金融時報:阿里掀起網(wǎng)購狂歡

阿里掀起網(wǎng)購狂歡

今年雙11，阿里巴巴成交額遠超去年紀錄。由于它對每筆交易最高抽成5%，因此大幅折扣意味著收入會被壓縮。這場狂歡究竟會怎樣影響阿里的盈利，股東們還要等待下一季度的財報。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

capitalism ['kæp?t(?)l?z(?)m] 資本主義

notoriously[n?u't?:ri?sli] 眾所周知地

capitalization[,kæp?t(?)la?'ze??(?)n] 投資（利用）

expenditure [?k'spend?t??; ek-] 開支；消耗

Black Friday 美國感恩節(jié)的第二天，各品牌廠商通常會以超低價優(yōu)惠促銷。

Alibaba:swinging singles（335 words）

By Lex, November 12,2014

American capitalism could not bear a holiday devoted only to gratitude – a notoriously hard concept to monetise.

So after Thanksgiving comes Black Friday – and the country shops.

China's Singles' Day (named for all the ones in the date, 11/11) was for romance. That did not set registers ringing, either.

Alibaba charged into the breach a few years ago with a Singles' Day sale. The results make the Americans cramming into Walmart look like timid socialists.

This Singles' Day, the total volume of merchandise bought through Alibaba was Rmb57.1bn ($9.3bn), blowing past last year's $5.9bn. Total US retail sales for the entire four-day Thanksgiving weekend of 2013, online and in stores, were roughly $57bn.

Alibaba, a marketplace operator rather than a retailer, takes up to 5 per cent of each transaction – no discount on Alibaba's merchant fees for Singles' Day, thank you. So the day's discounts of at least 50 per cent compresses revenues, especially considering that before the big day some sales are put off (one merchant has said that in the two weeks before Singles' Day its online sales drop 80 per cent). Alibaba has not disclosed the revenues it makes from Singles' Day. The big winners, other than consumers,might be the delivery companies.

Given all this, and that Alibaba's $300bn market capitalisation is about 50 times net income, profitability matters. Alibaba's shareholders will have to wait for the next earnings report for clues to whether Singles' Day 2014 was an economic success as well as a promotional one.

Cash flow, in particular, bears watching. Capital expenditures tripled in Alibaba's latest reported quarter, to $550m, as the company spent money on data centres, land rights and construction. Cash flow after capital spending therefore grew much more slowly than profit (even putting aside the $775m Alibaba lent to its merchants in the quarter).

Chinese consumers are proving their buying power and Alibaba is proving its selling power. Earnings power will determine whether investors keep clicking buy, buy, buy.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.How do we define Alibaba?

A.Alibaba is a retailer.

B.Alibaba is a marketplace operator.

答案(1)

2.According to the writer, who might be the big winner of the Singles' Day?

A.Retailers

B.Consumers

C.Delivery companies

D.Both consumers and delivery companies

答案(2)

3.Why dose the cash flow of Alibaba grow much more slowly than their profit?

A.Because they spent money on data centres.

B.Because they spent money on land rights.

C.Because they spent money on construction.

D.All the above.

答案(3)

* * *

(1)答案：B.Alibaba is a marketplace operator.

解釋：阿里巴巴是在線集市運營商，而不是零售商，它對每筆交易最高抽成達5%。

(2)答案：D.Both consumers and delivery companies

解釋：消費者在單身節(jié)購買物品時會獲得至少五折的優(yōu)惠，物流公司也將收獲大量訂單，而阿里巴巴對商戶的抽成則不會打折，壓縮了商戶的收入。

(3)答案：D.All the above.

解釋：文章提到，根據(jù)阿里巴巴最新報出的三季度財報，由與投資于數(shù)據(jù)中心、土地使用權和各項建設，其資本支出同比增加了兩倍，導致現(xiàn)金流增長比利潤增長慢得多。