亚马逊突然宣布进军3D打印对这个行业意味着什么

    亚马逊（Amazon.com）不再仅仅是一个可以在线购买图书、音乐或其他流水线上生产出来的产品的网站。

    周一，亚马逊宣布，消费者现在可以定制200种不同的3D打印产品，如摇头娃娃、微型塑料剑和宠物名牌等。这项技术使消费者可以自定义自己的订单，不再局限于网站现售的商品。比如说，你可以根据家人和朋友的形象，订制摇头娃娃。

    亚马逊市场销售总监皮特拉•辛德勒-卡特在一份声明中表示：“推出3D打印产品商店，意味着在线零售开始一项重大转变——在生产过程可以更敏捷地提供浸入式客户体验。”

    亚马逊本身不负责打印。这项工作由专门出售塑料3D打印装饰品的公司Mixee Labs完成。双方合作推出的产品并不便宜。一个3D打印的摇头娃娃价格为30美元，而流水线生产的同类产品价格约为12美元。

    此外，希望能迅速收到商品的消费者可能要失望了。通过亚马逊订购的3D打印产品，需要十个工作日才能送达。

    市场研究公司Canalys的资深分析师蒂姆•谢佛德长期关注3D打印行业。他表示，在亚马逊与Mixee开始合作之前，有许多公司早已开始向大众出售3D打印产品，例如3D打印机制造商MakerBot和3D打印公司Shapeways等。但亚马逊品牌和强大的影响力，使其成为该利基市场的一支直接推动力量。

    谢佛德说道：“亚马逊是在线零售行业巨头。它打开了进入大众市场的渠道。”

    他说，总体而言，3D打印在消费者零售市场有巨大的潜力。在汽车制造等工业设计领域，3D打印早已得到广泛应用，3D打印机可以用于制作零件模具。

    “从价值上来说，3D打印市场长期以来很大程度上是由企业驱动的——公司利用这一技术来制作工业模型或建筑模型”。

    通过推出3D打印产品，亚马逊让更多人看到了这项技术的广阔用途。但由于消费者看不到打印过程，因此3D打印产品的新奇性也会大打折扣。

    谢佛德说：“人们希望看到一件作品的创作过程，但亚马逊的模式无法满足消费者的这种好奇心。”不过，他补充道：“亚马逊会让人们对3D打印技术更加兴奋，”可能会鼓励人们购买3D打印机，在自己的车库里使用。

    那么，对于美国如雨后春笋般出现的小型3D打印店，亚马逊的举措又意味着什么？谢佛德预测，亚马逊的新举措不会产生与当初淘汰小型书店一样的影响。“我认为它不会带来任何负面的影响。”（财富中文网）

    翻译：刘进龙/汪皓

    Amazon.com isn’t just a place to get books, music and other products that roll off assembly lines or stream online.

    Amazon said Monday that online shoppers will now be able to buy 3D printed products on-demand from a list of 200 different items like bobblehead dolls, miniature plastic swords and pet ID tags. The technology lets people customize their orders beyond what has been previously been possible on the online retailing site including bobbleheads made to look like family and friends.

    “The introduction of our 3D Printed Products store suggests the beginnings of a shift in online retail – that manufacturing can be more nimble to provide an immersive customer experience,” Petra Schindler-Carter, director for Amazon’s marketplace sales, said in a statement.

    Amazon doesn’t actually handle the printing. Rather, it’s done by Mixee Labs, a company specialized in selling plastic 3D printed nicknacks. Products available through the partnership aren’t cheap. A 3D printed bobblehead costs $30 compared with versions made on an assembly line that cost around $12.

    Moreover, anyone who wants speedy shipping is out of luck. Orders through Amazon for 3D products can take up to ten business days to fill.

    Amazon’s partnership with Mixee comes long after other businesses like MakerBot and Shapeways have started selling 3D printed products to the public, according to Tim Shepherd, senior analyst at Canalys who is focused on the 3D printing industry. But Amazon’s big name and reach makes it an immediate force in the niche.

    “Amazon is a huge name in online retail,” Shepherd said. “It opens the channels to a mass market.”

    In general, there’s big potential for 3D printing in the consumer and retail space, he said. It’s already commonplace in industrial design including in auto making, in which 3D printers are used to make molds for parts.

    “Most of the market, in value terms, has been driven by the enterprise space to create industrial models, printing models for architecture,” Shepherd said.

    By introducing 3D printing, Amazon is letting more people see what the technology can do. But because customers can’t see the printing in action, some of the novelty is lost.

    “There is this feeling of watching something get created, and this isn’t going to provide that in the same way,” Shepherd said. But he added that “it’s going to get people more excited” and potentially encourage them to buy and 3D printer to use in their own garage.

    And how about those small 3D printing shops cropping up around the U.S.? Amazon’s move won’t likely have the same impact that it has had in pushing out small book shops, Shepherd predicted. “I don’t think it’s going to have a negative impact at all.”