Sharing economies are everywhere and have broken down the conventional business models based on ownership and consumption, instead allowing consumers to also be sellers.
While the act of lending and borrowing has been common between friends and family, we now see the act becoming a profitable business model carried out on an international level.
Airbnb, Uber, Car Next Door, Elance, TaskRabbit – the list of decentralised networks goes on and on. Don’t be thrown off by the sheer volume of sites, the competition is high among them and rightly so as Airbnb currently rates second internationally among hospitality groups, with Hilton Hotels holding first place.
Below are five reasons that the sharing economy might be here to stay.
It’s simple and easy to begin using
No longer are you at the counter of a rent-a-car company reading through every single condition on the documents they throw in front of you looking for their ‘hidden fees’ with seconds to sign. No longer can consumers complain multinational organisations are taking them for a ‘spin’, not caring about the average man in product prices or workers’ rights.
Allowing us to rent or buy directly from one another means that we know where it’s from, its rough history and in most cases save money. What’s even better is that most the time it can be done on a smart phone. With these peer-to-peer companies allowing users to review hosted products and services, without communication teams screening them, consumers become more confident basing their opinion off two minutes of reading.
Using the apps takes pressure off the environment
In this day and age, not caring about the environment is a pretty isolating view. If you’re heading overseas for weeks or months at a time leaving a house and car empty but still paying bills, having someone stay in your house and use that freezer that would be on regardless makes perfect sense.
Lending sites are common today. You can even apply for strangers in the community to lend you thousands of dollar on sites such as Society One. You’re no longer limited to lending objects such as cars, car parks, TVs or houses. You can now ‘rent’ workers for the day, or even for singular tasks on sites such as TaskRabbit.
Utilising useage of belongings has always been pushed in the community and most people have tried to do just that. Add in the monetary benefits and we see people around the world making use of everything they own.
Creates new services, and therefore new means of income
For those willing to give the time, the creation of ride sharing and short-term apartment rentals helps feed the demand for supply in these areas that isn’t easily met by traditional means. In order for services such as Uber to operate under a traditional means it would need to buy an entire fleet of cars and hire professional drivers to drive them. Quite simply if Uber hadn’t adapted the system it currently does it wouldn’t be able to operate with the same prices it does now.
Melbourne users of Airbnb charge an average of $135 a night for an entire house, with many also choosing to only sublet one room. With more than 1,500 apartments listed on the site, that’s a lot of people making money from a house that otherwise would’ve been empty.
The personal aspect and the benefits to the ‘average Joe’
Woolworths supermarket stores have almost 2,000 self-check-out units installed in almost 400 stores across the country. These self check outs have now extended to local libraries, banks and fast food stores.
You’re looking for value – good quality for a price that doesn’t make you begin to wonder if you could steal a car for the one day you need one, instead of having to sign away your life in contracts. A few years ago the decision would’ve come down to whether or not you go to a national company, such as Thrifty, or begin going through your phone book again. Now there’s a third option.
Independence is something that we never want to have taken away from us, even if it’s something as mundane as having your own car. While it might have tied us down, as consumers, previously, we’ve found a way to bypass traditional business models and find one that works for both the individual sellers and buyers.
This shift in consumer culture highlights our need for independence and is why the sharing economy has been, and will continue to be, successful.
