Sharing may be worth £9bn a year by 2025

THE UK’s so-called “sharing economy”, including initiatives such as crowdfunding, could be worth more than £9 billion a year by 2025, according to research by PwC.

Five of the most high-profile sectors – crowdfunding, online staffing, peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation, car sharing and music/video streaming – are already together worth £500 million a year in the UK the report found.

Sharing services use technology to offer consumers access to a service rather than ownership of a product.

In just under a decade, the sharing economy has grown from occasional dealings between friends and family to a pool of global businesses increasingly valued in the billions.

Despite media hype around highprofile sharing companies such as AirBnB, Uber and Spotify, current revenues are relatively small but PwC economist Robert Vaughan says potential growth is substantial.

“The sharing economy is a result of the collision of advances in technology, resource scarcity and social change,” he said.

“Over the next decade, our analysis highlights the potential for significant value to be created by five of its most prominent sectors, playing an ever more pronounced role in the commercial landscape.”

Vaughan said the UK was positioning itself to take advantage of this growth. He cited plans to relax legislation controlling shortterm rentals which is expected to encourage short-term P2P accommodation sites to expand.

Major companies are also investing, including Avis’s purchase of car sharing company Zipcar. PERRY GOURLEY