亞馬遜突然宣佈進軍3D打印對這個行業意味着什麼大綱

isn’t just a place to get books, music and other products that roll off assembly lines or stream online.

亞馬遜（）不再僅僅是一個可以在線購買圖書、音樂或其他流水線上生產出來的產品的網站。

Amazon said Monday that online shoppers will now be able to buy 3D printed products on-demand from a list of 200 different items like bobblehead dolls, miniature plastic swords and pet ID tags. The technology lets people customize their orders beyond what has been previously been possible on the online retailing site including bobbleheads made to look like family and friends.
週一，亞馬遜宣佈，消費者現在可以定製200種不同的3D打印產品，如搖頭娃娃、微型塑料劍和寵物名牌等。這項技術使消費者可以自定義自己的訂單，不再侷限於網站現售的商品。比如說，你可以根據家人和朋友的形象，訂製搖頭娃娃。

“The introduction of our 3D Printed Products store suggests the beginnings of a shift in online retail – that manufacturing can be more nimble to provide an immersive customer experience,” Petra Schindler-Carter, director for Amazon’s marketplace sales, said in a statement.
亞馬遜市場銷售總監皮特拉o辛德勒-卡特在一份聲明中表示：“推出3D打印產品商店，意味着在線零售開始一項重大轉變——在生產過程可以更敏捷地提供浸入式客戶體驗。”

Amazon doesn’t actually handle the printing. Rather, it’s done by Mixee Labs, a company specialized in selling plastic 3D printed nicknacks. Products available through the partnership aren’t cheap. A 3D printed bobblehead costs $30 compared with versions made on an assembly line that cost around $12.
亞馬遜本身不負責打印。這項工作由專門出售塑料3D打印裝飾品的公司Mixee Labs完成。雙方合作推出的產品並不便宜。一個3D打印的搖頭娃娃價格爲30美元，而流水線生產的同類產品價格約爲12美元。

Moreover, anyone who wants speedy shipping is out of luck. Orders through Amazon for 3D products can take up to ten business days to fill.
此外，希望能迅速收到商品的消費者可能要失望了。通過亞馬遜訂購的3D打印產品，需要十個工作日才能送達。

Amazon’s partnership with Mixee comes long after other businesses like MakerBot and Shapeways have started selling 3D printed products to the public, according to Tim Shepherd, senior analyst at Canalys who is focused on the 3D printing industry. But Amazon’s big name and reach makes it an immediate force in the niche.
市場研究公司Canalys的資深分析師蒂姆o謝佛德長期關注3D打印行業。他表示，在亞馬遜與Mixee開始合作之前，有許多公司早已開始向大衆出售3D打印產品，例如3D打印機制造商MakerBot和3D打印公司Shapeways等。但亞馬遜品牌和強大的影響力，使其成爲該利基市場的一支直接推動力量。

“Amazon is a huge name in online retail,” Shepherd said. “It opens the channels to a mass market.”
謝佛德說道：“亞馬遜是在線零售行業巨頭。它打開了進入大衆市場的渠道。”

In general, there’s big potential for 3D printing in the consumer and retail space, he said. It’s already commonplace in industrial design including in auto making, in which 3D printers are used to make molds for parts.
他說，總體而言，3D打印在消費者零售市場有巨大的潛力。在汽車製造等工業設計領域，3D打印早已得到廣泛應用，3D打印機可以用於製作零件模具。

“Most of the market, in value terms, has been driven by the enterprise space to create industrial models, printing models for architecture,” Shepherd said.
“從價值上來說，3D打印市場長期以來很大程度上是由企業驅動的——公司利用這一技術來製作工業模型或建築模型”。

By introducing 3D printing, Amazon is letting more people see what the technology can do. But because customers can’t see the printing in action, some of the novelty is lost.
通過推出3D打印產品，亞馬遜讓更多人看到了這項技術的廣闊用途。但由於消費者看不到打印過程，因此3D打印產品的新奇性也會大打折扣。

“There is this feeling of watching something get created, and this isn’t going to provide that in the same way,” Shepherd said. But he added that “it’s going to get people more excited” and potentially encourage them to buy and 3D printer to use in their own garage.
謝佛德說：“人們希望看到一件作品的創作過程，但亞馬遜的模式無法滿足消費者的這種好奇心。”不過，他補充道：“亞馬遜會讓人們對3D打印技術更加興奮，”可能會鼓勵人們購買3D打印機，在自己的車庫裏使用。

And how about those small 3D printing shops cropping up around the U.S.? Amazon’s move won’t likely have the same impact that it has had in pushing out small book shops, Shepherd predicted. “I don’t think it’s going to have a negative impact at all.”
那麼，對於美國如雨後春筍般出現的小型3D打印店，亞馬遜的舉措又意味着什麼？謝佛德預測，亞馬遜的新舉措不會產生與當初淘汰小型書店一樣的影響。“我認爲它不會帶來任何負面的影響。”