亚马逊时代的零售竞争之道

    部署替代推广战略

    有些在线零售商希望消费者在想到上亚马逊搜索产品前，能够先把自己直接置于消费者眼前。比如像One Kings Lane和The Clymb这种“限时抢购”公司每天都会通过电子邮件向顾客发送一系列限时抢购的产品信息，价格非常有吸引力。另外像Birch Box和Trunk Club等公司还采取了订阅模式，向用户发送一份经过高度筛选的产品清单，一般是每月发送一次。

    利用独特的优势

    和亚马逊相比，实体店由于房租、员工、存货成本等原因而存在一定的先天劣势。不过有不少线下商家正在试图化劣势为优势，充分利用当地的门店网络。比如沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）就允许顾客在上网下单的当天就近前往当地门店领取网购的商品。去年的假日季中，沃尔玛在美国数个城市试点推出了本地门店网上订单的当日递送业务。这两种办法都利用了沃尔玛巨大的库存优势和无所不在的地缘优势。而且沃尔玛还创造性地尝试把它的本地当日递送业务采取众包的方式包给沃尔玛的顾客，替沃尔玛送货的顾客会在购物时获得相应的折扣作为回报。

    家居用品零售商Williams-Sonoma也已经利用它的实体店和产品目录构建起了自己的在线业务。他们之所以愿意建立电商平台来自己与自己竞争，原因是因为他们相信，如果他们自己不做，就会有别人来做。现在这家公司40%以上的营收入都是来自在线渠道。

    显然电子商务与实体零售相比存在着高度的竞争优势，而且电子商务无疑还会继续增长。因此，更值得考虑的问题是，其他电商企业应该如何与亚马逊进行竞争。

    亚马逊的规模优势可以说无懈可击，因此今后它仍然能够继续在价格和快递服务上重创其它电商。如果有企业想在与亚马逊的竞争中获得成功，就必须采用一些不同的战略。就像卡修斯•克莱（也就是后来大名鼎鼎的拳王阿里）在大战重量级拳王索尼•利斯顿之前所说的那样，他们须得“舞动如蝴蝶，蜇人如蜜峰”。

    本文作者是安德里森•霍洛维茨基金的合伙人，也是AirBnB、Belly、Fab、Circle、Crowdtilt、Lookout、Pinterest、Wealthfront和Zoosk等公司的董事会成员。他在加盟霍洛维茨基金之前曾任OpenTable公司的总裁兼CEO，并于2009年带领这家公司上市。在此之前，他曾任贝宝总裁，并曾任eBay北美高级副总裁兼总经理。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎    

    Deploy alternative distribution strategies

    A number of online retailers are trying to put themselves directly in front of consumers before they think to consider searching for a product on Amazon. "Flash sales" companies like One Kings Lane and The Clymb send daily emails that display an assortment of goods at attractive prices. Other companies like Birch Box or Trunk Club use a subscription model that sends you a highly curated selection of products, typically on a monthly basis.

    Leverage unique advantages

    Compared to Amazon, brick and mortar retailers are at a disadvantage because of their higher real estate, labor, and inventory costs. But a number of merchants are trying to flip this disadvantage on its head and put their network of local stores to use. Wal-Mart has allowed consumers to pick up online orders at their local store on the day it was ordered. Last holiday season, the retail giant launched a test of same-day delivery for online orders from its stores in a number of cities. Both take advantage of Wal-Mart's massive inventory in geographically spread out locations. And in a creative twist, the company is considering crowdsourcing its local, same-day delivery to Wal-Mart (WMT) customers, who would receive discounts on their shopping bill in exchange for their efforts.

    Alternatively, Williams-Sonoma has used both its store locations and catalogs to build its online business. They have been willing to cannibalize themselves, believing that someone else will do it if they don't. Over 40% of its revenue now comes through the online channel.

    It's clear that e-commerce is highly advantaged vis-à-vis offline retail and will continue to grow. The more relevant question to consider is how e-commerce companies will compete with Amazon.

    Amazon will always be able to pummel other e-tailers on price and probably on shipping as their scale advantages are virtually unassailable. Companies that hope to compete with Amazon successfully have to adopt different tactics. As when Cassius Clay (now Muhammad Ali) prepared to fight heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, they're going to have to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

    Jeff Jordan is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and is on the boards of AirBnB, Belly, Fab, Circle, Crowdtilt, Lookout and Pinterest, as well as Wealthfront and Zoosk. Prior to a16z, Jeff was president and CEO of OpenTable, which he took public in 2009. Before OpenTable, Jeff was president of PayPal, and he was previously the SVP and general manager of eBay North America.