There is a sharing app for everything in China
Shanghai: Basketballs, electric scooters and rainbow-coloured umbrellas — nothing seems out of bounds in China’s booming “sharing economy”. Where once Chinese consumers would look to shell out on items such as luxury handbags or cars, now they can rent them for short periods taking advantage of the explosion of mobile payment technology.
As ever with China, the numbers are mind-boggling: the shared economy more than doubled to 3.45 trillion yuan ($505 billion) last year from a year earlier, according to official figures, which projected average annual growth of 40 per cent in the years ahead.
But experts warn that China, which has rapidly become a world leader in the concept, is oversharing, and some start-ups are going bust.
The fiercely competitive bike-sharing craze in China’s major cities claimed what was widely reported as its first victim in June when Wukong Bike reached the end of the road with 90 per cent of its bikes missing and presumed stolen.The government has supported the sharing industry as a new growth driver as the overall economy slows, but there are signs Beijing is becoming wary and recently, it asked local governments to come up with new industry regulations.
In Shanghai, where bicycles of all colours threaten to take over the streets, Claire Victoria Pan said she uses a gamut of sharing
services for bikes, cars, Airbnb and co-working spaces.”
“These sharing tools make life very convenient,” said Pan, from Hong Kong but living in Shanghai, where she founded a wine-trading company.” There is oversharing, but it is just temporary. When a new thing appears it will expand quickly so that there is excess supply.”
“Chinese consumers are getting used to the concept of sharing, in previous years they would rather own their stuff,” an expert said. “But as more people embrace the concept of sharing the market will continue to expand.”