沃尔玛

结果发现他有心脏不规则的问题，因此他有点沮丧。

Turns out he had a heart irregularity and so he's kinda depressed.

他对这件事感到不开心。

He's unhappy about this.

巴德要去参军加入海军，而山姆则要留在美国做文职工作。

Bud's going off to join the Navy and Sam is gonna stay home in America at a desk job.

所以在正式获得任命之前，他离开了得梅因，回到了俄克拉荷马州。

So before he gets his commission, he leaves Des Moines and he goes back to Oklahoma.

不太确定他为什么只是突然回到了俄克拉荷马州。

Not exactly sure why he just sorta traveled back to Oklahoma.

他在书中提到，当时他有点沮丧。

He says in the book that he was sort of depressed at the time.

他最终来到了俄克拉荷马州的克莱尔莫尔，这是塔尔萨郊外的一个小镇。

And he ends up in Claremore, Oklahoma, which is a small town outside of Tulsa.

有趣的是，值得注意的是。

Which it's interesting to point out.

到目前为止，我们已经提到了六七个小镇，但我认为大多数人从未听说过其中任何一个。

We've mentioned six, seven towns so far, and I don't think most people would have heard of a single one of them.

这里有一个平行之处：沃尔玛的成功，与我们迄今为止提到的大多数地名都鲜为人知这一事实相似。

There's a parallel here between Walmart's success and the fact that most people haven't heard of most of any reference that we've made so far.

有一天晚上

And there one night

在克莱尔莫尔的一家保龄球馆，他遇到了一个叫海伦·罗布森的女孩，并爱上了她。

at a bowling alley in Claremore, he meets and falls in love with a girl named Helen Robson.

海伦是克莱尔莫尔人，但她的父亲L.S.罗布森与萨姆的家庭截然不同，是一位非常富有且成功的商人、金融家，在塔尔萨更广泛的地区从事贸易。

And Helen was from Claremore, but her father, LS Robson, was unlike Sam's family, a very wealthy and successful businessman, financier, trader in the broader Tulsa area.

他很快就对萨姆产生了好感，并且由于萨姆娶了海伦，他后来变得极具影响力。

And he ends up taking a big shine to Sam and would become hugely influential along with Helen because he marries Helen, of course.

萨姆曾说，罗布森一家在理财方面非常精明。

And Sam would say, the Robsons were very smart about the way they handled their finances.

海伦的父亲将他的牧场和家族企业组织成合伙制，海伦和她的兄弟们都是合伙人。

Helen's father organized his ranch and family businesses as a partnership and Helen and her brothers were all partners.

海伦拥有金融学学位，这在当时对女性来说非常罕见，罗布森先生建议我们也对家族做同样的安排，我们早在1953年就这么做了。

Helen has a college degree in finance, which back then was really unusual for a woman and mister Robson advised us to do the same thing with our family, which we did way back in 1953.

海伦和山姆建立的这种合伙关系，如今就是沃尔顿企业，拥有沃尔玛36%的股份。

And that partnership that Helen and Sam set up is today Walton Enterprises, which owns 36% of Walmart.

而各个家族成员和信托基金——我认为主要是巴德家族——拥有其余的12%。

And then individual family members and and trusts, I think mostly Bud's family, owner the other 12%.

没错。

Yep.

这正是沃尔玛从一开始就作为家族企业的有趣起点。

This is the interesting seed plant of Walmart being a family business from the very get go.

他们的组织方式很特别。

They organized it interestingly.

每家门店实际上都是独立的公司，这样不同的人就可以持有每家门店的股份。

Each store was actually its own company so that different people could sort of hold shares in each store.

管理层中一些希望投资门店的人，就是这类情况。

The management, different people who, know, wanted to invest in the store, that sort of thing.

但从宏观上看，沃尔玛始终是一个家族合伙企业。

But at a really high level, Walmart always was a family partnership.

它始终是经济、精神所有权和决策权都掌握在沃尔顿家族手中的企业。

It was always something where the economic and spiritual ownership and decision making always was the Walton family.

当然，山姆是核心人物，但家族经常召开会议来为公司做决策。

And, of course, Sam's the guy, but there was a lot of family meetings to make decisions for the business.

这就是为什么因为家族成员都是沃尔顿企业的合伙人。

And this is why because the family were all partners in Walton Enterprises.

他们不能随意出售自己的股票。

They couldn't just sell their stock.

整个家族作为合伙整体必须共同决定是否出售股票，这使他们在整个历史中都保持了对沃尔玛的控股权。

The partnership, the family as a whole had to decide to sell and that allowed them to keep majority control of Walmart all through the history.

山姆对此有过论述。

Sam talks about this.

他说，他认为这是企业评级机构或像凯马特这样的大公司从未收购他们的主要原因，因为股票从未被分散。

He says he thinks it's the big reason why corporate raters or larger companies like Kmart never came and acquired them because the stock was never splintered.

这一切都在合伙关系之内。

It was all within the partnership.

然后他确实写道，我写这本书的一个真正原因是，希望我的孙子孙女和曾孙曾孙女们在多年后读到它，了解这些事。

Then he actually writes, one of the real reasons I'm writing this book is so my grandchildren and great grandchildren will read it years from now and know this.

如果你开始做那些愚蠢的事情，比如改变结构、出售股票，跑去搞些花里胡哨的东西。

If you start any of that foolishness, like changing the structure, selling off stock, you know, going off and doing, you know, fancy things.

购买NBA和NFL球队。

Buying NBA and NFL teams.

购买NBA和NFL球队，他们现在确实这么做了。

Buying NBA and NFL teams, which they do now.

我会回来找你算账的，所以别想这些事。

I will come back and haunt you, so don't even think about it.

我喜欢这个警告。

I love that warning.

于是萨姆和海伦结婚了，萨姆被派往全国各地，为陆军从事一些内部情报工作。

So Sam and Helen get married, and Sam gets posted in a bunch of places all around the country doing kinda internal intelligence work for the army.

他去了犹他州，还有其他许多地方，战争结束、他退出军队后，决定重返零售业。

He goes to Utah, plenty of other places, and he decides that when the war ends and he gets out of the army, he's gonna go back into retailing.

但现在，他得到了海伦及其家人和她父亲L.S.的财务支持。

But now, he has the support of Helen and her family and her father LS and their finances.

所以他知道，我现在能接触到一定数量的资本。

So he knows I now have access to some amount of capital.

也就是说，我可以成为一个企业家。

Like, I can be an entrepreneur.

我不一定非得为别人打工。

I don't necessarily have to work for somebody.

所以战争结束后，L.S.最初希望他们搬回克莱莫尔，但海伦和萨姆共同决定。

So when the war ends, LS initially wants them to move back to Claremore, but Helen and Sam kinda decide together.

他们说：我们希望得到你的支持，但不想完全活在你的羽翼下，活在你的阴影里。

They're like, well, we want your support, but we don't wanna be totally under your wing and in your shadow.

所以萨姆有着远大的抱负。

So Sam, he's got big ambitions.

他和一个朋友决定合伙购买一家位于圣路易斯的联邦百货商店特许经营权。

He and a buddy decide that they wanna buy a federated store, department store franchise in Saint Louis.

他们打算做大。

They're gonna be big.

你知道，他之前在得梅因的JCPenney工作过。

You know, he come from JCPenney in Des Moines.

他想成为一名大城市百货商店的老板、磁石般的创业者，但海伦直接否决了这个想法。

He wants to be a big city department store owner, magnet, entrepreneur, Helen vetoes this outright.

如果萨姆把家搬到了圣路易斯，我们就不会谈论沃尔玛了。

We would not be talking about Walmart if Sam had moved the family to St.

路易斯。

Louis.

所以海伦说：第一，我不希望你和非家庭成员合伙做生意。

So Helen says, look, one, I don't want you doing any partnerships with non family members.

萨姆说，她家人曾见过一些合伙关系以失败告终，因此她坚决认为，唯一正确的道路就是为自己和家人创业。

Sam says, her family had seen some partnerships go sour and she was dead set on the notion that the only way to go was to work for yourself and for your family.

第二，她说，我不想住在大城市。

And two, she says, I don't wanna live in a big city.

我想去一个像我长大地方那样的小镇生活，就像克莱莫尔那样。

I wanna go live in a small town like where I grew up in just like Claremore.

我并不想住在克莱莫尔本身，但我们不能搬到人口超过一万人的任何城镇。

I don't wanna live in Claremore itself, but we are not allowed to move to any town that has a population of more than 10,000 people.

我的意思是，她的整个想法就是，我想用我被抚养长大的方式来养育我的孩子。

I mean, her whole thing was, I wanna raise my kids the way that I was raised.

她看着山姆说，你也是在小镇长大的，我们就这么办。

And she looked at Sam and said, you were raised the same way, small town, and like that's what we're gonna do.

因此，他做的任何生意都必须是家族拥有和控制的，并且要采取小镇为基础的战略。

And so whatever business he did had to be family owned and controlled and have a small town based strategy.

所以，看似如此有意识、如此聪明的决策，实际上源于她直接否决了他最初的计划。

And so, like, what seems so intentional and so genius actually stems from the fact that she just vetoed his original idea.

完全正确。

Totally.

我的意思是，这太疯狂了。

I mean, it's crazy.

在那个年代，她拥有金融学的本科学位，这在女性中很罕见。

She had a an undergraduate degree in finance for a woman at that time.

我的意思是，她显然深度参与了公司的战略。

I mean, she was very involved, obviously, in the strategy of the business.

在三四十年代，美国拥有金融学本科学位的女性人数可能只有数万。

In the thirties and forties, the number of women with undergrad finance degrees in The US was probably tens of thousands.

人数不可能很多。

It could not have been a large number.

是的。

Yeah.

而且，也要赞扬这家人和LS以及他的妻子，鼓励她，因为她有兄弟。

And also, like, kudos to the family and LS and his wife for encouraging her to say she had brothers.

对他来说，说‘好吧，就这样’本来很容易。

Like, would have been easy for him to say like, oh, okay.

所有的儿子都会接管这家企业。

The boys are all gonna take over the business.

对。

Right.

这就像我们在《纽约时报》家族看到的情况，或者说是的。

Which is like what we saw in the New York Times family or yeah.

还有洛克菲勒家族也是。

Or the Rockefellers too.

所以，山姆，

So Sam,

你知道，他不会长时间消沉下去。

you know, he doesn't stay down for long.

我觉得他对妻子否决他的决定有点失望，但你知道的，他总能找到办法。

I think he was a little disappointed that his wife had overruled him, but, you know, he finds a way.

于是他回到了拥有联邦百货的公司，那家公司叫巴特勒兄弟公司。

So he goes back to the company that owned Federated, which is a company called Butler Brothers.

他们是联邦百货的特许经营者，总部位于芝加哥。

They were franchisers of Federated, they were based in Chicago.

他问：你们有没有可能在人口一万或更少的小城镇开设百货商店的地点？

And he asks, well, do you have any department store locations that might be available in a small town of say 10,000 people or less?

巴特勒兄弟的人说：我们其实不在这种小镇开百货商店，但我们还有另一个

And the Butler Brothers guys are like, we don't really do department stores in, in towns like that, but we do have another, you know, sort

我们运营的衍生业务，就是我们的杂货店特许经营业务。

of spin off operation that we run, which is our variety store franchising business.

他们认为，那里的人口根本不足以支撑一家百货商店。

Like, literally wasn't enough people they believe to support a department store.

杂货店就像是升级版的综合商店。

Variety stores are they're like glorified general stores.

我的意思是，如果你想象一个只有两三千人口的小镇，那真的就像你去西部老镇看到的综合商店。

I mean, when if you think about a town that's like two, three, 4,000 people, it really is like if you visited an old West town and looked at a a general store.

只不过规模更大而已。

It's like that on steroids.

你知道，就是那样，只不过晚了几十年。

You know, it's like that, but a few decades later.

你知道，杂货店生意。

You know, variety store businesses.

对。

Yeah.

就是这样。

That's exactly it.

大萧条和二战之后，小型城镇和地区的零售服务就是靠这种方式，而且大多是特许经营业务。

After the depression and after World War two, that was how small towns and areas were serviced at retail, and they're mostly franchise operations.

这个特定的品牌叫本·富兰克林，就像本杰明·富兰克林那样的杂货店。

This particular one was Ben Franklin was the brand name, like Benjamin Franklin, general store type place.

当你说到特许经营模式时，是因为自己采购库存、保管库存、维护所有不同的供应商关系负担太重了。

And when you say franchise operation, it's because it's way too much of a burden to, like, source your own inventory, carry your own inventory, maintain all those different vendor relationships.

如果你在这样一个小镇上，服务两千人，你基本上就是那里唯一的商店。

If you're in one of those towns, you're serving 2,000 people, you're kind of the one store there.

你真正想要的，就是签一份合同，然后直接收到发往所有小镇本·富兰克林商店的货物。

What you really want is to sign a contract and just get the shipment of the stuff that goes into the Ben Franklin stores in all the small towns.

没错。

Yep.

然后只需实实在在地为你的顾客提供服务。

And just be literally the merchant serving your customers.

这种思维占据了主导地位。

That mindset dominated.

这里值得停一下，谈谈这些商店究竟是什么，因为它们与我们今天熟悉的一切都截然不同。

It's worth a pause here to talk about what these stores were because it's a very foreign concept to anything we're familiar with today.

这些杂货店也被称为五分十分店，如果你听说过这个说法的话。

These variety stores, they were also called Five and Dimes, if you've ever heard that term.

比如五分钱，

Like a 5¢,

一毛钱商店？

10¢ store?

之所以如此，是因为这些商店里的大多数商品，每件商品的价格要么是5美分，要么是10美分。

And the reason for that is that most of them, every item in the store was either priced at 5¢ or 10¢.

这就是当时所达到的复杂程度。

That was the level of sophistication here.

这些商店的运营方式与现代零售业的另一个巨大区别——而山姆真正开创的是——它们不是自助服务的。

The other big big difference between how these stores operated in modern retail today, which Sam really invented, was they weren't self-service.

哦，他并没有发明这一点。

Oh, he didn't invent that.

他是偷来的。

He stole that.

我们马上就会说到。

We're gonna get to it.

我们马上就会说到。

We're gonna get to it.

好的。

K.

所以当你走进这些商店时，前面会有一个柜台，上面有店员，你需要告诉店员你想要什么。

So you would walk into these stores and there'd just be a counter area up front that had clerks and you would tell the clerk what you wanted.

然后店员会走进商店里，把你想要的东西拿过来，带到前台结账。

And then the clerk would go back into the store, pick out what you wanted, bring it up to the front, and check you out.

因为那时候其实没什么选择。

Because, like, there wasn't really choice.

你可能会说，我需要一根水管，然后他们就会去帮你拿一根。

You're like, I need a hose, and they would go get the hose.

并不是说，让我看看不同品牌、尺寸和颜色的选项。

It's not like, well, let me see all the different brands and sizes and colors.

而是你只知道你们这里有水管。

It was like, I know you have hoses here.

你能帮我拿一根吗？

Can you get me one?

商家并没有决定库存的权力。

The merchants weren't making the decisions on the inventory.

这一切都是由位于芝加哥的巴特勒兄弟公司自上而下决定的。

It was all just being handed down on high from Butler Brothers back in Chicago.

是的。

Yeah.

我读这本书时，不明白他反复提到的那些商店并不是那种你可以自己在货架上拿东西的商店。

I did not understand when reading this book when he kept referencing stores that they were not stores where you walked around and got your own stuff off the shelf.

那种模式是现代才出现的概念。

That that is a modern concept.

这太疯狂了。

That is crazy.

我不太清楚百货商店的模式是怎么运作的，比如杰西潘尼或西尔斯，山姆曾经在那里工作过。

I don't know exactly how the department store model worked like, you know, JCPenney's or Sears where Sam had worked.

但我认为那也和我们今天熟悉的模式不太一样。

But I think it was also not really what we're familiar with.

我认为当山姆在得梅因的杰西潘尼当销售员时，情况更像是这种模式的升级版——顾客进店后，销售员会迎接他们，然后陪同他们，帮他们挑选商品。

I think when Sam was working as a salesman in Des Moines at Penney's, you know, it was sort of like an even higher touch version of this, I believe, where like a customer would come into the store, the salesperson would greet them and then sorta, like, escort them around and curate their shopping trip.

非常非常不同的体验。

Very, very different experience.

是的。

Yeah.

所以巴特勒兄弟公司，山姆跟他们进行了这次对话。

So Butler Brothers, Sam's having this conversation with them.

他们说：嗯，你可能想要一个本·富兰克林的特许经营店。

And they're like, well, probably you want a Ben Franklin franchise.

恰好，我们在阿肯色州纽波特镇有一家非常适合你的店铺。

And it just so happens, we've got the perfect store for you in the little town of Newport, Arkansas.

纽波特那家本·富兰克林特许店的现任店主想出售店铺。

The current owner of the Ben Franklin franchise there wants to sell in Newport.

那是个小镇。

It's a little town.

人口大约七千人。

It's about 7,000 people.

它位于阿肯色州东部。

It's in Eastern Arkansas.

如果你知道今天阿肯色州本顿维尔和沃尔玛的位置，那就不在阿肯色州东部。

Now if you know where Bentonville, Arkansas, and Walmart is today, it's not in Eastern Arkansas.

萨姆说：太好了。

And Sam's like, great.

我买了。

I'll take it.

连看都没看。

Sight unseen.

你现在得想想，那是1945年的美国。

Now you have to ask yourself, it is 1945 in America.

战争刚刚结束。

The war has just ended.

与我们之前谈到索尼故事时提到的1945年的日本不同，美国的零售业正在蓬勃发展。

And unlike 1945 in Japan, like we talked about with the Sony story, retail in The US is booming.

每个人都回家了。

Everyone's coming home.

还有退伍军人法案。

There was the GI bill.

每个人都有了新家。

Everyone's got new homes.

每个人都开始组建家庭。

Everyone's starting families.

有很多东西要买。

Like, there's a lot of stuff to buy.

有很多东西要买。

There's a lot of stuff to buy.

不管你是在大城市的百货公司，还是在七千人口小镇上的杂货店，都没关系。

It doesn't matter if you're a department store in a big city or a variety store in a 7,000 person town.

现在，零售业的每个人都应该赚得盆满钵满。

Like, everybody in retail should be making money hand over fist right now.

所以山姆没有问自己、但本该问的问题是：这个人为啥想卖？

So the question that Sam didn't ask himself and should have was why does this guy wanna sell?

他在书中提到，这家店原本属于一个来自圣路易斯的人，但他的生意完全搞砸了。

And he says in the book, a guy from Saint Louis owned it and things weren't working out at all for him.

他亏了钱，想尽快把店脱手。

He was losing money and he wanted to unload the store as fast as he could.

我现在意识到，我就是巴特勒兄弟派去救他的傻瓜。

I realize now that I was the sucker Butler Brothers sent to save him.

我当时27岁，充满自信，但根本不知道该如何评估这样的投资机会。

I was 27 years old and full of confidence, but I didn't know the first thing about how to evaluate a proposition like this.

于是我毫不犹豫地一头扎了进去。

So I just jumped in with both feet.

我对合同之类事情的无知，后来以巨大的代价反噬了我。

My naivete about contracts and such would later come back to haunt me in a big way.

天啊。

Wow.

于是他和海伦买下了这家店。

So he and Helen buy this store.

这个困境资产的价格并不低迷。

This distressed asset at not a distressed price.

是的。

Yes.

他们以25,000美元买下它，其中5,000美元是他们自己的积蓄，另外20,000美元是海伦父亲提供的贷款。

They buy it for $25,000, $5,000 of their own savings, and a $20,000 loan from LS from Helen's father.

山姆，你知道，他说，这并不是我梦想中的样子，但无论如何，我还是要设定远大的目标。

And, Sam, you know, he says, this isn't what I dreamt, but, you know, I'm still gonna set big goals.

他决定设定一个目标：在五年内，让这家店成为阿肯色州利润最高的杂货店。

He decides that he's gonna set a goal that this store is gonna become the most profitable variety store in Arkansas within five years.

这真是巨大的转变，也是山姆首次展现出设定宏大、激进目标的迹象。

It's quite the turnaround and is also the first indication of Sam setting these big hairy audacious goals.

他此后痴迷于设定目标、达成目标、再设定目标、再达成目标。

He has this subsequent obsession with set a goal, hit it, set a goal, hit it.

这确实推动了他所有的实验需求，因为他发现自己处于这样的境地：目标已经设定，却必须发明某种方法来实现它。

And that really does drive all of his need for experimentation because he finds himself in these situations where he has a goal set and he must invent some way to hit it.

这也为后来发生的事情奠定了基础。

Well, it also sets the stage for what was to come.

他设定了这个目标，然后就实现了它。

He sets this goal, and then he gets there.

这并不是一个现实的目标。

Is not a realistic goal.

他说，当然，直到交易完成后，我才了解到这家店其实是个烂摊子。

He says, only after we close the deal, of course, did I learn that the store was a real dog.

它每年的销售额约为7.2万美元，但租金占销售额的5%，我当时觉得这没问题，但后来发现这在杂货店行业是前所未有的最高租金。

It had sales of about $72,000 a year, but its rent was 5% of sales, which I thought sounded fine at the time, but which it turned out was the highest rent anybody had ever heard of in the variety store business.

没人会支付销售额的5%作为租金，而且它还面临一个强大的竞争对手——街对面的Sterling商店，这家连锁店的优秀经理约翰·邓汉姆年销售额超过15万美元，是我的两倍。

No one paid 5% of sales for rent and it had a strong competitor, a Sterling store, which was another franchise across the street whose excellent manager, John Dunham, was doing more than a $150,000 a year in sales double mine.

天哪。

Yikes.

所以，他不仅不太可能成为阿肯色州最赚钱的商店，甚至不太可能成为纽波特最赚钱的商店。

So not only is it unlikely that he's gonna be the most profitable store in Arkansas, it's unlikely he's gonna be the most profitable store in Newport.

是的。

Yeah.

那么山姆做了什么？

So what does Sam do?

他直接走到街对面的邓汉商店，开始弄清楚为什么邓汉的业绩是他的一倍。

He goes right across the street into Dunham store, and he starts trying to figure out why Dunham is twice as successful as he is.

是的。

Yeah.

这正是山姆第一次做某件事的开端，而这件事他后来一直坚持下去，他因潜入竞争对手店铺而声名狼藉，带着一个小笔记本，后来带上录音机，看看自己能打探到多少信息。

And this is a thing that speaking of the first time Sam does something that he then does forever, he becomes notorious for going into competitor stores, bringing in a little notebook, later bringing in a little tape recorder, and just seeing what he can get away with.

采访店员，采访这些商店的员工。

Interviewing clerks, interviewing associates at these stores.

无论他和家人外出度假还是任何旅行，他都会走进各种其他商店，观察、做笔记，弄清楚他们的运营体系，哪些有效，哪些无效。

Anytime he's traveling with the family on vacation or anything, he's just going into all these other stores and observing and taking notes and figuring out what their systems are, what's working, what's not working.

所以他第一次学到了这个宝贵的教训。

So here he learns that valuable lesson for the first time.

太好了。

So great.

我本来想稍后再提这一点，但我觉得他在书里说过，他相信自己在凯马特门店待的时间比任何非凯马特员工都多，甚至超过凯马特的高层管理人员。

I was gonna bring this up later, but I think he says in the book that he believes he has spent more time in Kmarts than any non, like, individual store employee of Kmart, including Kmart senior management.

是的。

Yeah.

而且我们一直提到凯马特。

And also, we keep referencing Kmart.

我小时候，就觉得沃尔玛和凯马特。

When I was growing up, I was like Walmart, Kmart.

我觉得凯马特和沃尔玛差不多规模，体量相当，只是稍微低端一点。

I think Kmart's kinda like Walmart, about the same scale, same size, kind of a little lower end.

这是我小时候对凯马特的印象。

Like, that was my perception as a kid of Kmart.

我很久以来都不知道，凯马特曾经比沃尔玛大得多。

I didn't realize that Kmart for a very long time was much, much larger than Walmart.

它们可以说是沃尔玛的大型前辈企业。

They were kind of Walmart's big brother incumbent.

哦，它们才是真正的巨头。

Oh, they were the gorilla.

我不记得具体是哪一年了，但我记得沃尔顿说过，当我们达到凯马特规模的5%时。

I don't remember what year this was, but I remember some quote from Walton where he's talking about when we reached 5% the scale of Kmart.

哇哦。

And it's like, woah.

这真的让人意识到它们当时领先了多少。

That that really puts it into perspective how big a lead they had.

你提到了记事本。

So you mentioned notepad.

实际上，山姆用的是黄色的便签本。

It's actually a yellow legal pad that Sam uses.

抱歉。

Sorry.

对不起，大卫。

Sorry, David.

众所周知，他带着他的黄色便签本，去竞争对手的商店考察。

Famously, he has his yellow legal pad, he's going into competitor stores.

他甚至会翻垃圾桶，试图捡回销售收据、进货单之类的资料，以了解这些商店的运营方式。

He starts, like, diving in dumpsters, trying to get sales receipts and, like, inventory orders and stuff, figure out how these stores are operating.

他很快意识到，无论是街对面的邓汉商店，还是他在阿肯色州乡村各地走访的小型杂货店，都在试图学习。

And he quickly realizes from both Dunham across the street, and also he's doing this all over the countryside going into, you know, small variety stores all over Arkansas just trying to learn.

他发现，定价和促销活动，特别是对健康美容用品、牙膏、漱口水、化妆品这类吸引人的主打商品降价，效果显著。

He realizes that price and running promotions, cutting prices on big marquee kind of attractive items like, health and beauty aids, toothpaste, mouthwash, makeup, that kind of stuff.

这类策略确实能吸引大量顾客。

Like, that really drives customers in.

于是他开始这么做，并取得了一些成功。

So he's like, okay, you know, he starts doing that, he has some success.

但这里有个问题，对吧？

But there's a problem, right?

就像我们之前说的，Butler Brothers是特许经营商，他们控制着所有库存。

Like we talked about Butler Brothers is the franchise or they're controlling all the inventory.

你知道，萨姆作为商人，只能收到他们发给他的货物，而且价格由他们决定。

You know, Sam is the merchant is just getting whatever they send to him at whatever cost they prescribe.

Butler Brothers经营得非常好。

And Butler Brothers, they're doing great.

他们对所有库存的加价约为25%，而他们甚至什么都没做。

They get about a 25% markup on all the inventory and they don't even do anything.

这几乎像是他们设计了整个系统，就是为了在乡村地区维持高价，然后仅仅从中抽取25%的利润。

It's almost like they set up the whole system just to keep these prices high out in the countryside and they just get a, you know, 25% skim off the top.

没错。

Yep.

那么萨姆该怎么办？

So what does Sam do?

他开始调查这些商品的制造商是谁。

He starts figuring out who the manufacturers are of some of these goods.

对于那些同样位于南方和中西部的制造商，他开始开车上门，敲门询问他们是否愿意和他私下做交易，直接卖给他一些原本他会从巴特勒兄弟公司订购、而他们本应卖给巴特勒兄弟公司的商品。

And for manufacturers that are also located there kinda in the South in the Midwest, he starts driving around and knocking on their doors and asking if they'll do side deals with him and just, like, sorta, you know, clandestinely sell him some of the merchandise that he otherwise would be ordering from Butler Brothers and that they would be selling to Butler Brothers.

他们直接给他一个优惠价。

They just give, you know, him a deal directly on that.

你知道吗？

And you know what?

因为他经营的规模很小，巴特勒兄弟公司根本没注意到。

Like, he's operating at a small enough scale that Butler Brothers doesn't really notice.

坦白说，当时并没有很好的追踪或问责机制。

And to be frank, like, there wasn't good tracking or accountability at this point.

我的意思是，那时候还没有电脑。

I mean, there wasn't computers yet.

所以

So

这里没有计算机化的库存系统。

There's no computerized inventory here.

你必须非常留意才能发现，哦，萨姆从我们这里订购的这些东西可能没他应该买的那么多。

You'd have to really be paying attention to figure out, oh, maybe Sam's not ordering quite as much of this stuff from us as he should be.

他亲自开车四处奔波。

He's driving around himself.

根本没有管理层。

There's no management.

他店里有一些店员，但实际上就是萨姆和海伦在打理这个地方。

He has some clerks working in the store, but it's just Sam and, you know, Helen running the place.

所以他外出，开车去拜访他们。

So he's out, he drives to visit them.

他必须当场谈成交易。

He's gotta get a deal done on the spot.

于是他上门敲门，见到这些人，就说：我想现在就买。

So he goes, he knocks on the door, meets these people, and he's like, I wanna buy right now.

我车外挂着一辆拖车。

I've got a trailer hooked up to my pickup truck outside.

你们能直接把库存装到后车厢吗？我开车运回纽波特。

Can you just load the inventory right into the back and I'll drive it back to Newport?

好的。

Yeah.

于是他说，我给他们送货。

And so he says, I bring them the inventory.

我把货拉回来，低价出售，迅速清空店里的商品。

I bring it back, price it low, and just blow that stuff out of the store.

这其实是一种创新。

Which this is an invention.

这是一种全新的理念，我们现在习以为常，但完全是山姆·沃尔顿为满足自身需求而发明的——那就是创造一种价格极其低廉的商品，吸引顾客进店。

Like, this is a brand new concept that we kinda take for granted now, but it's totally a Sam Walton invention to meet his own needs, which is create something that is astonishingly low price to get people in the store.

不赚任何利润。

Take no margin on it.

把它做成亏损引流品。

Make it a loss leader.

谁在乎呢？

Who cares?

但要让顾客进店，在店里多逛逛，他们就会看其他东西。

But get people in the door spending time in your store, and they look at other stuff.

从此以后，这成为沃尔玛永恒的基石，也影响了所有其他零售商。

And this would become a cornerstone of Walmart forever after this and for every other retailer.

甚至现在的SaaS产品定价也是如此，你一看，哦，我是免费用户。

Even a pricing of SaaS products now where you look at it and it's like, oh, I'm on the free plan.

对。

Right.

他并不是发明了亏损引流这个概念，但他找到了如何在零售模式中让它奏效的方法。

It's not that he invented lost leadership as a category, but he figured out how to make it work in the retail model.

是的。

Yes.

他搞清楚了如何真正地陈列商品、优化运营，你知道的，街对面的邓汉姆一直在搞促销。

He figured out how to really merchandise, operationalize, you know, Dunham's across the street was running promotions.

对吧？

Right?

但邓汉姆并没有想过：‘也许我可以更低价格销售，只要我开着皮卡直接去制造商那里，以更低的价格进货。’

But Dunham wasn't thinking about, oh, well, maybe I could sell even lower if I go haul my pickup truck out to these manufacturers and get goods at a lower price.

对。

Right.

当然，一旦你开始开着皮卡亲自去见供应商，接下来就很自然地会想：‘我店里从巴特勒兄弟公司进的货，还有哪些是我自己可以直接采购的？'

And, of course, once you're hauling your pickup truck to go meet the vendors directly, it's not that far of a cry to say, well, what don't I have in the store that I'm getting from Butler Brothers?

哪些东西可能会有意思？

Like, what could be interesting?

你开始越来越擅长做这些直接交易，自己进货，并且弄清楚如何陈列你 personally 相信会卖得好的产品。

You start getting good at doing these direct deals and sourcing your own inventory and figuring out how to merchandise products that you personally believe will sell.

而这正是他开始磨炼这项技能和直觉的起点——深刻理解美国消费者，或者说他所在社区的消费者，拥有敏锐的直觉，知道什么能让他们疯狂，从而在人们的家中实现真正的产品契合。

And this is really where he started to hone that skill craft and sixth sense for deeply knowing the American consumer or let's say consumers in this area in his communities and having a real spidey sense of what would make them go crazy and have really product market fit in people's homes.

价格、选择、便利。

Price selection convenience.

对吧？

Right?

这是零售业的三位一体，但当时没人真正明白这一点。

That's the holy trinity of of retail, but nobody really knew this yet.

坦白说，所有这些都很重要，但对当时世界上和美国的大多数人，尤其是这些小镇上的绝大多数人来说，选择和便利才是关键。

And frankly, all of those things are important, but for the majority of people out there in the world and in America at the time and certainly the vast majority of people in these small towns, you know, like selection and convenience.

生活本来就不方便，就是这样。

Life was inconvenient, period.

所以，你得忍受一些不便才能买到东西。

So, like, you were gonna go through some inconvenience to get things.

无论怎样，商品种类都很少，而且我们刚走出大萧条时期。

Selection, there wasn't much of no matter what, and we just came out of the Great Depression.

价格非常重要。

Price is very important.

顾客会不遗余力地追求更低的价格。

Customers will go to great, great lengths to get lower prices.

人们会进行一日游。

People would make day trips.

人们会开车五小时到其他城市，只为买到物美价廉的商品。

People would drive five hours to other cities to get a deal on goods.

这太疯狂了。

It's crazy.

他说，我们学到的简单教训是，当时其他人也在发现这一点，而这最终改变了全美零售商的销售方式和顾客的购买方式。

He says, here's the simple lesson we learned, which others were learning at the same time and which eventually would change the way retailers sell and customers buy all across America.

假设我以80美分购入一件商品，我发现如果定价为1美元，销量会是定价1.20美元时的三倍。

Say I bought an item for 80¢, I found that by pricing it at $1 I could sell three times more of it than by pricing it at $1.20.

虽然每件商品的利润可能只有原来的一半，但由于销量是原来的三倍，总体利润反而高得多。

I might make only half the profit per item, but because I was selling three times as many, the overall profit was much greater.

这很简单，但这就是折扣的本质。

Simple enough, but this is really the essence of discounting.

通过降价，你可以提升销量，达到在较低的零售价下赚取远超高价销售时的利润。

By cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you can earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the item at a higher price.

而且永远低价，永远。

And always low prices, always.

沃尔玛。

Walmart.

就在那儿。

There it is.

不过我们还没到沃尔玛呢。

So we're not quite at Walmart yet though.

你知道吗

Did you know

他们长期以来的口号一直是‘永远最低价’。

their slogan for a long time was always the lowest price always?

但后来他们被联邦贸易委员会起诉，于是改成了‘永远低价’，因为声称‘总是最低价’属于虚假宣传，实际上他们并不总能保持最低价。

But then there was like a FTC lawsuit against them where they changed to always low prices because it was like false advertising that they didn't always have the lowest price.

一旦沃尔玛达到一定规模，它的体量就更大了。

Once they got to a certain scale at Walmart, it was bigger.

我认为公司最初的口号是‘天天低价，始终如一’。

I think the original company wide slogan was always low prices always.

后来在某个时候，他们改变了口号，我想是在七十年代，改成了‘始终最低价’。

And then at some point, they changed it, I think in the seventies, to always the lowest price.

意思是我们要把这一步走得更远，他们这样做了五六年，直到政府对此提出了意见。

Like, we're gonna push it even farther, and they got away with it for like five or six years and, the government had a little something to say about that.

是的。

Yeah.

所以所有这些听起来都像山姆说的那样，很简单，对吧？

So all this sounds like Sam says there, it sounds simple, right?

但当时人们还不知道这些事情。

But like people didn't know this stuff yet.

因为零售业还没有专业化。

Like retailing had not professionalized.

我们离洛克菲勒时代、杂货店的时代并不遥远，二战后这一切都是全新的。

We're not that far removed from Rockefeller, the general store, like post World War two, this is all new.

这简直令人难以置信。

So this is incredible.

他确实达成了自己的目标。

He actually hits his goal.

因此，在纽波特门店开业第五年，他的销售额达到了25万美元，年利润在3万到4万美元之间。

So by year five of the Newport store, he's doing a quarter million dollars, 250,000 in sales at a 30 to $40,000 annual profit.

记住，他买下这家店只花了2.5万美元，这还包括了他成本中那笔荒谬的5%租金。

Remember, he bought the thing for $25,000 and that's including the crazy 5% rent charge in his expenses.

所以他的运营利润率达到了24%。

So his operating margin on this is 24%.

他在这家小店里赚取了非常实实在在的利润。

He's making very, very real profits on this little store that he's got.

如果他的租金条件更好一些，利润率可能会达到28%。

If he had a better rent deal, it could be, like, 28%.

但以这些数字来看，它是阿肯色州最赚钱的商店，也是整个中西部和南部地区销售额最大的商店，而不仅仅是阿肯色州。

But at those numbers, it is the most profitable store in Arkansas and the biggest store by sales, not just in Arkansas, but, like, the whole Midwest and South region.

所以，他在这里找到了一个成功的模式。

So, like, he has found a winning formula here.

这很有趣，因为我认为到这个时候，他已经和供应商达成了许多直接合作，并且增加了许多自有产品。

Which is interesting because I'm pretty sure at this point, he's got a bunch of direct deals cut with the suppliers, and he's added a bunch of products of his own.

他真的在精心陈列商品。

He's really merchandising.

因此，他引起了本·富兰克林公司和巴特勒兄弟公司极大的关注，他们此时已经清楚他在做什么。

So he's really showing up on Ben Franklin's radar on the Butler Brothers Corporation's radar, and they kinda know what he's doing at this point.

但这对他们来说是好事。

But it's good for them.

尽管这对山姆有利，但对他们也有利，因为销量和顾客数量。

Even though it's good for Sam, it's also good for them because volume and customers.

没错。

Right.

到目前为止，他是全美表现最好的本·富兰克林商店。

He's by far the best performing Ben Franklin store in the country at this point.

但不幸的是，正如我所说，沃尔玛没有把总部设在阿肯色州的纽波特是有原因的。

Unfortunately, though, like I said, there's a reason that Walmart is not headquartered in Newport, Arkansas.

但勒勒兄弟公司并不是唯一一个察觉到这里发生的事情的与山姆有关的方。

Butler Brothers wasn't the only related party to Sam who figured out what was going on here.

他的房东，曾经对前店主耍了花招，签订了极其苛刻的租金条款，也当然发现了山姆尽管处境不利却做得如此出色。

His landlord that had pulled one over on the previous owner and had the super onerous rent terms also figures out, of course, how great Sam is doing despite, you know, having the decks decked against him.

于是他决定要接管这家店。

And he decides he wants to take over the store.

所以在第五年，租约到期时，合同里并没有续约的选项。

So he goes to Sam in year five is when the lease expired and there wasn't an option in the contract to renew the lease.

于是房东找到山姆，对他说：‘你知道吗，孩子？’

So the landlord goes to Sam and is like, you know what, son?

你干得真不错。

You've done a great job.

谢谢你把我的这个物业经营得这么好。

I thank you for turning this property of mine around.

接下来就交给我吧。

I'm gonna take it from here.

为了让你更好地理解，这是一个有7000人口的小镇。

And, like, just to contextualize this, it's a 7,000 person town.

这里几乎没有其他可用的店面。

There's not really many other available storefronts.

店里摆满了货架，库存丰富，业务运营得相当不错。

He's got tons of shelves in there with tons of good like a meaningful amount of inventory that's being carried on the business.

你不能说，哦，太好了。

It's not like you can be like, oh, cool.

我搬去隔壁就行了。

I'll move next door.

这个选择根本不存在。

That option does not exist.

所以他的房东来找他，说了这些话，他当时愣住了。

So his landlord comes to him and says this, and he's like, wait.

天哪。

Oh my god.

天哪。

Oh my god.

我没有其他选择。

I have no other options.

他说，这是我生意生涯中最低谷的时刻。

He says it was the low point of my business life.

我感到恶心难受。

I felt sick to my stomach.

我无法相信这种事情会发生在自己身上。

I couldn't believe it was happening to me.

这真的就像一场噩梦。

It really was like a nightmare.

我说这是个救命稻草，尽管事实上，海伦的父亲无论怎样都会为山姆的下一次创业提供资金。

I say this is a saving grace, although the reality is Helen's father would have financed Sam's next venture no matter what.

但至少对山姆的自尊心来说，算是个安慰的是，房东收购了本·富兰克林特许经营权的价值以及店铺里的固定资产、库存、陈设等。

But sort of the saving grace for Sam's pride at least was that the landlord did buy out the value of the Ben Franklin franchise license and the hard assets, the inventory, the fixtures, etcetera in the store.

所以他支付了山姆和海伦5万美元，以接管这家店铺。

So he pays Sam and Helen $50,000 to take over the store.

我的意思是，这大概算是两倍的回报吧。

I mean, I guess that's sort of a, what, two x return.

那么前一年的运营收入是多少？

And what was what was the operating income from the previous year?

三万到四万美元。

30 to $40,000.

是的。

Yeah.

哇。

Wow.

残酷。

Brutal.

但至少他们拿到了五万美元。

But at least they get the $50,000 out.

所以现在是1950年，萨姆和海伦再次踏上旅途，寻找一个新的城镇来开展他们的流动马戏团。

So this is now 1950, and Sam and Helen hit the road again, looking for a new town to bring their, traveling circus to.

并且对租赁谈判有了更多经验。

And have a little bit more knowledge on lease negotiation.

是的。

Yes.

于是他们前往阿肯色州西北角的另一个地方。

So they go up to the other corner of the state in Northwest Arkansas.

他们开始在那里寻找下一个落脚点，原因有两个。

It's where they start looking around for the next place to set up shop for two reasons.

第一，离海伦在俄克拉荷马州克莱尔莫尔的家人更近。

One, closer to Helen's family in Oklahoma in Claremore.

其二，就像我说的，萨姆很实在。

And two, like I said, Sam keeps it real.

他说，那里有非常好的鹌鹑狩猎。

He was like, you know, there's some really good quail hunting up there.

我真的很想靠近一点，这样我就能把我的猎鸟犬开过去打猎。

And I really wanted to be closer so I could drive my bird dogs out and go hunting.

是的。

Yes.

更具体地说，不仅仅是那里鹌鹑狩猎好。

And more specifically, it's not just that there's good quail hunting.

而是他将非常靠近四个州，每个州都有自己的鹌鹑狩猎季节，这样他就能从家出发轻松驾车，获得最大量的鹌鹑狩猎机会。

It is that he will be very close to four states, which each have their own quail hunting season so that he can get the maximum amount of quail hunting in with an easy drive from his house.

是的。

Yes.

太好了。

So great.

这里做出的许多商业决策都基于家庭因素。

Lots of business decisions being made here on family.

我们需要住在小镇上。

We need to be in a small town.

我们只能与家人合作。

We need to only work with family.

山姆，我需要尽可能多地抽出时间去猎鹌鹑。

Sam, I need to be able to hunt quail in the maximum amount of time that I possibly can.

因此，他们发现并选定的机会是一个仅有3000人口的小镇，这个小镇已经有三家杂货店在运营。

So the opportunity that they find and settle on is in a little town of 3,000 people, so less than half the size of Newport, that already in this town of 3,000 people had three variety stores operating.

而纽波特有7000人，却只有两家。

Newport had two for 7,000 people.

这个小镇有3000人，却有三家。

This town has three for 3,000 people.

正如山姆所说，他热爱竞争，而这个小镇就是阿肯色州的本顿维尔。

As, Sam says, he loves competition, and that town is Bentonville, Arkansas.

是的。

Yes.

萨姆现在很可能在坟墓里翻来覆去。

Sam probably almost assuredly is rolling over in his grave right now.

新的沃尔玛园区？

The new Walmart campus?

他们正在建造的新沃尔玛园区。

The new Walmart campus that they're building.

它看起来美极了，我敢肯定他会气得发疯。

It looks absolutely gorgeous, which I'm sure he would be furious about.

是的。

Yes.

如果你觉得沃伦是个吝啬、非常朴素、不讲排场、不搞花哨的创业者，那么萨姆·沃尔顿恐怕更难被说成是不节俭或更爱炫耀的人。

If you thought Warren was, you know, a penny pinching, very plain, no frills, no fancy things entrepreneur, Sam Walton, hard to argue who's sort of more frugal and less showy.

我的意思是，萨姆最终买飞机纯粹是出于实际用途，但萨姆绝对不是一个爱炫耀的人。

I mean, Sam eventually got into airplanes for very, you know, practical use, but Sam is not a showy guy.

实际上，他和约翰·休伊在《美国制造》一书中开篇讲述的轶事是，1985年《福布斯》将他评为美国最富有的人。

Actually, the anecdote that he and John Huey open Made in America with is I think it's 1985 when Forbes ranked him the richest man in America.

于是，所有记者都开始涌向本顿维尔。

And all these reporters, you know, start descending on Bentonville.

他们想采访这位美国最富有的人。

They wanna go interview the richest man in America.

但他仍然开着一辆老旧的皮卡，车后座装着笼子，用来装他的猎鸟犬，因为他经常去附近四个州打猎。

And, he still drives an old pickup truck that has cages in the back for his bird dogs because he goes, you know, hunting in the four states nearby.

这引起了巨大轰动，因为这位美国最富有的人竟然开着一辆破旧的老皮卡，车后还带着笼子。

And, it's this big sensation that the richest man in America drives a beat up old pickup truck with cages in the back.

他却说：‘那我总不能开着劳斯莱斯载我的狗吧？’

And he's like, well, what am I gonna drive my, my dogs around in a Rolls Royce?

好吧。

Alright.

于是他们抵达了本顿维尔。

So they arrive in Bentonville.

本顿维尔和世界从此改变，但这一切并非一蹴而就。

Bentonville and the world are forever changed, but it doesn't happen all at once.

没错。

No.

他们购买的是一家本·富兰克林特许店，前一年的营业额只有3.2万美元，与他们离开纽波特时的25万美元相去甚远。

So the store that they buy is another Ben Franklin franchise that had done $32,000 in revenue the year before, quite a distance from the 250,000 that they left Newport with.

山姆决定，好吧。

And, Sam decides, he's like, alright.

这是一个小市场。

Well, this is a small market.

这是一家小店铺。

This is a small store.

竞争很激烈，但我志向远大。

There's a lot of competition, but I have big ambitions.

他对零售业，尤其是本·富兰克林特许经营网络的情况了如指掌。

He's got his ear to the ground in retail and particularly in the Ben Franklin franchisee, you know, sort of network.

他通过风声听说，明尼苏达州有两家本·富兰克林商店正在尝试一种激进的新理念。

He hears through the grapevine that there are two Ben Franklin stores up in Minnesota that were trying a radical new concept.

他们彻底改变了商店的布局和运营方式。

They were redoing the whole way the store was laid out, way it worked.

他们拆除了前面的柜台，或将其改为收银台，让顾客可以进入商店，自行浏览商品、挑选商品，然后结账。

They were removing the upfront counters or turning them into checkout counters and letting customers go into the store, browse the merchandise, pick it up themselves, select it themselves, and then check out.

于是他想：我得去看看。

So he's like, I gotta go.

我必须亲自去看看。

I gotta go see this.

他从阿肯色州搭夜班车前往明尼苏达，实地考察了这两家店。

He takes the overnight bus up from Arkansas up to Minnesota and, checks them out.

他一路上用黄色的便签纸不停地做笔记，后来他说，那次旅行让我很喜欢。

He's taking notes the whole time on his, you know, yellow legal pad And, he says about that trip, I liked it.

所以我后来也照做了。

So I did it too.

我喜欢他如此痴迷于亲身体验。

I love how he's so obsessed with firsthand experience.

他不可能只是听说了这件事就直接实施。

He couldn't just hear about this and then implement it.

他觉得，我必须亲自去看看。

He's like, I must see it for myself.

因为他极其坚信，只有真正花时间在店里、与顾客面对面交流，才能获得宝贵的洞察。

Because he so fervently believes that he picks up insights from, like, actually spending time in stores and actually talking to customers.

似乎他在这方面比我们在这档节目中讨论过的任何其他企业家都更甚，这种对亲身体验的执着。

And it seems like he does that sort of more than any other entrepreneur we've ever talked about on this show, this obsession with firsthand experience.

我认为每个人都可以将这一点应用到自己的业务中。

I think everybody can apply this to their business.

我读这本书的时候就在想这个问题。

I was thinking about it reading the book.

你知道吗，我标出了很多这样的段落。

You know, I starred so many passages like this.

我觉得我已经听很多其他播客了。

I'm like, I already listen to lots of other podcasts.

和我们刚开始做Acquired时不一样，那时候我根本不听任何播客。

Unlike when we started Acquired, and I didn't listen to any other podcast.

我们应该找到最好的想法并加以吸收。

We should find the best ideas and incorporate them.

没错。

Yeah.

关于这一点，当沃尔玛后来真正起步时，有一个特别棒的引述，我现在先卖个关子。

There's a great quote about this when Walmart actually gets started later that I'm gonna tease it for now.

所以1950年7月29日，那大概是多久以前？

So on 07/29/1950, just about what is that?

七十二年前，他们重新开放了收购的本·富兰克林商店。

Seventy two years ago, they reopened the Ben Franklin store that they bought.

仍然是一家特许经营店。

Still a franchise.

仍然是一个特许经营店。

Still a franchise.

仍然是本·富兰克林特许经营店。

Still a Ben Franklin franchise.

仍然主要与巴特勒兄弟公司合作采购大部分商品，quote unquote。

Still working with Butler Brothers for most of the inventory, quote unquote.

但他们想传达一个信息：这是一个新时代。

But they wanna send a message that this is, you know, a new era.

在本顿维尔开设了自助式新店。

Doing the self-service new store in Bentonville.

于是他们将其更名为沃尔顿五分十分店，成为全国第三家自助式杂货店。

So they rename it Walton's five and dime, and it becomes the third self-service variety store in the entire country.

而且

And

有趣的是，他们选择了这个名字，因为做特许经营的部分原因就是为了利用品牌。

it's fascinating that they picked this name because part of the reason why you do a franchise is the brand.

当然。

Sure.

能获得库存、谈判好的合作关系和价格，这些都很不错。

It's nice to get the inventory and the negotiated relationships and prices and all this stuff.

但你真正购买的是人们知道本·富兰克林是什么，所以他们会来这家店。

But really what you're buying is people know what a Ben Franklin is, and so they would come to the store.

山姆的意思是，我对打造自己的品牌感觉很好。

And what Sam is saying is, I feel pretty good about building my own brand.

我知道我无论如何都在为使用本·富兰克林品牌付费，但我们不会用它。

I know I'm in one way or another paying to use the Ben Franklin brand, but we're not gonna use it.

这其实很合理，因为尽管山姆此时已经直接与制造商进行个别交易，但一个位于阿肯色州小店里的人独自采购全部库存并处理所有物流，这想法简直荒谬。

It really was rational because even though Sam on the margins is doing his own direct deals with manufacturers at this point, it's a ludicrous concept that somebody in a little store in Arkansas could source all of their inventory and do all of their logistics by themselves.

是的。

Like, yes.

一个服务三千人的小镇店铺，居然要自己处理所有这些事务，这简直疯狂至极。

That is completely freaking crazy that a store servicing 3,000 people in a little town would handle all of that themselves.

但他们以新名字推出了。

But they launch with the new name.

你知道，这是新概念，是自助服务，引起了不小的轰动。

You know, it's the new concept, it's self-service, it causes quite a stir.

现在，我相信我找不到确切的资料，但我记得在沃尔顿五分十分店开业的第一年。

Now, I believe I couldn't find this exactly, but I believe in that first year when, Walton's Five and Dime is open.

记得之前本·富兰克林版本的店铺年收入大约是32,000美元，类似这样的数字。

Remember the previous Ben Franklin iteration of the store had done, think, what, $32,000 I said a year in revenue, something like that.

沃尔顿五分十分店第一年的销售额达到了90,000美元。

Walton's Five and Dime does $90,000 in sales the first year.

我不知道本顿维尔三家店铺之间的竞争格局如何，但请记住，这个小镇只有3,000人。

Now I don't know what the competitive dynamics were between the three stores in Bentonville, but remember, the town only had 3,000 people.

所以，如果你假设之前的三家店铺大致平分了市场份额——这当然只是一个大假设，但为了论证，我们姑且这么认为——那么本顿维尔整个市场的规模，也就是总的潜在市场（TAM），就是90,000美元。

So if you assume the previous three stores roughly had equal market share, you know, it's a big assumption, but let's just for argument's sake, that would mean that the whole market size of Bentonville, the whole TAM, is $90,000.

而他们实现了90,000美元的收入。

And they did $90,000 in revenue.

那么，这里发生了什么？

So what was happening here?

是的。

Yeah.

市场总量在急剧扩张吗？

Is there a massively expanding TAM?

他们是否因为人们购买了比以往更多的商品而扩大了市场？

Did they expand the market because people are just buying more stuff than they otherwise would have?

我不知道另外两家商店发生了什么，是否倒闭了。

I don't know what happened to the other two stores, whether they went out of business or not.

当然，它们不会立刻就倒闭。

Certainly, they wouldn't have right away.

我认为发生的情况是，这种变革引起了巨大轰动，人们开始从其他城镇赶来沃顿五分十分店购物。

I think what happened was this caused such a stir that people started coming to shop at Waltons five and dime from other towns.

我认为这是萨姆第一次意识到，震撼效应能吸引顾客。

I think it was the first time that Sam realized that shock value would bring customers.

就像我第一次去亚马逊Go店尝试无收银员结账时，并不需要买任何东西一样。

Much like I didn't need anything the first time I went to an Amazon Go to, like, try the cashier less checkout.

人们当时主要是出于新奇感而来，这让他明白了一个道理：也许我们始终应该保持新奇感。

People sort of came for novelty value here, and that taught him the lesson of, oh, maybe we should always have novelty value.

也许存在一些理由，让人们即使不是特意来购物，也会来沃尔玛。

Maybe there's, like, reasons why people should be coming to Walmarts even if they aren't necessarily looking to buy something.

没错。

Yep.

如果你仔细想想，设身处地为当时的顾客考虑一下。

And if you think about it, right, like put yourself in the shoes of customers back then.

萨姆在书中多次提到这一点，你知道，长期以来，直到我们开始与凯马特竞争，大家都认为沃尔玛、萨姆的所有顾客都只是乡下的土包子。

And Sam talks about this a lot in the book, you know, for so long, and we'll get into the competition with Kmart, Everybody thought Walmart, Sam, all their customer, they were just like hicks in the sticks.

对吧？

Right?

就是一群完全像傻瓜一样的人。

Just completely like morons out there.

这与事实完全相反。

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

就像他说的，我的顾客也是精明的零售消费者。

Like he he says like, my customers were also sophisticated retail customers.

他们了解城市里发生的事情。

They knew about what was going on in the cities.

他们在那里有亲戚。

They had relatives there.

他们会去那里拜访。

They'd go visit.

并不是他们不想在自己的家乡享受一流的购物体验。

It's not like they didn't want first class shopping experiences in their own hometowns.

所以这无疑引起了巨大轰动。

So clearly, this makes a big splash.

因此，萨姆意识到自己可能骑虎难下了。

So Sam realizes that he might have a tiger by the tail here.

因此，他开始寻找新的地点，不像在纽波特时那样满足于现状——那时店铺持续增长，年销售额达到25万美元。

And so he starts looking unlike in Newport where he was satisfied, you know, the store kept growing, he did $250,000 a year in sales.

他开始考虑开设更多门店。

He starts looking to open up more

地点。

locations.

更多的五分十分店。

More 5 and dimes.

他也不希望像在纽波特那样，把所有赌注都押在一个地方、一份租约上。

He also doesn't wanna have all of his eggs in one basket and one lease like he did in Newport.

没错。

Right.

他是不是曾在竞争对手的店旁边直接开了一家店，就是为了阻止对方扩张？

Didn't he open a store directly next door to one of his competitors just so that his competitor couldn't expand their store?

是的。

Yes.

对他来说，这并不是一家高绩效的商店，但他觉得至少没让对手拿到那块地皮。

It's like it wasn't a high performing store for him, but he was like, at least it didn't let them get the square footage.

是的。

Yes.

显然，他非常关注竞争对手。

Clearly, he's a very competitor focused.

你知道，这挺有趣的。

You know, it's funny.

就像有很多‘贝佐斯语录’，当你读这本书，了解沃尔玛和山姆·沃尔顿时，你会意识到这些原本都是沃尔顿的理念，是山姆的哲学。

Like, there's so many Jeff Bezos isms that when you read this book and you learn about Walmart and Sam Walton, you realize that they were originally Waltonisms, Samisms.

但整个亚马逊的理念是，我们以客户为中心，而不是以竞争对手为中心。

But the whole Amazon, like, we're customer focused, we're not competitor focused.

山姆肯定会说，绝对不是这样。

Sam would have said, absolutely not.

我们绝对是以竞争对手为中心的。

We are absolutely competitor focused.

我们专注于从竞争对手那里取其精华，并在这里加以实施。

We are focused on taking the best stuff from our competitors and implementing it here.

好的。

Alright.

是的。

Yeah.

好吧，我们既然在这儿，就得说出来。

Well, we're here, we have to say it.

后来，沃尔玛确实回到了纽波特，开了一家店，由当初坑害山姆的房东的家族成员经营，结果这家小店被沃尔玛挤垮了。

So eventually, a Walmart does go in back in Newport, and there is a little store that is run by a family member of the landlord that screwed over Sam that does get put out of business by that Walmart going in.

山姆的观点是，你不能说是我们把那个房东的儿子赶出了市场。

And Sam makes the point, you can't say we ran that guy, the landlord's son, out of business.

是他的顾客让他关门的。

His customers were the ones who shut him down.

顾客用脚投票了。

They voted with their feet.