肯德基 Archives ~ Business China : news for investors in China

Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) has made global headlines with its announcement that it will invest $4 billion in China over the next 3 years, as it soaks up more business in the nation’s smaller cites with its popular and affordable drinks. (company announcement) The figure certainly accomplished its mission as an attention grabber, and it’s easy to see why. While sales in most major global markets sputter as the Coke soaks up China dollars with locally-made Pulpy world economy struggles out of recession, Coke notched 21 percent growth in China in the first half of the year with unit sales surpassing 1 billion — equal to its annual sales for the market just 5 years ago. Clearly there’s plenty of room for growth, as Coke, despite its position as China’s largest software seller, still only has a relatively modest 17 percent of the market. What’s most interesting to me in this story is the fact that earlier this year Coke scored an unusual first in China with Minute Maid Pulpy, which claimed the honor of becoming the company’s first billion-dollar drink developed outside the US. (company announcement) I’ll admit to being a fan of Pulpy myself, frequently consuming this drink that at least superficially seems a bit healthier than Coke and no doubt is attractive to consumers in the country that gave the world mandarin oranges. Coke is clearly moving in step with other major consumer brands like fast food operators KFC (NYSE: YUM) and McDonalds (NYSE: MCD), which have developed a strong stable of products suited to local tastes, often providing stronger platforms for growth than their traditional offerings created in Western markets. Its latest mega investment testifies to Coke’s realization that such innovations are key to keeping its growth alive, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it maintain the 20-plus percent growth rates in China into at least the next 2-3 years.

Bottom line: Coke’s $4 billion commitment to China underscores the huge success it has had in the market, and the enormous potential remaining for future growth.

可口可乐(KO.N)宣布未来三年将在中国增加投资40亿美元，因其在中小城市业务迅速扩张。这则消息使得可口可乐成为媒体焦点，它这麽做其实也很容易理解。全球经济迟滞之际，可口可乐在全球多数主要市场的销售业绩欠佳，但今年上半年在中国的销售则增长了21%，销量超过了10亿瓶，五年前这是在中国市场的全年销量。显然，可口可乐在中国还有很大的发展空间，虽然是在中国的软饮销售冠军，但市占率也才17%。而我最关注的是，可口可乐在中国推出的品牌“美汁源”，跻身其销售额过10亿美元的品牌行列，是可口可乐在美国以外地区开发的品牌首次销售达到10亿美元级别。我本人也常常喜欢喝“美汁源”，至少从表面上看，这比可乐要健康一些吧，这也无疑受到了中国消费者的欢迎。象肯德基(YUM.N)和麦当劳(MCD.N)这些全球知名品牌那样，可口可乐也试图迎合当地消费者口味、开发独特产品，开辟成长机遇，而非单调沿用在西方市场创立的产品系列。可口可乐此次在中国的大手笔投资，表明它已经意识到，创新是保持成长的关键。未来两三年，若可口可乐在中国能保持20%以上的增长率，我不会感到奇怪。

一句话：可口可乐在中国大手笔40亿美元投资计划，印证其在中国市场的成功，并预示其未来发展潜力。

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Starbucks plants seeds in China with new joint venture Less than a year after announcing its first major initiative to nurture China’s domestic coffee-growing sector, Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) has come back with announcement of a more substative joint venture to buy coffee beans from the country for use both at home and abroad. (company announcement) This move is clearly as much about public relations as it is about coffee from southwest China’s Yunnan province, which undoubtedly has potential to compete with some of the world’s other top growing regions but is more significant because it carries the “made in China” label. Let’s take a look at the numbers: even with its current aggressive expansion plans, Starbucks, a relative latecomer to China, will have a relatively modest 1,500 stores in the country by 2015, less than a tenth of its current global store count. By comparison, Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM), parent of the KFC and Pizza Hut chains, now derives a full one-third of its global revenue from China and counts the country as its second largest market after the US. (previous post) Anyone who does the math will see that obviously Starbucks sees lots of room for growth in China, especially if it can take a cue from Yum and McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and localize its products to better suit China’s tea-drinking culture and develop more products at a middle price range to meet demand from less affluent smaller cities. Having a coffee-buying base in Yunnan could help to lower prices by buying a more local product, and would also be a strong selling point to Chinese eager to see their higher-end products like home-grown coffee compete on the global stage. On the whole, this joint venture looks like a good, cost effective way for Starbucks to tell China it’s committed to the country for the long run, as it seeks to replicate the success of Yum and McDonald’s in this fast growing market.

Bottom line: Starbucks’ new China joint venture underscores its commitment to the country, which could easily become its second largest global market over the next decade.

星巴克<SBUX.O>最近宣布，将成立合资厂，从中国购买咖啡豆，供应国内外。毫无疑问，云南有与其他咖啡豆种植区竞争的潜力，这一举动不仅仅是公关需要，更重要的是，在云南购买咖啡豆意味着“中国制造”。让我们看看这组数字：虽然星巴克的扩张计划野心勃勃，但在2015年前，星巴克在中国的店铺也将总共只有约1,500家，这还不及其在全球店铺数量的十分之一。相比之下，肯德基和必胜客的母公司百胜<YUM.N>收入的三分之一来自中国，并将中国视为其仅次于美国的第二大市场。任何明眼人都能看出来，星巴克在中国看到了很大的增长潜力，尤其是如果借鉴百胜和麦当劳的经验，将其产品本土化，以适应中国的饮茶文化，并开发更多中端价位的产品，满足不那麽富裕的较小城市的需求，发展潜力更是很大。在云南成立合资公司，购买当地产品，有助於降低其产品价格，对於那些希望看到本土咖啡进军全球市场的中国人来说，这也是一个有力的卖点。总的来说，对於想复制百胜和麦当劳在中国市场成功的星巴克来说，这个合资公司看似是星巴克向中国承诺致力於长期开辟该国市场的经济又有效的途径。

一句话：星巴克在中国成立新合资公司，意味着星巴克承诺要长期开辟中国市场，这可能让中国在未来十年成为其在全球的第二大市场。