《经济学人》双语：沃尔玛的业绩预警与美国消费业？
原文标题：
Retailing
Everyday low profits
A warning from Walmart about the health of the American consumer
零售业
天天低价
沃尔玛的业绩警示与美国消费业
The retail giant forecasts weaker sales
沃尔玛预期销售额下降
[Paragraph 1]
“CHOICEFUL, DISCERNING, thoughtful” is how Walmart’s boss, Doug McMillon, described American consumers on February 21st, as he presented the retail behemoth’s quarterly results.
2月21日，沃尔玛老板道格·麦克米伦在公布公司季度业绩报告时，用“选择多样、眼光敏锐、思考深入”等词来描述美国消费者。
That may be so. What they aren’t, at least in aggregate, is frugal.
也许确实如此。但至少从总体来看，消费者并不节俭。
Last year consumer spending shot up even as real disposable incomes declined by more than 6%.
去年，尽管实际可支配收入下降了6%以上，消费支出却大幅增长。
America
splurged on in January, shopping its way through a warm winter buoyed
by 517,000 new jobs and a chunky inflation-linked bump in
social-security cheques.
1月份，由于51.7万个新增就业岗位和通货膨胀相关的社保支票上涨这两大原因，美国消费者在温暖的冬季里大肆购物大肆消费。
Retail sales rose by 3% month on month, and consumer sentiment reached its highest level in more than a year.
零售销售环比增长了3%，消费者情绪达到了一年多以来的最高水平。
Those looking for evidence of a “soft landing”, where the economy avoids a recession despite tighter monetary policy, found solace in the American consumer.
那些寻找“软着陆”证据的人在美国消费者身上找到了慰藉。“软着陆”是指尽管货币政策趋紧，但经济没有陷入衰退的情况。
[Paragraph 2]
On the surface, Walmart looks like exhibit A
for the optimists. Its comparable sales in America grew by a brisk
8.3%, year on year. Look closer, though, and its results are full of
warning signs.
在表面上看，沃尔玛似乎是看涨者的最佳例证。其美国同比销售额同比增长8.3％。然而，仔细分析一下，它的业绩充满了警示信号。
A
big reason for its market-share gains in groceries was cash-strapped
consumers, including high-income ones, trading down from fancier
supermarkets.
沃尔玛的食品杂货市场份额增长的一个重要原因是，资金紧张的消费者（包括高收入者）从高档超市转向了经济实惠的超市。
Its higher-margin discretionary
range—toys, clothes, homeware and the like—did less well, despite heavy
discounting to clear inventories overstocked as a result of a
post-pandemic miscalculation about demand for certain goods.
由于后疫情时期对某些商品需求的错误估计而导致库存挤压，尽管对库存进行了大量折扣清理，但其高毛利率的自主选择商品（如玩具、服装、家居用品等）的业绩不佳。
Worst of all, Walmart forecast sales growth of 2.5-3% for the current fiscal year, below analysts’ expectations.
最糟糕的是，沃尔玛预测本财年的销售增长率为2.5-3%，低于分析师的预期。
[Paragraph 3]
Other retailers tell a similar story, more poignantly.
其他零售商的情况也类似且更糟。
The
same day, Home Depot reported its seventh successive year-on-year drop
in transaction volumes—and last quarter, for the first time, it was not
offset by growth in the average size of transactions.
同一天，家得宝公司报告称其交易量连续第7年同比下降，而上一季度，平均交易额的增长量也首次未能弥补下降量。
The home-improvement firm’s share price fell by more than 7% on the day.
当天，这家家居建材公司的股价就下跌了逾7%。
And shoppers’ baskets may get lighter as the housing market wobbles: according to Barclays, a bank, the more the asking price for properties fall, the less consumers spend on an average trip to Home Depot.
由于房地产市场的动荡，购物者的购物篮可能会变得更轻盈：据巴克莱银行称，房价越低，购物者在家得宝的平均消费额就越低。
[Paragraph 4]
Retailers’ margins were always likely to narrow after the covid-era blow-out.
零售商的利润在疫情期间大幅增长，现在利润势必会收窄。
Although the worst labour shortages have subsided, wages remain high.
尽管最严重的劳动力短缺问题已经得到缓解，但薪资仍然居高不下。
In
January Walmart announced pay rises that will raise its average hourly
wage above $17.50. UBS, a bank, estimates that such moves will cost the
company around $1bn a year.
沃尔玛在1月份宣布加薪，将其平均每小时工资提高到17.50美元以上。瑞银集团估计，这一举措将每年给公司带来约10亿美元的额外成本。
Home Depot said it would spend an extra $1bn on higher hourly wages for workers.
家得宝表示将额外投入10亿美元用于提高员工的小时工资。
[Paragraph 5]
A bigger worry is the potential drop-off in demand.
更大的担忧是消费需求可能会下降。
The tailwind from strong household balance-sheets, fortified by covid-induced saving and government handouts, will not blow for ever.
疫情期间的储蓄加上政府资金的支持，家庭资产负债表很漂亮，但这种顺风外力不会一直存在。
According
to Goldman Sachs, another bank, households have spent a third of their
excess savings and will have spent another third by the end of 2023.
据高盛预测，家庭已经使用了1/3的过剩储蓄，到2023年底，他们将花费另外1/3的过剩储蓄。
Firms that, like Home Depot and Walmart, flaunted their pricing power last year are now more careful, lest pricier wares scare shoppers away.
家得宝和沃尔玛等这样的公司在去年吹嘘过它们的定价权，但现在变得更加谨慎，以免商品价格过高吓跑顾客。
Last week Kraft Heinz, a food giant, said it was mostly done raising prices this year.
上周，食品巨头卡夫亨氏表示，它今年的大部分商品提价已经完成。
Even well-heeled buyers, who drove retailers’ sales growth in 2022, are feeling the heat, as Walmart’s success with them shows.
即使是富有的购买者，他们在2022年推动了零售商的销售增长，现在他们也感到压力。沃尔玛的亮眼数据说明了这一点。
It is all too easy to imagine Mr McMillon’s discerning shoppers turning into dispirited ones.
不难想象，麦克米伦所形容的“眼光敏锐的消费者”会变成“心灰意冷的购物者”。
（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量552左右）
原文出自：2023年2月25日《The Economist》Business版块。
精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路
本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。
【补充资料】（来自于网络）
可比销售额（comparable sales）是指对比同一销售点在相同时间段内的销售额，以评估销售绩效的指标。它通常用于零售业和餐饮业等行业，以了解一家企业或品牌在某一时间段内的业绩表现。在零售业中，可比销售额也可以用于计算每个店铺的销售增长率，以及比较同一时期内的销售收入和毛利率等指标。
家得宝（Home Depot）是一家总部位于美国的家居建材零售公司，成立于1978年，是全球最大的家居建材零售商之一,美国第二大零售商。员工数量超过40万人。公司销售的产品包括建筑材料、电器、装修用品、家具、灯具、厨房用品、园艺用品等。除了线下门店，家得宝还提供在线销售和送货服务。
过剩储蓄（Excess savings）是指个人或家庭储蓄水平高于其正常支出水平的情况。这通常是由于收入增加、减少支出或限制消费行为等因素造成的。例如在疫情期间，由于疫情引起的封锁和限制，许多人的支出水平受到了影响，例如旅游、娱乐、餐饮等方面的消费大幅减少。在此期间，许多人的储蓄率大幅提高，因此出现了大量的"过剩储蓄"。
【重点句子】（3 个）
A
big reason for its market-share gains in groceries was cash-strapped
consumers, including high-income ones, trading down from fancier
supermarkets.
沃尔玛的食品杂货市场份额增长的一个重要原因是，资金紧张的消费者（包括高收入者）从高档超市转向了经济实惠的超市。
Although the worst labour shortages have subsided, wages remain high.
尽管最严重的劳动力短缺问题已经得到缓解，但薪资仍然居高不下。
A bigger worry is the potential drop-off in demand.
更大的担忧是消费需求可能会下降。
