The ‘Sharing Economy’ is a concept whereby technology can empower individuals through information that enables distribution, sharing and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.
Collaborative consumption as a phenomenon is a class of economic arrangements in which participants share access to products or services, rather than having individual ownership. Through sharing and renting the products and services that we use everyday consumers can save thousands of dollars just by making the switch.
Uber
Uber was founded in 2009 and it is essentially a smartphone app that connects economy-sharing drivers with riders. The app allows consumers to submit a trip request, which is then routed to sharing economy drivers. Interestingly, Uber doesn’t own any cars, it simply acts a middleman between people needing chauffeur-driven cars and cabs that are available at that time and place. Also Uber never advertise on the sides of its cars since its aim is to give customers a luxury experience.
Airbnb
Air BNB is a community marketplace for people to list and book unique accommodation around the world. It was founded in 2008 and has now has a presence in over 34, 000 cities and 190 countries. The platform allows people to monetise their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.
In the company’s hometown of San Franciso, for example, a night in a hotel room averages $US 229, but the average apartment listed on Airbnb cost just $US165 and rooms were even cheaper.
Your Closet
Your Closet is an online dress hiring service where women can rent designer dresses for a fraction of the retail price. Women can rent dresses from Alex Perry, Camilla, Camilla and Marc, Christopher Esber, Josh Goot and Nicholas for roughly 18 per cent of the retail price. According to Your Closet women have 12 very special occasions per year so could save upwards of $7000 and still look fabulous in the latest designer dresses.
Spotify
Spotify is a commercial music streaming service that provides digital rights management content from record labels and allows customers to essentially rent songs. Spotify was launched in October 2008 and now has over 60 million subscribers, and with over 20 million songs to choose from it allows users to listen to their favorite songs without having to purchase entire albums.
Go Get
Go Get car share service is a membership based platform which gives you self-service access to cars across Australia, all available to book and access 24/7. The business also aims to reduce congestion and pollution on Australian roads through their car share service and to date has reduced the number of cars on the road by 17, 127. Membership is approximately $200 and then users pay 40c per kilometer each time they ride, saving customers upwards of $300 a month.
Written by Briella Brown founder and CEO of Your Closet.
What are your favourite collaborative consumption companies? Share your tips below…
