一年前的昨天，以亞馬遜為目標的電子商務(wù)新星Jet.com開門營業(yè)。此前該公司獲得了數(shù)億美元投資，并在開業(yè)前做了大量宣傳。還未賣出一個錢包、一個微波爐或者一瓶洗衣液，Jet.com的價值就已經(jīng)達到近6億美元。

然而，過去的一年挑戰(zhàn)重重。Jet.com被迫調(diào)整了策略，應(yīng)付了該公司花錢無度卻無明確盈利模式的報道，還和知名品牌發(fā)生了沖突。

不過，盡管起步有些磕磕絆絆，但創(chuàng)始人馬克·洛爾的樂觀情緒似乎沒有任何減退，他依然相信亞馬遜主導(dǎo)下的電商行業(yè)還有另一家企業(yè)的位置。

洛爾接受《財富》雜志采訪時表示：“從未出現(xiàn)過贏家通吃的市場。一定會有真正的第二、第三和第四大公司，而我們將成為其中之一?！?

他舉例說，Jet.com的銷售額已經(jīng)是六個月前的三倍。去年12月，該公司售出了3,300萬美元的商品；今年5月這個數(shù)字則為9,000萬美元。

洛爾指出：“我們的年銷售規(guī)模可達11億美元。”這里他采用了一個普遍但模糊的硅谷業(yè)績指標，也就是用最近一個月的表現(xiàn)來推算今后的收入規(guī)模?！拔覀兊脑鲩L率高的沒治了?！?

Jet.com曾于2015年7月推出了會員制網(wǎng)站，目的是在和亞馬遜的大批量售賣業(yè)務(wù)展開競爭的同時，挑戰(zhàn)山姆會員店以及好市多等實體倉儲式超市。繳納50美元的年費后，該網(wǎng)站用戶就可以購買尿布、清潔和體育用品，Jet.com承諾這些商品的價格會比任何網(wǎng)站都低10%-15%。

然而，Jet.com在2015年10月放棄了50美元一年的會員制，當時這是它獲取利潤的唯一方法。由于商品都打了10%左右的折扣，銷售額不會讓Jet.com盈利。但該公司表示，消費者仍對4%-5%的折扣感到滿意，它也得以通過銷售廁紙和尿布等產(chǎn)品賺取利潤。

Jet.com開業(yè)之際，其他一些警示信號也表明麻煩將至?！度A爾街日報》在該公司網(wǎng)站上線前進行了試用。他們購買了22件商品，其中12件由零售商直接發(fā)貨，并沒有經(jīng)過Jet.com。這12件商品總價275.55美元，但《華爾街日報》估算，這筆訂單讓Jet.com損失了242.91美元。

除了價格較低，Jet.com和亞馬遜的另一大不同點是它把寶押在了動態(tài)定價上。也就是說，Jet.com上的商品價格會根據(jù)消費者購買的物品而改變。舉例來說，如果顧客買下的商品放在不同的倉庫，最終價格就會較高，原因是為了分別包裝和發(fā)運這些商品，賣家要花較多的錢。反過來，Jet.com通過較低的價格來鼓勵消費者在附近的一個倉庫購買多件商品。如果消費者放棄不想要的商品的退貨權(quán)，也會獲得折扣。

一年來，這項策略一直未變。洛爾和Jet.com首席客戶官莉莎·蘭茲曼上周四表示，到目前為止該策略一直很成功。實際上，蘭茲曼還說該公司將推出更多類似的激勵措施，其中可能包括和制造商分享郵件以及延長交付時間，以便讓消費者獲得較低的價格。

食品雜貨一直是Jet.com試水的另一個領(lǐng)域。今年4月，該公司悄悄地在紐約市、新澤西州、華盛頓市、康涅狄格州以及賓夕法尼亞州嘗試進入食品雜貨領(lǐng)域，覆蓋范圍包括875個郵遞區(qū)號。除了牛奶、水果、蔬菜、麥片和罐裝食品外，還有其他許多商品可供選擇。

蘭茲曼說，涉足食品雜貨這項低利潤率業(yè)務(wù)的原因是這些商品往往會帶來回頭客，而且這些顧客或許還會購買非食品雜貨類商品。

洛爾表示，Jet.com還一直致力于提供某些種類的食品，比如不含谷蛋白的食品、潔食認證食品以及印度和中國食品。他說，人們愿意為這些較難找到的商品支付較高的價格，而這對Jet.com來說意味著較高的利潤率。食品雜貨派送范圍已經(jīng)覆蓋1500個郵遞區(qū)號，而且還在延伸。同時，Jet.com將使用可返還的食品雜貨包裝箱，或者說，顧客可以把裝食品的快遞箱子返還，從而降低成本。

最后，Jet.com預(yù)計將效仿亞馬遜，向消費者推出自有品牌的尿布等產(chǎn)品。亞馬遜已經(jīng)開始出售自己的咖啡、嬰兒食品和服裝，這有可能讓它的利潤率超過經(jīng)銷其他制造商的產(chǎn)品。

洛爾指出：“我們當然正在為此進行準備?！彼€說，這樣的機會“唾手可得”。Jet.com打算開發(fā)自有品牌產(chǎn)品的領(lǐng)域包括健康和美容、嬰兒產(chǎn)品以及食品日雜。

雖然洛爾為Jet.com描述了光明的未來，但這家初創(chuàng)公司的資金將在多久以后耗盡以及它什么時候盈利仍是個問題。洛爾仍預(yù)計Jet.com將在2020年實現(xiàn)盈利，也就是整整三年半以后。他說，今年晚些時候Jet.com才有可能再次融資。去年11月該公司曾籌集資金6.18億美元，此前還曾融資近3億美元。洛爾指出：“我們有財力雄厚的投資者，而且現(xiàn)有投資者的需求足以讓我們的下一輪融資滿載而歸?！?

洛爾相信，要建立一家可以從規(guī)模上和亞馬遜抗衡的電商公司需要大量資金。對此他從不掩飾。他說：“燒錢的公司不會成功是一種錯誤觀念。今后我們會實現(xiàn)盈利，但這需要時間?！?

研究咨詢機構(gòu)Forrester Research分析師蘇恰利塔·穆爾普魯也認為，接近亞馬遜的規(guī)模需要大量資金和嘗試。她指出：“Jet.com要用很長時間來做到這一點。他們和亞馬遜的差距是如此之大，兩家公司甚至都不在同一競爭層面上?！?（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

校對：詹妮

A year ago yesterday, Jet.com, the e-commerce upstart gunning for Amazon, opened for business. It premiered with a huge amount of hype after getting hundreds of millions in funding and a nearly $600 million valuation before selling a single purse, microwave, or bottle of laundry detergent.

But the past year has been filled with challenges. The company has been forced to shift strategies, weathered reports that it was bleeding cash with no clear path to profitability, and scuffled with high profile brands.

But despite the sometimes rocky start, founder Marc Lore doesn’t seem to have lost any optimism about there being room for an e-commerce marketplace in a world dominated by Amazon.

“This has never been a winner take all market,” Lore said in an interview with Fortune. “There will be a really large No. 2, 3, and 4, and we can be one of those.”

As proof, he said Jet’s sales have tripled in the past six months. In December, it sold $33 million in merchandise compared with $90 million in May.

“We’re on a $1.1 billion run rate,” he said, using a popular but fuzzy Silicon Valley business metric that extrapolates future revenue based on results in the latest month. “Our growth rate is off the charts.”

Jet originally launched its membership-based e-commerce site in July 2015 to take on brick and mortar warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club and Costco while also competing against Amazon’s bulk products business. For a $50 annual membership, Jet members could buy diapers, cleaning supplies, and sporting goods, promising prices 10% to 15% below elsewhere online.

But in October, Jet dropped its $50 membership fee, which at the time was of its only ways to make a profit. Because of the discounted prices of around 10% on items, Jet doesn’t make a profit on its sales. But the company said that customers were still happy with 4% or 5% discounts, allowing the company to make some money from selling items like toilet paper and diapers.

There were some other red flags around Jet’s debut that hinted at trouble to come. The Wall Street Journal tested Jet prior to its public launch by buying 22 items, 12 of which were shipped by retailers directly rather than Jet handling the shipping. The prices for those 12 items totaled $275.55. But Jet lost an estimated $242.91 in the sale, according to the Journal.

Besides the lower prices, Jet’s other key differentiator from Amazon is betting on dynamic pricing—meaning the price of items changes depending on what shoppers buy. For example, if shoppers buy multiple items that are in different warehouses, shoppers end up paying more because merchants have to spend more on packaging and shipping the items individually. Conversely, Jet encourages customers through lower prices to buy multiple items that are in a warehouse nearby. Discounts are also offered if the customer forgoes the possibility returning of products they decide against keeping.

This strategy has remained consistent over the past year, and Lore and the company’s chief customer officer, Liza Landsman, said Thursday that this has been successful so far. In fact, Landsman said the company will start offering more of these incentives to lower prices for customers including possibly sharing emails with manufacturers or opting for a longer shipment window.

Groceries has also been another area where Jet has been testing the waters. In April, it quietly started testing an expansion into groceries sales in 875 zip codes in New York City, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Milk, fruits, vegetables, cereal, and canned goods are just some of the items available.

The reasoning for expanding into groceries, a low margin business, is that they tend to draw repeat customers, said Landsman. And these customers may ending up buying other non-grocery items.

Lore said that the company has also focused on offering specialty categories of food such as gluten-free, Kosher food, and Indian and Chinese foods. People are willing to spend more on these harder to find items, and that means higher margins for Jet, he said. Grocery deliveries have been expanded to 1,500 zip codes, with more being added. Jet will also start using returnable shipping containers with groceries, meaning customers can return the containers the food was shipped and delivered in to cut costs.

Lastly, expect to see Jet follow in Amazon’s footsteps, creating private-label brands of diapers and more to sell to customers. Amazon has started to sell its own coffee, baby food and clothing that open the door to higher profit margins than reselling products produced by others.

“It’s absolutely something we have in the works,” said Lore, calling the opportunity “l(fā)ow hanging fruit.” Some of the areas where Jet will be developing their own products include health and beauty, baby, and groceries.

Although Lore paints a bright future for Jet, there’s still the question of how quickly the startup is burning its cash, and when it will become profitable. He still projects profitability in 2020 – a full three and a half years from now—and says that he is unlikely to raise another round of funding until later this year. In November, the startup raised $618 million in new funding on top of nearly $300 million raised previously. “We’ve got deep pocketed investors and we have enough demand from existing investors to fill the next round,” he said.

Lore hasn’t been shy about his belief that creating an e-commerce company that can compete at the scale of Amazon requires a lot of money. “It’s a misconception that if a company is burning cash, it’s not going to make it. We will become profitable in the future, but it will take time.” he said.

Sucharita Mulpuru, analyst at Forrester Research, agrees that it will take a lot of capital and experimentation to come close to Amazon’s scale. “It’s going to take a lot of time for Jet,” she said. “They are so far behind Amazon, they are not even in the same playing field.”