The size of the collaborative economy could double in the next 12 months as sharing becomes increasingly mainstream. The desire for an independent lifestyle, public concern about environmental and community sustainability, plus disillusionment with a consumer culture of acquisitiveness are all driving greater consumer interest in sharing rather than owning, says the Sharing is the New Buying report from Vision Critical.
And just as social media enabled the peer-to-peer sharing of content, the technology of the collaborative economy now enables P2P sharing of goods, services, transportation, space and money at speed and scale, says Vision Critical. Rather than buying new goods from big brands customers buy pre-owned goods from each other on eBay. Rather than hiring a moving company, customers get moving help on TaskRabbit. Rather than owning a car, customers share cars on demand via Car2Go. Rather than staying at hotels, customers stay in homes through Airbnb. Rather than getting a loan from a bank, customers borrow from each other through Lending Club.
“Technological change in particular has accelerated and scaled up our long-held traditions of making and sharing,” says the report. “New forms of sharing are proliferating rapidly and they threaten to transform virtually every sector of the economy.”
But some big brands are already coming onboard the collaborative economy. Patagonia has been partnering with eBay enabling customers to buy and sell pre-owned goods, not just new ones, while BMW has been renting its 1-Series electric cars in the DriveNow programme. And the The W Hotel New York is offering guests access to premium workspaces via the sharing site Desks Near Me.