This company's been dubbed the Amazon of South Korea

這家公司被稱為韓國的亞馬遜。

and was recently ranked as the country's most valuable start-up.

並於近期被評為全國最有價值的創業公司。

We know the truck it's gonna go into, the route it's going to be out on,

我們知道它要去的卡車，它要去的路線。

and then that tells us how it needs to be sorted here and when it needs to leave.

然後，這就告訴我們這裡需要如何整理，何時需要離開。

That's propelled founder Bom Kim to billionaire status and made Coupang into a national icon.

這就把創始人Bom Kim推向了億萬富翁的地位，也讓Coupang成為了國民偶像。

It's not an exaggeration to say that we are in every apartment complex

毫不誇張地說，我們在每一個公寓樓裡都有

and every apartment building at least once a day.

和每個公寓樓每天至少一次。

That's not bad for a guy who dropped out of Harvard Business School after just six months.

對於一個只讀了半年就從哈佛商學院退學的人來說，這已經不錯了。

I had a belief when I was in grad school that I had a very short window

我在讀研究所學生的時候就有一個信念，就是我的時間很短。

to really make something that had an impact.

才能真正做出有影響力的東西。

During a recent visit to Seoul, I got to sit down with the 41-year-old

在最近一次訪問首爾期間，我與這位41歲的老人坐在一起。

e-commerce CEO at Coupang's headquarters.

電商CEO在Coupang總部。

And while he may have reached the heights of success now, he says he didn't exactly

雖然他現在可能已經達到了成功的高度，但他說他並沒有完全做到

set out to become the next Jeff Bezos.

立志成為下一個傑夫-貝佐斯。

In fact, when the $9 billion e-commerce giant started here in Seoul back in 2010,

事實上，早在2010年，當這家價值90億美元的電商巨頭在首爾這裡開始。

it was as a different business entirely.

它是作為一個完全不同的業務。

The shape of Coupang, the business model of Coupang,

酷邦的形態，酷邦的商業模式。

what Coupang looks like today, went through a lot of change.

Coupang今天的樣子，經歷了很多變化。

When Kim dropped out of business school in the late-2000s,

當金正日在2000年代末從商學院退學後。

he initially started Coupang as a Groupon-style daily deals business.

他最初是作為Groupon式的日常交易業務創辦了Coupang。

But as he noticed the growing scope of technology,

但當他注意到科技的範圍越來越大時。

he quickly transitioned the company into a third-party online marketplace.

他迅速將公司轉型為第三方在線市場。

It was a success.

它是成功的。

Within three years, Kim says the company crossed $1 billion in sales and was on the cusp of an IPO.

Kim說，三年內，公司的銷售額就突破了10億美元，並處於上市的邊緣。

But at the eleventh hour, he pulled the deal and radically changed the business model,

但在第11個小時，他撤回了交易，並徹底改變了商業模式。

convinced he could build something better.

堅信他能造出更好的東西。

There had been this nagging feeling for months, where we had to be honest with ourselves and

幾個月來一直有這種糾結的感覺，我們必須對自己坦誠相待。

said, once you go public, it's much harder to really change your direction.

說，一旦上市，要想真正改變方向就難多了。

And was the platform we had built, were the services and experiences that we were providing

而我們所搭建的平臺，所提供的服務和體驗，是否是

for our customers, creating a 5% difference or were we creating that kind of world where

為我們的客戶創造了5%的差異，或者說我們創造了那種世界，其中

the customers we love, their jaws would drop?

我們愛的客戶，他們的下巴會掉下來嗎？

And the reality was no.

而現實是沒有。

If we wanted to provide something that really mattered to customers,

如果我們想提供一些對客戶真正重要的東西。

we had to go through an enormous amount of change.

我們必須經歷巨大的變化。

We had to change our entire technology stack, the way we did business, our business model.

我們必須改變我們的整個技術堆棧，我們做業務的方式，我們的商業模式。

That's a bold move when you're on the crux of an IPO.

當你在IPO的癥結時刻，這是一個大膽的舉動。

It was very, very difficult.

這是非常非常困難的。

And I think that was the most difficult, but the choice that I'm most proud of.

我想這是最困難的，但也是我最自豪的選擇。

So Coupang was born again, this time as an end-to-end shopping platform

於是，Coupang又誕生了，這次是作為一個端到端的購物平臺而誕生的

designed to manage the full customer journey, from desktop to door.

設計用於管理從桌面到門的整個客戶旅程。

South Korea's e-commerce market has been growing rapidly over the past decade.

韓國的電商市場在過去十年中發展迅速。

This year, online sales are projected to expand by 18% to hit over $100 billion,

今年，網上銷售額預計將擴大18%，達到1000億美元以上。

ranking it in fifth place globally after China, the U.S., the U.K. and Japan.

排名全球第五，僅次於中國、美國、英國和日本。

By 2022, it is expected to jump to third place.

到2022年，預計將躍居第三位。

That's thanks in part to fast internet speeds and high smartphone penetration

這在一定程度上要歸功於快速的網速和智能手機的高普及率。

in a country famed for tech conglomerates like LG Samsung.

在一個以LG三星等科技集團聞名的國家。

But it's also reflective of its culture.

但這也是其文化的體現。

South Korea has some of the longest working hours in the world, meaning leisure time is

韓國是世界上工作時間最長的國家之一，這意味著閒暇的時間是

scarce and consumers are willing to pay a premium for convenience.

稀缺，消費者願意為便利性支付溢價。

Curious to learn more, I met up with Jade Lee, an analyst at market research firm Euromonitor,

出於好奇，我與市場研究公司Euromonitor的分析師Jade Lee見了面。

to hear her take on the Korean market landscape.

來聽聽她對韓國市場格局的看法。

There are several social factors which make e-commerce really successful in South Korea.

韓國的電子商務真正成功，有幾個社會因素。

First of all, single-person households are rapidly growing, taking around 30%.

首先，單人戶增長迅速，佔到30%左右。

These single-person households do not have sufficient time to go offline shopping.

這些單人家庭沒有足夠的時間去線下購物。

The second one is the well- developed digital infrastructure,

二是數字基礎設施完善。

especially the mobile simple payment platforms.

尤其是移動簡單支付平臺。

And then the last one is the well-structured logistics system.

最後一個就是結構完善的物流體系。

South Korea is relatively smaller, so it's able to set up logistics

韓國相對較小，所以能夠建立物流

quicker and easier compared to other countries.

與其他國家相比，更快、更容易。

Kim responded to those market characteristics in spades.

金總針對這些市場特點做出了充分的迴應。

That included Coupang creating its own UPS- style logistics business, Rocket Delivery,

這其中就包括Coupang創建了自己的UPS式物流業務--Rocket Delivery。

designed to provide super speedy, personalized service.

旨在提供超快速、個性化的服務。

The only models that we had seen were primarily like that of Amazon, which had

我們所看到的唯一的模型主要是像亞馬遜的模型，它有。

built out an impressive fulfillment infrastructure but had relied, in large part, on a very advanced

建立了一個令人印象深刻的執行基礎設施，但在很大程度上依賴於一個非常先進的。

infrastructure that had been built out by the U.S. Postal Service.

基礎設施，已經由美國郵政部門建設出來。

And at that time, we really envied that.

而在當時，我們真的很羨慕。

So we built, again, not only a fulfillment infrastructure, but the largest directly controlled

所以我們又建立了，不僅是一個履行的基礎設施，而且是最大的直接控制。

fleet of trucks and drivers to deliver those products in multiple ways throughout the day.

車隊和司機，全天以多種方式運送這些產品。

So, what seemed like a curse at that time, that we had to build this entire infrastructure,

所以，在當時看來是一個詛咒，我們必須建立這整個基礎設施。

and build the technology to integrate it all, end-to-end, by ourselves, from scratch,

並自己從零開始構建技術，將這一切端到端整合起來。

ended up becoming a huge blessing.

最後成了大幸。

Today, Coupang's more than 5,000 delivery drivers, known as Coupangmen,

如今，庫邦的5000多名送貨司機，被稱為庫邦人。

deliver 99.3% of orders within 24 hours.

99.3%的訂單在24小時內送達。

Its new Dawn Delivery service even promises to go beyond Amazon Prime's,

其新的Dawn Delivery服務甚至有望超越亞馬遜Prime的。

providing 7am delivery for orders made before midnight the night before.

為前一天午夜之前的訂單提供早上7點的送貨服務。

You can get lobster, fresh cakes...

你可以吃到龍蝦，新鮮的蛋糕... ...

Fresh lobster for breakfast!

新鮮的龍蝦作為早餐!

Fresh lobster for breakfast! We actually have breakfast foods as well.

新鮮的龍蝦當早餐!其實我們也有早餐食品。

But if you have a birthday, you can get a cake in the morning.

但是如果你過生日的話，你可以在早上得到一個蛋糕。

If your printer's run out of ink, or you need a new computer, you can get a computer before 7am.

如果你的打印機沒有墨水了，或者你需要一臺新的電腦，你可以在早上7點之前得到一臺電腦。

That service is not only a nice-to-have but a necessity for a business that sees

這種服務對於一個企業來說，不僅是一個很好的服務，而且是一個必要的服務，它能讓企業看到

a third of its orders come in between 10pm and midnight, says Kim.

其三分之一的訂單是在晚上10點到午夜之間完成的，Kim說。

We realized that most customers were ordering at night.

我們意識到，大多數顧客都是在晚上訂貨。

And if they wanted more selection delivered to them faster, the best experience would

而如果他們希望更多的選擇能更快地送到他們手中，最好的體驗就是

be if they could order it before they go to bed, wake up and find it in front of their door.

是，如果他們能在睡覺前訂購，醒來後發現它在他們的門前。

It's like Christmas!

就像聖誕節一樣！

Yeah, it's magical.

是的，這是神奇的。

According to Kim, that has helped set him apart in a wildly competitive market.

據Kim說，這幫助他在競爭激烈的市場中脫穎而出。

Last year the country's largest e-commerce site also ranked as consumers' preferred

去年國內最大的電商網站也被評為消費者的首選。

online retailer, outranking local competitors such as Gmarket and 11Street.

在線零售商，超過了Gmarket和11Street等在地競爭對手。

Kim says the app has now been downloaded by over 25 million Koreans,

Kim表示，目前該應用的下載量已經超過2500萬韓國人。

representing around half of the country's 51-million-person population.

佔全國5100萬人口的一半左右。

The company today is over $10 billion in sales, well over $10 billion in sales,

今天公司的銷售額已經超過100億，遠遠超過100億的銷售額。

growing 60% year-over-year.

同比增長60%。

That didn't happen because of something we did, you know, this year.

這不是因為我們做了什麼，你知道，今年。

That popularity has investors excited, too.

這種人氣讓投資者也很興奮。

As of November 2018, the company has attracted more than $3.6 billion from investors,

截至2018年11月，公司已吸引了超過36億美元的投資者。

including Softbank, Sequoia Capital and BlackRock, giving the company an estimated valuation of $9 billion.

包括軟銀、紅杉資本和黑石，給該公司的估值估計為90億美元。

It's easy to have a dream and fail if you don't have shareholders and investors

如果沒有股東和投資人，有夢想很容易失敗

who are willing to take the journey with you for the long-term.

願意與你長期合作的人。

Kim now plans to pump that funding into the company's growth in Korea,

Kim現在計劃將這些資金注入公司在韓國的發展。

building out its food delivery service and potentially expanding into new markets.

建立其食品配送服務，並有可能擴展到新的市場。

Coupang is still focused on the domestic market and trying to expand there.

Coupang仍然專注於國內市場，並試圖在那裡擴張。

But with those financial investments from Softbank, Coupang is expected to go in further

但有了軟銀的這些財務投資，庫房有望進一步進駐

to other APAC regions.

到其他亞太區域。

The environment that Korea has, the high urbanization, the extreme population density,

韓國的環境，城市化程度高，人口密度極高。

and the IT infrastructure, those are things that I think will be shared by customers

和IT基礎設施，這些都是我認為客戶會共享的東西。

in many areas, many regions, especially in Asia, as they modernize.

在許多地區，許多區域，特別是亞洲，隨著現代化。

We have offices all over the world.

我們在世界各地都有辦事處。

We have an office in Silicon Valley, in Seattle, in Beijing, and Shanghai,

我們在硅谷、在西雅圖、在北京和上海都有辦公室。

so in many ways we're building a global company.

所以在很多方面，我們正在建立一個全球性的公司。

But ultimately Kim says his main mission is to remain committed to customer service.

但最終Kim表示，他的主要任務是繼續致力於客戶服務。

And if that means reinventing his business once again, well, at least he has the experience.

如果這意味著再次重塑他的業務，那麼，至少他有經驗。

I don't know if I can tell you that six months from now, or six years from now,

我不知道我是否能告訴你，半年後，或者六年後。

that we will look similar to what we look today.

我們的樣子會和今天的樣子差不多。

But I can tell you that we will always be a company, a technology company, that is trying

但我可以告訴你，我們將永遠是一家公司，一家技術公司，正在努力地

to leverage what we can from human ingenuity and technology to obsess about some

充分利用人類的聰明才智和技術，痴迷於一些。

aspect of customers' lives that we want to improve exponentially.

客戶生活的方方面面，我們都希望得到成倍的改善。

That will be a constant.

這將是一個常態。