For e-commerce companies, the amount of business transacted on their sites — often labeled gross merchandise volume or GMV — is a telling sign of whether they’re growing market share. 电商网站的交易量通常被称为GMV或商品交易总量,它是电商的市场份额是否增长的一个标志。 But the measure is not quite so telling when unpaid transactions, returns or cancellations are included – as is the practice for leading firms such as Alibaba, JD.com and eBay. 但当诸如阿里巴巴、京东和eBay等行业领头羊将为支付订单、退货、和取消的订单也算在内时,这个标志就不那么准确了。 That means if customers buy a product and change their minds later, those transactions still may be counted in GMV. 这种做法意味着只要消费者拍下商品,即使后来改变了主意,这些交易仍算在商品交易总量内。 So how much would e-commerce players’ transaction volume be, if returns and cancellations were excluded? 如果去掉退货和取消订单,电商的交易量会是多少? Singles’ Day, China’s version of the U.S.’s Black Friday or Cyber Monday, may offer a clue. 光棍节是中国版的黑色星期五或网络星期一,它也许能为这一问题提供线索。 On Singles’ Day last year, about 25% of merchandise purchased online was returned according to industry estimates, says Sandy Shen, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc. That inflates GMV for China’s e-commerce players by the same amount, she said. |