本期導讀
本文節選自《經濟學人》20210102期的封面文章。中國電商行業發展迅速並處於領先地位，其市場規模早在2013年就已經超過了美國；而如今，中國電子零售市場的市值比美國和歐洲加起來還要多。
The online boom
The future of global e-commerce
Retailers everywhere should look to China
（接上文：《經濟學人精讀 | 電商行業的未來》）
For a start it is more dynamic. In the past few years new competitors, including Meituan and Pinduoduo, have come of age with effervescent business models. One sign of fierce competition is that Alibaba’s share of the market capitalisation of the Chinese e-commerce industry has dropped from 81% when it listed to 55% today. Competition has also led e-commerce and other tech firms to demolish the boundaries between different types of services that are still common in the West. Point and click are passé: online-shopping platforms in China now blend digital payments, group deals, social media, gaming, instant messaging, short-form videos and live-streaming celebrities.
come of age 是個動詞短語，本意是“成年；達到法定年齡”，在這裡表示“成熟；發達”effervescent 意思是“充滿活力的”list 表示“上市”demolish 指“拆毀，拆除”boundary 意思是“界限，分界線”passé 是一個源於法語的單詞，意思是“過時的；陳舊的”，類似於 outmodedlive-stream 是動詞，表示“網路直播”；live-streaming celebrity 就是指那些直播網紅。
The obvious, multi-trillion-dollar question is whether the Chinese model of e-commerce will go global. As has been the case for decades, Silicon Valley’s giants still tend to underestimate China. There are few direct links between the American and Chinese e-commerce industries, partly owing to protectionism on both sides (Yahoo sold much of its stake in Alibaba, far too early, in 2012). And Western firms have long been organised in cosy, predictable silos. So Visa specialises in payments, Amazon in e-commerce, Facebook in social media, Google in search, and so on. The main source of uncertainty in e-commerce has been just how many big traditional retailers will go bust—over 30 folded in America in 2020—and whether a few might manage the shift online, as Walmart and Target have.
Silicon Valley 指美國的“矽谷”（計算機和電子公司的聚集地）underestimate 是 under+estimate ，estimate 是動詞，意為“估計”，因此underestimate 意思是“低估”；同理，overestimate 就是“高估”的意思。stake 指“ 股本；股份”cosy 意思是“溫暖舒適的”silo 指“筒倉；地窖”go bust 是個俚語，表示“失敗，破產” fold 在這裡意為“倒閉；結束”，它的另一個常用意思是“摺疊”。