????2011年5月，電商網(wǎng)站Gilt Groupe推出了旗下最新的銷售網(wǎng)站——美食網(wǎng)站Gilt Taste。就在此前數(shù)周，Gilt Groupe剛剛從包括高盛集團(tuán)（Goldman Sachs）在內(nèi)的投資者手中籌集到1.38億美元的投資資金，此輪融資給予該公司的估值大約為10億美元。

????當(dāng)時(shí)，美食家們都在慶祝露絲?雷切爾的回歸。2009年11月，康泰納仕公司（Condé Nast）關(guān)閉了旗下的《美食家》雜志（Gourmet），雷切爾被迫放棄了雜志主編的寶座。聘請(qǐng)雷切爾擔(dān)任評(píng)論顧問的Gilt承諾，美食網(wǎng)站Gilt Taste為飲食倫理主義者（指一個(gè)人僅食用符合一定道德準(zhǔn)則的食物,特別是有機(jī)食品和人道飼養(yǎng)的肉類、家禽和魚類——譯者注）提供“難以找到的手工食物”（他們獲得這些食物的機(jī)會(huì)有限）——比如“住在紐約市以外地區(qū)的人”，同時(shí)提供給雷切爾帶來名望的那類評(píng)論內(nèi)容。

????Gilt Groupe賴以成名的是大幅打折而限量庫存的實(shí)時(shí)閃購模式，借此把紐約風(fēng)格的樣品銷售帶到全世界。跟它不同的是，Gilt Taste自稱建立的目的是成為一個(gè) “奢侈品牌”，以高端價(jià)格銷售高端食品。然而這個(gè)模式并沒有奏效，今年5月24日，Gilt Taste悄然停業(yè)了。

????但正如一批已經(jīng)成立、正在增長以及前景有望的食品-科技初創(chuàng)公司所表明的那樣，Gilt Taste的失敗并不能證明地方食品經(jīng)濟(jì)無法在年銷售額高達(dá)2,250億美元的電子商務(wù)產(chǎn)業(yè)中分到一杯羹。然而，Gilt Taste的滑鐵盧的確表明，在線銷售食品與兜售名牌手袋完全不同，而理解這些差異至關(guān)重要。

Gilt犯了什么錯(cuò)誤？

????Gilt Taste的消亡，以及諸如早期在線食品雜貨零售初創(chuàng)公司W(wǎng)ebvan和在線食品市場(chǎng)與訂付服務(wù)網(wǎng)站Foodzie等電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站的失敗存在多方面的原因。

????食品的根本特性——至少食品電商運(yùn)動(dòng)所理解的食品特性，是直接與其初創(chuàng)模式不一致的。任何農(nóng)場(chǎng)、城市、地區(qū)或國家，都不會(huì)有相同的地方食品體系，因此相關(guān)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)無法以一種簡(jiǎn)單——或者甚至不是那么簡(jiǎn)單——的算法來加以估算。Lifestyle Zen是一家為包括食品-科技初創(chuàng)公司在內(nèi)的創(chuàng)新企業(yè)家提供服務(wù)的律師事務(wù)所。這家律師事務(wù)所的老板帕特里斯?帕金斯認(rèn)為這是期望進(jìn)軍食品領(lǐng)域的技術(shù)型人才當(dāng)中普遍存在的一個(gè)誤解?！按蠹艺J(rèn)為，只要擁有一個(gè)能干的程序員團(tuán)和創(chuàng)意人才，找到合適的團(tuán)隊(duì)，差不多很快就可以把某個(gè)創(chuàng)意從構(gòu)思階段推進(jìn)到執(zhí)行階段。”但是，她進(jìn)一步表示，很多時(shí)候，“人們并沒有進(jìn)行充分的市場(chǎng)調(diào)研，無法真正保證自己所提供的產(chǎn)品一定有市場(chǎng)需求。”

????Gilt當(dāng)時(shí)還面臨著其他挑戰(zhàn)。盡管它的網(wǎng)站流量頗為可觀——平均每月吸引10萬名獨(dú)立訪問者，但它的評(píng)論內(nèi)容并沒有拉動(dòng)銷售。美食家可能很樂意如饑似渴地閱讀有關(guān)新鹽或者最美味的意大利熏火腿的文章，但是，這并不意味著她會(huì)購買這些產(chǎn)品。與食品雜貨不同，手工食品通常被認(rèn)為是一個(gè)利基市場(chǎng)。它們可以作為很不錯(cuò)的禮物，以及偶爾的美味享受，但大多數(shù)人——即便是美食家——也不會(huì)過于頻繁地購買高檔松露油。而有意購買這些產(chǎn)品的客戶通常會(huì)在他們可以看到、聞到以及品嘗這些產(chǎn)品的某個(gè)地方采購，比如：在農(nóng)貿(mào)市場(chǎng)、在全食超市（Whole Foods），或者在食品手工制作者自己的實(shí)體店。

????In May 2011, just weeks after raising $138 million in financing from investors including Goldman Sachs (GS) and scoring a valuation of "roughly $1 billion," Gilt Groupe unveiled its latest sale site, Gilt Taste.

????Foodies celebrated the return of Ruth Reichl, who had been forced to abdicate her throne as editor in chief of Condé Nast's Gourmet when the magazine folded in November 2009. With Reichl as editorial advisor, Gilt promised a site offering "artisanal hard-to-find foods" for ethical eaters with limited access to such products -- e.g. "people who live outside New York City" -- as well as the kind of editorial content that made Reichl famous.

????But unlike the heavily discounted, limited inventory, real-time flash sales that brought New York-style sample sales to the world -- and made Gilt Groupe famous -- Gilt Taste was built to be a self-described "luxury brand," selling high-end food at high-end prices. This model, it turned out, didn't work, and Gilt Taste quietly folded on May 24 this year.

????But as a bevy of established, growing, and up-and-coming food-tech startups are making clear, Gilt Taste's failure is not proof that local food economies can't get a piece of the $225 billion e-commerce industry. It is a sign, though, that selling food online is different than peddling designer handbags, and understanding those differences is key to success.

What went wrong at Gilt?

????There are a number of explanations for Gilt Taste's demise, as well as failed e-commerce food sites like Webvan, an early online grocery startup, and Foodzie, an online food marketplace and subscription service.

????The very nature of food, at least as the food movement envisions it, is directly at odds with the startup model. No farm, city, region, or state is going to have the same local food system, so scaling can't be computed with a simple -- or even not so simple -- algorithm. Patrice Perkins, owner of Lifestyle Zen, a law firm for creative entrepreneurs including food-tech startups, sees this as a common misunderstanding among tech types looking to jump into the food space. "You have a team of talented programmers and creative people, and if you have the right team in place, you literally can get something from ideation to execution overnight." But, she adds, very often, "there's not enough market research to really make sure there's a need for the product that you offer."

????Gilt faced other challenges as well. Despite its respectable site traffic -- averaging 100,000 unique visitors every month -- editorial content did not translate into high sales. A foodie may happily gorge herself on articles about new salts or the best prosciutto, but that doesn't mean she is going to buy those products. Unlike groceries, artisanal foods are generally considered a niche market. They make great gifts, as well as delicious occasional treats, but most people -- even foodies -- aren't buying high-end truffle oil too often. And the customers who are in the market for these products are usually buying them somewhere they can see, smell, and taste the goods first: at the farmers market, at Whole Foods, or at the artisan's own brick-and-mortar shop.