1998年Amazon致股東信：瘋狂增長，根基是扎實的基礎建設｜見識之旅

導讀

這封信是1998年Amazon的第2封致股東信。

在這封信裡，Jeff Bezos提到Amazon開拓新市場的成績。Amazon不只著眼美國，更放眼世界，在歐洲開啟英國站和德國站的新業務。

除了在地理位置上拓寬市場，在市場品類上，Amazon跨足二手市場，在二手交易市場也開始分一杯羹。

Amazon持續增長的本錢其來有自，並不是投機行為帶來的結果。扎扎實實的基礎建設投資，支持Amazon的規模擴張，這些投資包括團隊擴編、設立自動化配送中心、增加倉儲空間。

團隊擴編，使得Amazon的員工人數從百人提升至千人。這樣快速的擴編速度，可能會讓人才的平均水準越來越差，那Amazon如何解決這個問題？

Amazon在招募新成員時，會問決策者三個問題，這三個問題分別是：你是否敬佩這個人、他的加入是否會提升未來選拔人才的標準、他有多大機率成為明星員工。

這三個問題，提升了Amazon的人才水準。同時，也讓團隊工作越來越有趣，因為和高水準的人共事，工作中既有挑戰帶來的成就感，也會有很多有趣的事情發生。

上一封信提到，Amazon的價值觀是「顧客至上」。對於顧客至上，一般可能只是說說而已，但Amazon對此有更深刻的理解。

為什麼Amazon要永遠以顧客為優先？

因為Amazon總是假設顧客是聰明且敏銳的，只有「顧客至上」的作為才會給他們留下最好的品牌印象，他們也才會呼朋引伴上Amazon。

好了，導讀結束，以下致股東信正文開始。

正文

To our shareholders, customers, and employees:

致我們的股東、消費者和員工：

The last 3½ years have been exciting. We’ve served a cumulative 6.2 million customers, exited 1998 with a $1 billion revenue run rate, launched music, video, and gift stores in the U.S., opened shop in the U.K. and Germany, and, just recently, launched Amazon.com Auctions.

過去三年半非常精彩刺激。在美國市場，我們啟動三個項目，音樂、影片和禮物商店。海外市場部分，我們在英國、德國啟動Amazon服務，最近，我們上線了Amazon二手拍賣服務。我們一共服務了620萬名消費者，並在1998年達到10億美元運行率。

We predict the next 3½ years will be even more exciting. We are working to build a place where tens of millions of customers can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online. It is truly Day 1 for the Internet and, if we execute our business plan well, it remains Day 1 for Amazon.com. Given what’s happened, it may be difficult to conceive, but we think the opportunities and risks ahead of us are even greater than those behind us. We will have to make many conscious and deliberate choices, some of which will be bold and unconventional. Hopefully, some will turn out to be winners. Certainly, some will turn out to be mistakes.

我們預測下一個三年半只會更精彩。我們致力於打造一個線上平台，成千上萬個消費者可以在這裡找到任何東西。對於互聯網來說，這只是第一天。如果我們業務計畫執行的好，這也會是Amazon的第一天。過去比我們想像的精彩，因此我們很難預估未來會發生什麼。我們認為未來的機會比過去更多，但風險也比過去更大。我們將需要做出一些大膽而顛覆傳統的決定，其中一部分決定會造就我們，另一部分決定則會失敗。

A Recap of 1998

回顧1998年

Heads-down focus on customers helped us make substantial progress in 1998:

致力專注於客戶，讓我們在1998年獲得長足的進步：

• Sales grew from $148 million in 1997 to $610 million — a 313% increase.
• 銷售額增長313%，從1997年的1億4800萬提升至6.1億。
• Cumulative customer accounts grew from 1.5 million at the end of 1997 to 6.2 million at the end of 1998 — an increase of over 300%.
• 消費者帳戶數增長超過300%，從1997年年底的150萬，提升至1998年年底的620萬。
• Despite this strong new customer growth, the percentage of orders placed on the Amazon.com Web site by repeat customers grew from over 58% in the fourth quarter of 1997 to over 64% in the same period in 1998
• 新用戶增長迅猛，而舊用戶的再消費訂單也有所提升。1997年年底，由舊用戶重複購買產生的訂單比例為58%，1998年同一時間，此比例提升至超過64%。
• Our first major product expansion, the Amazon.com music store, became the leading online music retailer in its first full quarter.
• 我們的主力產品，Amazon音樂商店，完整上線一季後在音樂零售市場取得領先
• Following their October launch under the Amazon brand and with Amazon.com technology, the combined fourth-quarter sales in the U.K. and German stores nearly quadrupled over the third quarter, establishing Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de as the leading online booksellers in their markets.
• 自十月啟動後，Amazon在英國和德國的第四季度銷售額，相較於第三季度增長4倍。在英國和德國市場，Amazon成為線上書店的市場領先者。
• The addition of music was followed by the addition of video and gifts in November, and we became the leading online video retailer in only 6 weeks.
• 在音樂加入服務之後，錄影帶和禮物也在11月加入。隨之而來的結果是，我們在6周之後成為線上錄影帶零售的市場領先者。
• 25% of our fourth-quarter 1998 sales was derived from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and music, video, and gift sales on Amazon.com, all very new businesses.
• 第四季度的銷售額中，有25%是來自全新業務，分別是新開的英國站、德國站帶來的銷售額，以及新的Amazon服務，音樂、錄影帶和禮物銷售。
• We significantly improved the customer experience, with innovations like 1- ClickSM shopping, Gift Click, store-wide sales rank, and instant recommendations.
• 我們大幅改進消費體驗，提供一鍵購物、禮物卡和全站銷售排行和推薦功能。

1998’s revenue and customer growth and achievement of continued growth in 1999 were and are dependent on expansion of our infrastructure. Some highlights:

1998年的營收和用戶增長的好表現，要能延續到1999年，將有賴於基礎設施的投入。其中包括：

• In 1998 our employee base grew from approximately 600 to over 2,100, and we significantly strengthened our management team.
• 1998年，我們的員工人數從600人提升到2100人，顯著的強化我們的管理團隊。
• We opened distribution and customer service centers in the U.K. and Germany, and in early 1999, announced the lease of a highly-mechanized distribution center of approximately 323,000 square feet in Fernley, Nevada. This latest addition will more than double our total distribution capacity and allows us to even further improve time-to-mailbox for customers.
• 我們設立了英國和德國的配送與客服中心。明年初，將在內華達州弗恩利（Fernley）租用一間高度機械化的配送中心，佔地32.3萬平方英尺。這將使我們的配送能力提升兩倍以上，進一步縮短貨物寄送時間。
• Inventories rose from $9 million at the beginning of the year to $30 million by year end, enabling us to improve product availability for our customers and improve product costs through direct purchasing from manufacturers.
• 庫存數量從年初的900萬，將於年底進一步提升到3000萬。這將使消費者更容易買到他們要的東西，同時由於直接向製造商購買，能進一步壓低價錢。
• Our cash and investment balances, following our May 1998 high yield debt offering and early 1999 convertible debt offering, now stand at well over $1.5 billion (on a pro forma basis), affording us substantial financial strength and strategic flexibility.
• 1998年5月，我們發行了高收益債券。1999年初，我們發行可轉換債券。因此，我們的現金和投資餘額現已超過15億美元，為我們提供了充裕的財務實力和戰略靈活性。

We’re fortunate to benefit from a business model that is cash-favored and capital efficient. As we do not need to build physical stores or stock those stores with inventory, our centralized distribution model has allowed us to build our business to a billion-dollar sales rate with just $30 million in inventory and $30 million in net plant and equipment. In 1998, we generated $31 million in operating cash flow which more than offset net fixed asset additions of $28 million.

我們很幸運地受益於一個以現金流和資本效率為導向的商業模式。由於我們沒有建立實體商店，因此不用受制於商店裡的存貨。集中化分銷模式使我們能夠以3000萬元的存貨、3000萬元的廠房和設備，建立一個10億元的業務。 1998年，我們的經營活動一共產生了3100萬元的現金流，足以抵銷固定資產增加額2800萬。

Our Customers

關於顧客

We intend to build the world’s most customer-centric company. We hold as axiomatic that customers are perceptive and smart, and that brand image follows reality and not the other way around. Our customers tell us that they choose Amazon.com and tell their friends about us because of the selection, ease-of-use, low prices, and service that we deliver.

我們致力於打造世界最以客戶為中心的公司。關於客戶和品牌，我們認為以下兩點是不證自明的：客戶敏銳而聰明，品牌印象源自於真實作為。客戶告訴我們，他們選擇Amazon，而且將Amazon推薦給他們的朋友，是因為品項、易用性、低價和服務。

But there is no rest for the weary. I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified. Not of our competition, but of our customers. Our customers have made our business what it is, they are the ones with whom we have a relationship, and they are the ones to whom we owe a great obligation. And we consider them to be loyal to us — right up until the second that someone else offers them a better service.

即使辛苦，我們也不能停下腳步。我持續提醒員工，我們要生於憂患，死於安樂。不是為了競爭，而是為了客戶。客戶與我們建立關係，我們對他們負有重大責任，是我們的客戶使我們業務茁壯。我們相信他們過去是我們的客戶，現在是我們的客戶，未來也會是我們的客，除非有人提供他們比我們更好的服務。

We must be committed to constant improvement, experimentation, and innovation in every initiative. We love to be pioneers, it’s in the DNA of the company, and it’s a good thing, too, because we’ll need that pioneering spirit to succeed. We’re proud of the differentiation we’ve built through constant innovation and relentless focus on customer experience, and we believe our initiatives in 1998 reflect it: our music, video, U.K. and German stores, like our U.S. bookstore, are best of breed.

我們必須致力於改善、實驗和創新。我們樂於開拓，這根植於我們的基因。這是一件再好不過的事，因為我們需要開拓才能成功。我們持續不斷的創新，專注於客戶體驗，對此我們感到很自豪。1998年，我們堅持的價值觀反映在我們的成績上：一如我們原有的線上書店業務，我們的音樂、錄影帶、英國站和德國站，都是同類中最好的領先者。

Work Hard, Have Fun, Make History

努力工作，盡力玩，然後創造歷史

It would be impossible to produce results in an environment as dynamic as the Internet without extraordinary people. Working to create a little bit of history isn’t supposed to be easy, and, well, we’re finding that things are as they’re supposed to be! We now have a team of 2,100 smart, hard-working, passionate folks who put customers first. Setting the bar high in our approach to hiring has been, and will continue to be, the single most important element of Amazon.com’s success.

如果不是跟一群非凡的人共事，想要在互聯網如此變化迅猛的環境中做出成績，可說是不可能的任務。我們原本就認為創造歷史是件不容易的事，在開始做了之後，我們驗證了確實如此。現在，我們擁有2100名聰明、努力、熱情的團隊成員，他們總是把客戶放在第一位。樹立很高的招募門檻，並持續保持高標準，是Amazon成功的重要元素。

During our hiring meetings, we ask people to consider three questions before making a decision:

招募新成員時，我們會要求決策者把以下三個問題考慮清楚：

• Will you admire this person? If you think about the people you’ve admired in your life, they are probably people you’ve been able to learn from or take an example from. For myself, I’ve always tried hard to work only with people I admire, and I encourage folks here to be just as demanding. Life is definitely too short to do otherwise.
• 你會敬佩這個人嗎？如果你回想自己生活敬佩的人，他們往往是那些你可以學習或借鑑的人。就我自己而言，我總是爭取只和我敬佩的人共事，我鼓勵員工和我一樣高標準。
• Will this person raise the average level of effectiveness of the group they’re entering? We want to fight entropy. The bar has to continuously go up. I ask people to visualize the company 5 years from now. At that point, each of us should look around and say, “The standards are so high now — boy, I’m glad I got in when I did!”
• 這個人會提升整個團隊的效率嗎？熵（Entropy）總是傾向增加，而我們想要與之對抗。為了達到這個標準，我們的門檻會持續提高。我會請公司成員想像五年之後的入職門檻，我希望我們所有人在五年後都會說：「門檻現在也太高了吧！兄弟，好險我五年就進入Amazon！」
• Along what dimension might this person be a superstar? Many people have unique skills, interests, and perspectives that enrich the work environment for all of us. It’s often something that’s not even related to their jobs. One person here is a National Spelling Bee champion (1978, I believe). I suspect it doesn’t help her in her everyday work, but it does make working here more fun if you can occasionally snag her in the hall with a quick challenge: “onomatopoeia!”
• 這個人可能會在多大程度上成為明星員工？許多人有獨一無二的技能、興趣和觀點，這讓我們的工作環境更加豐富。有時候，這跟他們的工作無關。我還記得1978年我曾和一名全國拼字比賽冠軍共事，我想這對她的日常工作沒有直接幫助，但卻讓我們工作環境更有趣了！尤其是當我們在大廳遇到她，突然給她一個拼音挑戰：「狀聲詞（onomatopoeia）怎麼拚？」

Goals for 1999

關於明年目標

As we look forward, we believe that the overall e-commerce opportunity is enormous, and 1999 will be an important year. Although Amazon.com has established a strong leadership position, it is certain that competition will even further accelerate. We plan to invest aggressively to build the foundation for a multi-billion-dollar revenue company serving tens of millions of customers with operational excellence and high efficiency. Although this level of forward investment is costly and carries many inherent risks, we believe it will provide the best end-to-end experience for customers, and actually offer the least risky long-term value creation approach for investors.

當我們把目光放遠看向未來，我們相信電子商務的機會是巨大的，而1999年會是一個重要的關鍵年份。雖然Amazon佔據了市場領先地位，但未來的競爭一定會更加劇烈。為了提高運營效率，我們計畫大力投資於基礎建設，以服務成千上萬消費者，使數十億營收的目標成為可能。雖然這樣的前瞻投資所費不貲，亦包含隨之而來的許多風險，我們仍相信這樣做將提供我們的客戶最好的端到端（End-to-end）用戶體驗，因而給投資人風險最低的長期價值。

The elements of our 1999 plan may not surprise you:

以下是我們1999年的計畫，可能難以讓你耳目一新：

Distribution capacity − We intend to build out a significant distribution infrastructure to ensure that we can support all the sales our customers demand, with speedy access to a deep product inventory.

配送能力−為了確保我們能夠支持所有客戶的需求，我們必須提升配送效率及產品庫存。為此我們傾向於建設基礎設施，以建立強大的配送體系。

Systems capacity − We’ll be expanding our systems capacity to support similar growth levels. The systems group has a significant task: expand to meet near term growth, restructure systems for multi-billion dollar scale and tens of millions of customers, build out features and systems for new initiatives and new innovations, and increase operational excellence and efficiency. All while keeping a billion dollar, 8 million customer store up and available on a 24x7 basis.

系統能力−我們將會擴大系統能力，以支持高水平的增長。系統團隊有個重要的任務：擴展系統以滿足近期增長需求，重建系統以滿足未來數十億元、用戶上千萬的業務需求，為新計畫開發功能和系統，以及提升運營效率。一切都是為了要確保我們的數十億元、用戶800萬的業務，能夠全天候運行良好。

Brand promise − Amazon.com is still a small and young company relative to the major offline retailers, and we must ensure that we build wide, strong customer relationships during this critical period.

品牌承諾－相較於大型線下零售商，Amazon仍是一個小而年輕的公司。在這個關鍵時期，我們必須確保能夠建立一個廣泛而牢固的客戶關係。

Expanded product and service offerings − In 1999, we will continue to enhance the scope of our current product and service offerings, as well as add new initiatives. Amazon.com Auctions is our most recent addition. If any of you have not tried this new service, I encourage you to run — not walk — to www.amazon.com and click on the Auctions tab. As an Amazon.com customer, you are pre-registered to both bid and sell. As a seller, you have access to Amazon.com’s 8 million experienced online shoppers.

拓展產品和系統服務−明年我們將持續提升現有產品和系統服務的規模，同時增加新項目。Amazon拍賣是我們近期的最新項目。如果你們還沒試過這項新服務，我建議你趕快試一試。訪問Amazon網站，然後展開拍賣分頁。作為Amazon的客戶，你可以註冊為拍賣方或出價方。作為拍賣方的你，可以觸及Amazon站上800萬用戶，他們都是懂得使用線上購物的消費者。

Bench strength and processes − We’ve complicated our business dramatically with new products, services, geographies, acquisitions and additions to our business model. We intend to invest in teams, processes, communication and people development practices. Scaling in this way is among the most challenging and difficult elements of our plan.

人才儲備−我們的業務日益複雜，新產品、新服務、新地區、新收購加入到我們的商業模式中。我們傾向於投資在團隊、流程、溝通和人力發展。如何規模化是我們的最大挑戰。

Amazon.com has made a number of strides forward in the past year, but there is still an enormous amount to learn and to do. We remain optimistic, but we also know we must remain vigilant and maintain a sense of urgency. We face many challenges and hurdles. Among them, aggressive, capable and well-funded competition; the growth challenges and execution risk associated with our own expansion; and the need for large continuing investments to meet an expanding market opportunity.

過去一年，Amazon取得長足的進步，但我們依然有很多東西要學，依然有很多東西要做。我們依然樂觀，但我們也知道必須保持警惕，維持一種緊迫感。我們面對許多挑戰和障礙，其中包括心態、能力和資金的競爭；增長的挑戰和擴張的風險；長期持續的投資。這一切都是為了要迎向不斷擴大的市場機會。

The most important thing I could say in this letter was said in last years’ letter, which detailed our long-term investment approach. Because we have so many new shareholders (this year we’re printing more than 200,000 of these letters — last year we printed about 13,000), we’ve appended last year’s letter immediately after this year’s. I invite you to please read the section entitled It’s All About the Long Term. You might want to read it twice to make sure we’re the kind of company you want to be invested in. As it says there, we don’t claim it’s the right philosophy, we just claim it’s ours!

這封信最重要的事，我在去年的信已經說過，那就是闡明我們的長期投資哲學。因為我們有許多新的股東（去年我們印了1.3萬封致股東信，今年我們印了超過20萬封），我們在今年致股東信的結尾副上去年的致股東信。希望你能夠閱讀「這一切關乎長期」的段落。你也許會想要讀第二次，以確保我們的確是你想投資的公司。如同我們曾說的，我們不敢保證長期主義是絕對正確的，我們只是表達那是我們所遵循的！

All the best and sincere thanks once again to our customers and shareholders and all the folks here who are working passionately every day to build an important and lasting company.

再次衷心感謝我們的客戶，股東和全體員工。我們的員工每天都在熱情地工作，以建立一個重要且長久的公司。

Jeffrey P. Bezos

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Amazon.com, Inc.

傑夫·貝佐斯

Amazon創始人暨CEO

以上就是1998年Amazon致股東信。

想看隔年的Amazon致股東信，請至《1999年Amazon致股東信：目標是成為什麼都賣的電商平台》。

想看全系列導讀目錄，請至《Amazon 1997–2019年致股東信導讀目錄》。