美国百货公司进入中国市场的新路径：上天猫

    正在设法吸引美国零售商的中国电子商务巨无霸阿里巴巴周三（8月12日）上午抛出重磅消息，那就是梅西百货的中国子公司将在天猫国际上开设旗舰店。该子公司是梅西百货和香港冯氏零售集团的合资企业。

    在阿里巴巴看来，让美国等地的海外国际品牌入住天猫是今后核心增长动力的一部分，对此该公司并不遮遮掩掩。最近，阿里巴巴还请来了高盛前副董事长迈克尔·埃文斯负责国际扩张事务。

    阿里巴巴表示，梅西百货将是首家登陆天猫国际的美国百货商店。Zara和Old Navy等品牌也已经和天猫签署了独家销售协议；耐克、阿迪达斯、联合利华、亚马逊、好市多以及The Gap则以非独家形式和天猫合作。

    这并不是梅西百货首次尝试进入中国市场。2012年，该公司入股一家电商公司，成立了合资企业，但该企业以失败告终。美国奢侈品连锁高端百货商店内曼马库斯也打算在中国一试身手，然而处境同样不够理想。

    阿里巴巴在游说零售商加盟时表示，它可以解决物流和买家付款问题。这样，梅西百货等公司把产品卖给中国消费者的过程就不会那么复杂。阿里巴巴拥有自己的物流公司菜鸟网络以及在线和移动支付业务支付宝。

    阿里巴巴还在周三公布了业绩。该公司表示，菜鸟网络现已在北京、上海、广州、深圳和杭州等41座大城市实现了隔天送达；到今年底，这项服务的范围将扩大到50座城市。该公司还推出了食杂商品当天送达服务，初步覆盖北京和上海两地。在北京，食杂商品销售额同比增速高达740%。

    对阿里巴巴来说，和美国品牌及零售商合作可能还有助于提高增长率。周三披露的业绩显示，上季度阿里巴巴的收入增长了28%，达到32.6亿美元，低于分析师预测的33.9亿美元。正如今年6月份董事长兼创始人马云在美国参加一系列活动时所说，阿里巴巴有机会把更多美国商品带给呈上升态势的中国中产阶层。这个群体的人数已经相当于美国的总人口，而且预计将在七年里增长一倍。

    尽管收入没有达到华尔街预期，但阿里巴巴的移动购物销售量增长迅猛。上季度，手机淘宝交易商品的总价值为600亿美元，比上年同期提高125%。同时，淘宝手机移动客户端实现收入12.8亿美元（同比增228%），首次超过电脑端带来的收入。

    此外，和梅西百货等公司合作还是阿里巴巴和国内对手京东进行抗衡的一部分。京东也在设法为自己的电商平台引进美国品牌和零售商。今年7月份，京东表示流行歌手泰勒·斯威夫特将通过京东网站向中国消费者推出系列服装产品。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    校对：詹妮

    In Alibaba’s effort to woo American retailers, the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut announced a significant deal this morning—Macy’s. Macy’s China Limited, a joint venture between Macy’s and Chinese retailer, Fung Retailing Limited, will launch an online flagship store on Alibaba’s online shopping mall for brands, Tmall Global.

    Alibaba has made it no secret that it views bringing on U.S. and other international brands onto Tmall as part of the company’s key growth in the future. The company recently brought on Goldman Sachs banker Michael Evans to oversee this international expansion.

    Alibaba says Macy’s will be the first U.S. department store to join Alibaba’s Tmall Global. Other brands who have exclusive deals to sell on Tmall include Zara, and Old Navy. Nike, Adidas, Unilever, Amazon, Costco, and The Gap all sell on Tmall through non-exclusive agreements.

    This isn’t the first time Macy’s has tried to enter China. The retailer announced a joint venture in China in 2012, which failed. Neiman Marcus has also tried to sell in China, but has stumbled.

    But part of Alibaba’s pitch to retailers is that it can handle things like logistics, and payments for retailers, making it less complicated for companies like Macy’s to get their goods in the hands of Chinese consumers. Alibaba already has its own logistics company, Cainiao, and an online and mobile payments business, Alipay.

    In Alibaba’s earnings release today, it revealed Cainiao now allows for next-day delivery in 41 major cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. Alibaba says this will be extended to 50 cities by the end of this year. The company has also launched same-day delivery of groceries, initially starting with Beijing and Shanghai, with grocery sales in Beijing increasing 740% year-on-year.

    For Alibaba, winning deals with U.S. brands and retailers could also help supercharge growth. The company announced Wednesday that its latest quarter’s revenue rose 28% to $3.26 billion, missing analyst estimates of $3.39 billion. As Chairman and Founder Jack Ma explained in a series of events in the U.S. in June, Alibaba has the opportunity bring more U.S. goods to China’s rising middle class, which is already equal in the size of the entire U.S. population and is expected to double in seven years.

    Although revenue was softer than Wall Street expected, Alibaba is seeing significant traction in mobile shopping volume, with gross merchandise value transacted via mobile phones at $60 billion in the quarter, an increase of 125% year-over-year. And for the first time, mobile revenues, $1.28 billion (up 228% year-over-year), exceeded desktop sales in Alibaba’s China retail marketplaces.

    For Alibaba, inking deals like the one with Macy’s, is also part of its ongoing battle with Chinese rival JD.com, which is also working on bringing in U.S. brands and retailers to sell through its e-commerce site. In July, JD.com announced that pop star Taylor Swift would sell a clothing line to Chinese consumers via its e-commerce site.