評論
打印
Business: The sharing economy-2: Airbnb for canines
商業：分享型經濟-二：犬類的空中食宿
Putting a wolf over their heads.
把狼放在他們頭頂。
The majority of Americans see their pets as family members, surveys show.
研究表明，大多數的美國人把他們的寵物看作自己的家庭成員。
Those with dogs are more likely to call themselves pet “parents” than canine “owners”.
養狗的人更愿意把自己稱為狗狗的父母，而并非狗狗的主人。
There are more of these parents than ever.
現在比以前有更多的“狗狗父母”。
In big cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, (owned) dogs outnumber children.
在圣弗朗西斯科和西雅圖這些大城市，被飼養狗狗的數量比人們的孩子還要多。
The ways in which companies are profiting from the trend are also multiplying.
公司從這一趨勢中獲利的方式也越來越多。
Not only is there organic dog food on offer, but packaged, raw food for dogs so they can follow a “paleo” diet reminiscent of what their ancestors ate in the wild.
不僅僅銷售有機狗糧，而且還為狗狗提供生機包裝食品，從而讓狗狗能夠回歸原始飲食方式，回憶起它們祖先以前在野外所吃的東西。
A different sort of indulgence is orthopaedic pet mattresses.
一種不同的溺愛方式就是符合寵物身體構造床墊的誕生。
This year Americans spent more than $400m on Halloween costumes for pets.
今年，美國人為寵物的萬圣節裝扮花費超過4億美元。
Overall, annual spending on pet food and products in America has risen by around 40% over the past ten years, to $43bn—a remarkable rate of growth for an already large industry, says Jared Koerten of Euromonitor, a research firm.
總的說來，美國人每年在寵物食品和有關產品上的開銷在過去10年間已經上漲了約40%，達到430億美元。一家名為Euromonitor研究公司的Jared Koerten表示，這個增長率對于體量已然極其龐大的行業來說是驚人的。
Now a pack of startups has sniffed a fresh opportunity.
現在，一群創業公司已經嗅到了商機。
Much as Airbnb has offered travellers an alternative to staying in a hotel, two firms, Rover and DogVacay, want to give pet owners an alternative to kennels when away from home.
就像Airbnb已經為旅行者提供了另外一種入住酒店的方式，Rover和DogVacay這兩家公司打算為寵物飼主出遠門時提供一種全新的寄養方式。
Customers search for a nearby sitter and pay for their dog to stay in that person’s home.
顧客可以搜尋就近的“寵物保姆”，然后為他們的寵物支付“住宿費”。
The cost is around $30 a night, with the majority of that going to the sitter and around a fifth to the company—much less than you would spend to check your dog into a kennel.
寄養寵物一晚上的花費是大約30美金，“寵物保姆”會收到其中大部分的錢，只有約五分之一的傭金歸屬這個公司。這比你花錢給寵物店照看狗狗要便宜得多。
The other big selling-point is that pets by and large receive better treatment.
另外一個大的賣點就是，總體上寵物會得到更好的照顧。
There are ways, apparently, to vet dog hosts to find the real pet lovers: only around 15% of those who apply to serve as sitters are approved.
很明顯，這些公司有很多方式去審核“狗狗保姆”來找到真正的喜歡寵物的人：只有約15%申請當“寵物保姆”的人通過認證。
Besides offering pooches more attention and room to roam, the platforms try to offer extra add-ons that appeal to helicopter parents.
此外，為了給狗狗提供更多的關心和散步空間，這些平臺嘗試提供額外的附加軟件來吸引“直升機式的”父母。
Rover has launched a feature that enables customers to see how far their dog has been walked via the GPS in the host’s phone.
Rover已經開發出一項新的功能，這能夠讓顧客通過“寵物保姆”手機上的GPS查看他們的狗狗散步路程。
Like Airbnb, both DogVacay and Rover insure stays against accidents.
和Airbnb一樣，Rover和DogVacay都為“入住期間”投保意外險。
Another advantage of the model is that, unlike other platforms that match consumers with workers, like handymen or masseuses, for one-off visits, consumers often use dog-sitting services many times a year, and they tend to be loyal.
這種模式的另一個優點就是，不像其他平臺為了一次性訪問量，會把顧客和諸如打零工的人或女按摩師這些工作人員匹配在一起，而這些平臺的顧客們可以一年多次使用“寵物保姆”服務，他們都會成為這些平臺的忠實擁躉。
That has helped DogVacay and Rover attract a lot of venture-capital money—around $140m between them.
這已經幫助Rover和DogVacay吸引了大量風險投資金，約1400萬美元。
But firms that connect pets with hosts will face daunting competition as they try to go global.
但是，這些使寵物和“寵物保姆”聯系起來的公司在打開國際市場時會遇到巨大競爭。
Companies offering home-stays for dogs are now cropping up in many different countries, including Australia, Brazil and Britain.
為狗狗提供寄養服務的公司在許多國家如雨后春筍般出現，包括澳大利亞、巴西和英國。
And unlike Airbnb, which pulls in customers thanks to its presence in lots of markets that people want to travel to, the network effect for services like DogVacay is local.
和Airbnb不一樣的是，Airbnb能吸引顧客是因為人們想要去旅行的地方就有Airbnb，而Dogvacay這樣的服務其網絡效應僅限于當地。
Despite having anticipated the trend early, such firms may never achieve the same scale as an Airbnb.
雖然現在去預測這種趨勢的走向為時尚早，但是這些公司可能永遠不會像Airbnb一樣遍及全球。
But then no one ever said it was easy to be top dog.
不過，沒有人說過做到業內頂尖是很容易的。
譯文屬譯者說外刊
