這家公司有望成為阿里巴巴進(jìn)軍美國(guó)的橋頭堡:ShopRunner
ShopRunner公司首席執(zhí)行官斯科特?湯普森
????今年9月,當(dāng)阿里巴巴(Alibaba)在聲勢(shì)浩大的首次公開(kāi)募股中籌得250億美元時(shí),美國(guó)的電子商務(wù)公司都很想知道,這家中國(guó)電商巨頭準(zhǔn)備何時(shí)拿這筆錢(qián)與它們展開(kāi)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。 ????沒(méi)有人真正知道答案。阿里巴巴目前更注重在美國(guó)投資,而不是在美國(guó)運(yùn)營(yíng)。畢竟,中國(guó)市場(chǎng)本身就十分巨大。在上周中國(guó)的“雙十一”購(gòu)物狂歡日當(dāng)天,阿里巴巴的銷(xiāo)售額高達(dá)93億美元。 ????不過(guò)仔細(xì)觀(guān)察,我們還是能夠找到一些探究阿里巴巴戰(zhàn)略的方法。比如,阿里巴巴的招股說(shuō)明書(shū)中唯一提到的美國(guó)投資,是收購(gòu)了ShopRunner 公司39%的股權(quán)。該公司的服務(wù)與亞馬遜金牌會(huì)員服務(wù)(AmazonPrime)非常類(lèi)似,其創(chuàng)始人曾經(jīng)創(chuàng)建過(guò)亞馬遜的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手GSI Commerce公司,后者如今已被易趣(eBay)收購(gòu)。去年,阿里巴巴在ShopRunner上投資了約2億美元。該公司還投資了私家車(chē)搭乘服務(wù)應(yīng)用Lyft和游戲制造商Kabam,不過(guò)招股說(shuō)明書(shū)只提到了ShopRunner。 ????為了進(jìn)一步了解ShopRunner,我最近參觀(guān)了它在加利福尼亞州圣馬特奧的辦公室,并對(duì)該公司首席執(zhí)行官斯科特?湯普森進(jìn)行了采訪(fǎng)。你也許記得他曾經(jīng)擔(dān)任過(guò)雅虎(Yahoo)首席執(zhí)行官,后來(lái)因?yàn)槁臍v有水分而被迫在2012年離職。加入雅虎之前,他曾擔(dān)任易趣支付平臺(tái)貝寶公司(PayPal)總裁。 ????事實(shí)證明,ShopRunner擁有一個(gè)有趣的小眾市場(chǎng)。亞馬遜金牌服務(wù)的顧客能夠以每年99美元的價(jià)格,讓買(mǎi)到的任何東西(后來(lái)還包括流媒體視頻)送貨上門(mén)。而ShopRunner顧客可選擇的品牌經(jīng)過(guò)了進(jìn)一步篩選,也更系統(tǒng)一些。他們可以花79美元獲得免費(fèi)的兩日內(nèi)送貨上門(mén)服務(wù)。此舉不僅是為了吸引顧客,還試圖吸引那些不愿意和亞馬遜其他商品捆綁在一起的商家。 ????科技高管湯普森正學(xué)著像一個(gè)店主那樣說(shuō)話(huà)?!傲闶凵虝?huì)問(wèn):‘我在購(gòu)物中心里會(huì)與誰(shuí)為鄰?’在零售業(yè)中,大量品牌毗鄰而居。亞馬遜的庫(kù)存量很大,所以如果你非常在意自己的品牌,你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己被太多東西包圍了。我們的看法是:如果你要買(mǎi)必需品,那就去找亞馬遜金牌服務(wù);如果你要真正喜歡的,對(duì)你有特殊感情的東西,那就來(lái)找我們?!?/p> |
????When Alibaba raised $25 billion in its blockbuster I.P.O. in September, U.S.-based e-commerce companies were curious to know when the Chinese giant planned to begin spending that money to compete against them. ????The answer is that no one really knows: Alibaba has been focused more on investing in the U.S. than in operating there. The China market, after all, is huge. Witness the $7-billion “Singles Day” shopping orgy the country celebrated on Tuesday. ????Look more closely, though, and there are ways to discern Alibaba’s strategy. For instance, the only U.S. investment it discussed in its I.P.O. filing was the 39% stake it took in ShopRunner, an Amazon Prime-like service founded by the same team that started an Amazon competitor called GSI Commerce, now part of eBay . Alibaba invested about $200 million in ShopRunner last year. It also has invested in taxi-killer Lyft and game maker Kabam, but only ShopRunner earned the prospectus mention. ????To learn more about ShopRunner I recently visited its offices in San Mateo, Calif. and the company’s CEO, Scott Thompson. You might remember him as the one-time CEO of Yahoo who left after reports that his resume wasn’t altogether accurate. He left Yahoo in 2012 and before that had been a top PayPal executive at eBay. ????ShopRunner, it turns out, has an interesting niche. Whereas Amazon Prime customers can get anything under the sun—and then some, including streaming videos—delivered to them for $99 a year, ShopRunner customers get a more select, slightly more curated collection of brands. They pay $79 for free, two-day delivery. It’s a deal designed to attract consumers but also merchants, who see the value of not being glopped together with everyone else over at Amazon. ????Thompson, the technology executive, is learning to talk like a merchant. “Retailers ask, ‘Who is my neighbor in the mall?’ There’s a lot of brand adjacency in retailing. Amazon has a lot of SKUs. So if you’re someone who is very thoughtful about your brand, you’re in the middle of a lot of stuff. Our attitude is, if it’s something you need, go with Amazon Prime. If it’s something you want and have an emotional connection to, that’s us.” |
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