美国有线新闻 CNN 黑色星期五过后，美国迎来退货高潮

What U.S. city is believed to be the source of the retail¹ term Black Friday?

美国哪个城市被认为是零售业术语黑色星期五的来源？

Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana, New York, New York? Philadelphia or Pennsylvania?

芝加哥、伊利诺伊、印第安纳波利斯、印第安纳、纽约、纽约州? 宾夕法尼亚还是费城?

In the 1960s' police in Philadelphia reportedly used the term to describe the shopping and sports mayhem that hit the city after Thanksgiving.

据报道，在20世纪60年代，费城警方用这个词来描述感恩节后危害该市的购物和运动混乱。

Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days on the U.S. shopping calendar.

传统上，感恩节后的第一天是美国购物日程表上最繁忙的日子之一。

So, the term Black Friday has also been used to describe when retail stores move into the black, meaning they show a profit for the year.

因此，Black Friday这个词也被用来描述零售店“move into the black”，意思是他们这一年盈利。

It makes sense that store traffic, the number of people shopping in person, increased more than 47 percent this year over last year when more stayed home because of COVID concerns.

今年商店客流量，即亲自购物的人数比去年增加了47%以上，去年更多的人因为担心新冠肺炎而留在家里，这是说的通的。

But according to Sensormatic Solutions, a retail analytics and operations company, this year's Black Friday's store traffic was still 28 percent lower than it was in 2019 before the pandemic.

但根据零售分析和运营公司Sensormal Solutions的数据，今年黑色星期五的门店客流量仍比疫情前的2019年下降了28%。

Observers believe it's because people started shopping sooner this year and spread out their buying instead of concentrating it on just one day.

观察人士认为，这是因为人们今年开始更早地购物，并分散购买，而不是集中在一天购买。

Returns are inevitably² part of this process.

退货是这个过程不可避免的一部分。

Free returns.They're customer's insurance policy for shopping online, but what happens to those returns after you give them back might surprise you.

免费退货。它们是顾客网上购物的保险单，但当你退回货物后，这些退货情况可能会让你大吃一惊。

For customers really believe the product just goes into the black hole or ends up being resold to another customer.

因为客户真的认为产品只是消失得无影无踪，或者最终被转售给了另一位客户。

In many instances, that's not the case.

在许多情况下，情况并非如此。

In reality, many of these products never return anywhere.

在现实中，许多这样的产品都不会退回到任何地方。

Instead, they may end up here, or even here.

取而代之的是，他们可能最终会来到这里，甚至是这里。

You know easily 25 percent of all these returns get destroyed.

你知道，很容易这些退货中就有25%被销毁。

In fact, returns have become such a headache for retailers⁴ that in some cases they're just refunding⁵ customers, letting them keep or donate the unwanted items.

事实上，退货已经成为零售商非常头疼的问题，在某些情况下，他们只是退还顾客金额，让他们保留货物或捐赠不需要的货物。

The cost of getting the product back from the customer is much higher than traditionally just getting the product to the customer.

从客户那里拿回产品的成本比传统上只把产品送到客户手中的成本要高得多。

Turns out, free returns are far from it.

事实证明，免费退货远非如此。

There's a very large disparity between the amount of returns that happen from consumers that buy products online versus⁶ in the store.

网上购买产品的消费者和商店购买产品的消费者在退货数量之间存在着非常大的差距。

In a brick-and-mortar store, we typically get somewhere between five and 10 percent returns, but online we get north of 30 percent returns.

在实体店，通常会有5%到10%的退货，但在网上，会有30%以上的退货。

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic pushed online shopping and returns to record highs.

2020年，新冠疫情推动网购和退货创下历史新高。

CVRE, a commercial real estate service, estimates that Americans will end up returning up $70 billion worth of online purchases post-holiday season.

商业房地产服务公司CVRE估计，假期结束后，美国人最终将退掉价值700亿美元的在线购物。

That's a staggering⁷ 73 percent growth from the previous five-year average.

这比前五年的平均水平增长了73%，令人震惊。

Here's why that's a problem.

这就是为什么这是一个问题。

The entire returns business in and of itself is just extremely complex.

整个退货业务本身就是极其复杂的。

Big retailers already use data to improve the shopping experience on the front end.

大型零售商已经在使用数据来改善前端的购物体验。

Walmart believes data should play a bigger role in the returns process too.

沃尔玛认为，数据也应该在退货过程中发挥更大的作用。

We're constantly digging into the data to understand why customers are bringing stuff back.

我们不断地挖掘数据，以了解客户为什么要退回这些货物。

And we actually can solve a bigger portion of the end of the life cycle of the product by stopping the return from ever occurring.

我们实际上可以通过从生产开始就杜绝掉退货来解决产品生命周期末期的更大一部分的问题 。

So, if I know I have an item that is low quality, we work with the manufacturer to fix it or we quit selling it.

所以，如果我知道我有一件质量不好的东西，我们就和制造商合作修理它，否则我们就停止销售它。

That's because accepting a return isn't always easy either.

这是因为接受退货也不总是那么容易。

A warehouse⁸ optimized⁹ for fulfilling orders is now asked to receive a product and inspect it.

为完成订单而优化的仓库现在被要求接收产品并对其进行检查。

Then someone needs to decide whether it can be resold or not.

那么需要有人来决定是否可以转售。

In the end, an online return can require up to 20 percent more space and labor¹⁰ than one made in store.

最终，在线退货可能比商店退货需要高达20%的场所和劳动力。

Those costs are part of why Opturo, a return solution company, estimates that returning a $50 item can cost a retailer³ 59 percent of its sale price.

退货解决方案公司Opturo估计，退货一件50美元的商品，零售商的成本可能是其售价的59%，而这些成本正是原因之一。

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

3 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

4 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

5 refunding   

n.借新债还旧债；再融资；债务延展；发行新债券取代旧债券v.归还，退还( refund的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They are refunding parents their money on over a billion toys. 他们退还父母他们的金钱在十亿个玩具。 来自互联网
• I am refunding the extra, but getting tired of doing this. 我退还额外的，而是要改变这样累了。 来自互联网

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 staggering   

a.惊人的

参考例句：

• Why is that man staggering about the room like that? 那人为什么那样摇摇晃晃地在屋里走来走去？
• Profits have shot up by a staggering 25%. 利润惊人地攀升了25%。

8 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

9 optimized   

adj.最佳化的，（使）最优化的v.使最优化，使尽可能有效( optimize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We are often asked whether consumer Web sites should be optimized for beginners or intermediates. 我们常常被问到这样的问题：消费类网站究竟应该为新手而优化，还是应该为中间用户而优化？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• GOOGLE Advertising optimized sequence, greatly increasing the advertising effect. 优化了GOOGLE广告位排列顺序，大大增加了广告效果。 来自互联网

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。