在
美国鲜为人知的一家中国公司准备在美国上市，并且有可能创造美国历史上规模最大的互联网公司首次公开募股（IPO）交易。这家公司就是北京京东世纪贸易有限公司（简称京东世纪）。公司旗下拥有中国快速成长的在线购物网站京东商城（360buy.com），所销售的商品种类繁多，大都是直接面向消费者，和亚马逊公司（Amazon.com. Inc.）差不多。据北京研究公司易观国际（Analysys International）预计，未来三年内，中国企业对消费者（B2C）网购市场的规模将增长四倍多，达到人民币6,500亿元（1,000亿美元）。
据知情人士上周说，京东世纪希望在2012年上半年进行IPO，计划融资高达40亿到50亿美元。若取得成功，京东世纪将打破谷歌（Google Inc.）所创互联网公司在美IPO融资额的历史最高纪录。谷歌在2004年的IPO中融资19亿美元，创造了当时互联网公司IPO的纪录。
京东世纪拒绝就可能进行的IPO置评。
该交易有可能为IPO承销商带来丰厚的服务费，今年夏天动荡的市场一直让这些银行家遭受冷遇。最近，几家主要证券公司的银行家都飞往北京以争夺这项IPO业务。京东世纪预计将于本周晚些时候举行承销商“选拔赛”。
未来几个月市场的疲软以及投资者对中国股票的戒心可能会妨碍京东世纪的上市计划。许多今年早些时候在美上市的中国公司目前股价都低于IPO价格，其中一个原因是受大量审计丑闻的影响。
除了创造IPO新纪录，京东世纪成功上市可能还会令其与阿里巴巴集团（Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.）旗下淘宝网之间的竞争加剧，后者一直是中国在线购物领域无可置疑的冠军。
未上市的阿里巴巴集团是创建中国互联网购物市场的主力。雅虎公司（Yahoo Inc.）持有阿里巴巴约40%的股份。在线拍卖网站eBay进驻中国时，阿里巴巴推出了不对商家收费的类似网站淘宝网，从而击败了eBay，令阿里巴巴一举扬名。淘宝网的收入来自销售广告以及为商家提供物流和其他支持服务。淘宝网曾说网站已经盈利。
如今，中国消费者在线购买服装、家具和手机等各类商品的交易大多在阿里巴巴集团旗下的各网站进行。去年，这些网站的总交易额达到近4,000亿元（约625亿美元）。淘宝不披露网站的经营业绩。
京东世纪拥有1.2万多名员工，目前尚未盈利。但和美国差不多的是，中国消费者已经开始倾向于京东商城等自行仓储和运输商品、而不只是为买家和卖家牵线搭桥的网站。京东世纪发言人说，去年公司的收入从2009年的近6.26亿美元增至近16亿美元。
京东世纪最初是一家电子产品实体零售店。2003年非典爆发，消费者不愿前往购物广场等人流聚集地区，这使零售行业受到重创，公司创始人刘强东被迫关闭在北京的店铺。第二年他创办了京东商城。该公司说，刘强东现年37岁。
京东和淘宝不一样。淘宝一般不负责配送用户在其网站上购买的物品，而京东是直接从它位于全国各地的50多处仓库发货，并负责约70%的配送。它给员工配备了卫星定位设备，这样用户就可以跟踪各种各样的情况，包括所购产品是什么时候打包的，配送人员是从哪个地铁站出发的，以及怎样通过手机联系配送人员。
不过淘宝仍然有着巨大的影响力，而且并非停滞不前。三年前，淘宝开辟在线商城，吸引知名品牌前往这个网站销售产品。现在这些卖家包括日本迅销公司(Fast Retailing Co.)旗下服装连锁公司优衣库(Uniqlo)和电脑生产商戴尔(Dell Inc.)。今年6月份，淘宝将这块名为“淘宝商城”(Taobao Mall)、与京东构成竞争关系的业务从原来的消费者对消费者（C2C）网站淘宝网(Taobao Marketplace)剥离。
阿里巴巴集团董事长马云(Jack Ma)本月说，预计淘宝各网站2012年的成交量将达到1万亿元。京东和越来越多的竞争对手都在建立自己的购物网站，而不是把产品放到淘宝上去卖，这蚕食了淘宝的市场份额。
据易观国际(Analysys International)的数据，按金额计算，今年第二季度淘宝各网站在中国网购市场中的份额为71%，低于去年同期的75%。京东第二季度的市场份额是3.5%。
易观国际数据显示，在B2C网购市场，淘宝商城(Taobao Mall)的份额位居第一，第二季度为33%，去年同期为22%。京东名列第二，二季度份额为12%，高于去年同期的11%。
北京研究公司BDA China Ltd.董事长克拉克(Duncan Clark)说，淘宝不太可能永远占据70%以上的市场份额。他说，市场显然是淘宝开创的，但他们打开这个市场，本身就意味着其他人也可以受益。
给淘宝带来压力的不只是京东，还有过去一年在中国设立网上零售店的苹果(Apple Inc.)和Gap Inc.等重要品牌。一些品牌之所以不愿在淘宝商城卖东西，也是因为它们对淘宝商城的姊妹网站淘宝网出售的仿冒货感到担忧。
京东的一个卖点是保证只卖正品，这在一个仿制品泛滥的国度意义非凡。北京30岁的Sue Su说，在淘宝上仍然能够买到很多小的、不常见的东西，但我用的是京东，因为我敢肯定它的东西是正品。
她还说，京东把包裹送到她家里的时间总是不会超过24小时，而淘宝卖家使用的快递公司可能要用两天到五天的时间才能把货送到。
阿里巴巴集团发言人斯比利奇(John Spelich)说，淘宝商城努力向除北京和上海等一线城市外的消费者提供买到全球品牌商品的最好机会，并且已展示出，这是让消费者接触品牌商品的一种极其有效的方式。
阿里巴巴集团一位女发言人说，集团与6,000个品牌拥有者联手，去年处理了淘宝网上570万件商品，2011年上半年又处理了4,700万件。
Loretta Chao / Laurie Burkitt
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
A Chinese company that few Americans have heard of is gearing up for what could be the largest Internet IPO in U.S. history.
The company, Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co., runs 360buy.com, a fast-growing online-shopping site that sells a broad range of goods, mostly direct to consumers, much like Amazon.com. Inc. This business-to-consumer part of China's online shopping market is expected to expand more than fivefold to 650 billion yuan ($100 billion) over the next three years, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.
Jingdong hopes to raise as much as $4 billion to $5 billion from an initial public offering in the first half of 2012, people familiar with the situation said last week. If it succeeds, it would overtake Google Inc., whose $1.9 billion IPO in 2004 makes it the current record holder for Internet companies.
Jingdong declined to comment on any possible IPO.
The deal offers a shot at rich fees for IPO bankers who have been largely sidelined by the choppy market this summer. Bankers from several major securities firms recently flew to Beijing to vie for the assignment in a so-called 'bakeoff' competition, expected late this week.
Market weakness in the months ahead or investor wariness toward China stocks could trip up Jingdong's plans. Many Chinese stocks that listed in the U.S. earlier this year are trading at less than their IPO prices, thanks in part to a spate of accounting scandals.
In addition to setting a new benchmark for IPOs, a successful Jingdong deal could heat up an intensifying rivalry between the company and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Taobao, long China's undisputed champion of online shopping.
The unlisted Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo Inc. owns a roughly 40% stake, was largely responsible for building the Chinese Internet shopping market, famously besting online auctioneer eBay Inc. in China by launching a similar website called Taobao that doesn't charge fees to its sellers. Taobao, which has said it is profitable, makes its money by selling ads and logistics and other support services to its merchants.
Today most of the money Chinese consumers spend on online purchases of everything from clothing to furniture and cellphones flows through Alibaba Group's sites. Total transactions on those sites last year neared 400 billion yuan, or around $62.5 billion. Taobao doesn't disclose its financial results.
Jingdong, which has more than 12,000 employees, isn't yet profitable. But much as happened in the U.S., Chinese consumers have started gravitating toward sites like Jingdong's 360buy.com that warehouse and ship goods themselves, rather than simply match buyers and sellers. Revenue at Jingdong rose to nearly $1.6 billion last year, up from nearly $626 million in 2009, a company spokesman said.
The company began as a bricks-and-mortar electronics retailer. Founder Liu Qiangdong, who the company says is 37 years old, started 360buy.com in 2004 after he was forced to close his Beijing stores the previous year because of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which hammered retailers as shoppers avoided crowded areas like malls.
Unlike Taobao, which generally doesn't handle deliveries of items purchased on its sites, Jingdong ships directly from its more than 50 warehouses across China and handles about 70% of its own delivery. It outfits employees with satellite-based tracking devices so customers can track everything from what time their purchases were packed to which subway station their delivery person departed from岸and how to reach that person by cellphone.
Taobao, however, remains a powerhouse, and it hasn't been standing still. Three years ago, it opened an online shopping mall and courted well-known brands to sell their goods on the site. Those sellers now include Fast Retailing Co. apparel chain Uniqlo and computer maker Dell Inc. In June, Taobao split that business, Taobao Mall, which competes with Jingdong, from its original consumer-to-consumer site, Taobao Marketplace.
Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma said this month that Taobao hopes to handle 1-trillion-yuan, or about $156 billion, in transactions on its websites in 2012.Jingdong and a growing roster of rivals are creating their own shopping sites, rather than listing products on Taobao, the have eroded Taobao's market share.
Taobao websites's share of online purchases in China slid to 71% by value in the second quarter from 75% a year earlier, according to Analysys International. Jingdong's second-quarter market share was 3.5%.
In online business-to-consumer sales, Taobao Mall was No. 1 in market share, at 33% in the second quarter, up from 28% a year earlier, and No. 2 Jingdong's share was 12%, up from 11%, Analysys said.
Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based research firm BDA China Ltd., said Taobao is unlikely to retain more than 70% of the market forever. Taobao 'clearly created the market＃but the fact that they cracked it means others can benefit,' he said.
Not only does Taobao face pressure from Jingdong, but also from major brands like Apple Inc. and Gap Inc., which have launched their own online stores in China in the past year. Some brands also hesitate to sell their goods through Taobao Mall because of concerns about sales of counterfeit products on its sister site Taobao Marketplace.
One of Jingdong's selling points is that it guarantees the authenticity of the goods it sells, no small matter in a country where knockoffs are rampant. 'I can still find a lot of small, unusual things to buy on Taobao...but I use Jingdong because I can be sure the products are authentic,' said 30-year-old Sue Su of Beijing.
She also said Jingdong consistently delivers packages to her home within 24 hours, while shipping services used by Taobao sellers can take from two to five days.
Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said Taobao Mall tries 'to provide global brands with the best opportunity to reach' beyond first-tier Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, and has shown it 'is an incredibly effective way' for brands to reach consumers.
A company spokeswoman said the company worked with 6,000 brand owners last year to take down 5.7 million trademark-infringing listings from Taobao Marketplace and has taken 47 million listings down in the first half of 2011.
Loretta Chao / Laurie Burkitt
本文涉及股票或公司
The company, Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co., runs 360buy.com, a fast-growing online-shopping site that sells a broad range of goods, mostly direct to consumers, much like Amazon.com. Inc. This business-to-consumer part of China's online shopping market is expected to expand more than fivefold to 650 billion yuan ($100 billion) over the next three years, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.
Jingdong hopes to raise as much as $4 billion to $5 billion from an initial public offering in the first half of 2012, people familiar with the situation said last week. If it succeeds, it would overtake Google Inc., whose $1.9 billion IPO in 2004 makes it the current record holder for Internet companies.
Jingdong declined to comment on any possible IPO.
The deal offers a shot at rich fees for IPO bankers who have been largely sidelined by the choppy market this summer. Bankers from several major securities firms recently flew to Beijing to vie for the assignment in a so-called 'bakeoff' competition, expected late this week.
Market weakness in the months ahead or investor wariness toward China stocks could trip up Jingdong's plans. Many Chinese stocks that listed in the U.S. earlier this year are trading at less than their IPO prices, thanks in part to a spate of accounting scandals.
In addition to setting a new benchmark for IPOs, a successful Jingdong deal could heat up an intensifying rivalry between the company and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Taobao, long China's undisputed champion of online shopping.
The unlisted Alibaba Group, in which Yahoo Inc. owns a roughly 40% stake, was largely responsible for building the Chinese Internet shopping market, famously besting online auctioneer eBay Inc. in China by launching a similar website called Taobao that doesn't charge fees to its sellers. Taobao, which has said it is profitable, makes its money by selling ads and logistics and other support services to its merchants.
Today most of the money Chinese consumers spend on online purchases of everything from clothing to furniture and cellphones flows through Alibaba Group's sites. Total transactions on those sites last year neared 400 billion yuan, or around $62.5 billion. Taobao doesn't disclose its financial results.
Jingdong, which has more than 12,000 employees, isn't yet profitable. But much as happened in the U.S., Chinese consumers have started gravitating toward sites like Jingdong's 360buy.com that warehouse and ship goods themselves, rather than simply match buyers and sellers. Revenue at Jingdong rose to nearly $1.6 billion last year, up from nearly $626 million in 2009, a company spokesman said.
The company began as a bricks-and-mortar electronics retailer. Founder Liu Qiangdong, who the company says is 37 years old, started 360buy.com in 2004 after he was forced to close his Beijing stores the previous year because of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which hammered retailers as shoppers avoided crowded areas like malls.
Unlike Taobao, which generally doesn't handle deliveries of items purchased on its sites, Jingdong ships directly from its more than 50 warehouses across China and handles about 70% of its own delivery. It outfits employees with satellite-based tracking devices so customers can track everything from what time their purchases were packed to which subway station their delivery person departed from岸and how to reach that person by cellphone.
Taobao, however, remains a powerhouse, and it hasn't been standing still. Three years ago, it opened an online shopping mall and courted well-known brands to sell their goods on the site. Those sellers now include Fast Retailing Co. apparel chain Uniqlo and computer maker Dell Inc. In June, Taobao split that business, Taobao Mall, which competes with Jingdong, from its original consumer-to-consumer site, Taobao Marketplace.
Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma said this month that Taobao hopes to handle 1-trillion-yuan, or about $156 billion, in transactions on its websites in 2012.Jingdong and a growing roster of rivals are creating their own shopping sites, rather than listing products on Taobao, the have eroded Taobao's market share.
Taobao websites's share of online purchases in China slid to 71% by value in the second quarter from 75% a year earlier, according to Analysys International. Jingdong's second-quarter market share was 3.5%.
In online business-to-consumer sales, Taobao Mall was No. 1 in market share, at 33% in the second quarter, up from 28% a year earlier, and No. 2 Jingdong's share was 12%, up from 11%, Analysys said.
Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based research firm BDA China Ltd., said Taobao is unlikely to retain more than 70% of the market forever. Taobao 'clearly created the market＃but the fact that they cracked it means others can benefit,' he said.
Not only does Taobao face pressure from Jingdong, but also from major brands like Apple Inc. and Gap Inc., which have launched their own online stores in China in the past year. Some brands also hesitate to sell their goods through Taobao Mall because of concerns about sales of counterfeit products on its sister site Taobao Marketplace.
One of Jingdong's selling points is that it guarantees the authenticity of the goods it sells, no small matter in a country where knockoffs are rampant. 'I can still find a lot of small, unusual things to buy on Taobao...but I use Jingdong because I can be sure the products are authentic,' said 30-year-old Sue Su of Beijing.
She also said Jingdong consistently delivers packages to her home within 24 hours, while shipping services used by Taobao sellers can take from two to five days.
Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said Taobao Mall tries 'to provide global brands with the best opportunity to reach' beyond first-tier Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, and has shown it 'is an incredibly effective way' for brands to reach consumers.
A company spokeswoman said the company worked with 6,000 brand owners last year to take down 5.7 million trademark-infringing listings from Taobao Marketplace and has taken 47 million listings down in the first half of 2011.
Loretta Chao / Laurie Burkitt
本文涉及股票或公司
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