The raw and the clicked

　　傳統采購與網購

　　Grocery has so far resisted the rise of onlineshopping. That may be about to change

　　雜貨店可能將無法再抵制住網購的盛行

　　THERE is a huge difference between being late and being too late, said Dalton Philips, theboss of Morrisons, on November 21st, as he announced the launch of the British grocer sonline-shopping service.

　　莫里森公司的老總菲利普于11月21日宣布實行英國雜貨店商網購服務，并且說道：遲了和太遲了之間有著很大差別。

　　Morrisons competitors have been selling broccoli and baby food via the internet for morethan a decade.

　　莫里森公司的競爭對手已經通過網絡銷售花椰菜和嬰幼兒食品長達十多年了。

　　Britain s fourth-largest grocery chainhad shunned e-commerce as a profit-sapping distraction.

　　英國第四大百貨連鎖店一直將電子商務視作其利潤的瓜分者并加以規避。

　　It paid with falling market share and the defection of some of its best customers to Tesco,the country s biggest grocer, and Ocado, an online-only supermarket.

　　而代價是不僅丟失了市場份額，也失去了它們最好的客戶。這些客戶轉而投向英國最大的食品雜貨商樂購公司和只做網上超市的Ocado公司。

　　Morrisons change of heart will be noticed beyond Britain.

　　莫里森公司的回心轉意將會引起英國以及以外的關注。

　　Grocery is the biggest category in retailing but the most resistant to the advance of onlineshopping.

　　食品雜貨是零售業中最大的一類，但也是最抵制網上購物發展的一類。

　　Even in Britain, where it has gone furthest, it may account for just 5% of sales this year.

　　即使是在英國，網上購物也已經發展很久了。可能會占到今年總銷售額的5%。

　　But it is growing fast everywhere.

　　這種迅速發展的網購勢頭隨處可見。

　　The Boston Consulting Group expects the global market to grow from 36 billion this year to100 billion by 2023.

　　波士頓咨詢集團預計截止到2023年，全球的市場將會從今年的360億美元增長到1000億美元。

　　Grocers have held back for good reasons.

　　雜貨商放慢腳步是有原因的。

　　Like many bricks-and-mortar merchants they fret that online commerce will shrivel sales instores but not the costs associated with them.

　　很多實體商鋪的老板擔心在線商務會其他們的銷售額下降，但是卻不會降低其相應的成本。

　　Grocery, with its tiny profit margins, adds complications.

　　作為收益頗微的食品雜貨更使這一情況變得雪上加霜。

　　Virtual shopping-carts contain dozens of low-value items, which must be stored at differenttemperatures.

　　虛擬的購物車中包含著很多低價值的物品，這些物品都需要在不同溫度的環境中儲存。

　　Retailers can either get in-store staff to pick them off the shelves, which becomes disruptiveas volumes rise, or build dedicated warehouses, which is costly. So are home deliveries:even in thickly settled Britain each one costs grocers around 10, but shoppers typically paylittle more than 3.

　　零售商們只能要要店里的員工把它們挑揀下架，然而數量一多就變得凌亂不堪;或者是花巨資建立專門的倉庫。送貨上門也是這樣：即使是在人口密集的英國，每個物品也將花去雜貨商10英鎊，然而購物者卻只需要為此支付不到3英鎊的費用。

　　Consumers are also wary.

　　消費者也感到擔心。

　　Many want to examine fresh produce before they buy it.

　　他們很多人想要在購買之前先檢查生鮮農產品。

　　They recoil when online grocers deliver substitutions instead of what they ordered.

　　當他們收到的物品不是他們訂購的而是在線雜貨商發出的替代品時，他們會撤銷訂單。

　　Many shoppers try grocery websites but get discouraged, says David Shukri of the Institute ofGrocery Distribution in London.

　　倫敦超市物流研究所的大衛說道：很多人試圖通過雜貨商的網站退貨但是屢屢受挫 。

　　Among pioneers there have been spectacular wipeouts.

　　在眾多先驅者當中，有很多全軍覆沒。

　　California s Webvan expanded at breakneck speed, pampered customers with services likehome delivery within half-hour slots, lost control of costs and collapsed in 2001.

　　其中位于加州的Webvan公司以極快的速度擴張業務，為消費者們提供半小時送貨上門的服務，導致其無法控制成本，最終于2001年倒閉。

　　Its demise deterred imitators.

　　這一教訓使很多后來的模仿者望而卻步。

　　In Britain Ocado has yet to make much money after more than a decade.

　　在英國，Ocado公司在經營10多年后還沒有多少盈利。

　　Tesco claims its online operation, with nearly half the British market, is profitable.

　　樂購聲稱其占據了英國將近一半市場的網上業務是有利可圖的。

　　But it uses murky accounting for the cost of stores, where much of the produce is picked,says Andrew Gwynn of Exane BNP Paribas, an investment bank.

　　但是Exane BNP巴黎投資銀行的安德魯?格溫表示，該公司在對很多提供農產品的店面進行成本計算時采用了模糊化處理。

　　Yet to shun online is to risk losing grocers best customers, prosperous families and thosewith children.

　　但是回避網絡意味著將失去很多雜貨店的最佳消費人群。

　　It really is a prisoner s dilemma and you can t afford not to play, says Chris Biggs of BCG.

　　比如那些富裕的以及有孩子的家庭。波士頓咨詢集團的克里斯?比格斯表示：這真是一個如困獸般進退兩難的地步，你無法承擔不參與其中所帶來的損失。

　　Guess who s delivering dinner

　　猜猜誰在給我們提供晚餐

　　In America, today s Webvans look sturdier.

　　在美國，今天的Webvans公司看上去很堅實。

　　Peapod, the biggest American online grocer, acts as the internet arm of the Giant and Stop Shop chains; all are part of Ahold, a Dutch giant.

　　美國最大的在線雜貨商豆莢公司，充當了Stop Shop連鎖店巨頭在互聯網中的左膀右臂;而它們都是荷蘭巨頭阿霍德集團的一部分。

　　It has shown a flair for innovation: Peapod s customers can buy by scanning images ofproducts on delivery lorries and coffee cups with their mobile phones.

　　該企業充分表示了其創新性：豆莢公司的客戶可以用手機掃描送貨車或是咖啡杯上的商品圖片來購買相應產品。

　　Lazy Manhattanites have been ordering Thanksgiving feasts from FreshDirect, thesecond-largest online grocer, which is partly owned by Morrisons. Both ventures prosperbecause they cater to well-off families, largely in cities.

　　慵懶的曼哈頓人已經開始通過FreshDirect公司來訂購感恩節大餐了。該公司是全美第二大在線雜貨商，莫里森公司擁有其部分股份。由于這些服務的對象大多是城市里富裕的家庭，因而這些新興服務都很成功。

　　American behemoths are unlikely to leave the field to specialists.

　　美國的巨頭公司們也不會袖手旁觀，把機會讓給業內行家。

　　Amazon began fresh-food deliveries in Seattle in 2007 and in Los Angeles last year.

　　2007年，亞馬遜在西雅圖就開始它們的生鮮運送業務，去年發展到洛杉磯。

　　It is expected to add maybe 20 cities in 2023, some abroad.

　　它們預計到2023年將會把業務拓展到20個城市，包括海外城市。

　　Traditional grocery chains will respond.

　　傳統的食品雜貨連鎖店也會對此作出反應。

　　They are determined not to repeat the mistakes other sorts of retailers made at the turn ofthe century, when they were too afraid of Amazon, says Robert Hetu of Gartner, atechnology-research firm.

　　一家技術研究公司的羅伯特表示: 它們決心不會重蹈覆轍，重復其它零售商在世紀之交時犯的錯誤，它們那時過于懼怕亞馬遜。

　　Safeway, the second-largest supermarket chain in North America, is the only one besidesAhold with a substantial online operation.

　　北美地區第二大連鎖超市Safeway公司是除了阿霍德集團外的唯一一家擁有大量網購業務的公司。

　　Walmart, the world s biggest retailer, remains hesitant.

　　全球最大的零售商沃爾瑪公司仍持觀望態度。

　　Neil Ashe, its head of e-commerce, has questioned whether the chain s budget-mindedcustomers want groceries delivered.

　　其電子商務主管阿西亞對它們那些精明的客戶是否需要食品雜貨運送服務表示質疑。

　　But this may be changing. A pilot project in San Francisco and San Jose is being extended toDenver.

　　但是他可能改變想法。在舊金山和圣何塞的試點項目正擴展到丹佛。

　　Walmart Labs in Silicon Valley has imported many of the people who developed theonline-grocery business at Asda, its British subsidiary.

　　沃爾瑪在硅谷的實驗室先后引進許多在其英國子公司阿斯達開發網上雜貨業務的人。

　　On November 25th Walmart said that its new chief executive would be Doug McMillon, whoas head of the international operation is responsible for Asda.

　　沃爾瑪于11月25日表示將任命阿斯達國際化經營的負責人麥克米倫為其首席執行官。

　　He may speed Walmart s halting American effort.

　　他可能會加速沃爾瑪網絡業務的進程。

　　If a big American retailer plunges in, others will take it seriously and the market will expandrapidly, says Mr Biggs.

　　比格斯先生，如果一家美國零售巨頭進來分一杯羹的時候，其它企業就都認真起來了，市場將很快被拓展。

　　With luck, the newcomers will avoid the mistakes of earlier stumblers.

　　如果運氣好的話，這些新來的可以避免早期失足者的錯誤。

　　Where internet grocery is still immature, supermarkets can encourage shoppers to clickand collect from stores rather than spoil them with home delivery.

　　網上超市還很不成熟，超市可以鼓勵顧客從商店點擊領取，而不是送貨上門的方式。

　　A likelier model for sprawling, car-crazy America is France, where shoppers pick upgroceries from drive-through supermarktes.

　　對于一個汽車泛濫的美國來說，法國的做法可能是美國模仿的對象。

　　As volumes rise, picking will shift to shopperless dark stores and to automated,super-efficient fulfilment centres like Ocado s.

　　在那里購物都是從免下車超市自行選取商品。隨著業務量的上升，選購的方式可能慢慢演化成看不見人流的隱形商店，并逐漸變成類似于Ocado的高效、自動化物流中心。

　　BCG reckons that shoppers who become online converts spend 30% more.

　　波士頓咨詢集團估計，成為網上購物者將多消費30%以上。

　　Another boon is that distribution centres on cheap land consume less capital than urbanstores.

　　另一福音是在廉價地區的分配中心的花銷比市區門店的少。

　　Online grocers can thus earn a decent return on capital even with thin operating margins, MrGwynn says.

　　因此，溫格說，網上雜貨店可以賺取可觀的回報即使利潤微薄。

　　He expects Ocado, which will share its second fulfilment centre with Morrisons, to achieve itsfirst proper profit next year.

　　他預計Ocado公司，這將與莫里森公司共享其第二物流中心，于明年實第一次實現適當的利潤。

　　But as more consumers do their bulk buying online, and grocers start shutting their biggerurban stores, there will be a lot of large retail properties looking for new tenants.

　　但隨著網購消費者的增多做，雜貨店開始關閉其更大的市區門店，這樣以來就會有很多的大型零售物業尋找新的租戶。

　　Morrisons does not have the luxury of starting slowly.

　　莫里森承受不起慢慢來的巨大代價。

　　It hopes to make up for its late start by entrancing shoppers.

　　它希望讓客戶沉迷于其開展的業務以彌補起步較晚的劣勢。

　　It will post frank ratings of its produce to build trust, a trick learnt from FreshDirect.

　　它們將發布產品的信用評級制度，這是從FreshDirect學到的。

　　If a customer doesn t like the look of the fresh food delivered to her door, she can send itback and claim a voucher.

　　如果客戶對送到她們門口的新鮮食品不滿意，她們可以要求退貨并索要發票。

　　Isn t this the sort of coddling that wrecked Webvan?

　　這會不會像Webvan公司那樣過分縱容消費者呢?

　　No, says Mr Philips, for three reasons: Morrisons will exploit its buying power, its emphasison fresh food brings relatively high margins and it will piggyback on Ocado s operations.

　　不會，飛利浦先生認為有三個原因：莫里森將利用其購買力，為購買新鮮食物帶來相對較高的利潤率，同時也會捎帶開展Ocado的業務。

　　The latecomer will beguile shoppers.

　　后來者會欺騙消費者，

　　It may be harder to charm shareholders.

　　也將更難討好股東們。

　　詞語解釋

　　1.be about to 將要，正打算;臨到

　　Now he may be about to get a second chance.

　　而今，他可能將要獲得第二個機會了。

　　Beijing may be about to face its own creditmobilier scandal.

　　中國政府也許即將面臨它自己的credit mobilier丑聞。

　　2.resistant to 有抵抗力的，耐藥的

　　Britons are naturally resistant to radical ideas.

　　英國人天生是抵抗激進思想的。

　　Dr. mishori says some people mistakenly believe they can become resistant to colds.

　　米歇里博士說，一些人錯誤地認為他們可以抵抗感冒。

　　3.account for 導致，引起

　　Computers account for 5% of the country s commercial electricity consumption.

　　計算機占去該國商業用電的5%。

　　Now, the gene they discovered today doesn t account for all those cases.

　　不過，他們現在發現的基因無法解釋所有的病例。

　　4.associate with 與交往， 聯系;交接

　　Create a container control designer class to associate with the custom control.