2021年经济学人 电子商务巨头亚马逊向实体零售业发展（2）

In future customers will want “omnichannel” retail¹ that combines online and physical shopping, says Mark Shmulik of Bernstein, a broker².

伯恩斯坦公司的经纪人Mark Shmulik说，在未来，顾客会想要将线上和线下购物结合起来的“全渠道”零售。

As for Amazon’s move into department stores, he has one question: “What took them so long?”

至于亚马逊进军百货商店，他问了一个问题：“他们怎么花了这么长时间？”

The firm’s motive³ is also defensive⁴.

该公司的动机也是防御性的。

Walmart has made omnichannel work well during the pandemic by melding its formidable physical network with its website and offering a same-day “click-and-collect” service.

在疫情期间，沃尔玛通过将其强大的实体网络与网站相结合，并提供当日“点击取货”服务，使全渠道零售运作良好。

Getting more physical may not be easy.

实体化发展可能并不容易。

Amazon’s bricks-and-mortar performance has been ho-hum.

亚马逊实体店一直表现不佳。

Whereas most other big American grocers’ sales have doubled or even tripled in the pandemic, those of Whole Foods have barely budged⁵, notes Sucharita Kodali of Forrester, a research firm.

弗雷斯特研究公司的苏查里塔·科达利指出，在疫情期间，大多数其他美国大型食品杂货商的销售额都翻了一番甚至是原来的三倍，而全食超市的销售额几乎没有变化。

Amazon’s total physical-store revenues last year were 6% lower than in 2018.

亚马逊去年的实体店总收入比2018年下降了6%。

Making Amazonmarts appeal to shoppers may be harder than Amazon anticipates.

使亚马逊超市吸引到顾客可能比亚马逊预期的要难。

It reportedly wants them to sell its cheap private-label garments and gadgets⁶, which is at odds⁷ with its aspirations⁸ for the stores to offer high-end fashion, where it has struggled online.

据说，该公司希望这些商店销售其廉价的自有品牌服装和小配件，这与它希望商店提供高端时尚的愿景不一致，它的线上业务一直在这方面挣扎。

It is unclear if the outlets⁹ will mimic¹⁰ existing examples of the department-store canon, as Amazon Fresh shops resemble conventional grocers, or if Amazon plans to shake things up.

目前还不清楚这些商店是否会效仿现有的百货商店模式，就像亚马逊生鲜店一样，或者亚马逊是否打算改变现状。

Another question is how the move will affect returns for shareholders¹¹.

另一个问题是，此举将如何影响股东的回报。

Amazon should be able to rent or buy locations cheaply — bankruptcies¹² have left many department-store properties up for grabs.

亚马逊应该能够以较低的价格租赁或购买店面——破产使得许多百货商店的资产现可供竞购。

Yet investors¹³ may be disappointed that Amazon will devote ever more resources to retail.

然而，投资者可能会对亚马逊将投入更多资源于零售业务感到失望。

Many prefer its faster-growing, vastly more profitable and techier businesses: digital ads and cloud computing¹⁴.

许多人更喜欢其增长更快、利润更丰厚、技术含量更高的业务：数字广告和云计算。

“Why tackle a dying industry?” asks Ms Kodali, suggesting that Amazon could have another crack at making smartphones.

科达利问道，“为什么要去对付一个垂死的行业呢？”，这表明亚马逊可能会再次尝试生产智能手机。

Amazon’s share price is down by 8% since its latest results.

自最新财报公布以来，亚马逊股价下跌了8%。

As well as posting slower online sales for the second quarter it forecast slowing total sales in the next.

在公布第二季度线上销售放缓的同时，该公司预计下一季度总销售额也将放缓。

It also warned that costs will rise sharply in the future as it ramps¹⁵ up investing.

该公司还警告称，随着其投资力度加大，未来成本将大幅上升。

Physical retail would claim some of the dosh.

实体零售业将分得其中的一部分资金。

The irony¹⁶ would not be lost on Sears and other defunct¹⁷ department stores.

西尔斯和其他倒闭的百货公司也注意到了这一具有讽刺意味的事实。

1 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。

2 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

3 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

4 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。

5 budged   

v.（使）稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）改变主意，（使）让步

参考例句：

• Old Bosc had never budged an inch--he was totally indifferent. 老包斯克一直连动也没有动，他全然无所谓。 来自辞典例句
• Nobody budged you an inch. 别人一丁点儿都算计不了你。 来自辞典例句

6 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

7 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

8 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

9 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

11 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

12 bankruptcies   

n.破产( bankruptcy的名词复数 )；倒闭；彻底失败；（名誉等的）完全丧失

参考例句：

• It's a matter of record that there were ten bankruptcies in the town last year. 去年这个城市有十家破产是事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. 破产企业的数量比前一年增加５０％。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

14 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

15 ramps   

resources allocation and multiproject scheduling 资源分配和多项目的行程安排

参考例句：

• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。
• He has the upper floor and ramps are fitted everywhere for his convenience. 他住在上面一层，为了他的方便着想，到处设有坡道。

16 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

17 defunct   

adj.死亡的；已倒闭的

参考例句：

• The scheme for building an airport seems to be completely defunct now.建造新机场的计划看来整个完蛋了。
• This schema object is defunct.No modifications are allowed until it is made active again.此架构对象不起作用。在重新激活之前，不能进行任何改动。