It’s a known and perhaps depressing fact that Amazon knows a lot about us. The company’s many tentacles have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. 
亚马逊非常了解我们,这一点现在可谓是众所周知,而且可能有点儿让人抑郁。这家公司的无数触手已经遍布了我们的生活。

And the Jeff Bezos-founded company is only trying to become bigger. Digital advertising is one of the burgeoning businesses Amazon is pushing hard for. 
而且杰夫·贝佐斯创立的这家公司还想变得更大。电子广告就是亚马逊正在大力拓展的一个蓬勃业务。

Already, it’s become a multibillion-dollar business, but it’s still nowhere near as powerful as Google and Facebook. Amazon, however, has an idea about how to convince more brands to use its ad offerings: free samples.
这在亚马逊已经是个百万美元级的生意了,不过比起谷歌和Facebook还差得远。而亚马逊现在想出了个新点子来说服品牌们使用它的广告服务:免费试用。

According to Axios, Amazon has been partnering with select brands and letting them send people free samples. 
根据Axios的报道,亚马逊一直在与一些品牌合作,派发免费的试用产品。

Essentially, Amazon’s robust data on its users is figuring out who would be more likely to buy a certain product. If someone fits that mold, they may end up randomly receiving a package from Amazon showcasing the item. 
一开始,亚马逊会用他们的海量用户数据,找出那些更有可能买特定产品的人。如果一个用户符合这个模型,他们就可能被亚马逊随机抽中然后寄送试用产品。

The program works like this, according to Axios: “Samples of new products are sent to customers selected using machine learning based on Amazon’s data about consumer habits.”
根据Axios的说法,这个项目是这样运作的:“亚马逊会用机器学习技术研究消费者行为数据,然后选出一部分消费者来寄送产品样品。”

Amazon on its website describes samples as “like Amazon’s product recommendations, but real, so you can try, smell, feel, and taste the latest products.” 
亚马逊官网上对这些样品的描述是“就像亚马逊的商品推荐一样,不过是真的,你可以试用、闻、触摸、品尝这些最新产品。”

While it’s fun to get a free sample from Costco, this certainly raises some privacy red flags. Though the packages come from Amazon, the program works by matching brands with unknowing users’ data. 
虽然像这样收到一份乐购的样品是挺有趣的,但这显然会引起一些隐私方面的疑虑。虽然包裹是来自亚马逊的,但项目本身却是把品牌和不知情的消费者的数据进行配对。

There is a way to opt out on the Amazon site from receiving samples; this latest report, however, notes that new users are automatically opted in.
用户可以选择停止这项服务,不再接受亚马逊寄送的样品;但最新的报告显示,新用户是默认接受这项服务的。

Though small, this is one way for Amazon to prove to advertisers it has an edge on Google and Facebook. And if any company has the capital to pilot a free sample program at scale, it’s Amazon. 
虽然这也只是一个小优势,对亚马逊来说,但这却是一个向广告主们证明自己能和谷歌以及Facebook抗衡的机会。而如果有哪个公司有财力支撑这么大规模的免费试用,那也只能是亚马逊了。

Still, the past year has proven that ad platforms running rampant can produce unfavorable outcomes. Free samples may be the lead up, but when the triopoly happens, what’s next?
不过,过去几年已经证明,广告平台肆意妄为是会带来不好的后果的。免费试用或许是个好事,但当三方垄断问题出现的时候,又会有什么后果呢?


翻译:能猫