HOW BRANDS CAN
WIN AT THE SHARING
ECONOMY
Ana Andjelic
The notion of ownership is changing. Consumers,
particularly young ones, are more interested in experiences
than possessions. That’s led to the explosion of the Sharing
Economy, a catchall term for new business models that allow
regular people to share property, possessions, skills and
knowledge.
This sounds amazing for customers, and a nightmare for
brands. But it doesn’t have to be that way, so long as brands
open themselves up to new ways of thinking, new ways of
doing business, and new ideas about what value truly is.
The first step is to recognize the sharing economy isn’t going
anywhere. Total revenues in the collaborative economy
sector were estimated at $3.5 billion in 2013, with growth
of 25%, according to Forbes. Rachel Botsman assures
us that P2P rental market alone is worth $16 billion. The
Economist got so smitten that it proclaimed 2013 “The Year
of Collaborative Consumption.” Mary Meeker, the queen
of Internet trends, decided that sharing economy was one
of the trends for 2012. Some go as far as to predict that
collaborative economy is potentially a $110 billion market.
Uber alone is valued at $3.3 billion.
This is more than a symptom of venture-capital-inflated Silicon
Valley. It is rooted in human behavior. It is a combination
of value-seeking, convenience, instant gratification,
quality control, and looking for a less-mass, more unique
experiences.
Brands don’t provide this. They don’t provide this superior
experience. They don’t even compete on the basis of
customer experience. Their marketing doesn’t concern
itself with experience. Their value chain is devoid of it.
Traditionally, brands were mediators between producers and
consumers, making producers more attractive to consumers
and convincing consumers that they will be prettier, stronger,
smarter because of products and services that producers
create. Today, all we need to make a decision is a review, a
photo and a community endorsement.