導讀
這封信是2009年Amazon的第13封致股東信。
2009年起，Amazon的財務表現擺脫以往起起伏伏的狀態，股價開始一路向上。
這樣的好表現，原因從何而來？Jeff Bezos歸功於15年來對「客戶體驗」優化的一切努力。
商品品項增加、運送效率提升、成本更低，這是Amazon成長的根本原因。
商業競爭的本質是效率之爭，Amazon對客戶體驗優化的努力，正是提升效率的舉措。
在這封信中，Jeff Bezos除了提到2009年取得的好成績之外，也聊到一個新進高階主管常感到訝異的問題－為什麼Amazon內部很少談論財務結果？
Jeff Bezos對此解釋：少談財務結果，並不是因為覺得財務結果不重要，而是認為提升財務表現的最好方式是「專注於對業務的投入」。
講白話一點就是賺錢確實重要，但天天喊著要賺錢並不是正解，專注於對業務的投入才是重點。
如何才能「專注於對業務的投入」？要想專注，制定目標很重要。
Amazon制定目標的時間很長，從秋季開始，直到新年才定案。時間跨度很長的原因是重視細節，畢竟年度目標制定後就要開始專注投入實踐。
好了，導讀結束，以下致股東信正文開始。
正文
To our shareowners:
致我們的股東：
The financial results for 2009 reflect the cumulative effect of 15 years of customer experience improvements: increasing selection, speeding delivery, reducing cost structure so we can afford to offer customers ever-lower prices, and many others. This work has been done by a large number of smart, relentless, customer-devoted people across all areas of the company. We are proud of our low prices, our reliable delivery, and our in-stock position on even obscure and hard-to-find items. We also know that we can still be much better, and we’re dedicated to improving further.
2009年的財務業績表現，是這15年來客戶體驗優化的成果。商品品項增加、運送速度提升、成本降低，讓我們能夠提供客戶更低的價格。這項成就由許多精明、勤奮且聚焦於客戶的Amazon各部門員工完成。我們對於低廉的價格、穩定的物流和豐富的商品品項感到自豪。我們依然知道還有地方可以做得更好，而且我們致力於改進它們。
Some notable highlights from 2009:
2009年的一些突出表現：
- Net sales increased 28% year-over-year to $24.51 billion in 2009. This is 15 times higher than net sales 10 years ago when they were $1.64 billion in 1999.
- 2009年的淨銷售額和去年相比增長28%，達到245.1億美元，這是10年前的淨銷售額的15倍。1999年，淨銷售額為16.4億美元。
- Free cash flow increased 114% year-over-year to $2.92 billion in 2009.
- 2009年，自由現金流和去年相比增長114%，達到29.2億美元。
- More customers are taking advantage of Amazon Prime, with worldwide memberships up significantly over last year. The number of different items available for immediate shipment grew more than 50% in 2009.
- 有更多消費者正在使用Amazon Prime服務，全球會員數量和去年相比有顯著增長。2009年，可立即發貨的商品數量增長了50%。
- We added 21 new product categories around the world in 2009, including Automotive in Japan, Baby in France, and Shoes and Apparel in China.
- 2009年，我們新增了21種商品類別。在日本增加了汽車類別、在法國增加了育嬰類別、在中國增加鞋類服裝。
- It was a busy year for our shoes business. In November we acquired Zappos, a leader in online apparel and footwear sales that strives to provide shoppers with the best possible service and selection. Zappos is a terrific addition to our Endless, Javari, Amazon, and Shopbop selection.
- 對我們鞋類業務來說，今年是繁忙的一年。11月，我們收購了線上服裝和鞋類領域的領導品牌Zappos，該公司致力於為客戶提供最好的服務。Zappos對於我們的品牌Endless、Javari、Amazon和Shopbop有加分效果。
- The apparel team continued to enhance customer experience with the launch of our Denim Shop offering 100 brands, including Joe’s Jeans, Lucky Brand, 7 For All Mankind, and Levi’s.
- 服裝團隊透過提供百種品牌，包括Joe’s Jeans、Lucky Brand、7 For All Mankind和Levi’s，以豐富品項持續優化客戶體驗。
- The shoes and apparel teams created over 121,000 product descriptions and uploaded over 2.2 million images to the website providing customers with a vivid shopping experience.
- 鞋子和服裝團隊提供了超過12.1萬個產品說明，上傳超過220萬張圖片，為客戶提供了高品質的客戶體驗。
- Approximately 7 million customer reviews were added to websites worldwide.
- 網站上新增了約700萬個全球用戶的評論。
- Sales of products by third party sellers on our websites represented 30% of unit sales in 2009. Active seller accounts increased 24% to 1.9 million for the year. Globally, sellers using Fulfillment By Amazon stowed more than one million unique items in our fulfillment center network, thereby making these items available for Free Super Saver Shipping and Amazon Prime.
- 2009年，第三方賣家在我們網站上銷售的產品佔全部銷售額的30%。今年，活躍賣家帳號提升了24%，達到190萬個。在全球範圍內，第三方賣家使用Amazon配送服務所存放的商品數量超過100萬個，這些商品都可以使用Free Super Saver Shipping和Amazon Prime服務。
- Amazon Web Services continued its rapid pace of innovation, launching many new services and features, including the Amazon Relational Database Service, Virtual Private Cloud, Elastic MapReduce, High-Memory EC2 Instances, Reserved and Spot Instances, Streaming for Amazon CloudFront, and Versioning for Amazon S3. AWS also continued to expand its global footprint to include additional services in the EU, a new Northern California Region and plans for a presence in the Asia-Pacific Region in 2010. The continued innovation and track record for operational performance helped AWS add more customers in 2009 than ever before, including many large enterprise customers.
- Amazon雲端運算服務AWS持續保持著快速迭代的步調，推出了許多新服務和新功能，包括Amazon關係數據庫服務 (Amazon Relational Database Service)、虛擬私有雲 (Virtual Private Cloud)、Elastic MapReduce、High-Memory EC2 Instances、Reserved and Spot Instances、Streaming for Amazon CloudFront和Versioning for Amazon S3。AWS還在持續擴大其全球覆蓋範圍，包括歐盟、北加州地區，並計畫於2010年在亞太地區開展業務。持續創新和良好運營績效，幫助AWS在2009年獲得比以往更多的大型企業客戶。
- The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 460,000 books, an increase from 250,000 last year, and includes 103 of the 110 New York Times Bestsellers, more than 8,900 blogs, and 171 top U.S. and International newspapers and magazines. We have shipped Kindles to more than 120 countries, and we now provide content in six different languages.
- 美國的Kindle商店現在有超過46萬本書，去年增加了25萬本，包括103本紐約時報暢銷排行榜前110名的書、超過8900個部落格、171本美國與國際的頂級報紙和雜誌。我們配送Kindle至全球超過120個國家，提供6種不同語言的內容。
Senior leaders that are new to Amazon are often surprised by how little time we spend discussing actual financial results or debating projected financial outputs. To be clear, we take these financial outputs seriously, but we believe that focusing our energy on the controllable inputs to our business is the most effective way to maximize financial outputs over time. Our annual goal setting process begins in the fall, and concludes early in the new year after we’ve completed our peak holiday quarter. Our goal setting sessions are lengthy, spirited, and detailoriented. We have a high bar for the experience our customers deserve and a sense of urgency to improve that experience.
剛進到Amazon的高階領導者，對於我們很少探討財務結果經常感到訝異。明確地說，我們認為財務結果很重要，但我們認為要提升財務表現，最好的方式是專注於對業務的投入，才能最大程度優化財務結果。我們在秋季開始制定年度目標，直到假期高峰後的新年才完成。我們的目標設定會議很長、充滿活力且注重細節。我們為客戶體驗設立高標準，而且迫切地想要改進客戶體驗。
We’ve been using this same annual process for many years. For 2010, we have 452 detailed goals with owners, deliverables, and targeted completion dates. These are not the only goals our teams set for themselves, but they are the ones we feel are most important to monitor. None of these goals are easy and many will not be achieved without invention. We review the status of each of these goals several times per year among our senior leadership team and add, remove, and modify goals as we proceed.
多年來，我們一直在使用這樣的流程。2010年，我們有452個詳細目標，明確包含負責人、可交付成果和目標預計完成日期。這些不只是團隊成員為自己設定的目標，也是我們認為最重要的目標。這些目標都不簡單，許多目標需要創新發明才能達成。我們每年都會和高階領導者團隊覆盤這些目標的完成狀況，並在進行過程中增加、刪減或調整目標。
A review of our current goals reveals some interesting statistics:
對我們當前目標的回顧，揭示了一些有趣的統計數據：
- 360 of the 452 goals will have a direct impact on customer experience.
- 452個目標中，有360個目標將對客戶體驗產生直接影響。
- The word revenue is used eight times and free cash flow is used only four times.
- 「收入」一詞使用了8次，而「自由現金流」僅使用了4次。
- In the 452 goals, the terms net income, gross profit or margin, and operating profit are not used once.
- 在452個目標中，以下這些詞未曾使用過：淨收入、毛利、毛利率和營業利潤。
Taken as a whole, the set of goals is indicative of our fundamental approach. Start with customers, and work backwards. Listen to customers, but don’t just listen to customers — also invent on their behalf. We can’t assure you that we’ll meet all of this year’s goals. We haven’t in past years. However, we can assure you that we’ll continue to obsess over customers. We have strong conviction that that approach — in the long term — is every bit as good for owners as it is for customers.
總的來說，這一系列目標表明了我們的基本方針。從客戶端出發，再逆向回推要做哪些工作。聆聽消費者的聲音，但又不只限於聆聽，也要以新發明滿足客戶未說出口的需求。我們不敢向你保證，我們今年會完成所有目標。我們過去幾年並沒有在當年度完成全部目標。然而，我們可以跟你保證，我們會持續專注於客戶。我們堅信，從長遠來看，這種方法對股東和客戶都能帶來好處。
As always, I attach a copy of our original 1997 letter. Our approach remains the same, and it’s still Day 1.
如同往常，我把我們在1997年寫的致股東信附在文末。我們的價值觀依然不變，今天依舊是Day 1。
Jeffrey P. Bezos
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Amazon.com, Inc.
April 2010
傑夫·貝佐斯
Amazon創始人暨CEO
2010年4月
以上就是2009年Amazon致股東信。
想看隔年的Amazon致股東信，請至《2010年Amazon致股東信：在技術前沿探索，使技術為顧客服務》。
想看全系列導讀目錄，請至《Amazon 1997–2019年致股東信導讀目錄》。
