Marketers have struggled for years with how to convince China’s infamous savers to spend their money. Now the secret has been unlocked: It’s all about being online. 多年来，营销人员一直难以说服爱存钱的中国消费者进行消费。现在，这个秘密已经被解开：关键在于网购。

Such, at least, is the message of a new report from consultancy McKinsey & Co., which found that e-commerce is convincing Chinese consumers to open their wallets. 这至少是咨询公司麦肯锡公司(McKinsey & Co.)公布的一份新报告所传递出的信息。该公司发现，电子商务正在说服中国消费者打开钱包。

China’s e-commerce market, largest in the world behind the U.S., is booming, with sales expected to reach $420 billion to $650 billion by 2020, up from $190 billion to $210 billion in 2012, according to McKinsey. Around 40% of China’s consumers wouldn’t have made purchases if not for the option of e-commerce, added the report, which used data provided by a major online company to analyze online spending from consumers in 266 cities. 中国电子商务市场的规模排在美国之后，位列世界第二，目前正在蓬勃发展。据麦肯锡估计，预计到2020年，中国电子商务市场销售额将从2012年的1,900亿至2,100亿美元提高到4,200亿至6,500亿美元。这份报告还说，如果没有电子商务这一选择，约有40%的中国消费者本不会进行消费。这份报告使用的数据由一家大型网络公司提供。该公司用这些数据分析了266个城市的消费者网络支出情况。

The persuasive power of e-commerce is really playing out with shoppers in China’s smaller cities, where retailers like Swedish apparel giant H&M haven’t expanded. Consumers in so-called fourth-tier cities, like Wuzhou in China’s eastern Guangxi province, are spending as much as 27% of their disposable income online. That compares to 18% of disposable income for big-city dwellers, the report said. 电子商务的说服力主要在中国中小城市的购物者身上体现出来。类似瑞典服装巨头H&M等零售商尚未进入这些城市。所谓四线城市（比如中国广西东部的梧州）的消费者将可支配收入中的27%用于网购。报告说，相比之下大城市居民的网购支出占可支配收入的比重只有18%。

Willingness to spend online is good news in China, where the government has been trying to boost domestic consumption in a bid to rebalance the economy. It also has major business implications. As retailers expand in China, many have to decide where they want to open new stores and how many to open. 在中国，消费者愿意网购是个好消息。中国政府一直试图刺激国内消费，以实现经济再平衡。这同时也具有重要的商业意义。随着零售商在中国扩张，很多企业不得不决定他们想在哪里开新店、打算开多少新店的问题。

E-commerce may give retailers a reason to rethink their strategies, said Richard Dobbs, a director at McKinsey & Co. In other markets, he noted, companies have expanded their brick-and-mortar stores first before rolling out online, but in China, companies may reconsider the order of operations and leapfrog straight into online. “China is the first major market to develop in the post-Internet age,” he said. 麦肯锡董事多布斯(Richard Dobbs)说，电子商务可能给零售商一个重新考虑自己战略的理由。他指出，在其它市场，企业首先扩张的是实体店，然后才推出网店。但在中国，企业或许要重新考虑开店顺序，可以考虑直接开设网店。他说，中国是首个在后互联网时代发展起来的大型市场。

For now, marketplace e-commerce players like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao have dominated the space, making up 90% of e-tail market share, the report said. 该报告称，就目前而言，像阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.)旗下淘宝网(Taobao)这样的电子商务企业已经占据了主导地位。报告说，它们在电子零售市场占据的份额达90%。

While e-commerce may open the door to more consumers, it won’t come without challenges and drawbacks, said Chen Yougang, a partner at McKinsey, noting that building a logistics channel for delivery in China can be incredibly costly and challenging. 麦肯锡合伙人陈有刚说，虽然电子商务可能会打开面向更多消费者的大门，但该领域也并非没有挑战和缺点。他指出，在中国为了送货而建立一个物流渠道的成本可能相当高昂，也颇具挑战。

E-commerce also typically lowers retail prices, creating discounts of as much as 15% on household products and 9.6% for apparel sold online, according to the report. 该报告指出，电子商务通常也降低了零售价格，家居用品最多可以打到八五折，网上销售的服装也能便宜9.6%。