Imagine getting a soft drink from a vending¹ machine using only your smartphone. Or scanning a QR code to buy goods from a newspaper ad.

想象一下：只需用智能手机就能从贩卖机那儿买汽水，或者只需对报纸上的广告二维码扫一扫就能买东西。

By harnessing these innovations — and more — China mobile shopping is barreling ahead of the United States. China is still the world's largest smartphone market, even though growth is slowing. It accounts for about 30 percent of the global smartphone market, and Chinese smartphone users are expected to jump from 526.8 million to 640 million in 2018, according to eMarketer. And its shoppers are using their gadgets² to snap up a wide array of goods and services.

在这些创新技术（以及更多技术）的助力下，中国的移动购物产业已领先于美国。哪怕增速有所减缓，中国仍然是世界上最大的智能手机市场，其份额约占全球智能手机市场的30%。据电子市场调查公司“eMarketer”预测，2018年中国的智能手机用户将从现在的5.268亿跃升至6.4亿。此外，中国消费者正在用他们的设备抢购各种各样的商品和服务。

Nearly half of all China's e-commerce sales, totaling $505.7 billion, are made with mobile devices, versus⁴ roughly one-quarter in the U.S., according to eMarketer. By 2019, China's mobile sales will account for 71 percent of those sales.

据“eMarketer”的数据，中国近一半的电子商务销售都是在移动设备上进行的，总值5057亿美元。与之相比，美国在移动设备上进行的电子商务销售仅占总量的四分之一。到2019年，中国的移动线上销售将占电子商务销售总量的71%。

"We don't see mobile buying plateauing for the next five years," said Monica Pearl, eMarketer's director of forecasting. "They'll increase because consumer behavior has changed." Feature-rich, cheap smartphones are also helping⁵ fuel the boom, she added.

“我们认为，移动设备购物热潮在接下来五年绝不会降温，”eMarketer的评估主管莫妮卡·珀尔说道。“它只会不断升温，因为消费者行为已经发生了变化。”她还补充道，功能丰富而又价格低廉的智能手机在为这股狂潮推波助澜。

China is, after all, a mobile first market, explains Brian Buchwald, CEO of consumer intelligence firm Bomoda. So it has been able to leapfrog past other markets, which mainly used PCs for purchases.

而消费者情报公司“摩登系”首席执行官布莱恩·布赫瓦尔德则解释道，由于在中国市场，手机购物独占鳌头，所以大可忽略其他购物途径了（主要是个人电脑）。

Sophisticated mobile payment apps are partly fueling the mobile boom. To grease buying, purchases are smooth and nearly seamless, since goods are bought in a few seconds with just one click. And an intense fight for market share between payment titans WeChat Pay and Alibaba's Alipay is fueling even more innovation. Apple Pay has only just recently stepped into the competitive arena⁶.

另一方面，发达的手机支付应用程序也推动了手机购物潮。为了推动消费，网购可谓畅通无阻，天衣无缝，毕竟只需轻轻一击，商品就能在数秒内收入购物车内。而两大支付巨头——微信支付和阿里巴巴支付宝之间为争夺市场份额的激战，更是推动着一波又一波的创新潮。苹果支付最近也加入这场竞争。

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has allowed a free-flowing retail⁷ and payments marketplace.

同时，这种流畅的零售商和支付市场的发展也得到了中国政府的默许。

"There are no restraints," said Michael Zakkour, vice³ president of China/Asia Pacific practice at Tompkins International.

汤普金斯国际公司中国/亚太地区副总裁迈克尔·扎库尔表示：“政府对此没有任何限制。”

And that's good news for WeChat, A messaging app that's only five years old and is offered by the Internet giant Tencent. The app now has 650 million users. And a good chunk⁸ of them are using the app for mobile shopping. The result is that WeChat payments, along with Alibaba's Alipay, dominate the market. Because retailers⁹ can easily set up shop inside WeChat, users can plan family vacations, order a taxi or even design clothes without going anywhere else.

这对微信来说是个好消息。微信作为一款问世仅五年的聊天应用，归互联网巨头腾讯公司旗下所有，目前用户已达6.5亿。而且，这其中有一大部分用户在用微信手机购物。结果就是，微信支付和阿里巴巴支付宝主导了支付市场。零售商们可以轻而易举地在微信开店，用户们可以在微信上计划家庭出游、打车、甚至足不出户就能定制服装。

"WeChat is the most influential¹¹ app in the world," said Buchwald. "It has the functionality of an iTunes store. So you can do anything you want."

“微信是世界上最具影响力的一款应用，”布赫瓦尔德说道。“它拥有苹果iTune商店的功能，你想干什么就能干什么。”

This mobile preference is one-stop shopping for navigating¹² a digital life. "We're talking about the emergence¹³ of chat commerce," said Lily Varón, an analyst¹⁴ at Forrester Research. "WeChat is becoming a commerce channel. And it's an ecosystem¹⁵ that's unlike anything in the U.S."

这种备受人们喜爱的手机一站式购物方式正在引领数字化生活。“其实这是新兴的聊天商务，”弗雷斯特研究公司的分析师莉莉·瓦伦说道。“微信正在成为一个商务渠道。因此形成的生态系统在美国是见不到的。”

And, she adds, unlike the U.S., there's also no digital divide in China by geography or age. "It's not just limited to younger consumers," she said.

此外她还补充道，中国和美国的另外一个不同点是，这里没有因地理或年龄而产生的数字鸿沟。“微信面向的群体不仅仅是年轻顾客。”

Meanwhile, e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba has its own Alipay app. Known as the PayPal of China, it is the dominant¹⁶ player in the mobile payment industry. And it's in a competitive tussle¹⁷ with WeChat to keep market share — fueling even more innovation.

与此同时，电子商务巨头阿里巴巴也拥有自己的支付宝应用。支付宝被称为“中国的贝宝”，是移动支付市场的老大。如今它正与微信鏖战以守卫其市场份额，而这愈发推动了一波又一波创新潮。

"They're both spending billions building new features and technologies," said Buchwald. "That includes making lots of different investments in start-ups." For example, Alipay is now testing ways to let shoppers pay just by scanning a physical feature.

“双方都斥数十亿巨资开发新特色和新技术，”布赫瓦尔德说道。“这其中就包括大量投资各种新兴企业。”比如，支付宝正在测试一项新技术，使顾客通过扫描身体特征即可完成支付。

At the same time, Apple and Samsung are trying to break into this sector¹⁸ with partnerships¹⁹ with UnionPay, China's main bank card and payment firm.

同时，苹果和三星也在尝试通过与银联合作来打入这片市场。银联是中国的主流银行卡支付公司。

The U.S. is lagging behind though, and mobile payments have yet to gain traction²⁰. Even QR codes, which have largely flopped²¹ in the U.S., are used everywhere in China to buy goods. And mobile phones there already have scanners embedded²² in them.

在这方面，美国却落后于中国，手机支付市场也有待获得发展动力。就连在美国处处碰壁的二维码，在中国购物市场也是混的风生水起，无处不在。而且中国的移动手机内部已经自带二维码扫描程序。

Once scanned and bought, goods are delivered quickly. And Alibaba, which has a massive logistics network, can get goods to customers within one day. Its ultimate goal is even loftier: deliveries to any Chinese city within 24 hours. Alibaba is even investing in drone companies, says Buchwald.

只需扫描购买，商品很快就能送上家门。而且阿里巴巴还建了庞大的物流网络，有的商品一日可达。而它的终极目标更加雄心勃勃：二十四小时内将商品送达至中国任何一座城市。布赫瓦尔德称，阿里巴巴甚至已经开始投资无人机公司了。

These hyperkinetic deliveries are fueling ever more purchases. Last year, China's Singles Day — a consumer shopping day invented by Alibaba and much like Black Friday in the U.S. — totaled $14.3 billion, which is 60 percent higher than 2014. Those sales total more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the U.S. combined.

高度发达的快递业则进一步促进了购物。去年仅中国光棍节一天——光棍节是阿里巴巴创造的购物狂欢节，类似于美国的黑色星期五——阿里巴巴的销售总额就达143亿美元，较之2014年高出了60%。这笔销售额高于美国黑色星期五和网络星期一的销售额之和。

"In China, spending as much money as possible on Singles Day is almost patriotic," said Buchwald. "It's more of a collectivist spirit there."

“在中国，在光棍节疯狂地花钱几乎就等于爱国，”布赫瓦尔德说道。“这个现象更像是在彰显集体主义精神。”

Emphasizing community good over the individual goes back thousands of years in China. "It's the cowboy vs. the collective," said Zakkour. "So Chinese people want to make sure that products they're buying have acceptance." For this reason, mobile commerce was predestined to become successful there, he added.

在中国，强调集体利益高于个人利益的传统已绵延数千年。“这就像是单枪匹马和千军万马之间的对峙，”扎库尔说道。“所以中国人想确保自己购买的产品是为大众所接受的。”他补充道，正是因为这个原因，移动商务注定会在中国更加成功。

Los Angeles-based Revolve²³ Clothing had to navigate²⁴ this community spirit to sell its goods in China. "Social media there is very important," said Mike Karanikolas, co-CEO of Revolve, an online collection of up-and-coming fashion brands for men and women. "It's as if Amazonowned a big chunk of Facebook."

总部位于洛杉矶的“Revolve Clothing”为了打开中国市场，着手利用这种集体主义精神。“在中国，社交媒体相当重要，”Revolve Clothing的联合CEO迈克·卡兰尼克拉说道。Revolve Clothing是一家线上新秀，销售各品牌男女潮流服装。“这效果就像亚马逊持有脸书的大量股份一样。”

For the online apparel retailer¹⁰, ramping²⁵ up sales to the Chinese market meant navigating longer purchase cycles. Purchases in the U.S. are made quickly, he explains. But in China, purchases can take up to 30 days because many Chinese consumers spend a lot of time researching goods and then checking them out with a circle of friends before making an online purchase.

对线上服装零售商而言，中国市场销量的上升就意味着他们能引领更长的购物周期。卡拉尼克拉解释说，在美国，顾客购买商品很快。但在中国，买东西可以花上三十天，因为许多中国人会花大量时间搜索商品，和一群朋友层层筛选，最后才会在线上购买。

But in many ways, China's mobile mania²⁶ may well be the new face of retailing²⁷.

从许多方面来看，中国的移动购物狂潮都开启了零售的另一片天地。

China is up to three years ahead of the U.S. in mobile shopping, said Buchwald. "And it's moving faster than any other area of the economy. It's the future."

布赫瓦尔德说，中国在移动购物上已领先美国三年。“而且，其发展速度也快于其它任何一个经济领域。未来前景无限。”