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团购网站Groupon将于本周五进行IPO

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As Groupon Inc. hits the public markets Friday, its executives are working behind-the-scenes to shape the company in the image of another Internet pioneer: Amazon.com Inc.


团购网站Groupon将于本周五进行IPO，公司高管此时正在幕后紧锣密鼓地商讨如何按照另外一个互联网先锋亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)的模式塑造自己的形象。



Inside Groupon's Chicago offices, Amazon has become its business-model inspiration, its IPO pitch, and even its excuse for recent troubles that pushed its value down since June.


在Groupon位于芝加哥的办公室内，亚马逊已经成了该公司业务模式的灵感来源和IPO标杆，甚至还成了该公司用来解释近期遭遇的麻烦的借口。自6月以来，这些麻烦导致Groupon估值走低。



In the last year, Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason hired three top lieutenants from Amazon, including Mr. Child, who was at Amazon for 12 years and until last fall managed its international finance. Those hires, say people familiar with the matter, frequently speak about comparisons between the two companies, leading lately to a public strategy that attempts to paint Groupon as the second coming of Amazon.


在过去的一年间，Groupon的首席执行长梅森(Andrew Mason)从亚马逊聘用了三名副手，其中包括在亚马逊工作了12年查尔德(Child)。查尔德曾负责亚马逊的国际金融，直到去年秋天。知情人士称，这几位被聘用的人士经常谈论这两家公司的相似之处，从而促成了不久前的一个公共战略，试图将Groupon打造成第二个亚马逊。



Groupon once even considered an Amazon joint venture and investment, say people familiar with the matter.


据另外的知情人士透露，Groupon曾考虑过与亚马逊共同设立合资公司，或是请亚马逊向Groupon投资。



Like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Mr. Mason has been unapologetic about spending big before he can point to profits. Amazon listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 1997 but didn't turn a profit until the fourth quarter of 2001. In a few recent meetings with executives, Mr. Mason has said that 'we're comfortable with being misunderstood,' a favorite line for Mr. Bezos, say people familiar with the matter.


与亚马逊的创始人贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)差不多，梅森也对在实现利润前大笔花钱毫无愧意。1997年，亚马逊在纳斯达克(Nasdaq Stock Market)上市，但直到2001年第四季度才开始赚钱。知情人士说，在最近几次的高管会议当中，梅森曾说过，我们不介意被人误解，这也是贝佐斯常说的一句话。



But some analysts say Groupon is no Amazon. 'These guys could as easily become the next Pets.com as the next Amazon.com,' says Sucharita Mulpuru, an e-commerce analyst with Forrester Research. 'Even Amazon barely came to be a success by the skin of its teeth.'


但是，一些分析人士指出，Groupon绝不是亚马逊。市场研究公司Forrester Research的电子商务分析师马尔普鲁(Sucharita Mulpuru)说，这些家伙有可能成就下一个亚马逊，也同样有可能成为以倒闭告终的宠物用品供应网站Pets.com。而且就连亚马逊本身也是好不容易才侥幸成功的。



In the spring of 2010, Mr. Mason and other top executives decided Groupon needed to move fast to expand its footprint and develop a scale advantage that might be tough for competitors to emulate. Amazon early in its history invested heavily to expand its back-end retail operations so it could call itself the 'world's largest bookstore.'


2010年春季，梅森和其他一些高管决定，Groupon需要快速行动，扩张业务，发展出规模优势，让竞争者难以模仿。



The Amazon model of heavy early investments began to help inform that strategy, one of those people said. Amazon early in its history invested heavily to expand its back-end retail operations so it could call itself the 'world's largest bookstore.'


Groupon的一位高管称，亚马逊"早期重金投入"的模式有助于传达公司的战略。亚马逊在发展初期曾大力投资扩展后端零售业务，并最终成为"全世界最大的书店"。



In November 2010, in the midst of negotiations over a buyout offer from Google Inc., Mr. Mason borrowed another move from the Amazon playbook: becoming a platform.


2010年11月，在与谷歌公司(Google Inc.)进行收购谈判期间，梅森又使用了从亚马逊学来的一招：把自己打造成一个平台。



Early in its history, Amazon launched a marketplace for third-party sellers to peddle goods on the site, and they now represent a third of Amazon's volume. Similarly, in the summer of 2010, programmers working in a large tent at Groupon's headquarters began working on a mobile version of Groupon that was part of a shift from a deal-of-the-day site to an all-purpose retailer where merchants could post their own deals rather than work through a salesperson.


亚马逊在早期推出了一个面向第三方商家的交易平台，商家可以在该网站上销售商品，如今这占了亚马逊交易总额的三分之一。类似的，2010年夏天，在Groupon总部的一个大帐篷中，程序员们开始开发移动团购平台，这是从每日特价网站向综合零售商转型的一部分。在综合网站上，商家可以自己提供特价服务，而不必经由销售员。



By the time that launched, Mr. Mason had solidified the Amazon metaphor: 'We want to do for buying at local businesses what Amazon did for buying online,' Mr. Mason said a year ago.


到该服务推出时，梅森强化了与亚马逊的相似性，他一年前说，我们想像亚马逊提供网络购物服务那样提供在本地实体店购物的服务。



Since then, Groupon has filled its top ranks with Amazon alumni. In addition to Mr. Child, Mr. Mason acquired a company owned by former Amazon seniorexecutive Jeff Holden, who had spent nine years building Amazon's e-commerce services, and promoted him to senior vice president of product management.


自此之后，Groupon的高层管理职位很多都是由曾就职亚马逊的人担当。除查尔德外，梅森还收购了亚马逊前高管霍登(Jeff Holden)的一家公司，并将其提拔为负责产品管理的高级副总裁。霍登曾花了九年的时间构建亚马逊的电子商务服务。



Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan says Groupon has an advantage today in the sheer size of its sales force, but has a long way to go in making its business defensible by generating offers that are more useful to consumers and businesses.


美国投资公司Stifel Nicolaus分析师罗翰(Jordan Rohan)说，目前Groupon的庞大销售团队就是一大优势，但距离稳固自己的业务还有很长的路要走，它需要提供对消费者和商户更有用的服务。



'For Amazon, it took many years to find that defensible competitive position and required billions of dollars of infrastructure,' he says. 'Groupon doesn't have that.'


他说，亚马逊花了很多年才找到目前这种稳固的竞争地位，花了数十亿美元构建基础设施；Groupon则没有这些。



But Groupon and Amazon are similar, said GreenCrest Capital analyst A.B. Mendez, because both firms have a working capital 'cash cushion' and correspondingliability on the balance sheet. 'Like Amazon, as long as the business is growing, this cash cushion provides an advantage in that the cash can be redeployed to fuel new growth initiatives,' he said.


不过，美国投资公司GreenCrest Capital分析师门德斯(A.B. Mendez)说，Groupon 和亚马逊很相似，因为两家公司都有营运资金"现金缓冲"和资产负债表上的相应负债。他说，和亚马逊一样，只要业务在增长，这种现金缓冲就能够提供一种优势，因为现金可以重新配置来推动新的增长计划。



Part of the challenge has been Mr. Mason's own growing pains as a manager. Unlike Mr. Bezos, who worked at investment house D.E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon, Mr. Mason is a college music major who never set out to make a lot of money in business. The original business that gave rise to Groupon, called The Point, was designed for non-profits. He has cultivated a quirky public persona that includes his love of cats.


挑战之一是梅森在管理上经历的成长烦恼。贝佐斯在创立亚马逊之前曾效力投资公司D.E. Shaw & Co.，与他不同的是，梅森在大学主修的是音乐，从没准备从商赚大钱。Groupon得以发展所凭藉的最初商业是"The Point"，原本是要用于非盈利组织的。此外，梅森也逐渐成为公众眼中的怪人，包括爱猫成癖。



In the first few months of preparing for the IPO, Mr. Mason largely relegated financial decisions to Mr. Lefkofsky, say people familiar with the matter.


据知情人士透露，在筹备IPO的头几个月，梅森基本上把财务问题交给莱夫科夫斯基(Lefkofsky)来决策。



But over the summer Mr. Mason changed course, and become increasinglyresponsible for running Groupon's financial matters, one of those people said, and wore a suit and silver tie for an online presentation to potential investors.


不过，一位知情人士说，夏天时梅森改变了主意，转而越来越多地参与管理Groupon的财务事务；在一次向潜在投资者做在线演示时，他穿着西装，打着银色领带。



Amid criticism of its business model, Groupon has very publicly called attentions to its Amazon-like strategy. During its IPO road show, Mr. Holden told potential investors that the 'parallels between Amazon and Groupon are amazing.' Just as Amazon created a new platform to retail goods online, he argued, Groupon is poised to become the world's 'commerce operating system' for local businesses, where most consumers spend their money.


在商业模式受到批评之际，Groupon高调地宣扬其亚马逊式的战略。在IPO巡回推介期间，霍登对潜在投资者说，亚马逊和Groupon之间惊人的相似。他说，亚马逊创建了一个新的平台在网上销售商品，类似的，Groupon准备成为全球本地商户的商务操作系统，大部分消费者在这上面花钱购物。



SHAYNDI RAICE / GEOFFREY A. FOWLER


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