2019年经济学人 熊彼特企业管理专栏--零售杂货店电商之争(1)

 

Business

来源于《商业》版块

Schumpeter

熊彼特企业管理专栏

Tomato catch-up

番茄，快点走，再不快点就变成番茄酱了

Ocado wages a grocery war against Amazon, Walmart and Alibaba

Ocado与亚马逊、沃尔玛和阿里巴巴的杂货大战

Panic is sweeping¹ through supermarket aisles². Profits are meagre, convenience is king, discounters are rife³. Even Amazon, Walmart and Alibaba, the world’s three biggest retailers⁵, are trembling. No one has fully⁶ mastered the art of selling groceries online. The business represents just 2.3%, or $160bn, of a worldwide grocery market of $7trn. As that share rises, as it will surely continue to, it could be life or death for some in the industry.

恐慌席卷了超市过道。利润微薄、便利至上、折扣商店盛行。甚至连全球最大的三家零售商——亚马逊、沃尔玛和阿里巴巴都惶惶不安。没有哪家完全掌握在线销售杂货的艺术。在线销售仅占全球7万亿美元杂货市场的2.3%，即1600亿美元。随着这一比例的上升(当然还会继续上升)，对一些业内人士来说，这可能是生死攸关的大事。

In the midst of this mêlée is a fast-talking Brit, Tim Steiner. The firm he co-founded, Ocado, has shaken up the British online retail⁴ market, and it is trying to do the same internationally. By selling expertise⁷ from almost 20 years as a pioneering online grocer to supermarkets in America and elsewhere, he wants to help them become a fourth force in the industry—able to resist the big three.

一位花言巧语的英国人提姆·施坦纳（Ocado的CEO、创始人之一）正处于这行混乱之间。他与人共同创立的公司Ocado已经撼动了英国的在线零售市场，并试图在国际上做同样的事情。他希望通过向美国和其他地方的超市出售自己在网上经营杂货近20年的经验，帮助他们成为这个行业的第四股力量——能够抵抗三巨头。

His patter is honed by a career battling doubters (an analyst⁸ once put him down with the quip: “Ocado begins with an ‘o’, ends with an ‘o’, and is worth zero”). Sceptics still harbour deep reservations. Though Ocado has more than tripled in value in the past two years to ￡7.5bn ($9.6bn), its share price has plunged⁹ recently. But his insurgency¹⁰ shows how the battle to dominate online groceries remains¹¹ wide open. Ocado has as good a chance as anyone.

他的口头禅是在职业生涯中与怀疑者的斗争中磨练出来的（一位分析师曾用一句俏皮话来反驳他：“Ocado以o开头，以o结尾，价值为0”)。持怀疑态度的人仍持保留态度。尽管Ocado的市值在过去两年中增长了两倍多，达到75亿英镑（合96亿美元），但其股价最近大幅下跌。但提姆·施坦纳的叛乱表明，争夺在线杂货业主导权的战斗仍在继续。Ocado和其他竞争者一样有机会。

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 aisles   

n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊

参考例句：

• Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期，原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
• They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近，并且很快就坐了下来。

3 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。