Chinese ecommerce company Alibabawill open offices across Europe in an effort to attract more sellers to the platform, in the first big initiative since the company appointed Michael Evans as president.
为了吸引更多商家入驻,中国电商平台阿里巴巴(Alibaba)将在欧洲各地开设办事处。这是阿里巴巴在任命迈克尔·埃文斯(Michael Evans)出任总裁后采取的第一项重大举措。
Alibaba will open so-called "embassies" in Italy, France and Germany, with a view to positioning the company as the "gateway to China" for European merchants.
阿里巴巴将在意大利、法国和德国开设所谓“大使馆”,希望将自己定位于欧洲商家“进入中国市场的门户”。
"In the past, it was really only multinationals that could afford to sell their products internationally. But in the last 10 years, much has changed," Mr Evans said, describing the mission as enabling "the world to sell to China, and to help China to sell to the world".
“过去,只有跨国公司才有实力在国际市场上销售自己的产品。但过去十年,这一局面发生了很大的改变,”埃文斯说。他把阿里巴巴的使命描述为“让世界能卖产品给中国,帮中国把产品卖给世界”。
Mr Evans pointed to projections that China's middle class would grow from 300m to 500m in the next decade. "This middle class consumer wants authentic, high-quality international products," he said.
埃文斯提到了如下预测:未来十年里,中国中产阶层人数将从3亿增加至5亿。“这一中产阶层的消费者想要正宗、高质量的国际产品,”他说。
Companies ranging from clothing group Zara to luxury brand Burberry have opened stores on Tmall, Alibaba's eBay-like platform aimed at attracting brand-name sellers.
从服装集团Zara到奢侈品牌博柏利(Burberry),许多企业已在天猫(Tmall)上开店。天猫是阿里巴巴旗下类似eBay、旨在吸引品牌卖家的平台。
However, Alibaba's reputation for being unable to fight fakes and counterfeit goods has kept some sellers away. Jack Ma, chairman and co-founder, admitted in an interview on Tuesday that the issue of fakes “leaves visible wounds on Alibaba”.
然而,阿里巴巴打击假冒伪劣商品不力的名声,使得一些卖家不敢入驻。周二,阿里巴巴创始人和董事长马云(Jack Ma)在接受采访时承认,假货问题“给阿里巴巴造成了看得见的伤口”。
"I don't believe success can be built on dishonesty," he told China's official news service Xinhua, dismissing some comments that Alibaba took advantage of counterfeits which boost sales and take rate totals for the group.
“我不相信靠不诚实能真正成功,”他对官方的新华社表示。他对阿里巴巴利用假货(提振业绩和转化率)的一些说法不屑一顾。
Daniel Zhang, chief executive, said that Alibaba would promote the sale of products from other countries to Chinese consumers as part of its Singles Day sales festival on November 11. The shopping day is known as singles day for its “double eleven” date, and billed as the "anti-Valentine's day" where customers buy something for themselves rather than for a partner.
阿里巴巴首席执行官张勇(Daniel Zhang)表示,阿里巴巴会把向中国消费者推销其他国家产品作为11月11日“光棍节”购物节的内容之一。那个购物日因有“两个11”而被称为光棍节,并被称为“反情人节”——顾客们会为自己而不是伴侣购物。
Singles Day is China's largest online shopping day. Last year, Alibaba set a record as its marketplaces hosted $9.3bn in sales.
光棍节是中国最大的网购日。去年光棍节那一天,阿里巴巴创下了93亿美元的单日成交额。
This year the company has been hit by China's slowing economy, which have pushed down sales to their lowest growth rates in over three years last quarter.
今年,中国经济放缓已使阿里巴巴受到了冲击。在经济放缓形势下,阿里巴巴上一季度的销售增长率降至三年多来最低水平。