2016年2月4日 星期四

In Season of Returning, a Start-Up Tries to Find Homes for the Rejects/退貨只能變垃圾? 新創公司為它們找新家


【Motive 商業洞察週報】為行銷人、創意人、品牌經營者提供靈感來源和知識庫,讓每個人都更懂行銷! 電影、日劇、韓劇…選擇那麼多,要選哪一部?聽部落客怎麼說─最精選的部落客影劇評論就在【影劇大好評】!
無法正常瀏覽圖片,請按這裡看說明   無法正常瀏覽內容,請按這裡線上閱讀
新聞  健康  財經  追星  NBA台灣  udn部落格  udnTV  讀書吧  
讀紐時學英文
2016/02/05 第102期 訂閱/退訂看歷史報份
 
 
紐時周報精選 In Season of Returning, a Start-Up Tries to Find Homes for the Rejects/退貨只能變垃圾? 新創公司為它們找新家
紐時周報精選
 
In Season of Returning, a Start-Up Tries to Find Homes for the Rejects/退貨只能變垃圾? 新創公司為它們找新家
Hiroko Tabuchi
陳韋廷譯

The Christmas gifts have been delivered, and Secret Santa is done.

Now, the work begins for Optoro, a startup company that aims to reduce the financial and environmental costs of another great holiday tradition: returns.

耶誕禮物已經遞送出去,神祕的耶誕老人(交換禮物)也已完成。

Optoro的工作現在開始了,這家新創公司成立宗旨為減少另一偉大節日傳統─退貨的財務與環境成本。

Americans returned $260 billion in merchandise last year, up more than 66 percent from five years ago, according to the National Retail Federation. And a quarter of that was during the holiday season.

As e-commerce sales surge and free return shipping becomes the norm, shoppers are set to return even more this year — a cycle that started in earnest on Monday, the first weekday after Christmas.

美國全國零售聯盟指出,美國人去年退回商品價值達2600億美元,較5年前上升超過66%,且1/4發生在假期季節。

隨著電子商務銷售激增且退貨免運費成為常態,今年購物者料將退回更多貨品,而此周期在耶誕節過後首個工作日的星期一便熱烈展開。

Little known to shoppers, however, is that a majority of returned items never make it back to retailers' shelves. Instead, the items wind their way through liquidators, wholesalers and resellers, many of the purchases ending up in landfills. According to some estimates, as much as two million tons of returned items — most of it undamaged merchandise — are thrown away each year, enough to fill over 200,000 garbage trucks.

Returns, in short, are not just a big loss for retailers. They are a big and growing environmental burden.

然而,購物者幾乎不知道的是,多數退回的貨永遠不會回到零售商的貨架上。相反地,這些貨品在清算人、批發商及轉售商中流轉,許多最終進了垃圾掩埋場。根據一些估計,每年至多有200萬噸退貨被扔掉,可裝滿20萬輛垃圾車,而且大多完好無損。

簡言之,退貨不僅是零售商不小的損失,同時也是個很大,而且越來越大的環境負擔。

"The way we consume right now isn't sustainable," said Tobin Moore, chief executive of Optoro, which offers retailers alternative ways to resell, recycle or donate returned merchandise. "We can't keep throwing stuff away," he said. "There's a better way."

Optoro is becoming a player in the "reverse logistics" industry handling returns in the United States, one that is growing together with the rise of online sales.

Optoro執行長托賓.摩爾說:「我們現在的消費方式是非永續的。我們不能不斷仍掉東西,有更好的辦法。」Optoro向零售商提供轉售、回收或捐贈退回貨品的替代方式。

Optoro正成為美國國內處理退貨的「逆向物流」產業玩家,隨著網路銷售興起而成長。

And the space is attracting investors' attention. Last December, Genco, one of the biggest operators, processing about 600 million returned items a year and, raking in about $1.6 billion in sales, was acquired by FedEx.

Optoro declined to disclose sales, but said it processed about 10 million returned items a year and has raised $80 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors.

這個領域正吸引著投資者的目光。去年12月,最大營運商之一Genco被聯邦快遞收購。Genco一年約處理6億件退貨,營業額約16億美元。

Optoro拒絕透露業績,但表示一年約處理1000萬件退貨,並已向矽谷投資者募到8000萬美元資金。

To get shoppers used to buying without touching, Web retailers have offered generous return policies. Almost half of e-commerce sellers surveyed by the retail federation — including Amazon-owned Zappos, Macy's, Target, Saks and Gap — now offer free return shipping in many categories.

為讓購物者習慣在未實際觸摸到的情形下購物,網路零售商提供大方的退貨條款。在接受零售聯盟調查的電子商務賣家裡,目前將近一半在許多類別提供退貨免運費服務,包括亞馬遜旗下的Zappos、梅西百貨、Target、Saks以及Gap。

 
訊息公告
 
大衣看起來「很沉重」?超模教你三訣竅
冬天一樣穿大衣,為何有人可以穿得摩登時髦,有人穿起來卻毫無生氣?就讓甜心超模 Karlie Kloss 告訴你搭配大衣的必備單品與小撇步吧!

生態觀察好地點!野鳥棲息的寧靜湖光山色
由於附近沒有工業區的開發,鄰近石門水庫大壩,寧靜的湖光山色讓園區顯得寧靜,景色優美,有許多野鳥在此棲息,也成為攝影家取景以及生態觀察的好地點。
 
本電子報著作權均屬「聯合線上公司」或授權「聯合線上公司」使用之合法權利人所有,
禁止未經授權轉載或節錄。若對電子報內容有任何疑問或要求轉載授權,請【
聯絡我們】。
  免費電子報 | 著作權聲明 | 隱私權聲明 | 聯絡我們
udnfamily : news | video | money | stars | health | reading | mobile | data | NBA TAIWAN | blog | shopping

沒有留言:

張貼留言