沃尔玛的电子商务自新之路

    那会是一种什么样的情形呢？阿什描述了沃尔玛在2012年推出并在2013年扩大的一个计划：黑色星期五（即感恩节的次日）一小时保证计划。在一种典型的诱购（bait and switch，指以销售低价商品作为诱饵，诱使消费者前往购买高价商品）策略中，长期以来许多零售商一直向在黑色星期五那天在店门外排队的消费者承诺降价销售部分商品。但是，他们很快就会宣布降价销售的商品已经卖断货了（阿什说：“你知道，也就是说，他们只有三件减价商品。”）而消费者只能满腹怨气地在店里瞎转悠。凭借沃尔玛的保证计划，在整个指定优惠时段内排在队伍里的消费者都会买到相应的降价商品。如果这款商品没有现货，沃尔玛将承诺在圣诞节前送货上门。2013年的黑色星期五那天，沃尔玛在一小时之内卖出了100多万台32英寸电视机。

    自从加盟沃尔玛以来，阿什也一直在大举收购，相继收购了几家科技初创公司（包括网站性能优化公司Torbit、电子商务开发平台OneOps、社交初创公司Tasty Labs和礼物应用ShopyCat），这些公司都已经尝试了社交赠礼、订购式定期打包递送盒（subscription box）及近年来在线上购物领域中突然出现的其他趋势。阿什承认，到目前为止，这项新技术还没有为沃尔玛带来多少变革。可是话又说回来，沃尔玛的规模相当庞大，很难迅速发生变革。

    阿什说,沃尔玛正在向它收购的各家公司学习。这是关键。他说：“我们积极求败。”他解释说，失败是证明这家公司正在甘冒一些新的风险的方式。这是硅谷之道。鉴于沃尔玛网站Walmart.com预计在2014年实现营收130亿美元（这个数字正在迅速增长），它也开始成为沃尔玛的行事之道。（Bentonville，阿肯色州本顿维尔是沃尔玛总部所在地——译注）（财富中文网）

    译者：iDo98   

    What does that look like? Ashe described Wal-Mart's Black Friday one-hour guarantees, a program introduced in 2012 and expanded in 2013. In a classic bait and switch, retailers have long promised customers who gather in line on Black Friday certain sales; however, they run out of stock quickly ("You know, then, they only have three items," Ashe says) and the customers are left unhappily nosing around the store. With Wal-Mart's guarantees, customers who stood in line for the entirety of a designated offer got the deal, period. If the item wasn't in stock, they were promised delivery before Christmas. On Black Friday 2013, Wal-Mart sold more than a million 32-inch televisions in an hour.

    Ashe has also been on a purchasing spree since he got to Wal-Mart, buying several tech startups (including Torbit, OneOps, Tasty Labs, and ShopyCat) that have experimented with social gifting, subscription boxes, and other trends that have popped up in online shopping in recent years. Very little of this new technology has moved the needle for Wal-Mart so far, Ashe concedes. Then again, the needle is fairly substantial at Wal-Mart.

    Wal-Mart is learning from its acquisitions, Ashe says. Which is the point. "We strive to fail," he says, explaining that failure is one way to prove that the company is taking new risks. It's the Silicon Valley Way. With $13 billion in revenue from Walmart.com expected in 2014 -- a number that is growing at a fast clip -- it's starting to be the Bentonville Way, too.