麦肯锡竟然开店卖内衣、珠宝、化妆品！

In a first for the high-minded management consultancy, McKinsey is opening a retail store and flogging underwear, make-up and jewellery to customers in a Midwest shopping mall.

麦肯锡(McKinsey)将在美国中西部的一家购物中心开设一家零售店，向顾客销售内衣、化妆品和珠宝。此举对于这家志向高远的管理咨询公司是头一回。

Due to open today in Mall of America, the largest US shopping centre, the outlet is designed to test the effectiveness of technology that retailers and their advisers could deploy to keep stores relevant in the age of Amazon.

定于今日开业的这家门店位于美国最大的购物中心——美国商城(Mall of America)，旨在测试相关技术的有效性。在零售业进入亚马逊(Amazon)时代的今天，这些技术意在让零售商及其顾问保持实体商店的相关性。

Visitors to the mall in suburban Minneapolis will be able to try out gadgets including smart mirrors and software that aim to help them pick, for example, the right bra size.

进入位于明尼阿波利斯郊区的这家购物中心的顾客，可以尝试智能镜子等新颖设备，并使用软件来帮助挑选尺寸合适的文胸。

Cryptocurrency will be among the payment options.

加密货币将是付款选项之一。

Praveen Adhi, a McKinsey partner, said retail executives were “constantly inundated with pitches, and can struggle to figure out how to get value from all the different technologies out there.

麦肯锡合伙人普拉文•埃迪(Praveen Adhi)表示，零售业高管“经常被各种推介搞得应接不暇，很难弄清楚如何从各种不同的技术中获得价值”。

“There is no real way, given thespeed at which the technology and analytics are changing, to keep ahead of the trends without getting your hands dirty.”

“考虑到技术和分析方法的变化速度，很难在不亲自实践的情况下把握潮流。”

A rotating roster of retailers will share space in the store, a near-5,000 sq ftsite formerly occupied by Abercrombie & Fitch.

这家店将由多家零售商轮流分享。该店原由Abercrombie & Fitch占用，面积近5000平方英尺。

Microsoft is among several technology companies involved. Four fashion and beauty brands will take part initially.

微软(Microsoft)是参与的几家科技公司之一。最初参与的时尚和美容品牌公司有四家。

The line-up comprises jeweller Kendra Scott , type: A Deodorant, Elevé Cosmetics , and ThirdLove, a “body-positive” clicks-to-bricks lingerie company that has been taking market share from Victoria’s Secret.

这些公司包括珠宝公司Kendra Scott、生产除味剂的type: A Deodorant、化妆品公司Elevé Cosmetics和ThirdLove(一家主打“形象自爱”概念、已从Victoria’s Secret手中抢夺了市场份额的线上至线下内衣公司)。

“We thought it would be a great wayto learn,” said Heidi Zak, ThirdLove’s co-founder. “It’s an interesting example of a consulting firm that’s trying toadd value.”

“我们认为这将是一个很好的学习方式，”ThirdLove联合创始人海蒂•扎克(Heidi Zak)说，“这是一个咨询公司试图增值的有趣案例。”

Mall of America is not chargingMcKinsey rent for the space. Revenues generated from the store will go directly to the retailers, which will pay a fee to offset some of McKinsey’s costs.

美国商城并不向麦肯锡收取租金。该店产生的收入将直接归零售商，它们将支付一定费用以抵消麦肯锡的部分成本。

McKinsey does not expect to make money from the venture, which has been branded Modern Retail Collective. Instead, it hopes data gleaned from the project will help improve its understanding of what works in retail and what does not, and so improve the quality of recommendations to clients.

麦肯锡并不指望从这个“现代零售合作企业”(Modern Retail Collective)项目赚钱。相反，它希望从该项目中收集的数据将有助于加深其对零售行业的了解——哪些行得通，哪些行不通——进而提升其向客户所提建议的质量。

“The key is trying new things, taking risk, and learning from it,” said Jill Renslow, senior vice-president of business development at Mall of America.

“关键是尝试新事物，承担风险，并从中学习，”美国商城负责业务开发的高级副总裁吉尔•伦斯洛(Jill Renslow)表示。