时事新闻:阿里巴巴在美启动广告宣传

【英文原文】

Chinese e-commerce company Inc. will on Monday launch its first major marketing campaign in the U.S., as it searches for new growth during the global recession.

The $30 million campaign, focused primarily on the U.S. but which will also appear in Europe and the Middle East, aims to introduce U.S. entrepreneurs to 's English-language site. The site offers entrepreneurs materials to make everything from wedding dresses to gadgets and sell the products back to other businesses.

The multi-month campaign will target small business owners with success stories of an individual who started an oven mitt business and other entrepreneurs who made it big by sourcing materials through . Ads carrying the slogan 'Find it. Make it. Sell it' will run in print magazines like Fast Company and across the Web on sites like CNN Money, said Kelly Sang, general manager of Americas.

The company has also purchased television spots for the campaign on CNBC and on the ABC television show Shark Tank, which premieres Sunday, she said.

The U.S. push is 's latest attempt to broaden its business beyond China, where it is one of the largest online Web sites targeted at businesses and a well-known Internet brand. Alibaba Group, which also owns a Chinese online payment service and online retail site Taobao, spun off its flagship business to the public in 2007.

Since then, 's revenue─which is based on subscriptions from suppliers who list items ranging from fabrics to toys on the service─has grown to 3 billion yuan, or $439 million, in 2008. Profits are tightening amid the recession, however.

Yahoo Inc., owns a stake in the Alibaba Group, and is also a significant shareholder in .

has had an English-language International site to complement its Chinese marketplace since its founding a decade ago. Today, the majority of its revenue comes from that international business, which hosts a large number of Chinese suppliers. But it has been slow to grow in the U.S. As of March, had 1.3 million U.S. registered users, compared with 8.6 million total users, according to the company. , its Chinese site, had 32 million registered users.

Ms. Sang acknowledges the site has yet to establish a solid brand in the U.S., where entrepreneurs gravitate toward eBay Inc. despite its different business model. While eBay targets consumers looking to buy or sell a specific product, Alibaba matches suppliers with wholesalers, an approach modeled after tradeshows, which are pervasive in China. Rather than brokering transactions, Alibaba charges suppliers for listing items and for extra promotion, leaving them to seal the transaction off the site.

While it doesn't make money by having more U.S. users browsing the site, Ms. Sang says going after U.S. users is important for attracting more paying suppliers, who hail from hundreds of countries. 'The U.S. buyer market is one of our most important,' she said.

Appealing to U.S. small business users could be tough. International Internet companies have poor track records of unseating homegrown Internet brands and the size of the niche Alibaba is targeting remains unclear. Despite the different business models, many self-made entrepreneurs are satisfied making bulk purchases and sales to consumers on eBay.

In addition to the ad campaign, Alibaba is also reaching out to U.S. users with training videos, contests and events and business development deals. Earlier this year, the company struck a promotional partnership with FedEx Corp., offering FedEx customers help using the site in exchange for FedEx giving Alibaba users a discount.

To support the push, the company has increased the U.S. staff of to 17, up from five employees last year, and will expand its Santa Clara, Calif., office further in 2010.

The new U.S. ad campaign was designed with Traction, an ad agency in San Francisco. Similar versions will run in Europe and the Middle East. Ms. Sang says her goal for the advertising campaign is to increase the number of U.S. users who have a strong awareness of the Alibaba brand by 10% in the U.S. this year and to increase traffic from certain demographics the campaign is targeting by around 20%.

【中文译文】

中国电子商务公司阿里巴巴( Inc.)周一将启动在美国的首个大规模广告宣传活动，这是该公司在全球衰退期间寻求新发展的举措。

这场规模达3,000万美元的宣传活动主要针对美国市场，同时也会在欧洲和中东推出，其目的在于向美国企业家介绍阿里巴巴的英文网站。这个网站为企业家提供一个平台，采购从婚纱到小家电等一切产品的原材料，然后又可以通过这个网站将产品卖给其他企业。

这场广告宣传活动将持续几个月，其目标群体是小企业主，广告将讲述企业家的成功故事，比如一个人通过阿里巴巴网站开创烤箱隔热手套公司，还有的企业家通过在阿里巴巴网站采购原材料而将公司做大。阿里巴巴美国公司总经理桑宁说，Fast Company等杂志以及CNN Money等网站上都会打出广告，其广告语为“Find it. Make it. Sell it”。

她说，阿里巴巴还在CNBC，以及ABC的Shark Tank节目投放了电视广告。Shark Tank将于周日首次播出。

此次在美国宣传推广是阿里巴巴在中国之外扩展业务的最新尝试，阿里巴巴是中国最大的针对企业的网站之一，也是一个知名的互联网品牌。阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)于2007年将旗下最重要的阿里巴巴网络有限公司()挂牌上市。阿里巴巴集团旗下还有一个中文在线支付服务以及在线零售网站淘宝网(Taobao)。

上市后，阿里巴巴2008年收入增长至人民币30亿元（4.39亿美元），其收入主要来自在网站上发布各类商品信息的供应商交纳的服务费。不过阿里巴巴的利润因经济衰退而有所缩减。

雅虎公司(Yahoo! Inc.)持有阿里巴巴集团的股份，同时也是阿里巴巴网络有限公司的大股东。

阿里巴巴10年前成立时就有一个英文版的国际站点，作为中文站点的辅助。如今，阿里巴巴的绝大部分收入来自这个拥有数量庞大的中国供应商服务的国际业务。但其在美国发展缓慢。阿里巴巴的数据显示，截止今年3月，阿里巴巴英文站点的美国注册用户为130万，而总用户数为860万。其中文站点有3,200万注册用户。

桑宁承认，阿里巴巴在美国尚未建立深厚的品牌基础，尽管业务模式不同，但美国的企业家倾向于eBay Inc.。eBay的业务目标是希望买卖某一产品的消费者，而阿里巴巴的业务是撮合供应商和批发商，这一模式类似于中国盛行的贸易展。但阿里巴巴并不是扮演经纪行的角色，该网站向供应商收取发布产品信息和额外推广的费用，让他们在网站之外达成交易。

桑宁表示，虽然更多的美国用户浏览阿里巴巴网站不能直接带来收入，但拥有美国用户对吸引来自数百个国家的更多付费供应商来说非常重要，美国买家是阿里巴巴最为重要的买家市场之一。

不过，要吸引美国小企业用户可能并不容易。国际互联网公司一向难以取代本土网络品牌，而阿里巴巴所瞄准的特定市场的规模目前尚不清楚。虽然业务模式不同，很多自己创业的企业主仍满意于在eBay上进行大笔采购并向消费者进行销售。

除了广告活动，阿里巴巴还通过培训录像、组织竞赛、活动以及商业开发协议来争取美国用户。今年早些时候，阿里巴巴和联邦快递(FedEx)达成了一项推广合作协议。根据协议，阿里巴巴为联邦快递客户使用其网站提供帮助，联邦快递则向阿里巴巴用户提供折扣。

为了支持这一举措，阿里巴巴已经将旗下美国员工从去年的5名增加到17名，并计划在2010年进一步扩大其在加州圣克拉拉的业务队伍。

阿里巴巴的最新美国广告宣传活动是和旧金山广告公司Traction一起设计的。阿里巴巴还将在欧洲和中东进行类似的广告活动。桑宁说，她希望通过此次广告活动，推动熟知阿里巴巴品牌的美国用户数量在年前增加10%，并将广告活动所针对的具体用户群的流量提高大约20%。