匯率因素拉大中歐奢侈品價差

The gap between the prices for luxury handbags, watches and jewellery in Europe and in China is the biggest it has been for three years, as weakness in the euro upsets global pricing strategies for high-end consumer brands.

奢侈品手袋、手錶和珠寶在歐洲和中國的價差是3年以來最大的，歐元疲弱擾亂了高端消費者品牌的全球定價策略。

Currency swings mean a Chinese consumer would save 39 per cent on luxury goods by flying to Paris instead of buying at home, compared with a saving of 26 per cent last year, according to analysts at Bernstein.

伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)分析師們表示，匯率波動意味着中國消費者到巴黎、而不是在國內購買奢侈品將會便宜39%，而去年的價差是26%。

The widening difference is a headache for watchmakers such as Patek Philippe and fashion house Chanel, which have been forced to risk irritating customers with price changes in an effort to clamp down on the secondary, or “grey”, market in luxury goods.

價差日益擴大令百達翡麗(Patek Philippe)等手錶製造商和時尚品牌香奈兒(Chanel)感到頭疼，這些奢侈品品牌冒着得罪客戶的危險調整價格，以便打壓二手（即“灰色”）奢侈品市場。

While greater savings would benefit consumers in many areas of retail, in the luxury area they represent a danger that the brand is seen as devalued.

儘管降價在許多零售領域將讓消費者受益，但在奢侈品領域，它們代表着該品牌被視爲貶值的危險。

Mario Ortelli, an analyst at Bernstein, said: “If you increase the price [to deal with currency movements], fine. The customer is relieved and happy to have bought it before the increase. If you decrease it, they feel ripped off.”

伯恩斯坦分析師馬里奧•奧爾泰利(Mario Ortelli)表示：“如果你提價（來應對匯率波動），那還不錯。顧客爲自己在提價前買下產品感到欣慰和得意，但如果你降價，他們會覺得上當了。”

Luxury products have historically been cheaper in Europe than countries such as China, where import taxes increase their cost, encouraging middlemen who arbitrage between the regions.

奢侈品在歐洲的售價歷史上一直低於中國等國，後者的進口關稅增加了奢侈品牌的成本，從而催生了從事兩地套利的中間人。

However, recent volatility in currency markets has exacerbated the price differential, with a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 bag now 61 per cent more expensive in China than across mainland western Europe, according to Bernstein.

然而，近期的匯率波動加劇了價差，伯恩斯坦的數據顯示，路易威登(Louis Vuitton)的“Speedy 30”手袋在中國的價格比西歐國家貴61%。

As of March this year, luxury handbags were on average 45 per cent cheaper in France than in China, compared with just 32 per cent last year, and luxury watches were 33 per cent cheaper, against 21 per cent.

就今年3月來說，奢侈品手袋在法國的售價比中國低45%，而去年的這個差價是32%，奢侈品手錶在兩地的價差是33%，去年是21%。

In the same month, the euro fell to a near 12-year low against the dollar on the back of the European Central Bank’s 1.1tn quantitative easing programme.

在同一個月，由於歐洲央行(ECB)推出1.1萬億歐元的量化寬鬆計劃，歐元兌美元匯率跌至近12年來的最低點。