Kroger’s sheds, which may take up to five years to complete, already give a sense of the emerging grocery battle lines. They will be big, up to about 33,000 square metres (350,000 square feet), though they can be flexed up and down. They will sit on the edge of cities. Ocado aims to make up for the long drives to deliver groceries by speeding up its robots, packing crates of 50 items in six to seven minutes. There will be no time-pressed “pickers” elbowing shoppers aside to fill an online order, as in other supermarkets.
克羅格公司的客戶履約中心可能需要5年才能完工，已經給人一種雜貨店戰線正在形成的感覺。客戶履約中心將會很大，最多可達3.3萬平方米(35萬平方英尺)，盡管可以上下伸縮。這些客戶履約中心將坐落在城市郊區。Ocado公司的目標是通過加快機器人的速度，在6到7分鐘內完成50件商品的打包，從而彌補運送食品雜貨的長途運輸。再也不會像其他超市那樣，時間緊迫的“挑選員”把實體店顧客晾在一邊去完成網上訂單。
But the Ocado model, which works well in urban Britain, is as yet untested in more sparsely populated places. In America and China others are moving in a different direction—and in a hurry.
而Ocado模式雖然在英國的城市里運行良好，但在人口更稀少的地方還沒有經過測試。在美國和中國，其他公司正朝著不同的方向快速前進。
In 2017 Amazon sent shivers down American grocers’ spines by buying Whole Foods. On November 11th it confirmed that it was opening its first grocery store in California that is not part of that upscale chain. Last month it launched free delivery of Amazon Fresh, a grocery service, to its Prime members. So far its bark has been worse than its bite. By one estimate only 6% of its sales are perishables, compared with 65% at a traditional grocer.
2017年，亞馬遜收購了Whole Foods超市，令美國雜貨商膽戰心驚。11月11日，沃爾瑪證實將在加州開設第一家不屬于高檔連鎖超市系列的雜貨店。上個月，亞馬遜推出了一項針對Prime會員的免費送貨服務——亞馬遜生鮮。到目前為止，說的比唱的好聽。據估計，易腐食品僅占其銷售額的6%，而傳統雜貨商的這一比例為65%。
Amazon’s domestic rivals are making existing supermarkets the kernel of their online operations, either for picking up orders or delivering them. Close by will be micro-fulfilment centres, which will seek to emulate Ocado’s efficiency, but cut down on travel times. The model is Walmart, which cited sharp growth in online grocery from its supercentres in America as a reason for higher sales this summer. Last month it launched a service in which employees in three American cities can deliver groceries directly to customers’ fridges when no one is home, using smart-entry technology and wearable cameras. It also promises same-day delivery under a membership programme like Amazon Prime.
亞馬遜的國內競爭對手正將現有的超市作為其在線業務的核心，無論是接單還是送貨。附近將會有微型履約中心，這些微型履約中心將努力模仿Ocado的效率，但會減少物流時間。沃爾瑪就是一個例子。沃爾瑪表示，其美國超級購物中心的在線雜貨業務大幅增長，是今年夏季銷售額上升的一個原因。上個月，沃爾瑪推出了一項服務，在美國三個城市的員工可以使用智能輸入技術和可穿戴相機，在無人在家的情況下，將食品雜貨直接送到顧客的冰箱里。沃爾瑪還承諾在亞馬遜Prime這樣的會員計劃下實現當日送達。
Open sesames
開放的通行證
Alibaba’s high-tech Hema supermarkets in China are more cutting- edge still. They use QR codes on fish to validate freshness, enable app-based shopping, have robots aplenty (naturally) and offer 30-minute delivery within a small radius. Yet it is unclear if Hema’s technology will succeed where armies of cheap labour, ready to sort, pick and deliver groceries, have mostly failed.
阿里巴巴在中國的高科技超市盒馬鮮生仍然更先進。魚身上的二維碼可以驗證新鮮度，盒馬鮮生還支持APP購物，擁有大量機器人（理所當然），并在小范圍內提供30分鐘送到家服務。然而，目前尚不清楚盒馬的技術是否會成功，因為大批準備分類、挑選和運送食品雜貨的廉價勞動力基本上都失敗了。
No one has as yet quite cracked the problem. More wizardry, perhaps virtual-reality headsets, may be required to make internet grocery shopping as intuitive for people as it is offline. But the incentives for grocers to press ahead are huge. No relationship in retail is as intense as that of shoppers with their supermarket. Few firms have as many eggs in the online-shopping basket as Ocado. If things do not work out, at least the Kroger deal has made Mr Steiner a rich man. If they do, he may be a rare example of a British entrepreneur with global ambitions who is not off his trolley.
到目前為止，還沒有人完全解決這個問題。也許需要更多的魔法，也許是虛擬現實的耳機，來讓人們在網上購物和在線下購物一樣直觀。但雜貨商推進這一進程的動力是巨大的。在零售業中，沒有什么關系像購物者與超市的關系那樣緊密。很少有公司像Ocado這樣在網上購物上下這么大賭注。如果沒有成功，至少克羅格公司的交易讓斯坦納成為了一個富人。如果成功了，斯坦納可能會成為一個罕見的例子，一個有全球抱負的不會脫離自己軌道的英國企業家。
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