Collaborative economy: prospects for the sharing development
Researchers from Canada conducted a study among 11,000 teenagers. According to the results, 56% of the respondents consider themselves frugal, and by no means wasteful. Such quality is characterized by reasonable use of resources and joint consumption of certain goods. The survey, first of all, showed the peculiarities of thinking of the young generation, which gives an impetus to the development of a new philosophy. In addition, such trends explain why the collaborative economy has recently become extremely popular.
This concept encompasses more than shared consumption. It brings together the owners of various goods and services with those who need them. In simple words, this economic model can be called sharing, and various services are being actively created for it. According to the investment company SDVentures, the global segment of sharing products is growing by an average of 33% per year. If this rate of development continues in the future, in 2025 this market may reach $335 billion. The demand for sharing economy services emerged around the 2000s, and by 2010 this idea has become one of those that significantly affect the formation of global processes.
There is no doubt that the collaborative economy is a model that will only gain momentum and increase segments in the future. For example, in Europe, the media sector as a component of sharing occupies a share of 28% of the total indicator of services of this type. Rental housing occupies more than 20%, and transportation and trade services each occupy 19%.
The development of information technology has made it possible to use online channels as intermediaries for the collaborative economy and its types. Thus, it became possible to minimize costs and increase the efficiency of product use. Moreover, this approach has popularized the very services of intermediaries, which previously most consumers tried to avoid.
In addition, the development of the IT segment has made small startups competitive and reduced the dominance of large corporations. A vivid example of the relevance of the collaborative economy is the success of its services, such as AirBnB housing rental sites or Prosper microcredit platforms. The projects for joint ownership of real estate CrowdVilla and BitProperty are of interest.
Sharing is actively developing and gaining momentum around the world, aided in part by the spread of blockchain technology. However, like other models, the collaborative economy has its pros and cons. Not all new services manage to defeat the monopoly and fight against the big players. For example, Uber was banned in Spain because traditional cab services opposed it.
In addition, there is the problem of legal and tax regulation of the sharing services. Consumers cannot always protect their rights when using such products.
