{"id":18869,"date":"2015-11-30T09:09:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T16:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.web-strategist.com\/blog\/?p=18869"},"modified":"2023-06-08T12:18:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T19:18:57","slug":"convenience-as-a-source-of-competitive-advantage-in-the-collaborative-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/30\/convenience-as-a-source-of-competitive-advantage-in-the-collaborative-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Convenience as a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Collaborative Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the on-demand, peer-to-peer movement called the collaborative economy, many rising startups are offering convenience to attract new users and customers. In this new economy, Uber and Lyft provide rides with just a few quick clicks on a mobile app\u2013no credit cards or cash to fuss with. Buying on eBay today is often easier than going down to the consignment store to find pre-owned goods. Finding a professional on TaskRabbit is more convenient than the traditional way of hiring full-time staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we revealed in The New Rules of the Collaborative Economy<\/em><\/a>, a report I co-authored with tech strategist Alexandra Samuel, convenience is the number one factor cited by people for their latest participation in the collaborative economy. More than three-quarters of the people we engaged with said convenience was the reason they used a sharing service\u2013beating price and product or service quality.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"the<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In the report<\/a>, based on a study by Vision Critical<\/a>, the leading customer intelligence platform provider, we also revealed that about a third of would-be buyers are swayed to consider sharing services that make it easier and more seamless to access goods and services.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"07\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

On the flip side, however, fewer people are interested in conveniences that could come from buying (services like a home furnishings or gift store that offer personal shopping and delivery). In other words, adding extra services to traditional ways of buying might not suffice. In the long-term, rethinking your infrastructure to enable on-demand and instant access to your products and services is a necessary step to competing in the collaborative economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the short-term, established companies that want to offer convenience for sharers have a few strategies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Emphasize convenience for your affluent, professional customers.<\/strong> These people place a premium on their time and are more likely to switch to sharing if it’s more convenient to do so.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Leverage sharing startups to offer convenience. <\/strong>Many sharing startups already have the structure to offer web-enabled instant access to products and services. Partnerships with startups could be an easy for companies to offer the convenience that today’s empowered customers are looking for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Bring local and customer-made products to your store experience. <\/strong>At our upcoming webinar<\/a>, we’ll share some examples of big retailers that are bringing maker goods from sharing companies like Etsy to make it convenient for customers to buy unique products with a local flavor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    To learn how established enterprises are using convenience to compete in the collaborative economy, please join me for a live Vision Critical webinar<\/a> on December 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the on-demand, peer-to-peer movement called the collaborative economy, many rising startups are offering convenience to attract new users and customers. In this new economy, Uber and Lyft provide rides with just a few quick clicks on a mobile app–no credit cards or cash to … Continue readingConvenience as a Source of Competitive Advantage in the Collaborative Economy<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collaborative-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-strategist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}