2019年经济学人 熊彼特企业管理专栏--外卖经济学(2)

 

Mr Groen is a reluctant apostle of black magic. He once said of his efforts to expand beyond the Netherlands, “It’s horrible. We’ve spent 100 times more money in Germany than I thought I’d ever be able to spend.” Takeaway’s deal with Just Eat highlights the conviction that consolidation¹ is the only way to make the sums add up.

格伦先生是一个不情愿的黑魔法传道者。他曾在谈到自己在荷兰之外扩张的努力时说，“这太可怕了。我们在德国花的钱比我想象的要多100倍。”外卖与Just Eat的交易突显出一种信念，即整合是实现盈利的唯一途径。

The food-delivery business can be split into two camps: mostly profitable veterans and loss-making newcomers. The veterans, founded at the start of the century, are led by publicly traded Grubhub in America, and Just Eat and Takeaway in Europe. The trio are collectively worth $18bn or so. They account for the largest share of the market, offering customers online access to restaurants that already have their own delivery services, such as pizza joints², sushi bars and Chinese restaurants. Their relatively³ simple business model, in which they take a cut of the bill from the restaurants, has enabled Grubhub and Just Eat to turn a profit for years. Takeaway makes money in its home market of the Netherlands.

送餐业务可以分为两个阵营:主要是盈利的老手和亏损的新人。老手组织成立于本世纪初，由美国上市公司Grubhub、欧洲Just Eat以及Takeaway领导。这三家公司的总市值约为180亿美元。它们占据了最大的市场份额，为顾客提供了进入已经拥有自己送货服务的餐厅的在线通道，比如比萨店、寿司店和中餐馆。他们相对简单的商业模式，即从餐馆中收取一定的费用，使得Grubhub和Just Eat多年来一直盈利。而Takeaway则在荷兰本土获利颇丰。

The newbies, born more recently, have turned a once-tidy business into a food fight. They include listed firms such as Meituan of China and Delivery Hero of Germany, Uber Eats (part of Uber), Ele.me (owned by China’s Alibaba), and privately⁴ held DoorDash, based in San Francisco, and Deliveroo, from London. For most of them, delivery is their core business, so they share their cut of the bill with riders as well as restaurants. This substantially broadens the market to restaurants offering everything from steak to Hawaiian poke⁵ bowls. But margins⁶ suffer. Funded largely by venture capital, they have thrown subsidies⁷ at customers, forcing their veteran rivals onto the defensive⁸. To catch up, the veterans are investing in advertising⁹ and delivery networks—at a big cost. This week Grubhub and Just Eat reported slumping¹⁰ earnings¹¹, and Takeaway mounting losses, as they spent heavily to fend¹² off the upstarts.

而新来者是最近才有的，他们把原本井然有序的生意变成了一场食物大战。这些公司包括中国的美团和德国的快递超人、Uber Eats (属于Uber)、饿了么(由中国阿里巴巴所有)、总部位于旧金山的私人控股公司DoorDash和总部位于伦敦的Deliveroo。对这些公司中的大部分来说，送货是核心业务，所以他们与骑手和餐馆分享账单。这大大拓宽了市场，餐厅提供从牛排到夏威夷沙拉的一切。但是利润受到了影响。其资金主要来自风险资本，向客户提供补贴，迫使老牌竞争对手采取守势。为了迎头赶上，老手们在广告和配送网络上投入了巨资。本周，Grubhub和Just Eat公布收益下滑，外卖业务亏损不断增加，因为投入了巨资抵御后来居上者。

1 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

2 joints   

接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语）

参考例句：

• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on gas mains. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在煤气的总管道上了。
• Expansion joints of various kinds are fitted on steam pipes. 各种各样的伸缩接头被安装在蒸气管道上了。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

5 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

6 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

7 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

9 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

10 slumping   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的现在分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Hong Kong's slumping economy also caused a rise in bankruptcy applications. 香港经济低迷，破产申请个案随之上升。
• And as with slumping, over-arching can also be a simple postural habit. 就像弯腰驼背，过度挺直也可能只是一种习惯性姿势。

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

12 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。