????ShopRunner將重點放在簽約的名牌零售商上，比如美鷹傲飛（American Eagle Outfitters）、Diesel和內曼?馬庫斯（Neiman Marcus）。在亞馬遜統治的這個全球市場，ShopRunner把賭注壓在了顧客與品牌的關聯性上。

????這個戰略發展得很順利，甚至吸引另一個重要品牌美國運通（American Express）參與其中。這家金融服務公司與ShopRunner達成協議，對所有運通卡持有人（不含公司卡用戶）提供免費的兩日內快遞。與ShopRunner簽約的美國證券交易所（Amex）數字合作部執行副總裁萊斯利?伯蘭表示：“要提高在線購物的吸引力，免費快遞和普通的運送服務都至關重要?！比R斯利和湯普森都沒有透露這次合作究竟是哪方出錢。但美國證券交易所正在為它的客戶提供一項免費福利，這項福利能夠使ShopRunner從該公司促成的交易中獲得一筆傭金。順帶提一句，美國證券交易所也投資了ShopRunner。

????ShopRunner是私人公司，并未公開收入。Janney Capital Markets公司電子商務行業分析師肖恩?米爾恩猜測，該公司的銷售額可能接近2億美元，并有多達200萬付費用戶。他表示：“他們正在展現價值的原因之一在于，他們正在將一些有價值的新客戶帶到網上?！泵谞柖黝A計，ShopRunner可以發展到1,000萬用戶的規模，不算是一個大眾市場，但利潤可觀。對于一家尋求與亞馬遜一較高低的電商巨頭來說，它也是很有價值的。

????這就是阿里巴巴的切入點。到目前為止，這家中國巨頭幾乎沒有在美國運營任何業務，但它是ShopRunner的最大股東。最近，ShopRunner與阿里巴巴旗下的支付寶（Alipay）簽訂了協議，將美國商業客戶與中國顧客聯系了起來。還值得一提的是，阿里巴巴不是零售商，而是在線商城運營商。但這一點是可以改變的。湯普森表示：“阿里巴巴沒有類似亞馬遜金牌計劃或ShopRunner的服務，它不賣自己的東西?！敝辽伲F在不賣。（財富中文網）

????譯者：嚴匡正

????Focusing on signing up name-brand retailers—a few include American Eagle Outfitters, Diesel, and Neiman Marcus—is ShopRunner’s bet on relevancy in a world dominated by Amazon.

????The strategy worked to the extent that it attracted another important brand, American Express. The financial services company cut a deal with ShopRunner to offer the two-day free delivery service to all of its cardholders, minus corporate card users. “Free shipping and shipping in general is critical to driving engagement online,” says Leslie Berland, executive vice-president for digital partnerships at Amex, who inked the deal with ShopRunner. Neither she nor Thompson says who pays whom in the Amex-ShopRunner relationship. But Amex is providing a free benefit to its customers that then enables ShopRunner to collect a commission on sales it facilitates for its customers. Amex, by the way, also invested in ShopRunner.

????ShopRunner is privately held and doesn’t disclose revenues. Janney Capital Markets analyst Shawn Milne, who follows e-commerce companies, guesses the company’s sales could be approaching $200 million on as many as 2 million subscribers. “One of the reasons they are showing value is that they are delivering new valuable customers to the network,” he says. Milne predicts ShopRunner could grow to as many as 10 million customers, not a mass-market business but a profitable one. It also could be valuable to an e-commerce giant looking to compete with Amazon.

????That’s where Alibaba comes in. So far the Chinese giant barely operates in the U.S. But it is the largest shareholder in ShopRunner, which recently signed a deal with Alibaba affiliate Alipay to connect its U.S. merchant customers with Chinese consumers. It’s also worth noting that Alibaba isn’t a retailer. It runs online marketplaces. That could change. “Alibaba doesn’t have a Prime-ShopRunner analogue,” Thompson notes. “It doesn’t sell anything on its own.” Not yet anyway.