歐洲時尚品牌電商用“中國模式”對抗亞馬遜

柏林——羅伯特·根茨(Robert Gentz)在北京走下柏林航空(Air Berlin)的飛機時，目標還是征服中國線上時尚產(chǎn)業(yè)。等踏上返回柏林的旅途時，他已經(jīng)有了一個新計劃：復(fù)制中國模式。

Gentz, a 34-year-old German who is a co-founder of Zalando — a European clone of Zappos, the online U.S. shoes and fashion retailer owned by Amazon — held meetings in fall 2013 with Chinese and international fashion labels, online stores and other parts of the local e-commerce industry. He wanted to expand his company into the world’s largest digital market.

現(xiàn)年34歲的德國人根茨是Zalando網(wǎng)站的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人，該網(wǎng)站是亞馬遜(Amazon)旗下美國鞋履和時尚產(chǎn)品線上零售商Zappos的歐洲克隆版。2013年秋天，根茨會見了若干中國及國際時尚品牌、線上商店以及中國本土電商產(chǎn)業(yè)其他領(lǐng)域的人士。他想讓自己的企業(yè)進軍世界上最大的數(shù)字市場。

But after the meetings, Gentz decided China’s approach to online fashion was far ahead of anything available elsewhere. He marveled at how Chinese consumers freely chatted with — and bought from — brands and stylists on WeChat, a local internet messenger, while online retailers, independent delivery companies and fashion houses routinely joined forces.

但根茨在會面后意識到，中國的線上時尚產(chǎn)業(yè)模式比其他任何地方都要先進得多。讓他感到驚嘆的是：中國消費者可以如此自由地通過本土網(wǎng)絡(luò)通信軟件微信同品牌及時尚設(shè)計師交流，并從他們那里購買商品，與此同時，線上零售商、獨立的物流公司以及時尚公司之間的通力合作已經(jīng)頗為普遍。

“We wanted to take that experience back to Europe,” Gentz said.

“我們想要把這些經(jīng)驗帶回歐洲，”根茨說。

This holiday season, Zalando, which is Europe’s biggest digital fashion player, is using a made-in-China approach to take on Amazon, just as the U.S. giant is looking to cement its place as the world’s dominant e-commerce company by expanding aggressively into the Continent’s still-fragmented world of digital fashion.

這個節(jié)假日，作為歐洲數(shù)字時尚產(chǎn)業(yè)最大市場主體的Zalando正利用源自中國的模式對抗美國巨擘亞馬遜——為了鞏固其在世界電商領(lǐng)域的主導(dǎo)地位，后者正朝著歐洲大陸依然頗為分散的數(shù)字時尚產(chǎn)業(yè)進軍。

Few companies have been able to keep Amazon — the largest online fashion seller in the United States — at bay after it enters a new market. The notable exception is in China, where rivals like Alibaba, the world’s second-largest online seller by market value, have been able to hold their ground.

亞馬遜是美國最大的線上時尚產(chǎn)品銷售商，它進入一個新市場后，幾乎沒有哪家公司能夠阻擋它的腳步。在中國卻出現(xiàn)了引人注目的例外，阿里巴巴之類的競爭對手守住了自己的陣地。就市值而言，阿里巴巴是世界第二大線上銷售商。

For decades, tech companies have taken their cues from Silicon Valley. But Zalando’s approach of borrowing from its Chinese counterparts represents a new strategy of looking East, not West, for inspiration.

數(shù)十年來，科技公司一直以硅谷為榜樣。但Zalando向中國同行取經(jīng)的方式，代表著一種從東方而非西方尋求靈感的新戰(zhàn)略。

In overhauling its successful European online fashion store into a digital platform, Zalando differs from others trying to match Amazon and its logistics and technological prowess.

Zalando將自己頗為成功的歐洲時尚網(wǎng)店改造為數(shù)字平臺，在這一點上與其他試圖同亞馬遜及其物流和科技實力一較高低的公司頗為不同。

The German company previously focused on handling all sales and inventory itself. But in addition to selling directly to consumers, it now wants to remake itself into a digital shopping mall, allowing fashion houses and retailers to make sales as well, often with limited input from Zalando.

這家德國公司以前注重靠自己處理全部銷售和倉儲工作。但現(xiàn)在，除了直接面向消費者銷售外，該公司還希望把自己重新打造成一個數(shù)字商場，允許其他時裝店和零售商在其中進行銷售，Zalando為此通常只需投入有限的資源。

These efforts, roughly a year in the making, may foster a rare European tech player able to give Silicon Valley heavy-hitters a run for their money across the region, still one of the world’s largest — and most profitable — markets.

這些做法醞釀了大約一年時間。它們或許會在歐洲培養(yǎng)出一個罕見的，能為硅谷大佬在該地區(qū)提供投資機會的科技行業(yè)主體。該地區(qū)仍是全世界最大——也是最賺錢——的市場之一。

“If you want to be the dominant player in a geographical area, you need to go beyond being just a traditional e-commerce player,” said Erik Mitteregger, a board member at Kinnevik, a Swedish investment firm that was an early Zalando investor and still owns a 32 percent stake. “It’s a necessary move.”

“要想成為一個地理區(qū)域內(nèi)的主導(dǎo)者，你就不能僅做傳統(tǒng)電子商務(wù)市場的參與者，”瑞典投資公司Kinnevik從早期就投資Zalando，目前仍持股32%，其董事埃里克·米特雷格(Erik Mitteregger)說。“這是必不可少的舉措。”

Zalando’s inspiration from China, though, comes with challenges.

但Zalando從中國找到的靈感伴隨著挑戰(zhàn)。

Despite domestic dominance, Chinese players like Alibaba have yet to successfully replicate their business model overseas. Online shopping habits in Europe also are somewhat different from those in China. And Amazon and European competitors, including ASOS and Yoox Net-a-Porter, may yet outmuscle Zalando with their traditional takes on e-commerce.

盡管在國內(nèi)占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位，但像阿里巴巴這樣的中國市場主體尚未成功地將自己的商業(yè)模式復(fù)制到國外。歐洲的網(wǎng)購習(xí)慣也和中國有些不同。而且亞馬遜，以及包括ASOS和Yoox Net-a-Porter在內(nèi)的歐洲競爭對手也許會憑借在電商領(lǐng)域的傳統(tǒng)收入打敗Zalando。

For most Americans — and even some Europeans outside its core German-speaking markets — Zalando is not a household name.

對大部分美國人來說，Zalando并不是一個家喻戶曉的名字，甚至對于該公司在講德語的核心市場之外的不少歐洲人來說也是如此。

It began in 2008 as a Berlin startup founded by Gentz and David Schneider, two business school graduates who once tried — and failed — to build a Latin American rival to Facebook. By 2014, Zalando had become the largest public offering in the European tech sector since 2000. It counts Rocket Internet, a Berlin incubator known for copying successful online business ideas, and DST Global, a backer of Facebook, Twitter and Alibaba, among its early investors.

它成立于2008年，最初只是根茨和戴維·施奈德(David Schneider)在柏林建立的一家初創(chuàng)公司。根茨和施奈德都畢業(yè)于商學(xué)院，兩人曾試圖在拉丁美洲打造一個能夠與Facebook競爭的平臺，后以失敗告終。到2014年，Zalando已經(jīng)成為歐洲科技行業(yè)自2000年以來公開募股規(guī)模最大的公司。以模仿成功在線商業(yè)理念而出名的柏林孵化器Rocket Internet，以及投資過Facebook、Twitter和阿里巴巴的DST全球(DST Global)都是它的早期投資者。

To meet the needs of Europe’s national markets, Zalando has tweaked its offerings. In Germany, where few people use credit cards, consumers can pay with an online service linked to their bank accounts after receiving clothes in the mail. In Italy, it worked with a local delivery company so people wary of goods not arriving could pay in cash upon receipt of their orders.

為了滿足歐洲各國市場的需求，Zalando對自己的服務(wù)做了輕微的調(diào)整。在鮮有人使用信用卡的德國，消費者可在收到郵寄來的衣物后，通過一項與其銀行賬戶綁定的在線服務(wù)付款。在意大利，Zalando與當?shù)氐囊患铱爝f公司合作，讓擔心收不到貨的人可在貨到后通過現(xiàn)金付款。

While European competitors have also earned loyal followings, Zalando remains the largest, both by market valuation and total online sales, according to Euromonitor, a data provider. It is expected to double its yearly pretax earnings this year, to $220 million, and revenue is likely to jump more than 20 percent, to $4 billion, according to an average of equity analysts’ estimates.

盡管該公司在歐洲的競爭對手們已經(jīng)贏得了忠實的支持者，但根據(jù)數(shù)據(jù)供應(yīng)商歐睿(Euromonitor)提供的數(shù)據(jù)，Zalando從市值和在線銷售總額來看依然是規(guī)模最大的。從多位股票分析師預(yù)估的平均情況來看，Zalando今年的年稅前利潤有望翻倍至2.2億美元，收入可能會增加逾20%，至40億美元。

“Zalando is well placed to be a leading fashion platform in Europe,” said Andrea Ferraz, a Morgan Stanley analyst in London.

“Zalando處于有利的位置，有望成為歐洲領(lǐng)先的時尚平臺，”摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)駐倫敦的分析師安德烈亞·費拉斯(Andrea Ferraz)說。

Still, the company remains a relative minnow — its $9.5 billion valuation is one-fortieth that of Amazon. And Europe’s fast-growing online fashion market, estimated to be worth $75 billion, has not gone unnoticed by e-commerce giants.

但該公司相對來說依然無足輕重——其95億美元的估值僅為亞馬遜的四十分之一。并且歐洲在線時尚市場正以迅速的勢頭增長，其估計價值為750億美元，它并未躲過電商巨頭的注意。

Alibaba has hired local country managers and brought its payment service to Europe, mostly to serve Chinese visitors. Amazon has opened a fashion studio in London and joined the British Fashion Council to bolster its local credibility.

阿里巴巴在各國雇傭了當?shù)氐墓芾砣藛T，并將其支付服務(wù)引入了歐洲，主要是為了服務(wù)中國游客。亞馬遜在倫敦設(shè)立了一個時裝工作室，并與英國時裝協(xié)會(British Fashion Council)聯(lián)手，以增強自己在當?shù)氐目尚哦取?/p>

To compete with Amazon and others, Zalando has spent heavily on a network of logistics hubs that dot the European landscape.

為了與亞馬遜和其他對手競爭，Zalando花重金將散布于歐洲各地的物流樞紐連接成一個網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

For Nicolas Borg, a Zalando strategy executive who previously worked at eBay, the next stage will most likely be chatbots, or humanlike interactions powered by artificial intelligence, to offer fashion advice to consumers on the likes of Facebook Messenger.

Zalando負責戰(zhàn)略事務(wù)的高管尼古拉斯·博格(Nicolas Borg)曾任職于eBay，他認為下一個階段極有可能是通過聊天機器人，或由人工智能實現(xiàn)的類似人類的互動，在Facebook Messenger之類平臺上為消費者提供時尚建議。

“In the future, what will matter is not where the purchase happens, but how you can influence it,” Borg said.

“在未來，購買在什么地方發(fā)生并不重要，重要的是你如何影響購買，”博格說。

“That is our biggest challenge,” he added. “How do we change the online experience?”

“這是我們最大的挑戰(zhàn)，”他補充說。“我們?nèi)绾胃淖冊诰€體驗?”