中国公司逐鹿全球电商大市场

电子商务的摇钱树

    电子商务占便宜的一点是，当用户进入阿里巴巴、亚马逊、eBay或其他流行的网购网站时，他们希望获得的就是购物体验，而且也愿意为此埋单。而搜索引擎公司和社交网络就没有这种优势了。他们必须用间接手段获得收入，还得面临更大的风险，也就是说，广告和其他试图获得收入的手段会破坏用户体验。

    作为电商领域的领军者，亚马逊主要依靠资本密集、垂直整合的战略采购存货，同时运营一个十分庞大的库房和运营中心网络。亚马逊是一个完备的线上版零售业务，将成品销售视为收入和毛利的主要来源。不过尽管亚马逊增速迅猛，它电商业务的成功却是以庞大的资本投入和微薄的利润率为基础的。

    与之相对的是，阿里巴巴和eBay的商业模式基础却是运营网上市场。这类生态系统主要靠牵线搭桥来运转，而不是和数量庞大的商户、批发商、生产商以及物流和快递公司竞争。

    比如，阿里巴巴一直以来都在和成千上万的中国小商户做交易。这些商户获得产品销售的收入和毛利，而阿里巴巴的收入主要是靠基于效果的广告和佣金，以及一系列重要的增值服务。阿里巴巴的独特做法是，不向众多商户收取入场费，从而把自己的收入和这些商户的成功经营更好地挂钩【信息披露：银湖投资（Silver Lake）是阿里巴巴的投资者之一】。

    对绝大多数打算在中国进行在线销售的企业来说，加入阿里巴巴的生态系统、而不是与之竞争是个管用得多的战略。阿里巴巴每天吸引的独立访客超过1亿人，他们产生的销售收入比亚马逊和eBay全球网站的总和还要多，快递包裹数则占中国半壁江山还多。其他规模较小的中国电商企业则在大型垂直购物领域选择了亚马逊式的发展模式，但为了获得增长，它们只能砸下巨资。

E-Commerce Monetization Machine

    The blessing of e-commerce is that when users enter the domains of Alibaba, Amazon, eBay (EBAY), or other popular destinations, they anticipate a commercial experience and are prepared to pay for it. Search companies and social media networks do not share this advantage. They must generate revenue using indirect methods and face greater risks that ads and other monetization efforts will impair the user experience.

    As the pioneer in e-commerce, Amazon relies upon a capital-intensive, vertically-integrated strategy to purchase inventory and run a massive network of warehouses and fulfillment centers. Operating as the online version of a full retail operation, Amazon recognizes completed product sales as its primary source of revenues and gross profits. Yet despite Amazon's enormous growth, its e-commerce success has come at massive capital cost and thin profit margins.

    In contrast, Alibaba and eBay run business models based on operating online marketplaces. These ecosystems are based on partnering, rather than competing with a vast spectrum of merchants, wholesalers, manufacturers, and logistics and delivery companies.

    Alibaba, for example, has entered into a grand bargain with thousands of Chinese merchants. The merchants receive the product revenue and gross profit while Alibaba's revenues are generated by a combination of performance-based advertising and commissions, as well as a range of important value-added services. Alibaba uniquely has chosen not to charge listing fees to better align its revenues with the success of its merchants. (Disclosure: Silver Lake is an investor in Alibaba)

    For the majority of businesses seeking to sell online in China, joining the Alibaba ecosystem has been a more effective strategy than trying to compete with it. Alibaba attracts over 100 million daily unique visitors who generate more sales volume than the global sites of Amazon and eBay combined and more than half of the parcel deliveries in China. Other smaller Chinese online retailers have pursued Amazon-type models in large shopping verticals but have consumed extraordinary amounts of cash in order to grow.