How sharing is the future of business
WHAT does the ‘sharing economy’ mean t o you? Maybe using Airbnb to book a stay in a stranger’s spare room? Perhaps using car service Uber instead of hailing a black cab? Or even renting the hedge trimmer you only take out of the shed a few times a year?
A guide to the trend – sometimes known as ‘collaborative consumption’ or ‘peer-to-peer renting’ – has been penned by Alex Stephany. The former Magic Circle lawyer is now chief executive of one of the sharing economy’s brightest UK-based stars, the pre-bookable parking firm Just Park, which connects drivers searching for a space with anyone who has one going spare.
Just Park is merely the latest example of technology start-ups that are disrupting long- established business models where big corporates have traditionally dominated. The sharing economy is also empowering legions of micro- entrepreneurs who have realised the power of putting under-utilised assets to work earning money.
People are making thousands of pounds a year from renting out driveways or spare rooms or hiring out little-used designer dresses.
It makes for exciting times when anyone with a smartphone has the potential to run a small business. The taxman is becoming increasingly interested in whether everyone is paying the proper tax on this additional income and some fear further regulation of the sector could be around the corner.
For now though, business advisers PwC reckon the sharing economy could be worth a staggering $335bn (£214bn) by 2025 from five main areas: peer-to-peer finance, online staffing, peer- to- peer accommodation, car sharing and music and video streaming.
The UK’s slice of the pie could be worth around £9bn in the same time frame, according to PwC.
The major difficulty sharing companies face while scaling up their businesses is whether they can maintain what PwC identifies as their uniqueness and authenticity. This describes that sense of community found when using an Airbnb where it’s possible to connect with the owner, if only for a short time, due to the shared experience and reassuring testimonials from other users.
It’s also the social aspect to sharing a car journey with fellow users of the Lyft app, instead of jumping on an expensive train service, which helps to build customer trust and loyalty.
The very label of the sharing economy is, however, somewhat of a misnomer. Successful startups have perpetuated the idea of ‘sharing’, but the hype disguises the fact they’re as focused on making money as traditional companies. Other critics complain that charging to do a neighbour’s shopping or lending someone your bicycle or lawnmower is monetising what used to be good deeds. Without that community spirit, humanity, and goals such as reducing consumerist wastage, the sharing economy risks being regarded merely as an alternative form of the same commercial model already available by patronising Big Business.
As Stephany notes: ‘ Whether you spend your money with Airbnb or Marriott, you are a speck on their profit and loss. But with Marriott you are more likely to feel like one.’
To become more than a passing fad the sharing economy also needs to figure out how to overcome the 21st century’s obsession with rampant consumerism. A STAGGERING 85pc of adults with autism are not in full-time paid employment. Given that the developmental disability affects one in every 100 that’s a potentially massive missed opportunity for business in the UK.
Hats off, then, to HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions which have been offering work experience this summer for young people with autism to help them develop skills and familiarity with office work as well as job coaching and strategies for handling applications and assessments.
National charity Ambitious About Autism believes that with similar help more people with autism can find employment, with just small changes to the working environment often all that’s needed to enable integration.
Perhaps more of our biggest companies will follow the lead of HMRC and the DWP while dispelling a few myths about autism and how it affects some of our nation’s brightest minds. Ben Griffiths is City News
Editor of the Daily Mail