The future of shopping—One-to-one commerce

Not since the Industrial Revolution has shopping been in such upheaval, writes Henry Tricks

IN 1966 JEFF JOHNSON, Nike’s first-ever full-time employee, created the company’s first store in Santa Monica, California. As Phil Knight, Nike’s co-founder, recounts in his memoir, “Shoe Dog”, it became a “holy of holies” for runners. Mr Johnson was a bookworm, so the shop had shelves of books that he felt runners should read. Pinned to the walls were photos of runners and of Nike’s sneakers, then called Tigers. Mr Johnson kept card files of each customer, including their shoe sizes. He sent them Christmas cards and congratulatory notes if they won a big race. Many wrote back seeking Mr Johnson’s support and advice, which he gave, especially when it came to injuries.

1966年，耐克的第一位全職員工杰夫·約翰遜(JEFF JOHNSON)在加州圣莫尼卡(Santa Monica)開設了公司的第一家門店。正如耐克的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人菲爾?奈特(Phil Knight)在他的回憶錄《鞋狗》(Shoe Dog)中所述，對跑步者來說，“鞋狗”成為了“最神圣的地方”。約翰遜先生是個書蟲，所以書店里的書架上都是他認為跑步者應該讀的書。墻上釘著跑步者和當時被稱為“老虎”的耐克運動鞋的照片。約翰遜先生保存了每位顧客的卡片檔案，包括他們的鞋碼。如果他們贏得了一場大型比賽，他會給他們寄圣誕卡和賀信。許多人回信尋求約翰遜先生的支持和建議，他給予了支持和建議，尤其是在受傷問題上。

Upheaval??n. /?p?hi?vl/ ?劇變；激變；動亂；動蕩?? the latest upheavals in the education system 最近教育制度上的種種變更?? a period of emotional upheaval 情緒波動很大的時期

memoir n. ??/?memwɑ?(r)/ ?1.尤指名人的）回憶錄；自傳; 2.傳說；地方志；大事記

When your correspondent told this story to Heidi O’Neill, now head of Nike’s consumer and marketplace division, she got “goosebumps”. It recalled a time, she said, when Mr Knight and his colleagues, struggling to get the business?off the ground, put shoes on the feet of one runner at a time. For decades afterwards, she says, Nike was unable to replicate the intimacy of this one-to-one customer relationship, as it relied on rapid expansion of its wholesale business. Yet since 2017 the firm has been cutting the cord with?many of its wholesalers, including Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, to focus on becoming a “direct-to-consumer” (DTC) company. DTC now accounts for 40% of Nike’s revenues. Its shoppers’ use of digital technology has enabled Nike to recreate that hallowed “one-to-one world”, says Ms O’Neill.

當記者把這個故事告訴海蒂·奧尼爾(海蒂現(xiàn)在是耐克消費者和市場部門的負責人)時，她起了“雞皮疙瘩”。她表示，這讓人想起有一段時間，奈特和他的同事為了讓業(yè)務起步而苦苦掙扎，每次都會給一個跑步者穿上鞋子。她說，在之后的幾十年里，耐克無法復制這種一對一的緊密客戶關系，因為它依賴于批發(fā)業(yè)務的快速擴張。然而，自2017年以來，該公司一直與包括亞馬遜(全球最大的在線零售商)在內(nèi)的許多批發(fā)商斷絕關系，專注于成為一家“直接面向消費者”(DTC)公司。DTC現(xiàn)在占耐克總收入的40%。奧尼爾表示，消費者對數(shù)字技術的使用，使耐克能夠重現(xiàn)那個神圣的“一對一的世界”。?

off the ground：開始，起步? ? ? ?intimacy /??nt?m?si/n. 性行為；親密；親昵行為；隱私

Cord：繩索，束縛；動詞是用繩子捆綁? ? ?cutting the cord with：斬斷與···的聯(lián)系/束縛

hallowed ?/?h?l??d/ adj. 神圣的，神圣化的

One-to-one?is?shorthand?for today's upheaval?in the world of shopping.The consumer has never had so many things to buy, or ways to buy them.New forms of communication via social media, messaging services and apps have brought producers and consumers closer together.Using trillions of gigabytes of data, manufacturers know better than everwhat customers want. Their products can be?delivered direct to the doorstep. The traditional middleman,who for centuries piled?hidden cost on hidden cost, is being squeezed out.

一對一是當今購物世界劇變的縮影。消費者從來沒有這么多的東西可以買，也沒有這么多的方式可以買。通過社交媒體、即時通訊服務和應用程序的新型交流方式讓生產(chǎn)者和消費者走得更近。利用數(shù)萬億字節(jié)的數(shù)據(jù)，制造商比任何時候都更了解客戶的需求。他們的產(chǎn)品可以直接送貨上門。幾個世紀以來不斷累積隱形成本的傳統(tǒng)的中間商，現(xiàn)在正被擠出市場。

Shorthand??n. /????th?nd/ 1. 速記（法）?typing and shorthand 打字和速；2.[ UC ] ~ (for sth)（對某事）簡略的表達方式

Gigabyte??n. /?ɡ?ɡ?ba?t/十億字節(jié)；吉字節(jié)；千兆字節(jié)；十億位元組

Pile?n. 堆；大量；建筑群vt. 累積；打樁于vi. 擠；堆積；積累

This has been especially visible during the?covid-19 pandemic,as?e-commerce penetration has in just a few months reached levels that had been expected to take years.?Amid lockdowns and social-distancing measures, bricks-and-mortar retailers went bust?in droves?last?year in America and Europe, continuing?a long trend.?Yet online platforms have thrived.Amazon exceeded?$100bn in quarterly revenues for?the first time?in the fourth quarter?of 2020.?The share prices of some Chinesee-commerce giants doubled and even tripled.

在新冠肺炎大流行期間，這一點尤其明顯，因為電子商務普及率在短短幾個月內(nèi)就達到了預期需要數(shù)年才能達到的水平。在封鎖和社交距離措施的影響下，美國和歐洲的實體零售商去年紛紛破產(chǎn)，并將長期延續(xù)破產(chǎn)趨勢。然而，在線平臺卻蓬勃發(fā)展。亞馬遜在2020年第四季度的季度營收首次超過1000億美元。一些中國電子商務巨頭的股價翻了一番，甚至翻了三倍。

Penetration??n. /?pen??tre??n/ 1.穿透；滲透；進入??the company's successful penetration of overseas markets 公司對海外市場的順利開拓

bricks-and-mortar：傳統(tǒng)的實體企業(yè)? ?Mortar?n. 灰泥，砂漿；迫擊炮，迫擊炮彈；研缽，臼；v. 用灰泥涂抹，結合；用迫擊炮攻擊（或襲擊）

Go bust：完蛋，破產(chǎn)? ? ?in droves：成群結隊