摘 要

本文有力地证明了中美奥特莱斯有着鲜明的差异，主要从规模、地理位置、产品档次和折扣力度等方面论述了其差异性，并试图分析导致这种差异的主观与客观因素，其中包括：地价、关税等税收壁垒、运营模式、消费者习惯以及品牌入驻标准。结果表明，作为一种新型的零售业态模式，奥特莱斯在其诞生地美国的发展已经非常成熟和先进。毫无疑问，对中国来说，完全照搬美国奥莱的发展模式是不合理也是不可行的，但依长久之计，可以借鉴其长处继而形成中国自己的特色。这就鼓励国内有关部门出台相应的法律法规来保证以上建议的实施。

关键词：商业；奥特莱斯；美国；中国；原因；差异

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Demonstration 3
   1. Differences in Outlets between China and America 3
      1. In terms of scale 3
      2. In terms of location… 4
      3. In terms of grade of goods… 5
      4. In terms of degree of discounts… 5
   2. Causes of the differences… 6
      1. Objective causes 6
         1. Land price 6
         2. Tariff and other tax barriers… 7
         3. Operating mode 9
      2. Subjective causes 10
         1. Consumption habits of customers… 10
         2. Entry standards of brands… 12
3. Conclusion… 12

Notes 14

Works Cited 15

Bibliography 16

Cause Analysis of the Differences Between Chinese and American Outlets

Introduction

• 1. A brief introduction to Outlets

A general definition to an outlet store or factory outlet is “a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. This concept extends back more than a century, when apparel and shoes factory stores on the East Coast of the United States began to offer excess or damaged goods to employees at price discounts” (Coughlan and Soberman 2). Then, when Harold Alfond, founder of the Dexter Shoe Company invented the first worldwide factory outlet store, outlet started to have its modern usage—attaching branded manufacturing directly to retailing.

Outlets carry their own unique benefits, undoubtedly. Basically, products that are directly sold to consumers are characterized as big branded, either sold out or short in size but at lower price. Past research has shown that as for consumers, there is a strong relationship between price and quality, but recent studies have found that there are no significant differences in the quality of apparel sold in two retail formats

– outlet stores and department stores; however, there was a significant difference in the price. The department store merchandise was 31 per cent higher in price than the outlet store merchandise (Clodfelter and Fowler 1). In general,¹outlet manufacturing goods can take a discount up to 40%-90% of their original prices. Moreover, outlet stores often have large-sized parking lots as well as comfortable environment.

Since worldwide economy continues to develop and people’s brand awareness continues to be enhanced, outlets are taking a momentum in expansion either in America, China or the whole world, even though the entire retailing industry is plagued with various problems such as simple state structure and increasingly fierce competition.

1.2.²A description of the developing history of China’s Outlets

Influenced by international outlet success, outlets in China started in 2002. Its first step was to set up a large-sized outlet mall with a high standard. As a result, Yansha Outlets Shopping Center opened up in Beijing. Covering 35,000 square meters, it was equipped with more than 600 parking spaces and attracted over 400 international brands to enter. Located in East Fourth Circle Road, Beijing Yansha Outlets Shopping Center unexpectedly created over 1 billion RMB turnover in the first year of its opening. Today, both the business area and parking lot space have been tripled after a decade’s development.