中国电商价格战搅动零售市场

The prospect of a gadget and appliance price war in China spooked investors already worried about the impact of the country's slumping housing market, sending shares of China's consumer-electronics retailers on a rocky ride.

中国电子和电器市场可能爆发价格战，令业已对中国低迷楼市所带来的冲击感到担心的投资者越发不安，中国消费电子零售商的股价也随之大幅起落。

Several Chinese chains on Wednesday pledged to outdo one another on pricing. They included China's largest brick-and-mortar chains, Suning Appliance Co. and Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd., and fast-growing online retailers Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co. and Dangdang Inc.

中国多家连锁零售商周三都承诺推出比对手更低的价格，其中包括中国最大的实体连锁店苏宁电器(Suning Appliance Co.)和国美电器(Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd.)，以及迅速增长的网络零售商北京京东世纪贸易有限公司(Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co.)和当当网(Dangdang Inc.)。

Beijing Jingdong, which owns the retail site 360buy.com, sparked the latest round of discounting. The company said Tuesday that it would dispatch 5,000 agents to check prices at rival outlets and would undercut their prices at least 10%.

此轮价格战是由京东率先打响的。该公司周二说，将派出5,000名价格情报员核实竞争对手店内的商品价格，并保证京东的价格将比对手便宜至少10%。京东拥有零售网站京东商城(360buy.com)。

It wasn't clear Wednesday whether the companies had, in fact, cut prices significantly this week. Representatives of several said pricing data weren't available.

截至周三，尚不清楚这些公司本周是否真的已经大幅降价。多家公司的代表说，无法提供定价数据。

Still, investors responded. Gome's shares fell 6.9% Wednesday in Hong Kong.

尽管如此，投资者却对此做出了回应。国美电器在香港上市的股票周三跌了6.9%。

Suning's shares fell 2.4% in early Shenzhen, China, trading, then shot up. They ended 10% higher after its second-largest shareholder, management-affiliated Suning Appliance Group Ltd., said it would spend up to one billion yuan, or roughly $150 million, to raise its stake to an unspecified amount from 12.8%.

周三早盘，苏宁电器在深圳上市的股票跌了2.4%，之后止跌回升。该股收盘涨10%，原因是该公司第二大股东、管理上与之有关系的苏宁电器集团(Suning Appliance Group Ltd.)说，将斥资至多人民币10亿元（约合1.50亿美元）增持苏宁电器股份，但未透露增持到多少。目前苏宁电器集团的持股比例为12.8%。

Closely held Beijing Jingdong said Wednesday that it plans to make an initial public offering of its stock in the U.S. next year.

私人持股的京东周三说，计划明年在美国进行首次公开募股(IPO)。

Competition is intensifying in China as more players enter the fast-growing e-commerce market, which pressures chains like Gome and Suning. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday said Chinese regulators had approved its deal to take a majority stake in Chinese e-commerce company Yihaodian.

随着更多的公司进入中国迅速增长的电子商务市场，这个领域的竞争不断加剧，给国美电器和苏宁电器等连锁店带来了压力。沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)周二说，中国监管部门已经批准了该公司收购中国电子商务公司1号店(Yihaodian)多数股权的交易。

U.S. price wars between online retailers and brick-and-mortar retailers have taken a toll on companies such as Circuit City Stores Inc., which closed its stores in 2010. But analysts say Suning and Gome are better equipped to manage online pressure because they moved to the Web more quickly and aggressively than did many U.S. retailers.

美国网络零售商与实体零售商之间的价格战令Circuit City Stores Inc.等公司遭受了损失。该公司2010年关闭了全部门店。不过，分析人士说，苏宁电器和国美电器能够更好地应对网络零售商带来的压力，因为它们比很多美国零售商更快、更大刀阔斧地进入了电子商务领域。

Electronics and appliance sellers are particularly vulnerable because they sell similar brands. 'Consumers are more familiar with the brands in electronics and appliances and this makes it easier to price compare,' said Lamine Lahouasnia, a retail analyst at market-research firm Euromonitor International. The top 10 brands in China's laptop market made up almost 85% of total sales online, he said. 'After all, a 16-gigabyte iPod Touch is the same device, no matter who sells it.'

电子和电器零售商尤其容易受到冲击，因为它们销售的品牌彼此相差不多。市场研究公司欧睿信息咨询公司(Euromonitor International)的零售业分析师Lamine Lahouasnia说，消费者对电子和电器品牌更加熟悉，这使他们更容易比较价格。他说，中国笔记本电脑市场的前10大品牌占了在线笔记本总销量的近85%。他说，毕竟，无论是谁销售的，16G版的iPod Touch都是一样的。

China's appliance retailers are already under pressure as a property slump has triggered a slowdown in sales of refrigerators, air conditioners and the like. The government imposed restrictions on home purchases two years ago in an effort to rein in soaring real-estate prices.

随着楼市低迷造成电冰箱、空调等家电产品销售放缓，中国电器零售商已经感受到了压力。政府两年前出台了限制购房的措施，试图以此控制飙升的房价。

Public response to the discounting appeared mixed.

公众对这次价格战的反应褒贬不一。

'I don't see any big difference in price here and online today,' said Wang Dong, who was shopping for laptops in a Suning store here. 'After comparing the prices, I found the price of an H-P laptop that I considered buying was more expensive than Jingdong's.'

在北京一家苏宁电器门店选购笔记本电脑的王东（音）说，我今天没发现这里和网上的价格有太大差别；在比较了价格后，我发现我考虑要买的惠普(H-P)笔记本电脑的价格比京东的要贵。

Some industry watchers were skeptical as well.

一些业内观察人士也对此持怀疑态度。

'There could be price wars launched here and there. If you look at price comparison, in reality, I think the price actually didn't drop as much as it's advertised in the media,' said Martin Lau, president of online games and social-networking company Tencent Holdings Ltd. 'More of the companies [are] trying to promote their company, rather than really lowering price such that they are losing a lot of money on the transactions.'

网络游戏及社交网站公司腾讯控股(Tencent Holdings Ltd.)总裁刘炽平说，哪里都可能爆发价格战；如果你认真比较一下价格，实际情况是，我认为降价力度实际上没有媒体宣传的那么大。他说，更多的公司是在试图宣传自己，而不是真的降价，否则它们会在交易上赔很多钱的。

An unscientific poll on Sina Corp.'s popular Weibo microblogging service showed that nearly 4,000 respondents dismissed the price war as hype, and only a little more than 400 responders believed the price fight was real.

新浪(Sina Corp.)微博上的一项非正式民意调查显示，有近4,000名受访者认为此次价格战是噱头，只有400多名受访者认为价格战是真的。

Beijing Jingdong said the discounting had already helped sales and that its effort was targeted at Suning, China's No. 1 electronics retailer by outlets. 'Suning enjoys the highest net profit of major appliances and we hope that by launching a price war, Suning's net profit from major appliances will decrease from 25% to 10%,' said Wu Sheng, senior vice president for Beijing Jingdong.

京东说，降价已经提振了销售，它打价格战的目标是苏宁电器。按门店数量计算，苏宁电器是中国第一大电子零售商。京东商城高级副总裁吴声说，苏宁在大家电产品上享受着最高的净利润，我们希望通过打价格战，苏宁大家电的净利润能从25%降至10%。

A Suning spokeswoman said the company is willing to accept less profit to give consumers lower prices.

苏宁的发言人说，公司愿意接受更低的利润，向消费者提供更低的价格。