加拿大安大略省伦敦市茶馆
The Tea Haus, London Ontario, Canada
加拿大艾伯塔省茶叶批发商Tea Affair的首席执行官Sameer Pruthee说，“在新冠肺炎疫情期间，茶叶的销售量应不会下降，因为茶是几乎每个加拿大家庭都有的食品，而食品公司应该是没有问题的。”
The reason tea sales should not decline during COVID is that tea is a food product found in virtually every Canadian home, and “food companies should be okay,” says Sameer Pruthee, CEO of wholesale distributor Tea Affair based in Alberta, Canada.
然而，自3月停产以来，他每年向加拿大、美国和亚洲的600多家批发客户销售60吨茶叶的业务几乎每月下降约30%。他指出，“从3月中旬到5月底，各地实行封锁，业务下降幅度最大的是加拿大的零售客户。”
And yet, his business, which distributes around 60 metric tons of tea and blends every year to more than 600 wholesale clients in Canada, the United States, and Asia, has declined approximately 30% every month since the March shutdown. The decline, he noted, is most significant among his retail clients in Canada, where the lockdown was widespread and uniformly enforced from mid-March until the end of May.
Sameer Pruthee认为，茶叶销售下降是因为茶叶不是线上产品，而是社交产品。
Pruthee’s theory for why tea sales are down is that tea is not an “online thing. Tea is social,”he explains.
从3月开始，供应当地餐馆和咖啡馆的茶叶零售商无奈地看着订单消失。最初具有线上商店的本地茶店称茶叶销售强劲，主要是在封锁期间向已有客户销售产品，但是由于没有面对面的机会介绍新茶，茶叶零售商必须进行创新以吸引新客户。
Beginning in March tea retailers supplying local restaurants and cafes watched helplessly as re-orders vanished. Local tea shops with online stores initially reported strong sales, largely to existing customers during lockdowns, but without face-to-face opportunities to introduce new teas, tea retailers must innovate to attract new customers.
“大卫的茶”总部位于蒙特利尔，是北美最大的茶叶零售连锁店，由于新冠肺炎疫情，公司被迫进行重组，关闭了在美国和加拿大的18家门店。为了生存，该公司采取了“数字优先”的策略，提供个性化和订制化的线上茶叶指南互动服务，增加线上客户体验。该公司还升级了DAVI(虚拟助手)功能，该虚拟助手可以帮助客户购物，发现新品，配备最新的茶具配件。
DAVIDsTEA provides a vivid example. The Montreal-based firm, the largest tea retail chain in North America, was forced to restructure, closing all but 18 of its 226 stores in the US and Canada due to COVID-19. To survive, the company adopted a “digital first” strategy, investing in its online customer experience by bringing its tea guides online to provide human and personalized interaction. The company also upgraded the capabilities of DAVI, a virtual assistant that helps customers shop, discover new collections, stay in the loop with the latest tea accessories, and more.
“我们成功的将茶叶知识带到线上，为客户提供清晰的互动体验，以便使他们能够继续探索、发现和品尝他们喜欢的茶，这种简洁清晰的品牌推广在网上引起共鸣。”大卫的茶公司首席品牌官Sarah Segal说。保持营业的实体店集中在安大略和魁北克市场。在经历了灾难性的第一季度之后，大卫的茶第二季度电子商务和批发销售额增长了190%，达到2300万美元，利润为830万美元，这主要是由于运营成本减少了2420万美元。尽管如此，在截至8月1日的三个月中，总体销售下降了41%。与上一年相比，利润下降了62%，毛利润占销售额的百分比从2019年的56%下降至36%。物流和分装成本增加了300万美元。
“The simplicity and clarity of our brand is resonating online as we successfully bring our tea expertise online, by providing a clear and interactive experience for our customers to continue to explore, discover and taste teas they love,” said Sarah Segal, Chief Brand Officer at DAVIDsTEA. The physical stores that remain open are concentrated in the Ontario and Quebec markets. Following a disastrous first quarter, DAVIDsTEA reported a 190% second-quarter increase in e-commerce and wholesale sales to $23 million with a profit of $8.3 million largely due to a $24.2 million decrease in operating costs. Still, sales overall are down by 41% for the three months ending Aug. 1. Still, when compared to the previous year, profits decreased by 62% with gross profit as a percentage of sales declining to 36% from 56% in 2019. Delivery and distribution costs increased by $3 million, according to the company.
该公司表示：“我们希望，线上销售上涨的物流成本低于零售环境中发生的销售成本，这些费用一直以来都被计入行政和管理开支。”
“We expect that the increased cost to deliver online purchases will be less than the selling expenses incurred in a retail environment that have been historically included as part of selling, general and administration expenses,” according to the company.
Sameer Pruthee说：“新冠肺炎疫情改变了消费者的习惯”。疫情首先阻止了个人购物，然后由于社交距离而改变了购物体验。为了使茶叶行业回到原来状态，茶叶公司需要找到方法来适应客户新的消费习惯。
COVID has changed consumer habits, Pruthee says. COVID first cut off in-person shopping, and then transform the shopping experience due to social distancing. For the tea industry to bounce back, tea companies need to find ways to be part of new customer habits.
作者：Jessica Natale Woollard
翻译：于英杰
原标题：在新冠肺炎疫情时期的茶产业(上)Tea in the Time of COVID(Part 1)
(本文节选自11月《茶世界》，更多资讯请关注第465期具体内容)
转载自：中国茶叶流通协会
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