恐懼和貪婪：中國O2O熱潮的動力

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2020年07月18日

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恐懼和貪婪：中國O2O熱潮的動力

O2O即Online To Offline（在線離線/線上到線下），是指將線下的商務機會與互聯(lián)網結合，讓互聯(lián)網成為線下交易的前臺。在移動互聯(lián)網基本已經成為生活構成要素的今天，搶占時下最熱的O2O市場無疑就成了一塊可以立于不敗之地的戰(zhàn)略抉擇，百度等一些公司的大規(guī)模投入都是為了搶占這塊未來的戰(zhàn)略高地。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

enthuse 充滿熱情地說

commodity 商品

wariness 小心

jargon 術語

hype 夸張的廣告宣傳

clout 影響力

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Fear and greed drive China’s online to offline commerce craze（764words）

By Richard Waters

* * *

Sometimes, simply invoking the latest hot consumer internet trend is not enough. Chinese search engine Baidu learned that late last month, as its deepening investment in so-called “online to offline” commerce, or O2O, left a chill on its stock price.

In China, O2O has been all the rage. But the term has been slapped on such a broad range of businesses that it has become meaningless. Chinese consumers, for instance, think the most useful aspect of O2O is going to a physical store to pick up and return things bought online, according to consultancy firm McKinsey. Others use the term to describe online ordering of local services from independent suppliers. Elsewhere in the world this is known as the on-demand economy.

Low labour costs in China have made this model particularly attractive, according to its supporters. Local media enthuse breathlessly about manicurists who can make a multiple of the median wage and tour guides who are suddenly a hot commodity.

Investor wariness is therefore understandable. Some of the old categories of the consumer internet are breaking down, and it is not entirely clear what lasting new business models will emerge — let alone who will come out on top.

O2O, internet-plus, on-demand, full-stack start-ups — all of the half-formed jargon being applied to these new approaches is one indication of the definitional vagueness. It also leaves room for plenty of hype.

Of the many different O2O services being promoted, the most effective seem to link an online user interface to a service or product that has not been deeply touched by the internet. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz calls these “full-stack start-ups”, because they offer a more integrated style of commerce.

Companies claiming part of this new market come in many shapes, but they share two broad aims.

One is to vacuum up online orders in volume, giving them extra clout in negotiations with real-world retailers or service providers.Dominant digital platforms that are able to aggregate large numbers of users — a trend accelerated by the shift to mobile apps — have been the main forces behind this.

In China, all but one of the 15 most actively used mobile apps is owned by or associated with one of the three leading internet companies: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. That is according to Weibo, the Twitter-like service that is itself affiliated with Alibaba.

Some specialist apps have had enough of a headstart that they have been able to establish themselves as platforms in their own right. Uber and Airbnb are prime examples. But many others are likely to be drawn into the orbits of the big internet companies, which have the ecommerce capabilities to support their operations.

This points to the second common aim of companies in the O2O space: they want to deliver an end-to-end service, from collecting an order to arranging for a service and handling the payment. Having a digital wallet offering is both a key part of “closing the loop” and, potentially, a highly profitable opportunity in its own right.

One question hanging over the heads of these companies is whether they can keep the high-margin online profits to themselves while shuffling off the more prosaic “offline” aspects of the job to others. In the US, this is under threat due to legal questions about whether the independent contractors that on-demand companies use to keep their costs low should be reclassified as employees.

However, another even bigger issue is how defensible these new businesses will be in the long run. For now, money is being poured into subsidising a land grab, as companies race to offer services at below cost to sign up users. In a bull market — where user numbers rather than profits are the key — the sums being committed are huge.

Once the dust settles, the companies that have signed up the most customers will be in control. Barriers to entry and switching costs for users will allow them to raise prices. But this is still only a theory. Those business that will not make it into the ranks of major platform players will face an even more uncertain future.

That explains the recent nervousness of Baidu’s investors, but the company has few options. Growth in PC-based online markets is slowing and established ways of making money — like the lead-based advertising on Baidu’s search engine — are under threat from the rise of the smartphone.

請根據你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

This is one internet craze that is being driven as much by fear as greed.

1. Which of the following factors in China have made the O2O model particularly attractive?

a. Grand online market

b. A great number of customers

c. Low labour costs

d. Support from the government

2. Which of the following names is not mentioned as one of the O2O’s alternative name?

a. Internet-plus

b. On-demand

c. Full-stack start-ups

d. Internet-to-offline