经济学人33:全球来袭 夜店 Nightclubs

 　　Business.

　　商业。
　　Nightclubs.
　　夜店。
　　Getting down globally.
　　全球来袭。
　　Western nightclubs eye Asia, and clever technology.
　　西方国家的夜店在盯上亚洲的同时，也在完善相关技术。
　　FEW businesses are as local as nightclubs. Or so you might think. But a few hardy 1 entrepreneurs are trying change that. In 2010 Matt Hermer, the owner of Boujis, a trendy London nightspot, opened a pop-up club (a temporary one) for three days in Hong Kong. Something clicked. Fun-seekers thronged 2 through his doors. Mr Hermer will open a permanent venue 3 in Hong Kong in September.
　　少有企业会像夜店一样具有地方特色。或许你也可能会这么想。不过一小撮坚韧的企业家正试图改变这一局面。2010年，Matt Hermer，伦敦时髦夜店波吉斯的老板，在香港开了一家临时性（不在专门场子，临时租一个地方办几场派对）夜店。虽然该店的营业仅维期三天，但它引起了极大反响，寻求快乐的人们蜂拥而至。这便使得Hermer计划9月在香港开一家永久性的夜店。
　　No big Western club has cracked Asia, but Pangaea and Avalon, two American brands, recently launched spin-offs in Singapore. Marquee, another American chain, just opened in Sydney. "There are only so many opportunities to grow," says Marquee's co-founder, Noah Tepperberg.
　　尽管西方国家的大型夜店尚未成功打入亚洲市场，但来自美国的夜店潘吉亚和阿法伦最近就在新加坡开了分店。另一家美国连锁夜店马奎也刚好在悉尼开了分店。"这里的市场就只有这么些发展机会了，"马奎的合伙创办人Noah Tepperberg说。
　　Global data on the nightclub industry are patchy. Clubs tend to be privately 4 owned and deal a lot in cash. Many last little longer than a pint 5 of lager at a stag party. IBISWorld, a research group, estimates that bars and nightclubs make profits of $800m on takings of $20 billion-25 billion a year in America, where data are most reliable.
　　全球范围内关于夜店的资料零星不齐。夜店常为私人所有，大多以现钞交易。不少人在夜店的单身派对上喝完一品脱淡啤酒后，呆不了多久就离开了。研究机构IBISWorld估计，美国的酒吧和夜店一年200亿~250亿美元的营业额中，利润有8亿美元，而且美国酒吧和夜店提供的资料其可信度相当高。
　　Asia could offer equally rich pickings. Pangaea's Singapore venue, for instance, is already claiming receipts of $160,000 a night. Michael Ault, Pangaea's owner, says that the key in Asia is to have "the most expensive of everything".
　　在亚洲市场也能轻轻松松地赚那么多钱。举例来说，位于新加坡的潘吉亚分店表示，其一晚的营业额已达16万美元。潘吉亚的老板Michael Ault说，在亚洲开夜店的秘诀在于提供的"一切东西都要是最贵的"。
　　Otherwise, the operating model is much the same as in the West. Raise money, find a dramatic space, befriend celebrities 6, promote, promote and promote. "First you go for the A crowd," says Mr Ault. "You spend all your money on DJs and celebrities to build the brand. Then the A crowd moves on. So you go from the A crowd to the B crowd. Then you have to ask yourself: do you want the C crowd?"
　　除此以外，亚洲夜店的经营模式与西方的大同小异。募集资金，装修豪华，与名流交朋友，然后推广，推广，再推广。"首先你要争取到A类人，"Ault说，"你得在DJ和名流身上下重金，从而打造夜店的品牌。那么这些A类人便会成为常客。之后你的目标会从A类人转向B类人，接着你得问问自己：你还想要C类人成为你的消费群吗？"
　　Nightclubs are a risky 7 business. Spreading your bets across regions ought to mitigate 8 that risk. But venturing into unfamiliar 9 cities can mean dealing 10 with unfamiliar undesirables 11. As one nightclub owner puts it: "Anyone can walk in and say: ‘Get out, or your head is in the trunk of a car'."
　　开夜店存在着风险。不过在各个地区全面撒网应该能够降低这种风险，但冒险在不熟悉的城市开夜店便意味着需和不速之客打交道。正如一位夜店老板所说："任何人都能进来说：滚出去，否则让你脑袋搬家。"
　　Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School predicts that more clubs will do deals with hotels to penetrate 12 emerging markets. A rooftop club can make more money for a hotel than its rooms. Morgans Hotel Group, a luxury chain, last year bought the Light Group, a big American nightclub operator, for this reason. Andy Masi, the Light Group's boss, says that working with a hotel helps him meet the right people as he expands abroad.
　　哈佛商学院的Anita Elberse预计，会有更多的夜店与酒店联手打入新兴市场。酒店内的顶层夜店为其带来的利润远超其客房利润。正因如此，奢华连锁酒店摩根酒店集团去年买下了美国大型夜店莱特集团，该集团董事Andy Masi说，在他寻求海外扩张之际，与酒店联手能帮助他认识需要认识的人。
　　Some bars and clubs are using a novel technology to help partygoers decide where to party. SceneTap, an American start-up, uses cameras to scan the faces of those who enter and leave participating establishments. Its software then guesses each person's age and sex. Aggregated 13 data are streamed to a website and mobile app. This allows punters to see which bars are busy, the average age of revellers and the all-important male-to-female ratio.
　　一些酒吧和夜店正运用新技术来帮助派对参加者决定去哪儿参加派对。美国软件新贵SceneTap使用摄像头扫描进出派对者的面部表情。随后，该软件便会分析猜测每个被扫描者的年龄及性别。数据汇总后会传输到网站和手机应用软件上。这便能使顾客了解哪家酒吧热闹，去酒吧的人的平均年龄以及最重要的男女比例。
　　Bar owners gain publicity 14 and intelligence about their customers. Did a promotion 15 aimed at women attract many? Since drinks are often paid for in cash and by men, it used to be hard to tell.
　　酒吧老板在为酒吧宣传的同时也获得了顾客的信息。针对女性做的宣传会吸引来更多的人吗？这很难说，因为饮品由男性以现金支付。
　　SceneTap's cameras are watching more than 100 American watering holes. But they are controversial. The app could make life irksome for large groups of women, by summoning hordes 16 of predatory males. So SceneTap has fixed 17 its software to mask extreme sex imbalances. That will please bar owners, who would prefer not to admit when they are packed with men. But it will disappoint precisely 18 the people most likely to use the app.
　　美国有超过100家酒吧都安装了SceneTap的摄像头。但这些摄像头也引起了一些争议。因为该款软件会引来大批寻求伴侣的男性，这会令不少女性感到厌烦。因此SceneTap已对其软件作了改动，从而掩盖极端的性别失衡。这会受到酒吧老板的欢迎，因为酒吧老板们往往不会承认自己的店里都是男人。但是改动后的软件也会让最有可能使用该软件的人失望。