Sharing is Caring

10 years ago, nobody would have thought of the idea that one day we’d be able to rent our rooms and beds to some strangers or share car rides with strangers. But today Uber, the car-sharing app is one of the most downloaded and used apps in the world. Not only that, Airbnb is now leading the hospitality industry serving an average of 425,00 guests per night — more than many global hotel brands — with expectations of generating $900 million in revenue this year.

 

This is what is called as the “Sharing Economy” and it’s rapidly increasing in popularity. A good definition of this is “An economic system based on sharing underused assets or services, for free or for a fee, directly from individuals”. In other words, it is about fostering collaboration to turn underutilized resources into new revenue streams, which ultimately increases efficiency.

 

This is like a dream for a lot of consumers like us, who now can stay in a huge and luxurious apartment for a price of a hotel room, get picked up anywhere without having to wait for taxi and even ask other people to do any tasks for us (AirTasker).

The fast growing of the Sharing Economy is clearly putting a threat to many industries like the Taxi Industry, music streaming and hospitality. Many companies in these respective industries have realized this and decide to turn this threat into opportunity. For example, earlier this month, TripAdvisor announced a deal with Grubhub to bring restaurant delivery to its users across its properties: web, mobile web and apps. Grubhub is an American food delivery service like Deliveroo and UberEats in Australia, which utilizes the services of either employed or self-employed bicycle, motorcycle or car couriers to deliver the foods. Thus consumers browsing through restaurants on TripAdvisor will be able to order food from tens of thousands of GrubHub restaurant partners and get their food delivered to their doorsteps for free or some fee.

Above is a great example of how this Sharing Economy can be beneficial for businesses. This concept is the new popular trend of today and traditional businesses such as hotels and taxi services must really figure out ways to up their game in order to survive in their respective industries. It could mean that they have to embrace this concept and use it for themselves or could be just to improve the consistency of their level of services. People want good value that provides them with the most benefits, but until these traditional businesses can match that, they shouldn’t be expecting much in the coming years.

 

So, what do you guys think of this Sharing Economy Concept? Do you prefer them to traditional businesses? Can you think of other ways these traditional businesses might be able to match and compete with these businesses like Airbnb that are utilising the Sharing Economy concept?