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A lot of Black men
“
were
Trump-curious in 2016, and they
thought
that he was some great businessman and prosperity would rain down from his administration,” Representative Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, one of the Biden-campaign co-chairs, told me recently.
许多黑人男性“在2016年对特朗普感到好奇，他们认为他是一个伟大的商人，特X普政//府会带来源源不断的繁荣，”路易斯安那州众议员、拜登竞选团队联合主席之一塞德里克·里士满最近告诉我。
1.rain down (使)大量降落,雨点般落下，
to fall or to make sth fall on sb / sth in large quantities
在线零售商长期以来一直使用免运费来鼓励客户购买更多产品。但一项新的研究表明，免费送货促销可能会减少公司的利润。
The paper, published in May by the Journal of Marketing Research, analyzed purchases made from a single large European retailer and found that
free shipping
did incentivize customers to buy more. But it also increased purchases of items that historically have higher return rates, such as clothing or products from lesser-known brands. Thus, returns also increased as a result of the promotions, to the point where profits were erased.
《营销研究杂志》今年5月发表的这篇论文分析了来自一家欧洲大型零售商的商品购买行为，发现免费送货确实刺激了消费者购买更多商品。但它也促使人们购买那些过去利润率较高的商品，比如服装或不太知名品牌的产品。因此，促销的结果就是利润也增加了，直到（促销力度过大）利润消失。
In one part of the paper, during the typically four-week periods when free shipping was offered, online order volumes rose 11%. But when the cost of returns was
tallied
against the sales
proceeds
, the authors calculated that on balance the results for the promotion periods amounted to an average 0.7% loss.
文章的一部分内容指出，在通常为期四周、提供免费送货服务的期间，线上订单量增长了11%。但如果将退货成本与销售收入进行比较，作者计算得出，促销期间的平均损失为0.7%。
In one analysis that ran for two months, the researchers found that the
return rate
for customers who bought low-risk products—like office supplies, or products from well-known brands—averaged about 22%.
在一项为期两个月的分析中，研究人员发现，购买低风险产品如办公用品，或知名品牌产品的客户，退货率平均约为22%。
In another analysis, the researchers attempted to better understand motivations of online shoppers by measuring their attitudes toward free shipping. They found two things were happening. First, consumers saw free shipping as compensation for taking a risk on a product.
And second, feelings of gratitude for having shipping costs eliminated made them happy and thus more willing to make a risky purchase.
在另一项分析中，研究人员试图通过衡量网购者对免费送货的态度来更好地了解他们的动机。他们发现有两件事正在发生。首先，消费者认为免费送货是对客户冒险接受新产品的补偿。
翻译划线句，在文末留言框内打卡，答案下期公布~
Prof. Neslin advises companies to look at whether their own free-shipping promotions are profitable before they
launch
such campaigns. Also, he advises companies to identify which products get returned more often than others and try to provide customers with more information about those products, so they can make more-informed choices.
内斯林教授建议企业在开展此类活动之前，先看看自己的免运费促销活动是否能赚钱。此外，他还建议公司识别出哪些产品比其他产品的退货率更高，从而努力向客户提供有关这些产品的更多信息，以便他们做出更充分的选择。
本文节选自：The Wall Street Journal（华尔街日报）
发布时间：2020.10.26
作者：The Wall Street Journal
原文标题：Is Free Shipping Worth It for Companies?
