[The Collaborative Economy is an economic model where ownership and access are shared between people, startups, and corporations]
Disruption: Customers are now sharing products and services with each other, like AirBnb (vs hotels), Lyft (vs buying cars), Lendingclub (vs banks), 99 Dresses (instead of buying clothes), odesk (vs traditional hiring methods) as an alternative to traditional sales, in fact, our small list of 200 startups only has a portion of the services that have emerged, enabling this trend.
At Altimeter, we’ve been tracking this space, including a number of blog posts tagged Collaborative Economy (list of startups, list of corporations involved and more), an upcoming free webinar that you can join, and I’ll be announcing some private events for our clients to dive in further. Tomorrow, I’ll be keynoting LeWeb which is solely focused on this topic, and will share the video and slides shortly.
The executive summary encapsulates what you need to know:
The Next Phase of Social Business Is the Collaborative Economy. Social technologies radically disrupted communications, marketing, and customer care. With these same technologies, customers now buy products once and share them with each other. Beyond business functions, the Collaborative Economy impacts core business models.
Customers Are Sharing Goods and Services – Redefining the Buyer-Seller Relationship. Every car-sharing vehicle reduces car ownership by 9-13 vehicles; a revenue loss of at least $270,000 to an average auto manufacturer. The cascading impact to the ecosystem has far-reaching impacts to auto loans, car insurance, fuel, auto parts, and other services. For corporations, the direct impact is revenue loss that results from customers sharing products and services with each other.
Innovative Companies Are Already Moving Into Collaborative Economy. Some companies have joined this movement. For instance, Toyota rents cars from dealership lots, and Patagonia partnered with eBay to encourage customers to buy and sell its used products. NBC has partnered with Yerdle, a startup founded by former Walmart executives to foster peer-to-peer sharing. This movement impacts every industry.
Adopt the Collaborative Economy Value Chain. Companies risk becoming disintermediated by customers who connect with each other. The Collaborative Economy Value Chain illustrates how companies can rethink their business models by becoming a Company-as-a-Service, Motivating a Marketplace, or Providing a Platform. The forward-looking company
Above: In conjunction with the report launch, the findings and market opportunities were shared at LeWeb, who’s focused on this topic.
Above: Short Version from LeWeb (matches above video)
Above: Bloomberg TV interview.
Altimeter conducted a number of research interviews, as well tested the thesis with business leaders across multiple spaces. Special thanks to Loic Le Meur who triggered the ‘aha’ for me last year, on how this is the next phase.
Above Graphic: The first phase era of the internet allowed few to publish, yet disseminating knowledge, the second social era empowered everyone to share ideas, and now, the third era, the Collaborative Economy, empowers customers to share goods and services, continuing to shift power to the crowd.Select Coverage of the Report
- TV: Bloomberg TV interviewed me on the research findings (also embedded above)
- Video interview on Techcrunch. Sharing startups need to be ready when the corporations move in.
- iCrossing says you must share or die
- Yahoo spreads the Memeburn coverage about the Collaborative Economy
- Edelman’s Michael Brito gives his review
- oDesk shares that the collaborative economy is here to stay
- Augie Ray, marketing and digital strategist and practice lead shares his review
- French: Hugo Sedouramane from JDN reviews the report, posting critical questions about the future of business
- Socialtimes sources Altimeter report data
- Shareable Magazine, one of the leading media source for this space, covers the report
- The Brand Activation Association shares the report, I’ll be speaking at their event.
- Altimeter colleague Rebecca Lieb questions if this movement can scale
- Amy Bishop covers the report
- Social Times questions if sharing is the next phase
- Heather Whaling does an excellent job of translating what it means to the PR industry
- French: Edwin Mootoosamy reviews the report on Consummation Collaboration
- Industry leaders, Collaborative Consumption, reminds market on the movement.
- Italian: We are social publishes their thoughts as it impacts companies
- Also posted on the official Altimeter blog
- Memeburn covers the report and keynote speech at Leweb
- Visual artists were present at Leweb, and illustrated a summary
- French: Altier covers the report in French
- Storify capture by students who attended LeWeb
- AOL Video: Covers the LeWeb interview on the Collaborative Economy
- Podcast: Neville Hobson shares the podcast interview on For Immediate Release For Immediate Release also has the podcast listed
- Adam Tinworth took some on the fly notes from the keynote, thanks Adam!
- Adi Gaskell covers the report and poses some great questions.
- CMSWire covers how this is the next phase of social
- OuiShare covers the report and adds additional perspective
- Markus Caspari shares and covers the report and video
- See Tableau dashboard of LeWeb conference who all discussed the collaborative economy
- Video: The Digital Loop with Paul Papadimitriou and Ivan Hernandez interviewed me
- Geoff Livingston shares his insights and experience of sharing and collaboration
- Social Media Today publishes a review by Augie Ray
- Silvia Cambie, writes The Triumph of the Co-words
- Euronews interviews me on how corporations can fly high
- Euronews covers Leweb, and references our research
- Vocus: The Collaborative Economy Offers a New Channel
- My Customer: Are collaborative customers redefining the buyer-seller network?
- Sustainable Industries: Big companies must embrace trends towards collaboration
- eToro covers the report, one of the peer based financial advisory services in the movement
- Video: Techcity interviews me on the research report in London
- Sprinklr, a social media management system, reviews the report.
- Business 2 Community covers the Altimeter report
- Startup website Niblitz covers the report infographic.
- SHIFT Communications tells what role PR companies have in the Collaborative Economy
- ATT blog on Share and Share alike, by colleague Brian Solis
- German: The report is shared in German on the Atizo site
- Todd Defren of SHIFT writes there’s a role for PR
- Relaborate agrees with our recommendation to corporations
- Italian: Collaboriamo covers the Altimeter report and Leweb speech
- Sharable Magazine covers our startup coverage (infographic)
- Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA sees the opportunities for the Collaborative Economy
- C2C on the Collaborative Economy impacting the travel and hospitality space
- ZDNet’s Dion, also of Dachis Group, explains how this is an extension of social business.
- Forbes, via EMC Brand Voice, covers the Sharing Economy, referencing the report
- Moxiesoft offers an infographic based off our data, with the impacts to summer travel and customer experience.
- Respected industry leader Irving Wladawsky-Berger expresses his thoughts on the Sharing/Collaborative Economy
Excellent article. Looking forward to more information on this topic!
Thanks for this its a good report. i particularly liked the stuff around reworking the value chain. The only problem is that the report is is titled “The Collaborative Economy” but is 95% about collaborative consumption and almost totally ignores the spheres of collaborative production and generation and others…
thank you form this good report.
Next step of this collaborative economy probably will be collaborative funding. Crowdfunding is changing the way people is living economy, from customers to “custowners”.
Correct Maruizio, it’ll be hard to tell the difference between customers and employees.
Shane, can you please re-read “Provide a platform” we discuss that in depth, page 13
Absolutely agree with everything you say here and I think the following industries have the greatest opportunity for growth in the collaborative economy if they rethink their business models.
Those with products that have:
1. High amounts of down time
2. Rapidly diminishing value to original purchaser
3. Comparable alternatives
… as well as those with products that are built specifically for sharing.
#1) High amounts of down time
You already mentioned the automotive industry and for good reason.
Living in NJ and working in NYC myself there™s at least ten hours every weekday where my car is just sitting in a parking garage and the value of that car to others in that time is much greater than the wear and tear of the associated drive time.
Why don™t I share my car during that time?
It comes down to risk and convenience. If, when I purchased my car, Jeep offered me a package deal assuming all of the risks of sharing my car (repairs, theft, etc.) as well as the management of making connections I™d give the program serious consideration.
Would Jeep end up losing money through the very act of setting up a service that makes it easier for other people to not buy their product?
Perhaps, but taking ownership of the program earlier rather than later would put them in a much better position to take ownership of the market.
#2) Rapidly diminishing value to original purchaser
Books, magazines, movies, video games … they™re all used for a few days or weeks and then put on a shelf to collect dust.
While companies like Microsoft are trying to address this issue by ensuring that their products can™t be shared, it™s a risky venture that may turn off many would be buyers. On the other hand, by continuing to enrich the product over time and allowing for mass personalization it™s possible to continue to make money off the product even after it™s resold.
#3) Comparable alternatives
Why do I have to pay $200 to spend one night in a room that™s smaller than my garage? While there™s so much personal attachment and risk associated to one™s own home that it™ll be a long time before hotels have to fear local home owners/renters as significant competition, in time, anything can happen.
With that said, if home rental does take off, hotels may need to redefine the service they offer.
Staying at a hotel isn™t as simple as the location; the hotel adds value with a daily cleaning service, room service a concierge and more. Why not bundle all of those services up as part of a home rental offer? Sure you won™t be staying at a Hilton but being assured of the same level of customer service one would receive at a Hilton makes it easier for both home owner and renter alike to do business.
#4) Built specifically for sharing
Finally, the biggest opportunity may be in those products built for sharing. Why can a single arcade game cost operators $10,000 or more when video game consoles cap out well under a thousand? Quite simply the arcade market can bear the cost due to the large user base when a console is priced to a single user.
By designing to the distributed budget of a collaborative economy companies can make products that are significantly more powerful at the same end cost to consumers. Why sell 1,000 widgets at $499 each but cripple their capabilities to meet a number when you can make just as much money selling 100 widgets at $4,990 each to an audience capable of sharing?
Keep up the great work here, love this post and I’m looking forward to see what’s next.
Good article! 🙂
Sharing is only ONE business model Brian. Consumable goods, like razors can move to a subscription model. See “Dollar Shave Club”
This is a form of “access” vs “shared ownership”
The net takeaway –most product types are impacted.
Now there I’m going to disagree with you, while subscription
models continue to evolve I don™t see a connection between a 1-1 subscription of this nature and the collaborative economy.
For the most part razors simply aren’t shared any more than a wedding ring would be shared due to the high degree of personal attachment.
Yes there™s much more than sharing here but I also do feel
that there are some industries that are nearly immune (for better and worse) to the movement.
French review here http://atelierdunumerique.com/consommation-collaborative-lheure-du-virage-pour-les-marques/
MIT too http://civic.mit.edu/blog/hidenise/skillshare-codesign-peer-economy
yes i’d read that and hence the 95% comment, although i’d refute your use of the words “in depth”.