双语新闻：科技促两代人购物习惯分化
Shopping's Great Age DivideThe Ultican family has always approached Christmas shoppingon overdrive, piling dozens of presents under a small forest ofdecorated trees. But the Ulticans and their four children wranglethe annual extravaganza in different ways, underscoring thechallenge facing retailers as technological changes transformAmericans' buying rituals.
每年临近圣诞节时，奥蒂卡一家总是要疯狂地进行大采购，他们会在精心布置的几棵圣诞树下堆上几十个礼物。但奥蒂卡夫妇和他们四个孩子一年一度血拼的方式却各不相同，凸显了零售商们在技术变革逐渐改变美国人购买习惯之际面临的挑战。
During a recent holiday shopping trip, Chris Ultican, a 54-year-old teacher, and her husband Kreg, a 56-year-old retired high-school administrator, happily wandered the suburban Easton TownCenter mall here, sipping caramel frappuccinos and admiring the festive horse-drawn carriages.
54岁的克里斯 奥蒂卡(Chris Ultican)是一名教师，她的丈夫克雷格(Kreg)56岁，是一名退休的高中行政人员。在最近一次假日购物时，他们很开心地在郊区Easton Town Center购物中心溜达，喝着焦糖星冰乐，欣赏着洋溢着节日气氛的马车。
Mr. and Mrs. Ultican, who met as sales clerks at J.C. Penney Co. 35 years ago, say they areshopping more online these days, but they have yet to make a major purchase on theircellphones. For the mall, they came armed with clipped-out paper coupons.
奥蒂卡夫妇是35年前在J.C. Penney Co.做销售员时认识的。他们说现在在网上购物比较多，但很少在手机上进行大采购。去购物中心的时候，他们拿了很多剪下来的纸质优惠券。
Their children are a different matter. Ranging from age 10 to 27, the offspring mostly ignore theholiday decor, and instead peer into their smartphones, comparing prices, looking for deals andseeking friends' advice about potential purchases.
他们的孩子则不同。他们的年龄在10到27岁之间，基本不怎么关注购物中心里的节假日装饰，而是看着自己的智能手机，在上面对比价格和寻找优惠，并询问朋友的建议。
Daughter Danielle, 24, who works at a payroll company, is accustomed to receiving pitchesthrough social media and email, so much so, she said, that it takes something special -- like a call toher cellphone from a saleswoman -- to grab her attention. 'A personalized call usually gets me in thestore,' she said.
24岁的女儿丹妮尔(Danielle)在一家薪酬管理公司工作。她说，她习惯通过社交媒体和电子邮件接收促销信息，所以需要很特别的方式才能抓住她的注意力，比如销售人员亲自打电话推销。她说：“个性化的电话服务通常能让我去店里看看。”
Despite a lot of looking, Danielle left the mall without spending any money. When she got home, though, she went online and bought herself a red lace dress she had seen earlier in the day at J. Crew Group Inc.'s Madewell. That is not surprising; about 70% of people age 18 to 34 plan to 'selfgift' this year, compared with 44% of people over age 65, the National Retail Federation said.
虽然看了半天，但丹妮尔离开购物中心时并没花多少钱。不过回到家后，她上网给自己买了在J. Crew Group Inc.旗下美德威尔(Madewell)品牌店铺里看到过的一条红色蕾丝裙子。这并不奇怪：据全美零售商联合会(National Retail Federation)称，今年约70%年龄在18至34岁的人打算“给自己买礼物”，65岁以上者的比例则为44%。
Little sister Drew, 10, uses her rhinestone-encased iPhone to post photos of potential purchases asshe shops, while polling her friends with an Instagram app to get opinions on which clothes to wearto school the next day.
丹妮尔10岁的妹妹德鲁（Drew）边逛街，边用她装有贴钻保护套的iPhone上传自己想买东西的照片，用Instagram应用程序调查朋友们的看法，根据他们的投票选择第二天上学穿的衣服。
Retail chains are struggling with how to respond to families like the Ulticans, hoping to capture theattention of the so-called Millennial generation, ages 16 to 34, but fearful that moving too fast willalienate baby boomers.
零售连锁店正为如何应对奥蒂卡家这样的家庭而苦恼，他们希望能吸引16至34岁所谓的“新千年一代”的注意力，同时又担心速度太快会疏远婴儿潮一代。
The 79 million people who make up the Millennial generation wield $200 billion in annual spendingpower. While that is only a sliver of the $3.4 trillion that baby boomers spend each year, analystssay, retailers need to try to nab those younger shoppers now, because their spending is likely torival the boomers' as early as 2020 and they already exert a disproportionate influence on theirparents' spending decisions.
新千年一代在美国有7,900万人，年购买力为2,000亿美元。分析人士说，尽管和婴儿潮一代3.4万亿美元的购买力相比，这个数字是小巫见大巫，但零售商必须现在就抓住这些年轻人，因为他们的购买力很有可能在2020年就能赶上婴儿潮一代，况且他们已经对父母的购买决策施加着异常重要的影响力。
Moreover, during the holidays, shoppers age 25 to 44 plan to spend the most of any age group, about $820, according to the NRF. But shoppers aged 45 to 64 are also heavy spenders, planningto spend about $760.
此外，全美零售商联合会称，在节假日期间，25至44岁的消费者的预计消费金额在所有年龄群中最高，约为820美元。但45至64岁的消费者也不示弱，预计消费金额约为760美元。
At Macy's, Mrs. Ultican dug through her purse for a 20% off coupon to buy a pair of boots. Although she couldn't find the coupon, she successfully persuaded the saleswoman to give her thediscount anyway. The boots joined two shopping bags of loot from Justice, a tween apparel chainowned by Ascena Retail Group Inc. The bags were crammed with jeans, sweaters and a $75 sparkly blue makeup case Mrs. Ultican bought using a 50%-off coupon.
在梅西百货(Macy's)，克里斯要买一双靴子，她伸手想从钱包里掏出一张八折优惠券。虽然她没找到那张优惠券，但她成功地说服销售员给她打了折。这双靴子加入了从Justice所获两袋战利品的行列。Justice是Ascena Retail Group Inc.服装集团公司旗下十几岁儿童服装专卖连锁店。两个购物袋装满了牛仔裤、毛衣和一个克里斯用五折优惠券买到的75美元的亮蓝色化妆包。
Her son Derek, a 26-year-old Ohio State student, who is also a loyal Macy's customer, told hismom he prefers to shop online and search for coupon codes rather than keep track of offers in themail. He didn't buy anything at the mall but picked out a Timex watch at Nordstrom for Santa tobring. He said he plans to do his holiday shopping on macys.com.
她26岁的儿子德雷克(Derek)是俄亥俄州立大学(Ohio State University)的学生，他也是梅西百货的忠实顾客。他对母亲说，他喜欢在网上购物，在网上搜索优惠券代码，不喜欢关注纸质邮件里的促销。他没在购物中心买东西，但在诺德斯特龙(Nordstrom)选了一款天美时（Timex）手表，等着“圣诞老人”送给他。他说他今年节假日打算在macys.com上购物。
Derek's brother Dustin, 27, also would rather be anywhere but a physical store. The real-estateagent says he shops 'only when I need something,' and favors discounters like Target Corp. Hefocuses his spending on big, important items, like his new, white Audi and left the mall empty-handed.
德雷克27岁的哥哥达斯汀(Dustin)也不喜欢逛实体店。他是一名房地产经纪人。他说他“只有在有需求的时候”才会购物，而且比较喜欢Target Corp.这样的折扣店。他的主要开销都是大件商品，比如他新买的白色奥迪（Audi）。他也两手空空地离开了购物中心。
Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co. are trying to target younger consumersthis holiday season by offering some of their in-store deals online, while others such as Macy's andSears Holdings Inc. are launching new brands and websites that cater to a younger generation.
今年节假日，包括沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)和百思买(Best Buy Co.)在内的零售商正努力通过在网上提供实体店部分促销来吸引年轻消费者，而梅西和西尔斯(Sears Holdings Inc.)等零售商也推出了专门针对年轻人的新品牌和新网站。
Technology plays an increasing role in the generational shopping split. Millennials are 2 timesmore likely to be early adopters of technology than older generations, serving as a leading indicatorfor retailers that was an idea of what is likely to become mainstream, said Christine Barton, apartner at Boston Consulting Group. Millennials are more likely than older shoppers to check outbrands on social networks (53% versus 37%) and use mobile devices to read reviews, researchproducts and compare prices while shopping (50% versus 21%), according to a recentBCG/Barkley report.
科技在两代人的这种购物习惯分化中起到了越来越重要的作用。波士顿咨询集团(BostonConsulting Group)合伙人克里斯汀 巴尔顿(Christine Barton)说，新千年一代接受新科技的速度是上一代人的2.5倍，对于零售商而言这是判断未来购物主要趋势的一个重要信号。波士顿咨询公司与巴克莱银行(Barkley)最近合作的一份报告称，新千年一代比上一代人更有可能在社交网络上查看品牌信息（比例分别为53%和37%），也更愿意在购物时使用移动服务查看产品评论、研究产品以及对比价格（比例分别为50%和21%）。
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