Shoppers in India Step From Neighborhood Bazaars tothe Web/印度人购物 市集转网络

By MAX BEARAK/陈世钦译

At first,Kunal Bahl and his high school buddy Rohit Bansal had modest ambitions fortheir online shopping site,Snapdeal.

巴赫尔与他的中学好友班沙尔共同创办了购物网站Snapdeal，最初不敢抱太大指望。

Online retailing was still a largely unprovenendeavor in 2010, particularly in India, a country where most people don’t havebank accounts, let alone credit cards to make purchases on the Internet. Whenan angel investor offered $200,000, they took only half and aimed for just 100trans-actions a day.

2010年，网络零售还只是大抵而言尚待考验的事业，尤其是在印度，当地多数人并无银行账户，更不必说可用于网络购物的信用卡。一名天使投资人为巴赫尔与班沙尔提供20万美元的资金时，他们只收下一半，而且只设定一天完成100笔交易的目标。

Snapdeal is now on track to handle more than $1billion in sales this year for over 30,000 merchants across more than 500categories of goods and services. “We sell a sari every 12 seconds,”Mr.　Bahlsaid.

如今，Snapdeal今年可望为3万多商家的500多种商品及服务带来超过10亿美元的营业成绩。巴赫尔说：「我们平均每12秒卖出一件莎丽服。」

The rise of Indian e-commerce has captured theattention of international investors.

印度电子商务的兴起，已经引起国际投资人的注意。

This　year, Snapdeal　has raised $233 million, with about halfcoming from the American Internet company eBay.

Snapdeal今年已经筹得2.33亿美元，其中大约半数来自美国在线拍卖与购物网站电子海湾公司。

At　least　half　a　dozen　other　leading Indian shopping sites have announced majorfund-raising deals in recent months. Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company, said recentlythat it had raised $1 billion from investors, including American firms likeTiger Global and Accel Partners.

近几个月，至少另有六家印度知名的购物网站相继宣布已达成重要的筹资协议。印度最大的电子商务公司Flipkart最近表示，它已经向几个投资人筹得10亿美元，其中包括美国的「老虎环球」投资公司与知名风险投资公司「阿塞尔伙伴」。

The investment surge reflects the changinglandscape in India. Internet access has rapidly expanded, mostly through mobile　devices, and Indians are now shifting dailyactivity online.

投资大增反映印度面貌已经开始改变的事实。网络普及率已迅速扩大，大多透过各种行动装置为之，许多印度人则已将日常活动转移到网络上。

But online shopping remains a largely untapped market.Most analysts figure that it ac-counts for less than 1 percent of the country’s$500 billion retail market .

然而网络购物还是一个大致有待开发的市场。多数分析家认为，它在印度全国5000亿美元零售市场中，所占比例不到1%。

By and large, India remains a bastion of the“kirana,” or neighborhood general store, as well as the roving hawkers, whosevoices advertise their wares through narrow lanes.

整体而言，印度仍然是个以小区杂货店及沿街叫卖小贩为主的国家。这些小贩在小巷叫卖各种制品。

Most people tend to shop with sellers they knowpersonally, running grains of rice through their fingers and inspecting the stitchcount of shirts to determine quality.

多数的人只会向他们认识的商贩购买各种商品，让米粒在指间流动，还会检查衬衫的针缝数，以确定质量的好坏。

These habits, combined with the newness of theInternet and credit cards, have led to a trust gap between online retailers andcustomers.

这些习惯加上网络、信用卡仍属新奇事物，已使网络零售商与消费者之间出现一条互信鸿沟。

Looming large over the industry is last year’sentrance in India of Amazon. Huge American online retailers like Amazon andeBay own marketplace platforms here, which, like Snapdeal and Flipkart, connectmerchants with consumers.

对这个产业构成阴影的一大因素是购物网站亚马逊去年进入印度。亚马逊与电子海湾等美国大型网络零售商在印度拥有市场平台。它们与Snapdeal、Flipkart一样，可以连结商家与消费者。

But the country’s regulations prevent Amazon andother overseas players from selling directly to consumers. Currently, foreigninvestment in multibrand retail is limited to 51 percent.

然而印度法律禁止亚马逊与其他外国玩家直接向消费者销售。在印度，外资对多品牌零售的投资比率限制于51%。

There are hints that the system may be changing .The cur-rent government is perceived as backing small business owners who fearthat opening retailing to foreign behemoths will put them out of business.

迹象显示，现有的体系可能即将改变。印度小商人担心，如果印度对外国大企业开放零售市场，他们必遭排挤出局。一般认为印度现政府支持印度小商人。

But Narendra Modi, India’s new prime minister,urged the industry to embrace change during his election campaign. “There is noneed to fear global challenges,” Mr. Modi said, adding, “this is the age ofonline marketing, so accept modern science and make use of it.”

不过新任总理莫迪在竞选期间鼓励印度人勇于迎接改变。他说：「不必害怕全球的挑战。这是网络交易的时代。所以，让我们接受现代科学，善加利用。」

From: The New York Times-20140829