????安娜塔西雅對我其實(shí)沒興趣和她結(jié)婚這事兒似乎并不太在意。這位23歲的烏克蘭姑娘在我們開的私人聊天室里大膽地向我拋來一串串問題，這個(gè)聊天室每分鐘要花我一美元。實(shí)際上，她好像真的喜歡我。她向我發(fā)來各種表情符號，還想知道如果我寫本自傳，會起個(gè)什么書名（我說，我其實(shí)也沒主意）。

????我這是在AnastasiaDate.com上聊天，這算是為那些尋求海外情緣的單身人士提供“尊享國際相親”服務(wù)的領(lǐng)先供應(yīng)商（至于我的聊天對象的名字和該網(wǎng)站名字一樣，這純屬巧合）。“尊享國際相親”是傳統(tǒng)上稱之為郵購新娘（mail-order bride，是指通過婚姻中介在紙質(zhì)目錄、網(wǎng)絡(luò)、電視或其他形式的廣告宣傳，由男性從中挑選，并借此出嫁的女性——譯注）業(yè)務(wù)的全新雅號。多虧像我這樣愿意付費(fèi)和像安娜塔西雅這樣的年輕美女——她跟我聊天也是有報(bào)酬的，這樁買賣才格外興隆。

????郵購新娘行業(yè)的具體收入數(shù)字很難獲得。但AnastasiaDate向《財(cái)富》雜志獨(dú)家分享了它的銷售和增長數(shù)據(jù)。2012年，這家公司掙了1.1億美元。2013年，它預(yù)計(jì)自己的營收會達(dá)到1.4億美元。它的用戶增長情況更是驚人：2012年其網(wǎng)站流量增長了220%。網(wǎng)站目前用戶有400萬人，每年在該網(wǎng)站累計(jì)消耗的時(shí)間達(dá)到3.6億個(gè)小時(shí)。僅在3月，它的訪問量就達(dá)到了260萬次。

????AnastasiaDate并非一枝獨(dú)秀。全球化時(shí)代的到來，無處不在的在線相親為新時(shí)代的郵購新娘企業(yè)提供了新舞臺，讓它們獲得了前所未有的人氣。據(jù)市場研究公司益佰利（Experian Marketing Services）稱，前10大尊享國際相親網(wǎng)站3月的訪問量達(dá)到了1,220萬次。相比去年同期，這個(gè)數(shù)字增長了29%——跟其他業(yè)務(wù)相對來說停滯不前的在線相親網(wǎng)站相比，這個(gè)增幅十分巨大。3月，在1,400個(gè)網(wǎng)站中，AnastasiaDate是排名第29位的最受歡迎的在線相親服務(wù)網(wǎng)站。而且，它相信還有增長空間。公司首席戰(zhàn)略官馬克?布魯克斯表示：“我認(rèn)為還有大量未釋放的需求。人們正在認(rèn)識到，還有比Match.com更大的空間?！?/p>

????不過，為了獲得布魯克斯所希望的增長，這家公司必須設(shè)法消除郵購新娘業(yè)長期以來揮之不去的不良名聲。這個(gè)行業(yè)通常的做法是虛構(gòu)一些經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況不佳的恨嫁女形象，或是一些一心想找個(gè)傳統(tǒng)型老婆（也就是百依百順型）來料理家務(wù)的美國男性。所以毫不奇怪，現(xiàn)在這個(gè)蒸蒸日上的行業(yè)正努力讓自己有個(gè)好名聲。在布魯克斯看來，國際相親服務(wù)現(xiàn)在的體面程度可謂如日中天——這和在線相親業(yè)早期的情況幾乎如出一轍，直到人們把它看成僅僅是另一種交往方式為止。他預(yù)計(jì)，美國女性最終也會用這個(gè)網(wǎng)站，男女經(jīng)濟(jì)差異也會逐漸消失，但這一天真正到來可能有點(diǎn)遙不可及。而現(xiàn)在，AnastasiaDate正使盡渾身解數(shù)要讓自己的運(yùn)作模式成為主流。不過再主流，也只能是從不發(fā)達(dá)國家輸入新娘而已。

????Anastasia doesn't seem particularly concerned that I'm not interested in marrying her. The 23-year-old Ukrainian is gamely answering questions in our private Internet chat room, which is costing me about a buck a minute. In fact, she seems to like me. She's sending me emoticons and even wants to know what I would title a book that was based on my life. (Not really sure, I tell her.)

????I'm on AnastasiaDate.com, the leading provider of "premium international dating" services for singles looking for love abroad. (Her name being the same as the site's is a coincidence.) Premium international dating is a new name for what's traditionally referred to as the mail-order bride business. And thanks to people like me willing to pay to talk with beautiful young women like Anastasia -- who was paid to respond -- the trade is doing pretty well.

????Revenue numbers for the mail-order bride industry are hard to come by. But AnastasiaDate shared its sales and growth statistics exclusively with Fortune. The company made $110 million in 2012. In 2013, it projects it will make $140 million. Its user growth is even more impressive: The site's traffic grew 220% in 2012. It now has four million users, who cumulatively spend some 360 million hours on the site per year. It racked up 2.6 million visits in March alone.

????AnastasiaDate is not alone. The advent of globalization and the ubiquity of online dating has set the stage for new-age mail-order bride companies to gain unprecedented popularity. According to market research firm Experian Marketing Services, the top 10 premium international dating sites drew 12.2 million visits in March. That's a 29% uptick from March of last year -- a huge increase compared to the rest of the relatively stagnant online dating industry. In March, AnastasiaDate was the 29th most popular online dating service period, in a category of 1,400 sites. And the company believes there's room for expansion. "I think there's a lot of pent-up demand," says Chief Strategy Officer Mark Brooks. "People are realizing that there's a bigger world than Match.com."

????To achieve the kind of growth Brooks is hoping for, though, the company will have to overcome the deep stigma surrounding the mail-order bride industry. The practice conjures images of women desperate to marry out of failing economies; and of unappealing American men looking for a traditional (read: submissive) mate to keep the house clean. Not surprisingly, the growing industry is attempting to shine up its reputation. Brooks sees international dating today as being on the cusp of respectability -- in much the same way online dating was in its early stages, before people accepted it as just another way to meet someone. Eventually, he foresees American women using the site and predicts that the economic disparities will fade away, but that may be a long way off. For now, AnastasiaDate is making a big push to go mainstream with its current model, as mainstream as courting younger foreign women from underperforming economies can really get, that is.