It’s not what you own but how smart you are not to own stuff!

It’s not what you own but  how smart you are not to own stuff!

Across the world, people are becoming more and more open to share. Cars, books, helping each other, tips, sleeping, tools and so on. On the Internet we build networks and creating communities where everybody helps each other. That’s the philosophy of the sharing economy, a feel-good economy that is accessible for everyone and makes our collective sharing consumption possible. The sharing economy is about sustainability to deal with goods. On the one hand to ensure that they do not 50% of the time unused. On the other hand useful in order to avoid that someone else makes the same purchased and use it useful only half of the time.
How is it that this trend is so popular?

Crisis
The crisis affected the rise of the share economy by financial setbacks, we become more aware of what we actually have and how we can utilize it better. And by modern technology it is today easier to bring supply and demand together.This ensures that people are looking for alternatives to earn money. If the sharing economy would only loan goods, it would be called the sharing society. Then they earned no money. This trend has become more significant given that we pay money and earn money. Because people pay money to borrow stuff, more people offer their goods earlier and faster. People pay money and make money so they have both interest to deal properly with the products.

“The more we share, the more we have”

Lifecycle of sharing
The last century was the century of hyper-consumption. We had the legitimate idea that everyone had the right to welfare: a house, fridge, car, drill and pick-up. Indeed, we were good and we were always happy. Maybe happiness did come from the freedom that it gave people. At the same time we had to buy all the personal properties and less time to spend with the people around us. You have your hard-earned gear use it by yourself, right?

Now we discover that it is not efficient to have a car that we used one hour a day, or a drill that we only use five minutes per month. We are happier if we share our welfare with each other and access to resources and people rising above property. We must do more together, discuss and find solutions.

Social Megatrend
The share economy is a social megatrend, created as a counterweight to overconsumption. The meso trends that arising from the share economy is to utilization of excess capacity, the search for value and bringing supply and demand together. At the micro level, we see commercial products like Uber and Airbnb.

 

It all sounds good to share, but it also means less production and that can be resulting in an economic decline. What do you think, what are the consequences and possibilities of the share economy?

 

@Larissa van Soest

 

Sources

Floow2. (2014, 25 August). Delen als het nieuwe hebben een nieuwe trend? (2014, 25 augustus). Retrieved September, 3, from http://www.floow2.com/nieuws-detail/~/items/delen-als-het-nieuwe-hebben-een-nieuwe-trend-sharenl-en-de-deeleconomie.html

PWC. (2015, 16 July). The sharing economy – sizing the revenue opportunity. Retrieved September, 4, from http://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/megatrends/collisions/sharingeconomy/the-sharing-economy-sizing-the-revenue-opportunity.html

Kornaat, N. (2014, 10 January). Sharing economy trend: meer dan alleen elkaars spullen delen. Retrieved September, 6, from https://www.frankwatching.com/archive/2014/01/10/sharing-economy-trend-meer-dan-alleen-elkaars-spullen-delen/

Hekke, J. voor ‘t. (2013, 26 April). Niet het internet, maar ons gedrag verandert de wereld. Retrieved September, 6, from https://www.frankwatching.com/archive/2013/04/26/niet-het-internet-maar-ons-gedrag-verandert-de-wereld/