大城市“剁手族”可能早已拆起了他们双十一的战利品，而三、四线中小城市的呢？

刚刚过去的这个双十一又让中国知名电商平台——阿里巴巴、京东和拼多多——赚得盆满钵满。屡创记录的销售数据表明，中国消费者的消费热情和消费能力依旧不减。

对此，外媒不由地将中国的双十一和他们的电商平台和网上购物狂欢节来作个比较，结果相当惊人。据NBC News报道，双十一24小时的成交量，比亚马逊两个月的都高。而仅阿里巴巴去年双十一的销售就力压美国的“黑色星期五”和“网络星期一”。

不过， 美国CNBC认为，随着线上购物已经成为中国大城市居民生活不可或缺的一部分，中国电商在大城市的发展空间已经不多了。他们下一个角力战场将是中国的中小城市和偏远地区，因为那里居民的可支配收入相对他们的生活成本还是相对高的。

图 via CNBC

In cities like Beijing and Shanghai, online shopping is already a major part of daily life, leaving limited room for growth.

在北京、上海等城市，网上购物已经成为日常生活的重要组成部分，增长空间有限。

As a result, e-commerce companies are increasingly turning to smaller cities and rural areas, where disposable income remains relatively high, in part due to lower living costs.

因此，电商公司越来越多地转向较小的城市和农村地区，部分由于生活成本较低，那里的可支配收入仍然相对较高。

For example, Alibaba said its penetration rate in developed parts of China is 85%, versus 40% in less developed areas. The company added that for the quarter ended June 30, more than 70% of the increase in annual active consumers was from those less developed areas.

例如，阿里巴巴称其在中国发达地区的渗透率为85%，而在欠发达地区则为40%。阿里巴巴补充说，截至第二季度，年度活跃消费者增量中有70%以上来自欠发达地区。

▲For China’s online shopping giants, delivery is a new battleground (via CNBC)

图 via SCMP

既然中国小城市和偏远地区居民手里有钱，为什么他们还没有全部加入线上购物大军，还没有享受到在线购物的便捷呢？香港媒体《南华早报》认为，原因就在于物流。

Unlike urban residents, most rural Chinese have yet to experience e-commerce shopping. While that provides online platforms with one of the last untapped markets for e-commerce, progress has been slow due to the lack of infrastructure and logistics support, exacerbated by the lower population densities in rural areas.

与城市居民不同，大多数中国农村居民还没有体验过网购。尽管这为在线平台提供了最后一个尚未开发的电子商务市场，但由于缺乏基础设施和物流支持，加之农村地区人口密度较低，进展一直缓慢。

▲China’s e-commerce giants are looking for gold in rural areas as growth in big cities slows down (via SCMP)

不过，在物流体系尚未完全建成之时，各个电商平台已经开始使出浑身解数，让小城市和偏远地区村民也体验一把线上购物的便利。

Where the delivery infrastructure falls short, ecommerce companies have found other ways to reach consumers. Going door-to-door in sparsely populated villages can be a costly practice, so mini-distribution hubs like Rural Taobao can serve as pickup points. JD, which runs its own in-house logistics network, is making drones that can bring up to 1 metric ton of packages to the rural areas, said the company’s chief technology officer last June.

在配送基础设施不足的地方，电商找到了接触消费者的其他方式。在人口稀少的农村挨家挨户上门送货，可能是一种成本高昂的做法，因此像“农村淘宝“这样的小型分销中心可以充当取货点。去年6月，京东首席技术官表示，拥有自己的内部物流网络的京东，正在生产最多可向农村地区运送1吨包裹的无人机。

▲Journey to the West: How China’s online retailers are taking the battle to the rural front (via Tech in Asia)

图 via Tech in Asia

众所周知，亚马逊早在多年前就开始大力投入研发快递无人机。最新的消息是，亚马逊的快递无人机将在未来数月内投入使用。

The race to be the first U.S. company delivering packages via drone took a new turn earlier this summer, when Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer chief Jeff Wilke unveiled the company’s latest drone model at an event in Las Vegas. He pledged that Prime Air, Amazon’s drone delivery program, would be delivering packages to customers “in months.”

今年夏天早些时候，亚马逊全球消费者业务负责人杰夫·威尔克在拉斯维加斯的一次活动上发布了该公司最新的无人机模型，从而使亚马逊在首家通过无人机递送包裹的美国公司的竞争中，出现新的转折。他承诺，亚马逊的无人机送货计划Prime Air将在“几个月内”为客户送货。

Amazon appears to be throwing more resources into its drone aspirations than its competitors, which makes sense given that drone delivery could be very advantageous to Amazon’s core business.

亚马逊似乎比竞争对手在无人机上投入了更多资源，这是有道理的，因为无人机送货可能对亚马逊的核心业务非常有利。

▲Amazon’s Ambitious Drone Delivery Plans Take Shape (via Daily Beast)

图 via Amazon

而中国的各大电商平台，也在建立物流网络上各显神通。

Alibaba announced Friday it invested an additional $3.3 billion in its shipping affiliate Cainiao, for a 63% stake. The e-commerce company also has strategic investments in two of China’s major delivery companies: ZTO Express and YTO Express.

阿里巴巴周五宣布向旗下物流公司菜鸟网络追加投资33亿美元，持股比例增至63%。这家电商企业还对中国两家主要的快递公司——中通快递和圆通快递进行了战略投资。

JD.com touted its five years of investment in an in-house logistics network as a driver in overall profits in the second quarter – the logistics unit itself reached break-even during the same period.

京东夸赞其5年来对内部物流网络的投资，已成为第二季度整体利润的推动力——该物流部门在这一时期实现了收支平衡。

As for Pinduoduo, known for its group-buying model that initially took off in lower-tier cities, it has left the distribution of parcels to shipping companies.

以团购模式闻名的拼多多最初是在二、三线城市发展起来的，现在它已经把包裹配送交给了物流公司。

▲For China’s online shopping giants, delivery is a new battleground (via CNBC)