Collaborative Consumption- Sharing is Caring

Collaborative consumption and the sharing market are becoming more and more prevalent and giving some deeply rooted and more traditional business platforms a serious run for their money. Not only are other existing businesses and markets turning their heads at this idea of sharing, new markets that have never existed are being born that are completely centralized by the idea of collaborative consumption.  

While visiting collaborativeconsumption.com, I chose to take a deeper look into a website called Boatbound, a platform where you could rent a boat and as well as have the option of a captain included with the boat. You can enter the website looking to either rent or rent out your boat depending on how many people the boat can hold or are in your party. This way, even if you can’t drive a boat (or just don’t want to) and are willing to pay extra for someone else to be your captain, you are able to enjoy the benefits of a boat that would otherwise be idly bobbing in the water getting no use at all. The downside is that with this platform comes the increased opportunity for more boats to be on the water at the same time. This means more pollution and disturbed waters and their ecosystems that these boats are being shared in.

Collaborative consumption is promoting a sense of trust and respect between people that is rarely associated with the use of technology. It’s is enabling people to utilize all their assets while they don’t personally need them. It also is showing people that it is beneficial to trust others in sharing things you don’t always need to have but would like or enjoy to use every now and again. We are slowly shifting into the crucial mindset of using the things that are already out there instead of always buying things that are new. This is a way to bring people with commonly threaded supplies and demands to get more out of the economy both socially and monetarily to make the most use of what already exists. It is cutting down the routine of throwing things in the garbage when our personal need for use is done. Instead we are recognizing that instead of throwing something in the garbage where no one has any use for it, it can be benefit someone else who can use it  (either permanently or temporarily while you don’t have a use for it) while it could also benefit you because you can be compensated for permitting use.

The pros of collaborative consumerism are that people can generate capital from fueling a people based market of things that already exist. It is cutting down on the demand needed for brand new goods and enlisting more use of things that already exist. There are new markets being utilized now that have never been utilized before. People are creating careers and better lives out of providing a very diverse array of goods and services to people that are willing to pay for them. It is forcing people to be held accountable for their actions and behaviors in dealing with other people throughout different transactions that happen through this collaboration. Rachel Botsman, the speaker of this Ted Talk touched on the fact that the reputations that you accumulate through the different reviews you receive can have an impact on your success in these swiftly growing markets. One of the biggest cons of this concept is that people sometimes are not trustworthy. It has been shown to be possible that there are places even now that will incentivize customers to give reviews that don’t accurately portray customer’s experience. There is a lot of vulnerability that comes with sharing markets. You have to make personal information accessible to people that you have never met before where the only context you have is reviews written by other people that you also don’t know.

The prime target in the terms of NMI segments would include drifters and conventionals. A large population of these sharing markets comes from urban areas where it doesn’t make as much sense to own a lot of things. There is not as much store belongings in more densely populated areas and that is where a lot of drifters live. Conventionals like to save money so if there is a car through a ridesharing service that can get them to where they need to be that is less expensive than a taxi service, and then they will go with the rides haring option.

Collaborative consumption and the growth in popularity of sharing markets is uncharted and exciting territory for people who have ways to contribute to society that were never able to be shared before. There are of course going to be growing pains and unexpected scenarios but overall it is a very encouraging shift to a more sustainable mindset. Not everyone needs to own everything. Sharing is caring and that is exactly what these market concepts are proving.

A link to my current event can be found here.  

The article brings up the point that while the sharing economy has brought so many new job opportunities and untapped markets, it is simultaneously putting other more traditional jobs in jeopardy. An example is how services like Uber and Lyft are putting taxis out of business. There has been this huge surge towards these less expensive alternatives to these traditional services but something that is often overlooked is how that is effecting the people that work for these traditional services.