那么對在線零售業務呢？

????是這樣，亞馬遜剛剛進入這一領域，所以我了解到的情況還不夠多，但我覺得我們兩家公司的目標客戶稍有區別，我們為客戶服務的方式也不一樣。今年是我們開展在線業務的第一年，我們已經從最初的七次測試發展到了60場在線拍賣會，今后我們的在線業務將完全成形。它和我們的經營場所以及我們的展示廳之間的關系更像是服裝公司為促進自身在線業務的發展而設立的店面。我們的在線業務將提供導購服務，顧客能在這里看到我們的藝術品——這和亞馬遜有非常大的區別。

我猜最重要的差異化因素是你們待客之道和留客之道，而就這一點而言，誰都可以成為亞馬遜的顧客，或者說它并不在乎顧客是誰。

????是的，沒錯。瞧，在這一點上我很豁達。我認為真正重要的是當新事物出現時予以接納，而不是簡單地說，一邊去，我絕不會讓你成為現實。我清楚地記得美國電影協會前主席杰克?瓦倫蒂在國會試圖禁止個人制作音像制品，而當時已經有人在這樣做了。這就像那個關于鐵路公司的老故事，他們覺得自己從事的是鐵路生意，而實際上他們的業務是客運。如果不是那樣的話，他們就不會錯失飛機帶來的機會。我們從事的是客戶業務，而且我們的工作重點就落在他們的反應上。

????我們剛剛拍賣了一批精美的18世紀中國瓷器，拍賣過程非常有品位，非常出彩……這些瓷器的價位有2萬美元（12.34萬元人民幣）、8千美元（4.94萬元人民幣）或4.5萬美元（27.77萬元人民幣）——這是一批專門為愛好者準備的藝術品。我們在網上拍賣了55件瓷器，成交了50件，整個過程都在網上進行。50位買家中，有25人是首次參與我們的拍賣，他們來自加拿大、中國、美國和歐洲。現在我們開始和他們進行聯絡，有時候給他們打電話，但不是要賣什么東西給他們，只是邀請他們回來，看看我們能為他們拍下的藝術品提供哪些信息，看看他們還想了解些什么。兩天前在我們的拍賣會上花了2萬美元的顧客可能想知道他拍下的藝術品背后有什么樣的故事，而我們可以為他提供這些信息。我不知道亞馬遜能不能做到這一點。（財富中文網）

????譯者：Charlie

And the online retail game?

????Look, it's early days at Amazon in this space, so I don't really know enough about it, but I imagine we're serving slightly different audiences in different ways. When our online business comes to complete fruition -- this is the first year, and we've gone from seven tests to 60 online auctions -- we're approaching the relationship between our network of buildings and exhibition space more in the same way that apparel companies might have a store to drive their online business. So there will be things being toured, seen -- so it's very different than Amazon.

I imagine that the key differentiator is how you treat your customers, and retaining them, which is something that, well, with Amazon, you could be anybody, or nobody.

????Yes. Yes. Look, philosophically I think it's really important when new things happen to embrace them and do it better rather than say: Go away, this will never happen. I remember vividly Jack Valenti going to Congress to try and stop home recording when it was already happening. It's like that old story about the railroads thinking they're in the railroad business when they were in the people-moving business, otherwise they wouldn't have missed the airplane. We're in the client business, and the mandate has been to focus on how they interact.

????We just did a very tasty, beautiful little sale of some wonderful Chinese porcelain from the 18th century ... The price point is $20,000 or $8,000 or $45,000 -- it's an aficionado's category. We had 55 pieces in the online sale, sold 50, and only marketed online. Twenty-five of the 50 buyers were brand new, from Canada, China, the U.S., and Europe. Now they've just received contact, sometimes phone calls, we're not selling them, just inviting them back in: What information can we provide them about their purchase? What more do they want to know? Someone who just spent $20,000 two days ago might like to know the story behind what he bought, and we can give that to them. I don't know if Amazon can.