淘宝是如何在中国战胜eBay的

The story. Taobao.com was founded in 2003 by Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, as a defensive move against its US rival Ebay, which had set up in China the previous year.

故事。2003年，中国电子商务企业阿里巴巴(Alibaba)创建了淘宝网(Taobao.com)，此举旨在防御2002年进入中国市场的美国竞争对手eBay。

The challenge. When Ebay launched in China it had global revenues of more than $2bn. As a young, domestic entity, Taobao was taking on a huge rival while also fending off many similar small competitors in the sector, where barriers to entry were low.

挑战。eBay进入中国之际，其全球收入已经超过了20亿美元。淘宝则是一家年轻的本土企业，在面对来自eBay的强大竞争的同时，还要应对业内众多与自身类似的小型竞争对手。电子商务行业那时的进入门槛很低

The strategic response. Noting that Ebay in China was charging users to list products and services, Taobao allowed them to list for free in order to build a big cohort of sellers and buyers. Critical mass would eventually attract revenue-generating activities, such as online advertisements.

战略对策。淘宝注意到，eBay在中国向在其网站上展示产品和服务的用户收取费用，而淘宝却不收费，以此建立起庞大的卖家和买家用户群。只要用户数量达到一定规模，就会最终带来能够产生收入的业务，如在线广告等。

Taobao also presented itself as very much a Chinese enterprise. For instance, the screen names of online moderators were derived from characters in popular Chinese kung-fu novels.

淘宝还强调自己是一家土生土长的中国企业。例如，淘宝在线客服的“花名”，就取自中国流行武侠小说中的人物。

Next, Taobao aimed to be more innovative than Ebay in customer service. In 2003 Taobao started Aliwangwang, its instant communication tool, to help buyers and sellers interact.

下一步，淘宝的目标是推出比eBay更具创新性的客户服务。2003年，淘宝推出即时通讯工具阿里旺旺(Aliwangwang)，帮助卖家和买家进行互动。

It also introduced the online payment system Alipay a year later. Online credit card or debit card payment was very rare in China and customers usually paid cash on delivery. Alipay formed partnerships with leading Chinese banks and signed a long-term agreement with China Post, which meant customers without a debit or bank card could fund their Alipay accounts at any of its 66,000 offices.

2004年，淘宝推出了在线支付系统支付宝(Alipay)。那时，中国人很少使用信用卡或者借记卡进行在线支付，客户通常在收货时用现金支付。支付宝和中国的大银行达成合作，并且和中国邮政(China Post)签署了长期协议，如此一来，客户即使没有借记卡或者银行卡，也可以通过中国邮政遍布各地的66000家邮局向支付宝账户汇款。

What happened. Taobao developed into a diverse e-commerce platform where businesses sell a very wide range of items to online shop owners who then sell on to consumers.

结果。淘宝发展成为多元化的电子商务平台，在这个平台上，企业向在线商店店主销售各式各样的产品，店主再卖给消费者。

At the end of 2006, Ebay shut its main website in China and formed a joint venture with Hong Kong- headquartered Tom Online.

2006年底，eBay关闭了在中国的主站，与总部位于香港的Tom在线(Tom Online)建立了一家合资企业。

Taobao continued to build a network of ventures around its core operations. In 2007 it set up Alisoft.com, where small Taobao sellers could buy customised software from independent vendors to help with functions such as customer relations or managing inventory.

淘宝则继续围绕核心业务，建立起业务网络。2007年，淘宝软件(Alisoft.com)成立，淘宝上的小卖家可以在此向独立供应商购买定制软件，用于客户关系或库存管理等。

In 2008 Taobao integrated Alimama.com, an online ad company with a network of more than 400,000 specialised websites where Taobao sellers could affordably post ads to reach their target audiences.

2008年，淘宝整合了在线广告公司淘宝联盟(Alimama.com)。淘宝联盟拥有覆盖40多万家专业网站的网络，淘宝卖家可以以不贵的价格向目标受众发布广告。

These complementary ventures formed a network, with Taobao at the centre surrounded by interlinked companies. All cross-sold and cross-marketed each other's services and offered packaged deals to Taobao sellers.

这些业务相互补充，形成网络，淘宝位于网络的核心，被各个相互联系的企业所围绕。这些企业互相进行服务的交叉销售和交叉营销，把众多服务打包起来提供给淘宝卖家。

As this "ecosystem" developed it attracted other businesses to use Taobao, Alipay, Alisoft and Alimama's platforms to provide further customised services to Taobao sellers.

这套“生态系统”逐渐发展起来，又吸引了其他企业使用淘宝、支付宝、阿里软件和淘宝联盟的平台，向淘宝卖家提供更加深度定制的服务。

The extent and reach of the ecosystem became too hard for rivals to replicate.

这套生态系统的规模和影响之大，竞争对手已经无力模仿。

By 2010 Taobao served more than 80 per cent of China's e-commerce market, with 170m registered users and revenues of more than Rmb20bn from online advertising and fee-paying services such as shop design and sales training.

截至2010年，淘宝占有中国电子商务市场80%以上的份额，注册用户达1.7亿，在线广告和店铺设计、销售培训等付费服务的收入超过了200亿元人民币。

Meanwhile, Ebay moved its business focus to cross-border e-commerce, where Chinese consumers sell to overseas consumers. It holds a leading position in that segment.

与此同时，eBay的业务重心转移到跨境电子商务方面，中国的商家利用它向海外消费者销售产品。它在这个领域处于领先地位。

Key lessons. How Taobao kept Ebay out of the market and became China's dominant e-commerce platform in a relatively short space of time holds lessons for Chinese and western companies alike.

关键经验。淘宝如何在相对较短的时间内，把eBay拒于中国市场之外，成为中国最重要的电子商务平台，其经验值得中国和西方企业学习。

First, Taobao provided services and solved problems for the smaller businesses that are the driving force behind China's economic boom. For instance, Alipay enabled people to pay for goods and services easily.

首先，小企业是中国经济繁荣的推动力量，淘宝为这些小企业提供服务、解决问题。例如，支付宝让人们可以轻松地进行支付，购买商品和服务。

Second, Taobao set up or integrated services that complemented each other and used this ecosystem to create a bar to competition.

第二，淘宝创建或者整合了互补的服务，并用这套生态系统筑起竞争壁垒。

Third, Taobao identified how to help people buy and sell. By making online shopping easy, safe and fun it helped many first-time online buyers build confidence in e-commerce.

第三，淘宝找到了帮助卖家销售和买家购物的办法。淘宝使网上购物变得简单、安全和有趣，让很多初次接触网上购物的买家对电子商务树立起信心。

Mark Greeven, Shengyun Yang, Tao Yue, Eric van Heck and Barbara Krug

本文作者马克·格雷芬(Mark Greeven)、杨盛赟、岳韬、埃里克·范埃克(Eric van Heck)和芭芭拉·克鲁格(Barbara Krug)是伊拉斯谟大学(Erasmus University)鹿特丹管理学院(Rotterdam School of Management)的教师

The writers are faculty members at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University