????當(dāng)然，尚品的發(fā)展也并非一帆風(fēng)順。趙世誠(chéng)表示：“與全球其他地區(qū)，尤其是歐美的奢侈品消費(fèi)者相比，中國(guó)的在線(xiàn)消費(fèi)者需要我們花更多的時(shí)間對(duì)他們進(jìn)行指導(dǎo)，幫助他們解讀奢侈品文化、奢侈品故事和時(shí)尚品牌，尤其是那些新興的高端品牌。”也就是說(shuō)中國(guó)的時(shí)尚消費(fèi)者雖然現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)有能力購(gòu)買(mǎi)任何高端品牌，但他們可能并不知道自己真正想要的是什么。

????有鑒于此，尚品將在9月15日推出一本在線(xiàn)雜志，向消費(fèi)者介紹奢侈品文化。尚品已經(jīng)從紐約和歐洲招聘了一些能說(shuō)漢語(yǔ)的時(shí)尚編輯。尚品的這一戰(zhàn)略是要自主創(chuàng)造時(shí)尚內(nèi)容，如果這本雜志的確能夠引導(dǎo)讀者的奢侈品消費(fèi)，那么這一戰(zhàn)略還是相當(dāng)劃算的。畢馬威會(huì)計(jì)事務(wù)所（KPMG）今年曾在中國(guó)的24個(gè)一線(xiàn)和二線(xiàn)城市對(duì)1,200名中產(chǎn)階級(jí)人士進(jìn)行過(guò)訪(fǎng)問(wèn)調(diào)查，結(jié)果近70%的受訪(fǎng)者表示，他們至少每個(gè)月會(huì)在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上搜索一次關(guān)于奢侈品品牌的信息。其中30%的受訪(fǎng)者每周至少搜索一次奢侈品信息。這些數(shù)據(jù)表明，尚品的目標(biāo)顧客可能對(duì)尚品的這本在線(xiàn)雜志如饑似渴，而且說(shuō)不定還會(huì)把它當(dāng)成購(gòu)物參考。

????尚品CEO趙世誠(chéng)不僅著眼于時(shí)尚潮流，也關(guān)注商業(yè)趨勢(shì)。趙世誠(chéng)并不是做奢侈品起家的，他最早在中國(guó)的金融機(jī)構(gòu)圈里嶄露頭角，后來(lái)他在2000年來(lái)到美國(guó)，曾先后在惠普（HP）以及其他美國(guó)公司中供職，初來(lái)美國(guó)時(shí)，趙世誠(chéng)主要從事的是電子商務(wù)。在2005年前后，趙世誠(chéng)返回中國(guó)創(chuàng)業(yè)，利用他在美國(guó)所學(xué)的東西，和他在金融界和電子商務(wù)領(lǐng)域的關(guān)系，成立了北京盈天訊科技發(fā)展有限公司（Vansky），該公司主要和中國(guó)的銀行一道，建立在線(xiàn)軟件和服務(wù)。

????后來(lái)，趙世誠(chéng)靈光乍現(xiàn)，冒出了尚品的點(diǎn)子。由于中國(guó)奢侈品市場(chǎng)的增勢(shì)樂(lè)觀(guān)，因此尚品的商業(yè)理念本身就具有巨大的增長(zhǎng)潛力。不過(guò)尚品的真正創(chuàng)新之處，在于趙世誠(chéng)與公司的三大關(guān)系銀行——建設(shè)銀行（China Construction Bank）、民生銀行（China Minsheng Banking Corporation，也是中國(guó)第一家非國(guó)有制銀行）、華夏銀行（Hua Xia Bank）進(jìn)行了合作，邀請(qǐng)這三家銀行的顧客直接成為尚品會(huì)員。也就是說(shuō)，尚品的會(huì)員身份也成了這些銀行向顧客提供的一項(xiàng)特殊服務(wù)，而且會(huì)員們也可以邀請(qǐng)他們的朋友成為會(huì)員。這項(xiàng)奢侈品服務(wù)主要面向富裕的銀行顧客，它有些像花旗銀行的“藝術(shù)品咨詢(xún)與金融”服務(wù)（Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance），花旗銀行的這項(xiàng)服務(wù)始于1979年，主要向富有的花旗私人客戶(hù)提供關(guān)于藝術(shù)品收藏方面的咨詢(xún)服務(wù)（尚品網(wǎng)負(fù)責(zé)歐洲業(yè)務(wù)的副總裁仲億澄就曾在紐約花旗銀行的這個(gè)部門(mén)工作過(guò)。）

????一些觀(guān)察人士認(rèn)為，從尚品所采用的策略來(lái)看，這家公司本身在本質(zhì)上也不過(guò)是一個(gè)超高端的仿冒品，或者用中國(guó)流行的說(shuō)法，是個(gè)山寨貨。不過(guò)公平的講，第一個(gè)吃螃蟹的人未必成功，成功的未必是第一個(gè)吃螃蟹的人。頂級(jí)的美國(guó)企業(yè)，如谷歌（Google）和蘋(píng)果（Apple），也未必是各自領(lǐng)域內(nèi)的第一家成功企業(yè)。比如谷歌并不是世界第一個(gè)搜索引擎，蘋(píng)果也不是第一家生產(chǎn)MP3播放器的廠(chǎng)商——他們都是在業(yè)內(nèi)前輩的工作上有所改進(jìn)，才成就了今天的霸業(yè)。趙世誠(chéng)特別指出，尚品網(wǎng)的確“從Gilt和Vente Privee的成功上獲得了靈感”，但是他和他的同事們“并非簡(jiǎn)單抄襲，而是進(jìn)行了許多其它創(chuàng)新以及細(xì)節(jié)上的革新，以符合在線(xiàn)奢侈品銷(xiāo)售的本質(zhì)。”其中包括尚品提供的大量客戶(hù)服務(wù)，以及建立專(zhuān)門(mén)的團(tuán)隊(duì)來(lái)“做內(nèi)容”，向中國(guó)的高端消費(fèi)者普及奢侈品的品牌知識(shí)。

????看看中國(guó)奢侈品消費(fèi)數(shù)據(jù)的節(jié)節(jié)攀升，Gilt Groupe、Vente Privee、Net-a-Porte以及其他眾多發(fā)展中的電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站或許也應(yīng)該從尚品網(wǎng)身上學(xué)到些什么。

????譯者：樸成奎

????There are obstacles, of course. "Compared to those from around the world, especially luxury shoppers from USA and Europe, Chinese online shoppers need more coaching time in terms of interpreting the culture, the story of luxury and fashion brands, especially for emerging high-end brands," says Zhao. What this means is that the new Chinese fashionistas might not know what they really want, even if they can afford to buy almost any high-end label.

????So on September 15, Shangpin will try to address this obstacle by launching an online editorial magazine. The company has actively been recruiting fashion editors in New York and Europe who can also speak and write in Mandarin. This strategy for providing style-related content could prove lucrative if it steers Shangpin's readers toward purchasing. In a survey conducted this year among 1,200 middle class respondents in 24 cities in tier-one and tier-two cities mainland China, audit and advisory firm KPMG found that nearly 70% of respondents said they search online for information on luxury brands at least once a month. Thirty percent do so more than once a week. These stats suggest that Shangpin's target customer likely will be hungry for the type of online editorial content Shangpin plans to provide and, ideally, buy it as shopping advice.

????Zhao pays attention to trends not only in fashion but also in business. His initial experience was not in the rag trade, but in the world of Chinese financial institutions. Having moved to the United States in 2000, he worked at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and other U.S. companies, focusing on e-commerce during its early days. In the mid-2000s, he returned to China as an entrepreneur and decided to apply what he learned and the connections he made in both finance and e-commerce, forming a company called Vansky, which worked with Chinese banks to create online software and services.

????Then, inspiration struck: he came up with the idea of Shangpin, which in itself is a business idea with obviously huge potential, simply given the optimistic trends in China's luxury market. But the real innovation behind Shangpin is Zhao's idea of inviting lists of wealthy customers of three banks he worked with -- China Construction Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corporation (China's first privately held, and not state-owned bank) and Hua Xia Bank -- to become members of Shangping. This exclusive membership to the shopping site is pitched as a special service to them, and they are encouraged to invite friends to become members too. This luxury-focused special service for affluent bank customers echoes the concept of Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance, which since 1979 has offered art collecting advice to wealthy, private banking customers of Citi (in fact, Shangpin vice president M. Claire Chung, based in Europe, once worked for this arm of Citi in New York).

????Given the tactics that Shangpin has borrowed and adapted, it might seem to some observers that the company is an example of an ultra-high-end, entrepreneurial version of what in China is known as Shanzai culture, or the practice of copycat innovation. But to be fair, top American companies such as Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) are not always the first in their fields of success, either; Google wasn't the first search engine, and Apple wasn't the first to create MP3 players—they improved on the work of their predecessors. Zhao will say specifically that the company is "inspired from the success of Gilt and Vente Privee" but that he and his colleagues "are not just copying; we made a lot of other innovations or micro-innovations to fit the nature of online luxury shopping." These include Shangpin's extensive customer service offerings and the idea of creating a content arm that would educate high-end Chinese buyers about the labels that they plan to purchase.

????Besides, looking at the data on the rise of luxury consumption in China, it might turn out that trailblazing e-commerce sites such as Gilt Groupe, Vente Privee, Net-a-Porter and countless others would be wise to learn from Shangpin, too.