Alibaba Group Holding has so far dominated China's e-commerce market, and its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces continue to attract hundreds of millions of online shoppers. But the alliance between Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com and social media giant Tencent Holdings , announced Monday, will likely create a strong competitor to Alibaba.
到目前为止，阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding)一直在中国电子商务市场占据支配地位，旗下的淘宝(Taobao)和天猫(Tmall)网站吸引着数以亿计的网购者。但中国电子商务公司京东(JD.com)与社交媒体巨头腾讯控股有限公司(Tencent Holdings, 简称：腾讯控股)周一宣布的结盟可能会给阿里巴巴带来一个强大的竞争对手。
The deal, in which Tencent takes a 15% stake in JD, comes at a time when established Internet companies are scrambling to adapt to a new environment where more Chinese consumers use smartphones as primary Internet tools. The combination of Tencent's ability to attract smartphone users with its massively popular WeChat mobile messaging application, and JD's expertise in retail and logistics, could pose a threat to Alibaba when more e-commerce transactions occur through mobile devices, analysts say.
在这笔交易中，腾讯控股收购了京东15%的股份。该交易的达成正值各家知名互联网公司都在努力适应新环境，因为已有越来越多的中国消费者使用智能手机作为主要的互联网工具。分析师们指出，腾讯能够通过其广受欢迎的移动通信软件微信(WeChat)吸引智能手机用户，而京东在零售和物流方面拥有专业技术，二者的结合可能会促使更多的电子商务交易通过移动设备完成，从而对阿里巴巴构成威胁。
'For the first time ever, there will be a serious local contender to challenge Alibaba's dominance in e-commerce,' says Forrester Research analyst Bryan Wang.
Forrester Research分析师Bryan Wang说，这将是有史以来首次一个有实力的本地竞争者挑战阿里巴巴在电子商务领域的主导地位。
An Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment on the tie-up between Tencent and JD.
阿里巴巴的发言人未就腾讯入股京东的消息发表评论。
While Alibaba runs marketplace sites that serve as venues where millions of merchants sell items, JD, like Amazon.com , runs its own online store that sells goods kept in its own warehouses. Beijing-based JD also operates its own delivery services.
阿里巴巴开设的网上商城是为数百万商家提供交易场所，而京东与亚马逊公司(Amazon.com)一样，经营的是自己的网上商店，所卖的商品都保存在自己的仓库中。总部位于北京的京东还经营着自己的递送服务。
Tencent, whose WeChat app has more than 272 million monthly active users, last year added an electronic payment function to the messaging tool, a step toward creating a broader mobile platform for other services such as video games and e-commerce.
目前微信每月的活跃用户已超过2.72亿。腾讯去年为微信增设了电子支付功能，朝着打造一个可提供视频游戏和电子商务等其他服务的更广阔移动平台迈出了一步。
To be sure, just because WeChat can occupy smartphone users' time and attention doesn't mean it can also make people want to do a lot of shopping. Efforts to connect communication and e-commerce could put off some users if the commercial intention becomes too obvious.
可以肯定的是，虽然微信占用了智能手机用户的时间和注意力，但这并不意味着人们想在微信上大肆购物。如果商业目的太过明显，把通讯与电子商务绑在一起的做法反而可能会吓跑一些用户。
Still, there are ways for WeChat and JD to combine their services without annoying users too much, says Mr. Wang.
Wang说，不过微信和京东还是有办法在不太惹恼用户的前提下把它们的服务结合在一起。
While Tencent and JD haven't said how exactly they will cooperate in e-commerce, Mr. Wang says that Tencent could, for example, make it possible for WeChat users to share their purchase history on JD's shopping site with their friends. At the same time, JD could also allow shoppers on the site to view what their WeChat friends have said about certain items.
虽然腾讯和京东没有具体透露将如何在电子商务领域开展合作，但Wang指出，腾讯可以这样做――允许微信用户在朋友间共享自己在京东网上商城的购物记录，与此同时，京东也可以允许其网站用户看到微信好友对京东上某件商品的评论。
'Chinese consumers take their friends' reviews very seriously,' says Mr. Wang.
Wang称，中国的消费者很重视好友的看法。
Even so, Alibaba is still the most popular destination for online shopping for most Chinese consumers, either through personal computers or mobile phones, and challenging its position won't be easy. In November, on Alibaba's annual day of discounts called the 11.11 Shopping Festival, Taobao and Tmall generated more than $5.75 billion in sales just in 24 hours.
即便如此，无论是通过个人电脑还是手机平台，阿里巴巴仍是大多数中国消费者网购的首选目的地，要挑战其主导地位并非易事。去年11月份，在一年一度的阿里巴巴“双十一”购物狂欢日，淘宝和天猫在短短24个小时里创造了逾57.5亿美元的销售额。
Alibaba, for its part, has made a series of acquisitions since last year to make its services more attractive to smartphone users. Last month, the company made a $1.13 billion offer to turn AutoNavi Holdings into a wholly owned unit, after it bought a 28% stake in the mobile map developer last year. Alibaba last year also bought an 18% stake in Sina's Weibo microblog, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, as a way to attract mobile users.
就阿里巴巴而言，该集团自去年以来开展了一连串的收购，以提升其服务对智能手机用户的吸引力。在去年购入高德软件有限公司(AutoNavi Holdings Ltd.) 28%的股份后，阿里巴巴上个月宣布将斥资11.3亿美元全盘收购高德，把这家手机地图软件开发商变成其全资子公司。为了吸引手机用户，阿里巴巴去年还购入新浪微博(Weibo)18%的股权。新浪微博类似于推特(Twitter)。
Tencent's deal with JD will put more pressure on Alibaba to further strengthen its mobile-based operations, while also improving its logistics and customer services, Mr. Wangs says.
Wang说，腾讯与京东结盟给阿里巴巴带来更大的压力，迫使其进一步强化基于移动平台的业务，并改善物流和客户服务。
'This will push Alibaba to change more quickly.'
他说，这将促使阿里巴巴以更快的步伐作出调整。