京东正在蚕食阿里巴巴优势

 　　Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba has long dominated China’s Rmb2.8tn ($451bn) online retail¹ market. However, there are signs that its smaller competitor, JD.com, is closing the gap.

　　在规模达2.8万亿人民币（合4510亿美元）的中国在线零售市场上，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)长期占据着主导地位。然而，目前有迹象表明，规模比它小的竞争对手——京东(JD.com)正在逐渐缩小与它的差距。

　　According to data from FT Confidential² Research, a Financial Times research service, the popularity of JD.com has soared in recent months to a record high. Nearly 45 per cent of respondents in China Confidential’s first quarter 2015 survey of almost 2,000 online shoppers said they regularly shopped on JD.com. As recently as the first quarter of 2013, just 30 per cent of shoppers surveyed said they regularly shopped there.

　　英国《金融时报》旗下研究服务“投资参考”(FT Confidential Research)的数据显示，京东的人气在近几个月升至历史新高。《中国投资参考》2015年第一季度对近2000名网购者的调查显示，接近45%的受访者表示，他们经常在京东购物。在2013年第一季度的调查中，表示经常在京东购物的受访者还只有30%。

　　Although Alibaba remains³ the clear market leader, both of its consumer ecommerce sites — Taobao and Tmall — declined in popularity in the latest quarter, while JD.com was up sharply.

　　尽管阿里巴巴仍是当仁不让的市场领先者，其旗下两家消费电商网站——淘宝网(Taobao)和天猫(Tmall)——的人气在今年第一季度都有所下降，京东的人气则大幅上升。

　　京东正在蚕食阿里巴巴优势

　　JD.com’s fast-growing popularity is largely due to its rapid expansion of logistics in smaller cities and its strategic alliance with Chinese internet group Tencent, in place since mid-2014.

　　京东人气蹿升，主要是因为其在中小城市迅速扩建物流体系，并且自2014年年中以来跟中国互联网集团腾讯(Tencent)结成了战略联盟。

　　While consumers living in first-tier and wealthy eastern coastal⁴ cities were early adopters of ecommerce, their counterparts in smaller cities and inland provinces arguably have a greater demand for internet shopping because they have a less-advanced bricks and mortar⁵ alternative. How far and how fast ecommerce companies can deliver goods to consumers in smaller cities correlates directly to their popularity.

　　尽管一线城市和东部沿海富裕城市的消费者很早就接受了电子商务，但中小城市和内地省份的消费者对网上购物有着更大的需求，因为他们所在的地方实体店不够发达。电商企业在中小城市的发货速度有多快、覆盖范围有多远，直接关系到自身在网购者中间的受欢迎程度。

　　JD.com has invested heavily in expanding into smaller cities in recent years, greatly increasing its popularity. By the end of the first quarter of 2015, JD.com had 3,539 delivery and pick-up stations in 1,961 cities and counties nationwide, up from 3,210 in 1,862 cities and counties at the end of 2014 and 2,523 stations in 1,780 cities and counties in the second quarter of 2014.

　　近年来，京东已投下巨资向中小城市扩张，使其人气大为提升。到2015年第一季度末，京东在全国1961个县市拥有3539个配送站和自提点；2014年底在1862个县市有3210个配送站和自提点；2014年第二季度在1780个县市有2523个配送站和自提点。

　　Meanwhile, JD.com’s partnership⁶ with Tencent has given the retailer⁷ access to the latter’s massive userbase — Tencent’s WeChat and QQ mobile apps alone have about 1bn users.

　　另一方面，京东与腾讯建立合作之后，可以接触后者的庞大的用户基础——仅微信(Wechat)和QQ这两款移动应用便拥有约10亿用户。

　　JD.com’s promotional activities on WeChat and QQ, such as distributing virtual hongbao — red envelope gifts — during lunar new year, have increased its popularity among price-sensitive, mass-market consumers who previously⁸ looked for bargains on Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer site Taobao.

　　春节期间京东在微信和QQ上的促销活动（比如发电子红包），深受对价格敏感的大众市场消费者的喜爱，这些消费者以前通常在阿里巴巴的C2C网站淘宝网上物色便宜货。

　　The quality of delivery services also matters. JD.com has invested heavily in its own logistics network, which, although costly⁹, has enabled it to maintain strict oversight¹⁰ and achieve quick, accurate delivery. The delivery quality has supported JD.com’s popularity among China’s increasingly demanding consumers.

　　送货服务的质量也很重要。京东也投巨资建设自己的物流网络，尽管代价不菲，但这让京东得以保持严格管理，实现快速精准的送货。送货质量提高了京东在越来越挑剔的消费者当中的受欢迎程度。

　　By contrast, merchants on Alibaba overwhelmingly rely on third-party logistics companies to serve a vast number of geographically¹¹ dispersed¹² buyers. This has left these merchants unable to match JD.com’s delivery speed or service quality, denting¹³ the popularity of Alibaba’s two websites.

　　对比之下，阿里巴巴平台的商户主要依赖第三方物流公司，为天南地北的买家送货。因此，这些商户的发货速度和服务质量比不上京东，降低了阿里巴巴旗下两个网站的人气。

　　In China Confidential’s survey, 36.3 per cent of respondents said Alibaba’s business-to-consumer site Tmall was one of the two ecommerce sites they most regularly used, down 0.7 percentage points quarter on quarter. Furthermore, although Alibaba’s Taobao remained the most popular ecommerce site, its popularity fell for the second successive quarter: 50.6 per cent of respondents said they most regularly used Taobao — down 4.2 percentage points year on year and 1.5 percentage points quarter on quarter.

　　在《中国投资参考》的调查中，36%的受访者表示，阿里巴巴的B2C平台天猫是他们使用最多的两个电商网站之一，比前一季度低了0.7%。另外，尽管阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝网仍是最受欢迎的电商网站，但其人气连续第2个季度出现下降：50.6%的受访者表示，他们最经常使用的是淘宝网，比去年同期下降4.2个百分点，比前一季度下降1.5个百分点。

　　The declining popularity of Taobao lowered the combined percentage of survey respondents that regularly used Alibaba’s two consumer ecommerce sites to 87 per cent, down from an all-time high of 90 per cent in mid-2014.

　　淘宝人气下降，使得经常使用阿里巴巴旗下两家消费电商网站的受访者的百分比之和降至87%，低于2014年年中创下的最高值90%。

　　Almost all other online retail sites, including Dangdang and Amazon China, have seen declines in popularity over the past year as the two market leaders, both buoyed¹⁴ by bumper¹⁵ US initial public offerings last year, invest heavily to extend their dominance.

　　包括当当网(Dangdang)和亚马逊中国(Amazon China)，几乎所有其他在线零售网站的人气在过去一年里都有所下降。这是因为，得益于去年在美首次公开发行(IPO)融得的巨资，阿里巴巴和京东这两家市场领军公司都利用大笔投资巩固主导地位。

　　Although Alibaba remains the clear market leader and continues to invest heavily, China Confidential expects JD.com to gain further ground, helped by the company’s ongoing¹⁶ investment in logistics and its growing consumer base.

　　尽管阿里巴巴仍是显而易见的市场领先者，并在加大投资力度，但《中国投资参考》预计，在持续加大物流投资和用户基础扩大的帮助下，京东有望夺取更多地盘。

　　However, continued heavy investment and the high cost of its self-operated model mean the company remains unlikely to post a profit in the near term.

　　然而，持续的巨额投资和高成本的自营模式，意味着京东在近期仍不大可能实现盈利。

　　JD.com’s net loss widened to Rmb710.2m in the first quarter, up from Rmb454.3m in the fourth quarter of 2014.

　　今年第一季度，京东的净亏损额从2014年第4季度的4.543亿元人民币扩大到了7.102亿元人民币。

　　Its investment-led approach is enabling JD.com to slowly close the gap on Alibaba, reflected in rising popularity and relative share price outperformance over the past year. But it remains to be seen how long investors¹⁷ will be prepared to wait for the asset-heavy online retailer to post a profit.

　　在投资驱动模式下，京东得以慢慢缩小与阿里巴巴的差距，这一点从过去一年里其人气不断上升和股价的相对表现可以看出来。但是，投资者准备花多长时间等待这家“重资产型”在线零售商实现盈利，则需拭目以待。

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 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

5 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 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。

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

11 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

12 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

13 denting   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的现在分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• Dad gave me a rocket for denting his car. 因为我撞坏了我父亲的车，为此他痛骂了我一顿。 来自互联网
• Because titanium isextremely strong, it is resistant to scratching, denting, and bending. 由于钛isextremely强，可耐刮伤，凹陷，和弯曲。 来自互联网

14 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

16 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

17 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会