eBay复兴路上遭遇减速带

    而在日益严峻的电商竞争格局中，更重大也更迫在眉睫的一个问题是：作为一对老对手，当eBay和亚马逊的业务扩展时，它们正开始互相侵犯彼此的传统领地。这个月，亚马逊推出了“注册支付”功能，能让亚马逊2.15亿活跃用户用它自己的技术在其他网站上购物时付费。早些时候，亚马逊还为实体零售店推出了“让亚马逊买单”功能。而这两项新服务都是在和eBay的增长领域正面竞争。

    此前贝宝（PayPal）已经迫使“谷歌钱包”（Google Wallet）这样的对手拱手认输，还保持了自己的竞争优势。打造一款网上支付产品是个十分漫长和复杂的过程，率先行动的企业总能享有明显领先优势。不过eBay现在还没法让亚马逊臣服。这个月，它的分公司贝宝宣布，针对在李维斯（Levi's）、肯尼思•科尔（Kenneth Cole）和运动权威（Sports Authority）这些零售店买的东西，提供两天免费送货（和亚马逊的尊享服务一样）。

    除了要和亚马逊正面交锋，eBay还得应付一帮新的零售商的竞争，比如Groupon货品（Groupon Goods）、Etsy、Fab、Zulily和其他很多类似对手。此外，如果阿里巴巴（Alibaba）这家中国电商巨头计划在美上市预示着它将进军全球市场，eBay可能还得应付这位实力强劲的对手。而贝宝则要面对移动支付技术公司Square这类市场新贵的挑战，后者本月宣布推出一项服务，让拥有借记卡的人能通过电子邮件转账。

    为了积极应对网上支付的激烈竞争，eBay最近宣布斥资8亿美元收购Braintree公司。这是一家网上支付处理企业，很受移动应用开发者和Airbnb以及Uber这类长势迅猛的初创企业欢迎。多纳霍表示，这宗收购将巩固贝宝在全球移动电商领域的地位。本周一，eBay又收购了位于伦敦的Shutl公司，以帮助公司实现明年年底在25个城市提供当天快递的目标。

    这些举措看起来确有可能让eBay在这个竞争激烈的市场中保持增长态势。但让人担心的地方在于，随着经济发展的不确定性正让电商增长的步伐放缓，电商领域的竞争只会愈演愈烈。就算能一直精明布局，准确出招，但eBay的投资者们可能还是会发现，这家公司花了数年心血才实现的复苏历程可能最终无法结出他们一度期盼的硕果。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远   

    A bigger and more immediate concern in the rising competition in e-commerce: eBay and Amazon have long been rivals, but as their business models expand, they are beginning to encroach on each other's traditional turfs. This month, Amazon launched "Login and Pay," which lets Amazon's 215 million active customers use Amazon's technology to pay for purchases on other sites. Amazon earlier unveiled Checkout by Amazon for physical retail stores. Both of these new services will compete directly with eBay's areas of growth.

    PayPal has faced down competitors like Google Wallet before and maintained its edge. Building an online payments product is such a long and complex process that first-mover advantage is substantial. Nor is eBay taking Amazon's moves sitting down. Its PayPal subsidiary announced this month a service offering free two-day shipping (just like Amazon Prime) for purchases made on retail sites such as Levi's, Kenneth Cole, and Sports Authority.

    Even as eBay battles it out with Amazon, it's facing competition from a new wave of retailers like Groupon Goods (GRPN), Etsy, Fab, Zulily, and many others. It may also face a formidable competitor in Alibaba if the Chinese e-commerce giant's planned IPO in U.S. markets presages a move into global commerce. And PayPal faces upstarts like Square, which this month announced a service letting anyone with a debit card send cash by email.

    eBay recently responded to rising competition in online payments by paying $800 million for Braintree, an online payments processing company popular with mobile developers and growing startups like Airbnb and Uber. Donahoe has said the acquisition will strengthen PayPal's global presence in mobile commerce. And Monday, eBay bought London-based Shutl to help it offer same-day deliveries in as many as 25 cities by the end of next year.

    Such moves are likely to keep eBay growing in a competitive market. More worrisome is that competition is intensifying in e-commerce just as economic uncertainty is slowing the pace of e-commerce growth. Even if it continues to make shrewd moves, eBay investors may find the turnaround it took years to put into place may not be producing the rich crop of fruits they once anticipated.