中英文 高级产业经济学翻译作业

Why Does Movie Popcorn Cost So Much?

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—Movie theaters are notorious for charging consumers top dollar for concession items such as popcorn, soda, and candy. Are moviegoers just being gouged?

为什么电影院里的爆米花卖的那么贵？

斯坦福商学研究生院——电影院因在爆米花、饮料和糖果这样的特许项目上向消费者收取高价而被人诟病，那么影迷们到底是不是被“敲诈”了呢？

New research from Stanford and the University of California, Santa Cruz suggests that there is a method to theaters’ madness—and one that in fact benefits the viewing public. By charging high prices on concessions, exhibition houses are able to keep ticket prices lower, which allows more people to enjoy the silver-screen experience.

来自斯坦福大学的Santa Cruz做了一项新研究，研究表明电影院收取高价行为有一定的合理性——事实上，这对观众是有利的。通过在特许商品上收取高价，电影院能够维持一个低的票价，这样能使更多的人在影院享受电影。

The findings empirically answer the age-old question of whether it’s better to charge more for a primary product (in this case, the movie ticket) or a secondary product (the popcorn). Putting the premium on the ―frill‖ items, it turns out, indeed opens up the possibility for price-sensitive people to see films. That means more customers coming to theaters in general, and a nice profit from those who are willing to fork it over for the Gummy Bears.

实证的结果回答了这个古老的问题，那就是对主要产品（本例中的电影票）或次要产品（爆米花）收更高的价格哪一个更好。事实证明，将费用加在“花边”项目上，即使是价格敏感的人还是有可能去看电影。这意味着会有更多的顾客去电影院，由此带来高利润，主要来自于那些愿意为橡皮糖买单的人。

Indeed, movie exhibition houses rely on concession sales to keep their businesses viable. Although concessions account for only about 20 percent of gross revenues, they represent some 40 percent of theaters’ profits. That’s because while ticket revenues must be shared with movie distributors, 100 percent of concessions go straight into an exhibitor’s coffers.

事实上，电影院依靠特许产品销售来维持经营。尽管特许产品的收入只占总收入的20%，但是其利润却占总利润的40%。那是因为票价收入必须与电影发行商共享，而特许商品的收入则全部归电影院所有。

Looking at detailed revenue data for a chain of movie theaters in Spain, Wesley Hartmann, associate professor of marketing at the Graduate School of Business, and Ricard Gil, assistant professor in economics at University of California, Santa Cruz, proved that pricing concessions on the high side in relation to admission tickets makes sense.

斯坦福大学研究生商学院的副教授Wesley Hartmann和他来自位于圣克鲁兹的

加利福尼亚大学的助手教授Ricard Gil通过对西班牙一个连锁电影院收益数据

进行细致的分析，证实了对特许产品制定较高的价格而对电影票收取较低的价格

是有道理可循的。

They compared concession purchases in weeks with low and high movie attendance.

他们比较了观众数量不同的几周内特许产品的销售收入，并计算单个观众的消费数额。

The fact that concession sales were proportionately higher during

low-attendance periods suggested the presence of ―die-hard‖ moviegoers willing to see any kind of film, good or bad––and willing to purchase

high-priced popcorn to boot. ―The logic is that if they’re wil ling to pay, say, $10 for a bad movie, they would be willing to pay even more for a good movie,‖ said Hartmann. ―This is underscored by the fact that they do pay more, even for a bad movie, as is seen in their concession buying. So for the times they’re in the theater seeing good or popular movies, they’re actually getting more quality than they would have needed to show up. That means that, essentially, you could have charged them a higher price for the ticket.‖

事实证明，当观众数量较少时，单个观众在特许产品上支出要更高些。这是因为有“铁杆“影迷的存在，他们可以接受任何种类电影，并愿意买高价的爆米花。Hartmann说：“这个逻辑是这样的，如果他们愿意为一部不好的电影支付10美元，他们就愿意为一部好电影支付更多，事实上，这些人甚至可以为一部不好的电影花费更多（主要是花在特许产品上）。这更加印证的了上面的逻辑。当这些”“铁杆”影迷享受一部好的电影时，他们会感到自己来电影院是赚到了。所以在这种情况下电影院则可以通过提高票价来增加收入。”

Should theaters flirt with raising their ticket prices then? No, says Hartmann. The die-hard group does not represent the average movie viewer. While the

f ilm-o-philes might be willin

g to pay, say, $15 for a movie ticket, a theater that tried suc

h a pricing tactic would soon find itself closing its doors.