经济学人431:个性化网购价 你的钱包有多鼓?

 　　Business.

　　商业。

　　Personalising online prices.

　　个性化网购价。

　　How deep are your pockets?

　　你的钱包有多鼓？

　　Businesses are offered software that spots which customers will pay more.

　　能发现愿意多付钱客户的软件现可供企业使用。

　　IN MANY types of face-to-face retailing¹, it pays to size up your customer and tailor your offering accordingly. In a 2006 study of Fulton fish market in New York, Kathryn Graddy of Oxford² University found that dealers³ regularly charged Asian buyers less than whites because the Asians had proved, over time, more willing to reject high prices, and readier to band together to boycott⁴ dealers who ripped them off.

　　在许多面对面的零售过程中，揣测客户需求并对其进行针对性销售往往会得到应有的回报。根据2006年牛津大学Kathryn Graddy对纽约Fulton海鲜市场的研究，跟白人相比，卖家经常以更低的价格卖给亚洲人。因为经验显示亚洲人更容易对高价产生反感，而且更愿意很快地联合起来抵制奸商。

　　The internet, by allowing anonymous⁵ browsing⁶ and rapid price-comparing, was supposed to mean low, and equal, prices for all. Now, however, online retailers⁷ are being offered software that helps them detect shoppers who can afford to pay more or are in a hurry to buy, so as to present pricier options to them or simply charge more for the same stuff.

　　具有隐身浏览和快速价格比较功能的互联网，本应代表着所有人都能享用低廉，平等的价格。然而现在，网上零售商可利用软件帮他们筛选出更有承受能力或急着埋单的消费者。对应地，零售商可推荐更昂贵的商品或直接将同样的商品标更高的价格。

　　Cookies stored in shoppers' web browsers⁸ may reveal where else they have been looking, giving some clues as to their income bracket and price-sensitivity. A shopper's internet address may be linked to his physical address, letting sellers offer, say, one price for Bel Air, another for Compton. Doug Bryan of iCrossing, a digital-marketing⁹ consultancy, explains that the most up-to-date “price customisation” software can collate¹⁰ such clues with profiles of individual shoppers that internet sellers buy from online-data-aggregation firms. All this is fairly cheap, he says.

　　存储在消费者浏览器内的小型文字档案（Cookie）可能透露了他们曾经逛过哪里，并提供了估算他们收入状况和价格敏感度的信息。一名消费者的网络地址可以跟所在地地址联系在一起，这让卖家给贝沙湾（Bel Air洛杉矶富人区）可标一个价，给康普顿（Compton肯塔基州穷人区）标另一个价。数字市场营销咨询公司iCrossing的Doug Bryan解释称，时下大多数"个性化价格"软件可以使用自身收集的数据对网络卖家从其他在线数据汇总企业的数据进行校验。而且他称这一切都十分便宜。

　　One of the few big online firms to admit to using such techniques is Orbitz, a travel website. Its software detects whether people browsing its site are using an Apple Mac or a Windows PC and, since it has found that Mac users tend to choose pricier hotels, that is what it recommends to them. Orbitz stresses that it does not charge people different rates for the same rooms, but some online firms are believed to be doing just that, for instance by charging full whack¹¹ for those assumed to be willing and able to pay it, while offering promotional prices to the rest.

　　其中一个少数承认使用该手法的大型网络旅行社企业是Orbitz。公司使用的软件检测用户究竟是用苹果电脑还是普通电脑浏览公司网站。因为公司发现用苹果电脑的用户更倾向选择更贵的酒店，所以网站也应势推荐给他们。Orbitz强调他们绝对没有同房不同价，但是人们相信一些网上公司就是这么操作的。例如对那些有能力也愿意付全价的用户则收全价，而对其它用户打更多折扣。

　　Allocating¹² discounts with price-customisation software typically brings in two to four times as much money as offering the same discounts at random¹³, claims Ravi Vijayaraghavan of [24]7, a Bangalore-based firm that develops and operates such software. One way to do this is to monitor how quickly shoppers click through towards the online seller's payment page: those who already seem set on buying need not be tempted¹⁴ with a special offer. Firms like [24]7 and RichRelevance, another price-customisation software firm, from San Francisco, are somewhat keener to talk about their software than the internet retailers who are trying it out. Mr Vijayaraghavan names United Airlines, for example, as among his big clients, but the airline declined to comment for this article.

　　基于班加罗尔开发和运营这种软件的公司[24]7，该公司Ravi Vijayaraghavan称，通过个性化价格软件来分配折扣，通常可以带来比随机分配折扣多两到四倍的营业额。其中一个方法是监测消费者在网站点入付账页面的速度：那些看起来已经决定了的买家不需要通过特价来吸引。另一家来自三藩市的价格个性化软件公司RichRelevance和[24]7公司一样，它们跟尝试软件的网上零售商相比，感觉更愿意畅谈这类软件。Vijayaraghavan称联合航空（United Airlines）便是他们其中一个大客户。然而该航空公司拒绝对此文章置评。

　　Andrew Fano, a consultant¹⁵ in Accenture's Chicago office, reckons that at least six of America's ten biggest web retailers are now customising prices in some way, but it is hard for shoppers to spot when this is going on. If they knew, many would feel that it is "pushing the boundaries" of fairness, notes Werner Reinartz, a University of Cologne marketing professor and consultant to two Fortune 500 companies that use customisation techniques.

　　埃森哲咨询公司（Accenture）芝加哥分部的顾问Andrew Fano称，美国最大的十家的网络零售商中，最少六家现在或多或少地在使用个性化价格，但消费者本身很难发现自己所在的处境。如果他们知道，很多人将感觉在试探公平原则的底线。这是由Cologne大学市场营销教授Werner Reinartz提出的，他同时也是财富500强里两家使用价格个性化技术公司的顾问。

　　Mr Reinartz preaches caution lest companies be dragged through an ordeal¹⁶ pioneered by Amazon in the autumn of 2000. Word broke that the internet giant was selling DVDs at differing prices, to see which web browsers happened to be favoured by shoppers least concerned about cost, former executives say. The resulting backlash prompted it to refund¹⁷ those who paid more, and Amazon now declines to discuss its pricing system.

　　Reinartz提醒公司要预防陷入2000年秋亚马逊为此成为先烈的经历。时任总裁称，在网上流传这家互联网巨头以不同价钱卖DVD，用来分析哪个浏览器的用户更不在意价格。引起的反弹致使公司给多付钱的客户退款，亚马逊现已拒绝对其标价系统置评。

　　Users of price-customisation software have so far been reluctant to peep at potential customers' social-media pages, for fear that this would provoke a privacy backlash. But the operators at the call centres [24]7 runs for its clients are beginning to scan Twitter for gen on the shoppers they are talking to—and sometimes, says Mr Vijayaraghavan, their tweets give useful hints about whether a discount is needed to clinch¹⁸ the sale.

　　个性化价格软件的用户至今还不敢窥视潜在客户的社交网页，因担心这将引起关于私隐的反弹。但24[7]公司客服中心的客户代表，已经开始代客户在Twitter上追溯消费者聊天的关系网。Vijayaraghavan称，有时候用户的微博会透露究竟是否需要折扣来达成交易。

1 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

3 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

4 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 browsers   

浏览器

参考例句：

• Three-layer architecture is a model made up of browser, web server and background database server. 这种体系结构是由Browser、Web Server、Database Server组成的浏览器／Web服务器／后台数据库服务器三层模型。 来自互联网
• Another excellent approach is to abandon the browser entirely and, instead, create a non-browser-based, Internet-enabled application. 另一个非常好的方法是干脆放弃浏览器，取而代之，创建一个不基于浏览器，但却是基于互联网的应用。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 collate   

vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理

参考例句：

• They have begun to collate their own statistics on racial abuse. 他们已经开始整理自己有关种族歧视的统计数据。
• You may collate the latter with the earlier edition. 你可将新版与旧版相对照。

11 whack   

v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• He gave me a whack on the back to wake me up.他为把我弄醒，在我背上猛拍一下。

12 allocating   

分配，分派( allocate的现在分词 )； 把…拨给

参考例句：

• Administrative practice generally follows the judicial model in allocating burdens of proof. 在分配举证责任方面，行政实践通常遵循司法模式。
• A cyclical multiplexing technique, allocating resources in fixed-time slices. 以固定的时间片分配资源的循环复用技术。

13 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

14 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

15 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

16 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

17 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。

18 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。