“The question is whether [Alibaba] will be able to replicate their success outside China,” says Ms Wigder. “问题在于，（阿里巴巴集团）能不能在中国以外复制自己的成功，”维杰表示。
The industry is alight with speculation that Alibaba could launch an attack on global rivals such as eBay and Amazon, by helping Chinese sellers ship fast, and cheaply, to developed markets. Industry executives and analysts say Alibaba is considering investment in “offshore” warehouses outside of Europe and the US to make this happen. 业内有很多猜测称，阿里巴巴集团可能会向全球竞争对手eBay和亚马逊发起攻击，帮助中国卖家快速而廉价地向发达市场发货。业内高管和分析师称，阿里巴巴集团正考虑向欧美以外的“离岸”仓库投资，使其成为现实。
John Spelich, Alibaba spokesman, says he has not heard of such plans. 阿里巴巴集团发言人约翰?斯佩里奇(John Spelich)表示，他尚未听说有此类计划。
But Wang Tingting, an analyst at iResearch, says the company “will definitely make that move eventually”. Shi Tao, a vice-president at Alibaba’s rival 360buy, which recently started an international business, says that keeping products in bulk in “offshore” warehouses and shipping them into developed markets piecemeal can lower costs, since lower import duties apply to shipments under ￠20 apiece. 但艾瑞咨询分析师王婷婷表示，该集团“最终肯定会做出此举”。竞争对手京东最近启动了一项国际业务。京东副总裁石涛表示，把产品成批地储存于“离岸”仓库，然后零零碎碎地发往发达市场，能够降低成本，因为不到20欧元的包裹所适用的进口关税更低。
No matter if Alibaba eventually moves in this direction, the company has started globalisation plans. Last year, it set up a dedicated team to explore taking Taobao global. “At the moment, we focus on Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia,” says Daphne Lee, head of Taobao International. She says the company is taking things step by step and is now trying to forge logistics and payment partnerships. 无论阿里巴巴集团最终是否走上这条道路，该集团都已启动全球化计划。去年它成立了一个专职团队，由其探索让淘宝网全球化的可能性。“目前我们聚焦于香港、台湾、新加坡和马来西亚，”淘宝国际(Taobao International)业务主管李芃君(Daphne Lee)说。她表示，公司正在步步为营地推进，目前在试图打造物流和支付方面的合作伙伴关系。
The demand is clearly there – 280,000 users from Singapore alone registered on Taobao last year, although demand can often present surprises. Consumers from tropical Singapore “are buying down jackets – they need them for overseas trips and can barely find them at home”, says Ms Lee. 需求显然是存在的——去年仅新加坡一个地方就有28万用户在淘宝网注册——尽管需求常常会出人意料。据李芃君介绍，地处热带的新加坡的消费者热衷“购买羽绒服——他们需要在出国旅行时穿这种衣服，而在国内市场根本找不到”。
