加拿大安大略省倫敦市茶館
The Tea Haus, London Ontario, Canada
加拿大艾伯塔省茶葉批發(fā)商Tea Affair的首席執(zhí)行官Sameer Pruthee說，“在新冠肺炎疫情期間，茶葉的銷售量應不會下降，因為茶是幾乎每個加拿大家庭都有的食品，而食品公司應該是沒有問題的。”
The reason tea sales should not decline during COVID is that tea is a food product found in virtually every Canadian home, and “food companies should be okay,” says Sameer Pruthee, CEO of wholesale distributor Tea Affair based in Alberta, Canada.
然而，自3月停產以來，他每年向加拿大、美國和亞洲的600多家批發(fā)客戶銷售60噸茶葉的業(yè)務幾乎每月下降約30%。他指出，“從3月中旬到5月底，各地實行封鎖，業(yè)務下降幅度最大的是加拿大的零售客戶。”
And yet, his business, which distributes around 60 metric tons of tea and blends every year to more than 600 wholesale clients in Canada, the United States, and Asia, has declined approximately 30% every month since the March shutdown. The decline, he noted, is most significant among his retail clients in Canada, where the lockdown was widespread and uniformly enforced from mid-March until the end of May.
Sameer Pruthee認為，茶葉銷售下降是因為茶葉不是線上產品，而是社交產品。
Pruthee’s theory for why tea sales are down is that tea is not an “online thing. Tea is social,”he explains.
從3月開始，供應當地餐館和咖啡館的茶葉零售商無奈地看著訂單消失。最初具有線上商店的本地茶店稱茶葉銷售強勁，主要是在封鎖期間向已有客戶銷售產品，但是由于沒有面對面的機會介紹新茶，茶葉零售商必須進行創(chuàng)新以吸引新客戶。
Beginning in March tea retailers supplying local restaurants and cafes watched helplessly as re-orders vanished. Local tea shops with online stores initially reported strong sales, largely to existing customers during lockdowns, but without face-to-face opportunities to introduce new teas, tea retailers must innovate to attract new customers.
“大衛(wèi)的茶”總部位于蒙特利爾，是北美最大的茶葉零售連鎖店，由于新冠肺炎疫情，公司被迫進行重組，關閉了在美國和加拿大的18家門店。為了生存，該公司采取了“數字優(yōu)先”的策略，提供個性化和訂制化的線上茶葉指南互動服務，增加線上客戶體驗。該公司還升級了DAVI(虛擬助手)功能，該虛擬助手可以幫助客戶購物，發(fā)現新品，配備最新的茶具配件。
DAVIDsTEA provides a vivid example. The Montreal-based firm, the largest tea retail chain in North America, was forced to restructure, closing all but 18 of its 226 stores in the US and Canada due to COVID-19. To survive, the company adopted a “digital first” strategy, investing in its online customer experience by bringing its tea guides online to provide human and personalized interaction. The company also upgraded the capabilities of DAVI, a virtual assistant that helps customers shop, discover new collections, stay in the loop with the latest tea accessories, and more.
“我們成功的將茶葉知識帶到線上，為客戶提供清晰的互動體驗，以便使他們能夠繼續(xù)探索、發(fā)現和品嘗他們喜歡的茶，這種簡潔清晰的品牌推廣在網上引起共鳴。”大衛(wèi)的茶公司首席品牌官Sarah Segal說。保持營業(yè)的實體店集中在安大略和魁北克市場。在經歷了災難性的第一季度之后，大衛(wèi)的茶第二季度電子商務和批發(fā)銷售額增長了190%，達到2300萬美元，利潤為830萬美元，這主要是由于運營成本減少了2420萬美元。盡管如此，在截至8月1日的三個月中，總體銷售下降了41%。與上一年相比，利潤下降了62%，毛利潤占銷售額的百分比從2019年的56%下降至36%。物流和分裝成本增加了300萬美元。
“The simplicity and clarity of our brand is resonating online as we successfully bring our tea expertise online, by providing a clear and interactive experience for our customers to continue to explore, discover and taste teas they love,” said Sarah Segal, Chief Brand Officer at DAVIDsTEA. The physical stores that remain open are concentrated in the Ontario and Quebec markets. Following a disastrous first quarter, DAVIDsTEA reported a 190% second-quarter increase in e-commerce and wholesale sales to $23 million with a profit of $8.3 million largely due to a $24.2 million decrease in operating costs. Still, sales overall are down by 41% for the three months ending Aug. 1. Still, when compared to the previous year, profits decreased by 62% with gross profit as a percentage of sales declining to 36% from 56% in 2019. Delivery and distribution costs increased by $3 million, according to the company.
該公司表示：“我們希望，線上銷售上漲的物流成本低于零售環(huán)境中發(fā)生的銷售成本，這些費用一直以來都被計入行政和管理開支?！?/p>
“We expect that the increased cost to deliver online purchases will be less than the selling expenses incurred in a retail environment that have been historically included as part of selling, general and administration expenses,” according to the company.
Sameer Pruthee說：“新冠肺炎疫情改變了消費者的習慣”。疫情首先阻止了個人購物，然后由于社交距離而改變了購物體驗。為了使茶葉行業(yè)回到原來狀態(tài)，茶葉公司需要找到方法來適應客戶新的消費習慣。
COVID has changed consumer habits, Pruthee says. COVID first cut off in-person shopping, and then transform the shopping experience due to social distancing. For the tea industry to bounce back, tea companies need to find ways to be part of new customer habits.
作者：Jessica Natale Woollard
翻譯：于英杰
原標題：在新冠肺炎疫情時期的茶產業(yè)(上)Tea in the Time of COVID(Part 1)
(本文節(jié)選自11月《茶世界》，更多資訊請關注第465期具體內容)
轉載自：中國茶葉流通協會
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