????零卡創(chuàng)建于2007年，由長島的私人股本公司諾斯伍德風(fēng)投公司（Northwood Ventures）掌管。零卡抓住大公司猶豫不決的時(shí)機(jī)，在邊緣化的飲料市場分得了一杯羹。

????據(jù)零卡CEO派迪?斯彭思說，幾年前零卡在全食有機(jī)食品超市（Whole Foods ）上架后銷量激增，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)是亞馬遜網(wǎng)上銷量前五的軟飲品牌，進(jìn)駐了全美一半以上的超市。而且飲用零卡的消費(fèi)者屬于較富裕階層，家庭平均收入在六萬美元左右，而全美國的家庭平均收入水平則為5.2萬美元。

????盡管取得了很大成功，但零卡還有很多工作要做。在這之前，它還沒有足夠底氣自稱已經(jīng)占據(jù)了一片市場。零卡還沒有在大型零售商沃爾瑪百貨（Wal-Mart Stores）上架，也沒有在麥當(dāng)勞（McDonald’s）等連鎖快餐店出售，而且它在塔吉特零售店（Target）的存在感也很弱，這些都是亟需解決的問題。

????零卡已不再局限于食品雜貨店，開始走進(jìn)硅谷一些公司的自助餐廳，同時(shí)開始贊助美國職業(yè)棒球大聯(lián)盟奧特蘭運(yùn)動(dòng)家隊(duì)（Oakland Athletics）。超市里消費(fèi)者一次能購買8到10罐零卡，所以零卡公司主要的營銷渠道仍然為零售商，而不是像電影院和體育館等所謂的“單次服務(wù)”市場。

????“我們?cè)谑称返甑呢浖苌祥_展業(yè)務(wù)。坦率講，在這些地方的銷量最大，”斯彭思說。“你需要爭取屬于自己的貨架空間，因?yàn)榱闶凵滩辉赋袚?dān)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)——除非存在市場需求，否則他們不會(huì)隨便把哪種產(chǎn)品擺上貨架。”

????《飲料文摘》的西歇爾說，零卡在零卡路里蘇打飲料的強(qiáng)勢(shì)地位最終會(huì)讓它成為巨擘的收購目標(biāo)。他舉例說，為了贏得在新興市場中的份額，2000年百事公司收購了SoBe，2007年可口可樂公司收購了酷樂仕維他命水等。

????斯彭思雖拒絕透露未來是否會(huì)出售零卡，但也提到，他時(shí)常回應(yīng)有收購意向的詢價(jià)。他還暗示記者說，現(xiàn)在就把零卡賣掉也未免太快了。

????“迄今為止，我們的表現(xiàn)非常優(yōu)異，但我覺得還有很多潛力有待開發(fā)，”斯彭思說，他認(rèn)為零卡作為一個(gè)獨(dú)立企業(yè)，會(huì)有更大的創(chuàng)新空間。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：Joseph

????But that hesitation has given Zevia, which was founded in 2007 and is held by Long Island-based private equity firm Northwood Ventures, time to build an edge.

????The brand, which got a big break when Whole Foods WFM -0.54% started selling it a few years ago, is among the five best- selling soft drink brands on Amazon.com AMZN -0.34% and is available in about half of all U.S. supermarkets, according to Zevia CEO Paddy Spence. It is also a draw among more affluent consumers; the average household income of a Zevia drinker is $60,000, compared to a U.S. average of about $52,000, Spence said.

????Despite that success, there is still a lot of work to do before Zevia can really say it has cornered the market. For one thing, it doesn’t sell its products at major retailers like Wal-Mart Stores WMT 0.57% or restaurant chains like McDonald’s MCD -0.05% , and it has minimal presence in chains like Target TGT 0.43% .

????Zevia has begun selling its beverage outside of grocery stores. Its products are sold in the cafeterias of a few Silicon Valley companies and Zevia is a sponsor of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics. But consumers buy 8 to 10 cans of Zevia soda at a time in a supermarket, so retail is its main focus for now, rather than the so-called “single-serve” market at places like movie theaters and sports venues.

????“We built the business at the grocery shelf because, frankly, that’s where a lot of the volume purchasing happens,” Spence said. “You have to earn your shelf space and retailers are not willing to take risks—they’re not going to put a product on the shelf unless it has proven demand.”

????Zevia’s strong position in the zero-calorie soda area could eventually make the company an acquisition target by one of the big guys, Beverage Digest’s Sicher said. He pointed to how PepsiCo bought SoBe in 2000 and Coke bought Vitaminwater maker Glaceau in 2007 to gain a foothold in beverage growth areas.

????Spence declined to say whether Zevia is up for sale but did say he fields inquiries regularly. He also hinted that it would be too soon, anyway.

????“We’ve had a phenomenal run so far, but I feel like I am only part way up the mountain,” Spence said, noting that being independent gives Zevia more room to innovate.