2001年Amazon致股東信：是時候了！讓我們開始降價吧！｜見識之旅

導讀

這封信是2001年Amazon的第5封致股東信。

Amazon的客戶體驗建立於三大支柱：品項多、便利性高以及持續降價。

「品項多」和「便利性高」在之前的致股東信已多著墨，而「持續降價」是首次在致股東信中被Jeff Bezos提及。

Jeff Bezos表示Amazon已經開始降價，而且會持續不斷的降價。不斷改善成本，不斷降低價格，從而不斷驅動增長。

在便利性的層面，新增了「即時訂單更新」的功能，在用戶再次購買相同商品時會發出警告。

與其賺這筆重複購買訂單的錢，Amazon選擇以一貫的顧客至上理念推出這樣的功能，原因只是因為「人們很忙，他們常常忘記自己已經買了某樣東西」！

最後，Jeff Bezos重申了1997年的那句話：「當我們被迫在優化GAAP會計報表和最大化未來現金流量的現值之間做出選擇時，我們將選擇後者。」

對於為什麼要選擇後者，他進一步解釋：公司未來的現金流影響公司的股價，因此現金流相較其他單一變數，更適合用於解釋公司的長期股價。

好了，導讀結束，以下致股東信正文開始。

正文

To our shareholders:

致我們的股東：

In July of last year, Amazon.com reached an important way station. After four years of single-minded focus on growth, and then just under two years spent almost exclusively on lowering costs, we reached a point where we could afford to balance growth and cost improvement, dedicating resources and staffed projects to both. Our major price reduction in July, moving to discount books over $20 by 30% off list, marked this change.

去年7月，Amazon達到重要的里程碑。四年聚焦增長，兩年努力降低成本，我們達到一個平衡點，能夠兼顧增長和成本改善，將資源和人員妥善配置於兩者。這一點體現在價格上，我們在7月時，將超過20美元的書降價百分之三十。

This balance began to pay off in the fourth quarter, when we both significantly exceeded our own goals on the bottom line and simultaneously reaccelerated growth in our business. We lowered prices again in January when we offered a new class of shipping that is free (year-round) on orders over $99. Focus on cost improvement makes it possible for us to afford to lower prices, which drives growth. Growth spreads fixed costs across more sales, reducing cost per unit, which makes possible more price reductions. Customers like this, and it’s good for shareholders. Please expect us to repeat this loop.

當我們大幅超過底線目標，並加快業務增長的速度時，這種平衡就在第四季度開始得到回報。我們在一月份再次降價，提供一種新的運送服務，只要訂單金額超過99美元即可免費運送，時長一年。專注於成本改善，使我們有能力降低價格，從而驅動增長。增長將固定成本分配在訂單中，從而降低了單位成本，從而有可能進一步降低價格。客戶喜歡降價，而且對股東也有利。你可以期待的是，我們將會不斷重複降價循環。

As I mentioned, we exceeded our goals for the fourth quarter with pro forma operating profit of $59 million and pro forma net profit of $35 million. Thousands of Amazon.com employees around the world worked hard to achieve that goal; they are, and should be, proud of the accomplishment. More highlights from a notable year:

正如我前面提到的，我們在第四季度超出預期目標，預計利潤為5900萬美元，預計淨利潤為3500萬美元。世界上成千上萬Amazon員工都在努力達成這個目標，他們為此成就感到驕傲。更多重要的成果包括：

• Sales grew 13% from $2.76 billion in 2000 to $3.12 billion in 2001; we achieved our first billion-dollar quarter on reaccelerated sales and 23% year-over-year unit growth in Q4.
• 銷售額從2000年的27.6億美元，提升至2001年的31.2億美元，實現13%增長。我們在第四季度達成銷售額增長的第一個10億元目標，單位銷量同比增長23%。
• We served 25 million customer accounts in 2001, compared to 20 million in 2000 and 14 million in 1999.
• 2001年，我們為2500萬名客戶提供服務。這個數字在2000年和1999年分別為2000萬和1400萬。
• International sales grew 74% in 2001, and more than one-quarter of sales came from outside the U.S. The U.K. and Germany, our largest international markets, had a combined pro forma operating profit for the first time in Q4. Open only a year, Japan grew to a $100 million annual run rate in Q4.
• 2001年，國際銷售額增加了74%，超過1/4的銷售額來自美國以外的地方。我們最大的國際市場，英國站和德國站，在第四季度首次達成預估利潤目標。日本站僅開放一年，在第四季度的年運行率即達到1億美金。
• Hundreds of thousands of small businesses and individuals made money by selling new and used products to our customers directly from our highly trafficked product detail pages. These Marketplace orders grew to 15% of U.S. orders in Q4, far surpassing our expectations when we launched Marketplace in November 2000.
• 成千上萬的小型企業和個人，透過我們的產品詳情頁面，接觸到很多流量，出售大量新產品和二手產品。這些來自第三方賣家平台Marketplace的訂單，第四季度在美國地區成長了15%，遠遠超過我們在2001年11月推出時的預期。
• Inventory turns increased from 12 in 2000 to 16 in 2001.
• 2000年，Amazon的庫存周轉率為12次，2001年增加到16次。
• Most important, we stayed relentlessly focused on the customer, as reflected in a chart-topping score of 84 for the second year in a row on the widely followed American Customer Satisfaction Index conducted by the University of Michigan. We are told this is the highest score ever recorded — not just for any retailer, but for any service company.
• 最重要的是，我們一直持續不斷的專注於用戶，這一點反映在密西根大學的美國客戶滿意度調查，Amazon連續兩年獲得最高分84分。這樣的成績，不僅對於零售商來說是最高分，對於任何服務公司來說也是最高分。

Obsess over customers: our commitment continues

我們承諾，將會繼續實現顧客至上

Until July, Amazon.com had been primarily built on two pillars of customer experience: selection and convenience. In July, as I already discussed, we added a third customer experience pillar: relentlessly lowering prices. You should know that our commitment to the first two pillars remains as strong as ever.

直到今年七月，Amazon一直把核心業務建立在兩個客戶體驗的支柱上：選擇和便利。正如我所說過的，七月份我們將增加第三個客戶體驗支柱：持續降價。同時，我們對於前兩個支柱的承諾一如既往地有效。

We now have more than 45,000 items in our electronics store (about seven times the selection you’re likely to find in a big-box electronics store), we’ve tripled our kitchen selection (you’ll find all the best brands), we’ve launched computer and magazine subscriptions stores, and we’ve added selection with strategic partners such as Target and Circuit City.

現在，我們的電子產品商店中有超過4萬5千種商品（約為大型電子產品實體店中商品數量的7倍），廚房商品的選擇數量提升了3倍（你能找到所有最好的品牌）， 開設了電腦和雜誌訂閱商店，並與Target、Circuit City等成為戰略合作夥伴。

We’ve improved convenience with features like Instant Order Update, which warns you if you’re about to buy the same item twice (people are busy — they forget that they’ve already bought it!).

我們透過即時訂單更新等功能提高了便利性，該功能會在您再次購買同一商品時發出警告（人們很忙-他們會忘記自己已經買了！）。

We’ve dramatically improved customer self-service capabilities. Customers can now easily find, cancel, or modify their own orders. To find an order, just make sure you are signed in and recognized by the site, and do a regular search on any product in your order. When you get to that product’s detail page, a link to your order will be at the top of the page.

我們大大改善自助服務功能。現在用戶可以輕易查找、取消或修改自己的訂單。只要你登入，就可以查找過去訂單中的任何商品。當你找到商品的明細頁，該頁面的頂部會有你的訂單連結。

We built a new feature called Look Inside the Book. Customers can view large highresolution images of not only the front cover of a book, but also the back cover, index, table of contents, and a reasonable sample of the inside pages. They can Look Inside the Book before making a buying decision. It’s available on over 200,000 of our millions of titles (as a point of comparison, a typical book superstore would carries about 100,000 titles).

我們打造了新功能－書中查找。用戶不僅可以查看書的封面，還可以瀏覽高解析度的封底、索引、目錄和一定比例的內頁。用戶可以先看過書籍的內容，再決定是否要購買。在我們數以百萬計的書中，有20萬本可以使用此功能（相較之下，一間大型實體書店約有近10萬本書）。

As my last example, I’ll just point out that one of the most important things we’ve done to improve convenience and experience for customers also happens to be a huge driver of variable cost productivity: eliminating mistakes and errors at their root. Every year that’s gone by since Amazon.com’s founding, we’ve done a better and better job of eliminating errors, and this past year was our best ever. Eliminating the root causes of errors saves us money and saves customers time.

我將以提高便利性和用戶體驗，作為最後一個案例。這件事之所以重要，是因為它能大大提升生產率，從根本上消除錯誤。自Amazon成立以來的每一年，我們在根除錯誤這條路上，做得越來越好，過去一年是有史以來最好的一年。根除發生錯誤的原因，可以降低成本，也節省用戶的時間。

Our consumer franchise is our most valuable asset, and we will nourish it with innovation and hard work.

消費者對我們的偏愛，是我們最寶貴的資產。我們將會透過創新和努力，持續滋養它。

An investment framework

我們的投資框架

In every annual letter (including this one), we attach a copy of our original 1997 letter to shareholders to help investors decide if Amazon.com is the right kind of investment for them, and to help us determine if we have remained true to our original goals and values. I think we have.

在每一封年度信件（包含現在這封），我們會附上1997年最初始的那一封致股東信，讓股東們能夠更確定Amazon確實是自己想投資的公司。同時，這能夠幫助我們判斷Amazon是否忠實於自己最初的目標和價值觀。在這一點上，我想我們有做到。

In that 1997 letter, we wrote, “When forced to choose between optimizing the appearance of our GAAP accounting and maximizing the present value of future cash flows, we’ll take the cash flows.”

我們在1997年的那封信中寫道：「當我們被迫在優化GAAP會計報表和最大化未來現金流量的現值之間做出選擇時，我們將選擇後者。」

Why focus on cash flows? Because a share of stock is a share of a company’s future cash flows, and, as a result, cash flows more than any other single variable seem to do the best job of explaining a company’s stock price over the long term.

為什麼要聚焦於現金流？公司未來的現金流影響公司的股價，因此現金流相較其他單一變數，更適合用於解釋公司的長期股價。

If you could know for certain just two things — a company’s future cash flows and its future number of shares outstanding — you would have an excellent idea of the fair value of a share of that company’s stock today. (You’d also need to know appropriate discount rates, but if you knew the future cash flows for certain, it would also be reasonably easy to know which discount rates to use.) It’s not easy, but you can make an informed forecast of future cash flows by examining a company’s performance in the past and by looking at factors such as the leverage points and scalability in that company’s model. Estimating the number of shares outstanding in the future requires you to forecast items such as option grants to employees or other potential capital transactions. Ultimately, your determination of cash flow per share will be a strong indicator of the price you might be willing to pay for a share of ownership in any company.

如果你用未來現金流和股票數量來了解一間公司，你會對它當下的股價有很好的理解。（折現率也有助於判斷股價。不過，若能預估未來現金流，那也很容易判斷折現率。）要判斷股價並不容易，但你可以透過公司商業模式中的槓桿點和可擴展性，來判讀公司過去的表現，進而預測未來現金流。要想預估未來發行的股票數量，需要考慮員工期權、潛在資產交易等項目。最終，你對每股現金流的預測，將反映你對每股所有權的願意出的價格。

Since we expect to keep our fixed costs largely fixed, even at significantly higher unit volumes, we believe Amazon.com is poised over the coming years to generate meaningful, sustained, free cash flow. Our goal for 2002 reflects just that. As we said in January when we reported our fourth quarter results, we plan this year to generate positive operating cash flow, leading to free cash flow (the difference between the two is up to $75 million of planned capital expenditures). Our trailing twelve-month pro forma net income should, roughly but not perfectly, trend like trailing twelve-month cash flow.

即使大幅增加商品數量，我們希望能將固定成本保持不變。我們相信，Amazon有望在未來幾年產生有意義的、可持續的現金流。我們對於2002年的目標，恰好反映了這一點。正如我們一月時針對第四季度的業績報告所說的，我們計畫今年可達成正向營運現金流，從而帶來自由現金流（兩者差距約為計劃資本支出的7500萬美金）。我們過去12個月的備考淨收入（pro forma net income）應該大致和現金流趨勢一致。

Limiting share count means more cash flow per share and more long-term value for owners. Our current objective is to target net dilution from employee stock options (grants net of cancellations) to an average of 3% per year over the next five years, although in any given year it might be higher or lower.

限制股票數量，意味著更多的每股現金流以及更長期的價值。我們現階段的目標是，在未來5年內將員工的股票期權攤薄至每年平均3%。

Relentless commitment to long-term shareholder value

對股東價值的長期承諾

As I’ve discussed many times before, we are firm believers that the long-term interests of shareholders are tightly linked to the interests of our customers: if we do our jobs right, today’s customers will buy more tomorrow, we’ll add more customers in the process, and it will all add up to more cash flow and more long-term value for our shareholders. To that end, we are committed to extending our leadership in e-commerce in a way that benefits customers and therefore, inherently, investors — you can’t do one without the other.

如同我之前多次提到的，我們是長期主義的信仰者，我們堅信股東的長期利益和客戶利益密切相關：如果我們做的對，今天的客戶明天會買更多，我們會獲得更多客戶。這將為我們增加更多的現金流和股東長期價值。為此，我們使用對客戶有利的方式，來拓展我們在電子商務上的領導地位。

As we kick off 2002, I am happy to report that I am as enthusiastic as ever about this business. There is more innovation ahead of us than behind us, we are close to demonstrating the operating leverage of our business model, and I get to work with this amazing team of Amazonians all over the world. I am lucky and grateful. We thank you, our owners, for your support, your encouragement, and for joining us on this adventure. If you’re a customer, we thank you again!

在2002年開始時，我很高興能向你報告，我對電子商務這項業務有著一如既往的熱情。我們未來的創新，將比起過去的創新還要多。我們將展示商業模式的營運槓桿，我將與遍及全球的Amazon團隊一同工作。我很幸運，也很感激。Amazon的股東，我們感謝你的支持、鼓勵和參與。如果你同時也是我們的客戶，那我們對你雙倍感謝！

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2001年Amazon致股東信。

想看隔年的Amazon致股東信，請至《2002年Amazon致股東信：品項持續增加，價格持續下降》。

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