Of course the sharing economy isn’t ridiculous, if you’re reading this you already know that! The harsh truth is that if you’re a customer or even a supplier to the sharing economy it currently presents well let us call them, “challenges”!
This emerging sector’s multi-channel service provision is leading to cumbersome processes. It’s hard for consumers to find complimentary or supplementary solutions and to keep track of providers on the one hand, and for suppliers to build long term relationships with consumers, on the other.
Frankly, whilst we are all busy innovating, disrupting and generally trying to improve how markets work, the irony is that we are not caring enough about the customer experiences that we are creating.
We must ask ourselves some serious questions and consider what improvements will ensure the sustainability and potential of markets is realised.
What’s the problem you may be asking?
Ok, so you are an experienced ‘sharer’ and you are “all in” with the movement, but now let’s imagine you’re a sharing virgin - what is your experience like right now?
At best it’s fragmented and unsatisfactory. It forces consumers to engage with multiple apps in order to book different elements of a trip or to engage different home services. For example, a tourist must book through Airbnb for accommodation, then Uber for transport and then possibly EatFeastly for a local dining experience, etc. This requires building three relationships in three different platforms.
We don’t make the creation of a satisfying sharing experience easy, do we?
Suppliers are forging the emergence of “sharing lifestyles”, which sees a single supplier create an income from multiple sharing activities.
Their current experience presents three major obstacles:
- Visibility + Scalability – A single person cannot effectively build a profile and market themselves as micro-entrepreneurs.
- Efficiency – suppliers want to be time rich and have an efficient, flexible model for earning. Currently suppliers suffer the same fragmented experience as consumers when managing multiple applications separately.
- Unable to build a trustworthy personal brand – Consumers cannot currently see a single view of how good you are as a supplier of sharing services.
Existing market structures seem like a recipe for frustration and in truth are self-defeating. Fragmentation deters suppliers from expanding their sharing activity and something needs to change quickly if the potential and sustainability of these suppliers and indeed consumer buy-in to the Sharing Economy is to be preserved.
Adrian McDonald
Founder – Crowd Potential – Sharing Economy Consultancy
@crowdpotential