緩格外明顯。盧布貶值和消費者信心低落，重創了另一群奢侈品消費大戶：有錢的俄國人。

In the United States, spending on personal luxury goods rose a steady 5 percent last year to about $73 billion, Bain estimates, compared with negative growth in previous juggernauts like China and Russia.
貝恩估計，美國去年的個人奢侈品消費穩定成長5%，達到大約730億美元，相較之下，之前被崇拜的偶像，像是中國和俄國，卻是負成長。

And a recent report by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, underscored the market shifts. The company said that annual sales in Asia dropped 6 percent in 2014 from the previous year because of the ailing Chinese luxury market. Sales in Europe grew a tepid 3 percent.
全球最大奢侈品製造商LVMH（酩悅軒尼詩-路易威登）最近的報告強調市場的轉變。該公司表示，因中國大陸奢侈品市場疲弱不振，2014年亞洲全年營收較前一年下滑6%。歐洲營收微增3%。

“There’s a whole new generation of 30- and 40-year-olds making millions of dollars a year in hedge funds and technology and real estate,” said David Friedman, president of the wealth consultancy Wealth-X.
Wealth-X財富顧問公司總裁大衛．傅利曼說：「在避險基金、科技和房地產界，有一個三、四十歲，年收入幾百萬美元的全新世代。」

And across America, highly skilled, high-income immigrants, of which the United States continues to attract a disproportionate share, are driving high-end consumption. The world’s brain drain – and America’s brain gain – is transferring more wealth and more luxury spending to America, experts said.
全美各地，高技術、高收入的移民正帶動高檔消費，美國仍吸引比率偏高的這類移民。專家說，全世界的人才荒，以及美國的人才濟濟，正把更多的財富和更多的奢侈品消費轉移到美國。

“The U.S. is helped by wealthy immigrant flows, giving additional impulse to the luxury market in New York, Miami, even university cities like Boston,” said Claudia D’Arpizio, an expert on luxury spending at Bain.
貝恩的奢侈品消費專家克勞蒂亞．達爾比奇歐說：「富有移民潮，使美國受惠，為紐約、邁阿密，甚至一些大學城，像是波士頓的奢侈品市場注入更多動力。」

International tourism to the United States, which has grown steadily to an estimated 74 million visitors last year, has also bolstered luxury spending, experts say.
專家說，到美國的國際觀光客穩定成長，去年估計有7400萬訪客，這也支撐了奢侈品消費。

“Before, growth was really focused on the BRICS,” said Robert Chavez, president of Hermès U.S., referring to the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
愛馬仕的美國公司總裁羅伯．查維斯說：「以前，成長真的集中在金磚五國。」他指的是巴西、俄國、印度、中國大陸和南非五大新興經濟體。

Manhattan alone spent more than $25.5 billion on personal luxury goods last year, more than the whole of Japan, the second-biggest market, Bain estimates.
貝恩估算，單是曼哈坦區，去年就有逾255億美元花在個人奢侈品上，比第二大市場日本全國還多。

Not all luxury retailers are doing well, however. The jewelry chain Tiffany cut its annual forecast in January, citing sluggish November and December sales.
不過，並非所有奢侈品零售商都生意大好。珠寶連鎖店蒂芙尼公司今年1月下修去年全年的營收預估值，表示去年11月和12日銷售遲緩。

And economists at Morgan Stanley wrote in a recent report that rapid year-over-year growth in luxury spending might simply be unsustainable.
摩根士丹利的經濟學家在最近的報告中寫道，奢侈品消費年復一年快速成長的情況也許根本無法持續。

“How many personal aircraft can one buy?” they wrote.
他們寫道：「一個人能買多少架私人飛機？」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/business/makers-of-luxury-goods-shift-focus-to-united-states.html

2015-02-24聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報七版上