2021年经济学人 电子商务巨头亚马逊向实体零售业发展（2）（在线收听）

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

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 motive is also defensive.

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 budged, 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 gadgets, which is at odds with its aspirations 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 outlets will mimic 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 shareholders.

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 — bankruptcies 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 investors 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 computing.

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 ramps 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 irony would not be lost on Sears and other defunct 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。