訂購一切

????男士內衣、在線文件共享以及加州沿海地區內往返航班之間有什么共同之處嗎？由于現在越來越多的公司正在接受一種以訂付為基礎的銷售模式（幾乎包括任何商品），上述三類熱門商品現在都以每月固定付費的方式進行銷售。

????總部位于加州雷德伍德城的祖睿（Zuora）公司為各種訂付式服務提供計費和支付軟件。公司首席執行官左軒霆表示，目前消費者及企業兩方面都正在發生這種轉變。這家公司的客戶包括云管理提供商RightScale、文件共享網站Box、車內互聯網系統制造商Autonet Mobile。上周三，在舊金山舉行的午餐會上，Zuora的幾家客戶匯聚在一起，討論“訂付式經濟”面臨的各種機遇和挑戰。

????總部位于加州圣巴巴拉的RightScale公司CEO邁克爾?克蘭德爾說：“我們必須每月向客戶提供價值，否則客戶會取消訂付服務?！边@家公司利用Zuora向用戶收取服務訂用月費，它提供的服務是讓客戶管理部署在各種私人云和公共云上的應用?！?/p>

????事實上，云已幫助開創了以訂付為基礎的銷售趨勢，因為它讓軟件能夠作為一項服務在互聯網上向客戶提供，而不是通過標價高昂、但很少提供經常性收入機會的企業內部軟件安裝來提供。按照軟件即服務的銷售模式，企業通常按用戶按月支付費用?；谠频能浖S商通常每月、甚至每周都會推出新的功能。這種趨勢已經改變了軟件開發、交付和定價的方式。

????但許多初創公司（以及規模較大的公司）也在嘗試利用訂付模式來銷售其他各種商品。有例為證：從前，男性要開車去商店購買內衣?，F在，一家叫做Manpacks的初創公司提供一種訂付服務，每年數次向訂戶寄送一整盒新內衣和襪子。另外的例子還有Surf Air，這家初創公司提供一種全新的航空服務，讓旅客每月支付1,650美元，就可以在加州內隨意乘坐飛機。還有Dollar Shave Club，這家初創公司以每月低至1美元的收費向客戶寄送剃須刀。目前，這家公司已經籌集到了1,000多萬美元的風險投資。

????就連各大汽車公司也在嘗試通過向客戶收取月費的方式提供類似互聯網接入及許多車內應用的服務。美國聯合航空公司（United Airlines）很快將銷售如下訂付式服務：通過向乘客收取年費，不限航班次數的向乘客提供座位升級及免費搭運額外行李的服務。音樂和娛樂領域，網飛（Netflix）這類公司已經表明，人們不再在乎自己是否真正擁有內容，他們轉而愿意通過支付月費來隨時隨地獲取電影和電視節目。而在潘多拉（Pandora）和Spotify等流媒體音樂服務公司騰飛之后，重量級公司谷歌（Google）和蘋果（Apple）也決定推出自己的以訂付為基礎的流媒體音樂服務。

????當然，這種會員制模式并不是對每種產品都奏效，而且一個固定、可預見的費用對于每一位消費者而言肯定并不都是合乎情理的（算算就能明白）。但是，訂付式經濟的擴展對于祖睿公司而言關系重大。采用訂付式銷售模式的公司越多，他們就越需要像Zuora那樣的服務。但當然，祖睿公司同樣也是以月訂費的方式向用戶收取費用的。（財富中文網）

????譯者：iDo98

????What do men's underwear, online file sharing, and flights up and down the California coast have in common? All three of those hot commodities are now being sold for a monthly flat rate, thanks to a growing number of companies that are embracing a subscription-based model of selling, well, just about anything.

????This shift is happening both in the consumer and enterprise worlds, says Tien Tzuo, CEO of Redwood City, Calif.-based Zuora, whose billing and payment software powers all sorts of subscription-based services. The company's customers include cloud management provider RightScale, file sharing site Box, and Autonet Mobile, maker of in-car Internet systems. At a lunch in San Francisco on Wednesday, a handful of these clients gathered to discuss the opportunities -- and challenges -- of the so-called "subscription economy."

????"You have to deliver value every month, or customers can cancel," said Michael Crandell, CEO of Santa Barbara-based RightScale. The company uses Zuora to charge a monthly fee for its service -- software that lets customers manage applications across private and public "clouds."

????Indeed, the cloud has helped usher in the subscription-based trend because it enables software to be delivered as a service over the web -- not via on-premise installations that carry a hefty sticker price but offer little opportunity for recurring revenue. With software-as-a-service, companies typically pay a per-user, per-month fee. Cloud-based software vendors typically push out new features on a monthly, if not weekly, basis. The trend has changed the way software is built, delivered, and priced.

????But startups (and larger companies) are also experimenting with using the subscription model to sell all sorts of other goods. Case in point: Once upon a time, men used to drive to the store to buy underwear. Now, a startup called Manpacks offers a subscription service that ships a box full of new underwear and socks to them several times a year. There's also Surf Air, a new aviation service that lets travelers fly as much as they want (in California) for $1,650 a month, and Dollar Shave Club, a startup that ships razors for as little as $1 each month and has raised over $10 million in venture capital funding.

????Even auto companies are toying with charging customers monthly fees for services like Internet access and a slew of in-car applications. And United Airlines (UAL) will soon sell subscriptions that charge passengers an annual fee for extra leg room and baggage on an unlimited number of flights. On the music and entertainment side, companies like Netflix (NFLX) have shown that people don't care about owning their content anymore -- instead, they are willing to pay a monthly fee to access movies and TV shows when and where they want. And after companies like Pandora (P) and Spotify took off, heavyweights Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) decided to launch their own subscription-based streaming music services.

????Of course, the membership-based model doesn't work for every product, and a flat, predictable fee certainly doesn't add up for every consumer (just do the math). But Zuora has a lot riding on the expansion of the subscription economy. The more companies adopt the subscription-based model of selling, the more they'll need services like Zuora -- which also charges its users a monthly subscription, but of course.