Name: 好市多為何全資收購柯克蘭--以及如何獲得回報 | 《華爾街日報》案例研究 (Why Costco Went All in on Kirkland — and How It Paid Off | WSJ Case Study)
Uploaded: 2025-04-01T05:20:58.000Z
Duration: 9 min 34 s

程度副詞

On any Costco aisle, next to a name brand item is often one with a slightly lower price tag and the label Kirkland Signature.

在好市多的任何貨架上，名牌商品的旁邊往往都有一個標價稍低的商品，上面貼著 Kirkland Signature 的標籤。

基礎被動語態

In the industry, Kirkland Signature is seen as really a shining example of what a retailer can do with its house brand.

在業界，Kirkland Signature 被視為零售商利用自有品牌的光輝典範。

Today, the Kirkland brand accounts for around one-third of a company's sales.

如今，柯克蘭品牌約佔公司銷售額的三分之一。

But the decision to create just one private label 30 years ago was risky, especially in a world where the most successful ones were divided up by product type.

但是，30 年前只創建一個自有品牌的決定是冒險的，尤其是在一個最成功的自有品牌按產品類型劃分的世界裡。

We were kind of flying right in the face of that success story.

我們當時某種程度上是在公然挑戰那個成功模式。

Here's the case study on how Costco went against industry standards and in the process created a negotiation tool that would forever change big box retail.

以下是關於好市多如何違背行業標準，並在此過程中創造出一種將永遠改變大型零售業的談判工具的案例研究。

When Costco first started in 1983, the premise was simple, carry a limited number of name brands in each product category, but sell a lot of them.

好市多於 1983 年創立之初，其前提條件很簡單：在每個產品類別中銷售數量有限的名牌產品，但要賣得多。

One of the significant disciplines of our business is the limited selection.

我們業務的一個重要特點是選擇有限。

We weren't going to carry all the SKUs the other retailers carried.

我們不會經營其他零售商經營的所有 SKU。

We were only going to carry the highest quality goods. 4,000 items as opposed to 140,000 items because everything that's presented at Costco is presented pretty big, hits you right in the face whenever you walk in there.

我們只經營最高品質的商品。4,000 種商品比 140,000 種商品多，因為好市多的所有商品都非常大，每次走進去都會讓你眼前一亮。

But just a few years into this, data showed that the price of these name brand items were going up, even while the cost for brands to make them were going down.

但就在幾年前，數據顯示，這些名牌產品的價格在上漲，而品牌的生產成本卻在下降。

Every year they had to raise their price to continue to satisfy Wall Street.

為了繼續滿足華爾街的要求，他們每年都不得不提高價格。

But Costco co-founder Jim Sinicle saw an opportunity.

但是，好市多的聯合創始人吉姆-辛尼克（Jim Sinicle）看到了商機。

We were seeing articles being written about what was happening with private label.

我們看到有人寫文章介紹自有品牌的情況。

This 1991 Forbes article in particular outlined how consumers in Europe were turning away from name brand items and instead buying products manufactured by stores directly, known as private labels.

1991 年《福布斯》的這篇文章特別概述了歐洲消費者如何放棄名牌產品，轉而購買商店直接生產的產品，即自有品牌。

He wrote a whole bunch of his observations on this article and then asked all of his executives to kind of initial it to acknowledge they had read it.

他就這篇文章寫了一大堆自己的看法，然後要求所有高管在文章的首字母上註明他們讀過這篇文章。

It's this moment where you can see his wheels turning about, look, their price increases are our opportunity.

此時此刻，你可以看到他在思考：看，他們的漲價就是我們的機會。

That opportunity came down to profit margins.

While retailers typically markup name brand items anywhere from 24 to 30 percent, Costco had a strict maximum markup of 14 percent.

零售商通常會對名牌商品加價 24% 至 30%，而好市多卻嚴格規定最高加價不得超過 14%。

But with a private label, Costco could now control more of the manufacturing costs for a lower starting price.

但有了自有品牌，好市多就可以控制更多的生產成本，從而降低起步價。

We allowed a private label to take one more percentage point higher in a markup.

我們允許自有品牌的加價幅度再高一個百分點。

The private labels quickly started piling up.

We were just making up names as we went along.

But then something happened that would change everything.

但後來發生的一件事改變了一切。

I was in one of our warehouses down in Los Angeles and I asked the warehouse manager, did you get the new legal tablet that we had in our private label?

我當時在洛杉磯的一個倉庫裡，我問倉庫經理，你拿到我們自有品牌的新法律片劑了嗎？

So we went to the section and we had it under the Pinnacle name.

是以，我們去了那個部門，並把它放在了 Pinnacle 的名下。

He said, I didn't know that was our label.

他說，我不知道那是我們的標籤。

Hell, if we don't understand within the organization what we're doing with our label, how are the customers going to?

該死的，如果我們在組織內部都不明白我們的標籤在做什麼，客戶又怎麼會明白呢？

Consolidating all of these labels under one brand would go against every proven best practice.

將所有這些標籤合併到一個品牌下，有悖於所有行之有效的最佳做法。

Retailers tend to not use one private label brand because they're afraid that if you have a bad experience with one item, it might translate across the whole store.

零售商傾向於不使用一個自有品牌，因為他們擔心如果你在一件商品上有不好的體驗，可能會影響到整個商店。

If they don't trust the brand in the golf ball, they don't trust the mixed nuts.

如果他們不相信高爾夫球裡的品牌，就不會相信混合堅果。

You look at Sears, which was a successful retailer at the time.

你可以看看西爾斯百貨公司，它在當時是一家成功的零售商。

They had multiple brands that were their store brands in different categories.

他們有多個品牌，是不同類別的商店品牌。

You can't argue with the success that that Sears had.

西爾斯百貨的成功是無可爭議的。

That one warehouse manager who couldn't tell me where the tablets were was an illustration of where you could go wrong and something like that.

有一位倉庫經理連藥片在哪裡都說不清楚，他就是一個很好的例子。

And then the question was, what would that name be?

那麼問題來了，這個名字會是什麼呢？

We thought Costco was not the right name to put on it.

我們認為 Costco 這個名字不合適。

Because we did so much business with other people and we decided on Kirkland name.

因為我們和其他人做了很多生意，所以我們決定使用柯克蘭這個名字。

At the time, the headquarters were in Kirkland, Washington.

當時，總部設在華盛頓州柯克蘭。

We promptly moved the home office to Issaquah.

我們立即將總部搬到了伊薩誇。

Nobody could spell Issaquah anyway, so we'll just keep Kirkland.

反正也沒人會拼 Issaquah，那我們就保留 Kirkland 吧。

And we've used that same label ever since.

從那以後，我們就一直使用這個標籤。

Over the next few years, Costco slowly rolled out the Kirkland name.

在接下來的幾年裡，好市多慢慢推出了柯克蘭這個名字。

I do remember when Kirkland Signature Shampoo came out.

我還記得 Kirkland Signature 洗髮水問世的時候。

And then we had some vitamins that came out shortly after that.

之後不久，我們又推出了一些維生素。

Today, Kirkland has over 350 products across a variety of categories.

如今，Kirkland 擁有 350 多種產品，涵蓋各種類別。

But the company still operates with a limited selection in each of these, what the industry calls a limited-skew environment.

但該公司在每種產品中的選擇仍然有限，即業內所說的有限傾斜環境。

I think the limited-skew environment is a very misunderstood or under-understood secret of a lot of things about Costco, including private label.

我認為有限傾斜環境是好市多很多方面（包括自有品牌）的一個非常容易被誤解或理解不足的祕密。

When a new Kirkland item hits the shelf, that category becomes even more competitive.

當 Kirkland 的新產品上架時，該品類的競爭會變得更加激烈。

If you're a supplier at Costco, it's kind of existential.

如果你是好市多的供應商，這就有點像生存問題。

So it's a real moment of head-on competition for a supplier.

是以，這是一個真正的供應商正面競爭的時刻。

It's an $80 billion brand, so it drives a lot of sales.

它是一個價值 800 億美元的品牌，是以帶動了大量銷售。

Nobody wants to be that dramatically higher priced than them.

沒有人希望自己的價格比他們高出那麼多。

I see it as a tremendous negotiation tool.

我認為這是一個巨大的談判工具。

One of the clearest examples of this leverage is Kirkland diapers.

Kirkland 紙尿褲就是這種槓桿作用最明顯的例子之一。

Costco knew that they wanted to have a Kirkland version of a diaper.

好市多知道他們想推出柯克蘭版的尿布。

But because of its limited-skew environment.

We weren't going to carry both Huggies and Pampers.

我們不會同時銷售 Huggies 和幫寶適。

We were going to carry one brand and a Kirkland signature.

我們打算只賣一個品牌和 Kirkland 簽名產品。

To see who might make the Kirkland diapers, Costco approached two market leaders, Procter & Gamble of Pampers and Kimberly Clark of Huggies.

為了瞭解誰有可能生產 Kirkland 紙尿褲，Costco 找到了兩家市場領導者，分別是幫寶適的寶潔公司和 Huggies 的金佰利公司。

And although Costco says Kirkland manufacturing negotiations are separate from conversations about shelf space.

儘管 Costco 稱 Kirkland 的生產談判與貨架空間的談判是分開的。

There's always been only Huggies diapers and Kirkland diapers on Costco shelves for many, many years.

多年來，好市多貨架上一直只有 Huggies 紙尿褲和 Kirkland 紙尿褲。

It was decided on the basis of who came in and presented the best deal for the diapers.

決定的依據是誰來買尿布最划算。

Even after a product is established, Costco buyers continue to monitor that category.

即使在某種產品確立之後，好市多的買家仍會繼續關注該類別產品。

Our buyers are very aware of the commodity inputs, the raw ingredients that go into something.

我們的買家非常瞭解商品的投入，也就是商品的原材料。

And this knowledge can lead the company to change its Kirkland vendors.

這些知識可以幫助公司改變柯克蘭的供應商。

Recently, Costco shifted to the cuties manufacturer, First Quality.

最近，好市多轉而使用可愛小熊製造商 First Quality 的產品。

We felt like we could produce a higher quality product at a lower price for our members.

我們認為，我們能以更低的價格為會員提供更高質量的產品。

Having not that many products on shelves compared to other retailers is a huge benefit with Kirkland because they can be very strategic about the fact that there's only a few slots.

與其他零售商相比，Kirkland 的貨架上沒有那麼多產品，這對他們來說是一個巨大的優勢，因為他們可以非常有策略地處理只有幾個貨架的事實。

It allows them to dictate what they want for their shoppers.

這讓他們可以對購物者的需求指手畫腳。

With Kirkland's name on hundreds of products, these negotiations are happening on almost every aisle of the warehouse.

由於數百種產品上都有 Kirkland 的名字，這些談判幾乎發生在倉庫的每一個過道上。

When I look back at that Forbes article, one thing that really struck me is, wow, brands really had a chance to not charge more than they needed to to give retailers kind of an in to create these really successful private label products.

當我回看《福布斯》的那篇文章時，讓我印象深刻的一件事是，哇，品牌商真的有機會不收取超過他們所需的費用，讓零售商有機會創造這些真正成功的自有品牌產品。

Consumers again have really turned to store brands.

消費者再次真正轉向商店品牌。

While national brands are still a bigger industry than private labels, in 2024, sales for private labels like Kirkland grew about four times faster than the national brands, hitting a record high.

雖然全國性品牌仍然是比自有品牌更大的產業，但在 2024 年，Kirkland 等自有品牌的銷售額增長速度約為全國性品牌的四倍，創下了歷史新高。

And with $86 billion in sales last year, Kirkland is now a bigger brand than Procter & Gamble and Kraft Heinz.

Kirkland 去年的銷售額達 860 億美元，現在已成為比寶潔和卡夫亨氏更大的品牌。

Is it the most significant thing for the company?

I'd certainly say it's up there with the top three or four.

我肯定地說，它能排進前三名或前四名。

But analysts say Kirkland's success is hard to replicate.

但分析人士認為，柯克蘭的成功很難複製。

There's a few retailers that have gone to one private label, not many, but a direct competitor like Sam's Club.

有幾家零售商選擇了一個自有品牌，數量不多，但都是直接競爭對手，如山姆會員店（Sam's Club）。

More recently, 2017, they went to Member's Mark, which is their private label brand.

最近，即 2017 年，他們又推出了自己的自有品牌 "Member's Mark"。

我猜他們是從我們這裡學到的。

Since consolidating, Sam's Club private label sales have nearly doubled.

自合併以來，山姆會員商店的自有品牌銷售額幾乎翻了一番。