Alibaba has been on quite a shopping spree. In the past year the Chinese ecommerce company has spent more than $2bn taking a stake in, or buying outright, more than 10 smaller companies. These include map makers, social media sites, web browsers, logistics companies and a US site inspired by Parisian flea markets.
阿里巴巴(Alibaba)近来一直在大举收购。过去一年里，这家中国电子商务公司动用资金逾20亿美元，或入股或直接收购了超过10家规模较小的公司。这些公司包括地图软件制作商、社交媒体网站、网络浏览器、物流公司以及一家创意源自巴黎跳蚤市场的美国网站。
This dealmaking madness has a method. Alibaba is rushing to shore up areas of weakness ahead of a hotly anticipated initial public offering this year, which could value its equity at more than at $100bn. Revenue growth has been slowing because of competition and the fact that the company already controls 80 per cent of ecommerce in China.
这轮“大采购”是有章法可循的。今年，阿里巴巴将进行各方热切期待的首次公开发行(IPO)，届时该公司的估值可能超过1000亿美元。目前，阿里巴巴正急于在IPO之前弥补其经营短板。由于竞争加剧及该公司已控制中国80%电子商务的事实，该公司近期营收增长放缓。
Selling to the US and the rest of the world is “the direction we want to move in”, says Annie Xu, Alibaba’s US general manager. But, for now, Alibaba is targeting American and Chinese start-ups that can help it fend off local rivals Tencent and Baidu, as ecommerce in the world’s most populous nation shifts rapidly to mobile devices.
阿里巴巴美国区总经理许洁(Annie Xu)表示，“我们努力的方向是”对美国及世界其它地区的销售。但就目前而言，阿里巴巴收购的目标都是那些能帮助其抵御腾讯(Tencent)和百度(Baidu)这类国内竞争对手的美国和中国初创企业。原因是在世界人口最多的国家，电子商务正迅速向移动设备转移。
Alibaba’s investment in ecommerce delivery group ShopRunner – one of at least four US companies it has taken a stake in during the past 12 months – is a case in point. While ShopRunner could eventually help Alibaba sell to US consumers, in the meantime the plan is to use its US logistics network to let Chinese consumers buy goods online from US merchants’ sites.
阿里巴巴对电子商务配送集团ShopRunner（该公司是阿里巴巴过去12个月里入股的至少4家美国企业之一）的投资就是一个例子。尽管ShopRunner最终可能有助于阿里巴巴对美国消费者的销售，但与此同时，收购该公司是为了通过其美国物流网络，让中国消费者能够从美国商家的网站上在线购买商品。
Under the new service, which is not yet launched, ShopRunner will handle US logistics and Alibaba will manage customs, delivery and payments. Alibaba’s “core competence is still selling to the Chinese consumer in China”, says Ms Xu, and ShopRunner will help expand that business.
在还未推出的新服务中，ShopRunner将管理在美国的物流事务，而阿里巴巴将管理清关、送货及支付方面的事务。许洁表示，阿里巴巴的“核心竞争力仍然是针对中国国内消费者的销售”，ShopRunner将有助于扩大这一业务。
“Chinese consumers are crazy about anything not made in China,” she adds.” Fulfilling that need “is still a huge opportunity”.
她补充说：“对任何非中国制造的商品，中国消费者都趋之若鹜。（对这一需求的满足）仍是一个巨大的机遇。”
Mobile dealmaking at home
移动领域的国内收购
The pace of Alibaba’s dealmaking in China has been even more intense. There the key word is mobile. In China Alibaba and its rivals are all scrambling to respond to the rapid growth in smartphone adoption.
阿里巴巴近来在国内的收购活动更为密集。“移动”是这些收购活动的关键字。在中国，阿里巴巴及其竞争对手都在争相应对智能手机的迅速普及。
“If Alibaba has a perceived weakness going into the IPO, it is in the mobile internet,” says an executive at a competitor who asked not to be named. “It’s the same thing with all big Chinese internet companies. Mobile just sort of snuck up on them.”
在某一家竞争对手公司，一名要求匿名的高管表示：“如果说阿里巴巴上市时存在明显短板，那就是移动互联网领域。中国所有大型互联网企业都有同样问题。移动互联网正悄然向它们发起冲击。”
The number of Chinese mobile users overtook the number of PC users in 2012, and the gap is growing. The percentage of internet users who say they use PCs is 69.7 per cent, a decline from 2012, while the percentage who use smartphones has risen to 81 per cent, according to data from a research group affiliated with the government. Most people, of course, use both.
中国移动设备用户数在2012年就超过了个人电脑(PC)用户数，两者之间的差距还在不断扩大。根据一家中国官方研究机构的数据，69.7%的互联网用户表示他们是PC用户，比2012年有所下降，而使用智能手机的百分比则上升至81%。当然，多数人两者都用。
With only 45 per cent of the population online, mobile internet growth looks set to continue. In the past year alone, 54m users were added, and analysts say many of the people now getting online will be mobile-first or mobile-only. Smartphones, which are selling for less than $100, are becoming cheaper and China is only starting to introduce superfast 4G networks this year.
考虑到中国上网人口只占45%，移动互联网应该会继续保持增长势头。仅去年一年新增的移动互联网用户人数就达到5400万。分析人士表示，如今许多人优先用（甚至只用）移动设备上网。智能手机正变得更为廉价，低端设备售价已不到100美元。而今年中国刚开始启用超高速的4G网络。
Mobile was the rationale for Alibaba’s purchase of map software maker Autonavi, which it agreed to take private last Monday in a deal that valued Autonavi at $1.6bn.
阿里巴巴对地图软件制造商高德(Autonavi)的收购就是出于移动互联网服务的考虑。该公司上周一同意全资收购高德公司，在这一交易中对高德的估值为16亿美元。
A better mapping service will help Alibaba capture consumers who use their smartphones to find places to shop, while also encouraging them to make the purchases by phone instead, which would link up with the company’s Alipay, which is like PayPal.
更好的地图服务将有助于阿里巴巴吸引那些用智能手机查找店铺的顾客。此外，通过手机与阿里巴巴支付宝(Alipay)的连接，这种服务还鼓励顾客使用手机完成购物。支付宝是一种与PayPal类似的支付平台。
A recent investment in Kuadi Dache, a smartphone app that lets people hail taxis and pay via Alipay, is in part meant to get people used to mobile payments, according to people familiar with the investment.
根据知情人士的说法，阿里巴巴最近投资快的打车(Kuaidi Dache)，部分目的就是为了让用户习惯于使用移动支付。快的打车是一种能让用户召唤出租车并通过支付宝支付的应用。
Mobile was also the reason it took an undisclosed sake in UCWeb, which makes the most popular smartphone browser in China, which Alibaba could use to drive traffic to its site. “The overarching strategy is to move into the mobile internet, but some of the acquisitions are offensive and some are defensive in nature,” says Michael Clendenin of Redtech Advisors, a Shanghai-based business consultancy.
移动互联网同样也是阿里巴巴买入UCWeb股权（数额未公开）的原因。UCWeb是中国最受欢迎的智能手机浏览器制作商，阿里巴巴可能会用这种浏览器将流量引导至自己的网站。上海商业资讯公司睿析科技(RedTech Advisors)的迈克尔•克伦德宁(Michael Clendenin)表示：“阿里巴巴的总体战略是进入移动互联网市场。不过，他们有些收购行为是进攻性的，有些则是防御性的。”
Fending off Tencent and Baidu
击退腾讯和百度
The groups Alibaba is defending itself against include, most notably, Tencent and Baidu.
阿里巴巴集团正在打一场防御战，它最明显的对手就包括腾讯和百度。
Tencent developed the hugely popular chat app WeChat, which is evolving into a “one-stop online lifestyle service platform”, says Cynthia Meng at Jefferies. The app already offers ecommerce and investment services, and could soon be planning to push into mobile banking, she adds.
腾讯开发了极为流行的聊天应用微信(WeChat)。杰富瑞证券公司(Jefferies)的Cynthia Meng表示，该应用正演化成一种“一站式在线生活方式服务平台”。她补充说，该应用已经在提供电商和投资服务，并可能很快规划进军手机银行业务。
A Chinese new year promotion encouraged millions to link their bank account to WeChat as a way of sending traditional holiday presents of money – or “red packets” – to friends.
在农历新年的一次推广活动中，该应用鼓励数以百万计的人将银行账号与微信相连，以便向朋友发送传统节日礼物“红包”。
Baidu, the search and media group, has also been active in mobile-focused acquisitions, and has spent as much as, if not more than, Alibaba on dealmaking in the past year, including $1.9bn on a popular Chinese app store.
过去一年里，搜索和媒体集团百度在移动领域的收购也十分活跃，其在并购交易上动用的资金不在阿里巴巴之下，包括斥资19亿美元收购中国一家流行的应用商店。
Among Alibaba’s defensive plays, Mr Clendenin says, was its purchase last April of 18 per cent in Nasdaq-listed Sina Weibo. The Twitter-like microblogging site lets Alibaba mix more social media with its ecommerce, moving into the same area as WeChat. “They had a blind spot and they were getting their butt kicked by Weixin [WeChat],” he says. “Weibo was a blocking manoeuvre.”
克伦德宁表示，阿里巴巴的防御性举措之一是去年4月购得在纳斯达克(Nasdaq)上市的新浪微博(Weibo) 18%股权。新浪微博是一个类似推特(Twitter)的微博网站，让阿里巴巴能在其电子商务业务中加入更多社交网络元素，从而进入微信所在的领域。他表示：“过去，他们的业务存在盲区，这让他们被微信打得无法还手。入股新浪微博是一个招架动作。”
Part of the challenge for Alibaba, analysts say, is that the large scale of its core ecommerce business means accelerating growth relative to the market will take substantial new business. Despite such worries, Alibaba’s revenues last quarter increased by more than half over a year ago.
分析人士表示，阿里巴巴面临的部分挑战在于，该公司核心的电子商务业务规模太大，这意味着该公司必须开拓大量新业务才能实现相对于市场的加速增长。不过，尽管存在这种担忧，阿里巴巴上季度的营收增幅同比还是超过了一半。
The Russian frontier
俄罗斯市场的前线
While there are still vast opportunities offered by the Chinese market, Alibaba will at some point have to look further afield to continue its growth. But instead of a showdown with Amazon in Europe and the US, the most likely arena for its next expansion may be Russia, where Alibaba will clash with market leader Ozon and eBay, which is also making a push into the market.
尽管中国市场仍存在巨大商机，但阿里巴巴为保持增长势头，总有一天将不得不把目光投向更遥远的地方。不过，该公司不太可能在欧美与亚马逊(Amazon)展开对决。相反，它最有可能的下一个扩张目标是俄罗斯。在那里，它将与占市场领导地位的Ozon以及同样在挤入这一市场的eBay展开竞争。
Alibaba last year launched a Russian site for its AliExpress business. AliExpress is a unit that typically sells to wholesale buyers outside China, but it also lets shoppers buy in smaller quantities.
去年，阿里巴巴为其全球速卖通(AliExpress)业务推出一个俄语网站。全球速卖通销售的目标通常是国外批发商，但也会让购物者购买少量商品。
The AliExpress site is far less slick than most ecommerce sites in the US and Europe, and it uses machine translation for some text, as few of the retailers listing goods on the site speak Russian. Sellers with names such as ABC Co from Guangdong province sell $18 dashboard cameras for cars, a popular item in Russia. Others offer dresses for under $10, or fur-lined men’s shoes for $25.
全球速卖通网站的运转远不如欧美多数电子商务网站流畅。由于在该网站上列出商品的零售商几乎没人懂俄语，网页上部分文字还是用机器翻译而成的。在该网站上，类似广东省ABC Co等名称的卖家以18美元出售车用仪表盘摄像头，一种在俄罗斯很受欢迎的商品。此外还有卖家以不到10美元的价格出售衣服，或以25美元的价格出售带毛皮衬里的男鞋。
Alibaba has been working on getting into the market for a few years. In 2012 it struck a deal with Qiwi, the leading online payment provider, to help Russians buy AliExpress goods.
几年来，阿里巴巴一直在致力于进入俄罗斯市场。2012年，该公司与俄罗斯最大的在线支付提供商Qiwi达成一个协议，以帮助俄罗斯人购买全球速卖通上提供的商品。