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While more than half of prosumers and mainstream buyers are
willing to rent tools to a stranger through a share scheme, the percentage points drop sharply when it comes to renting out big items like cars or houses. |
GENERATION Z, the first generation of people to grow up surrounded
by digital goods, have a unique trait, they prefer to collaborate rather than
compete.
Not for them the golden consumer rule of “the one who dies with the
most, wins”.
Instead, these new prosumers say the one with the smallest carbon
footprint will sleep sweetest at night. Which is why they are willing to share
rather than own. In fact, in 36 years’ time, people in cities will be more
likely to share a car than to own one outright, according to the latest Prosumer
report released by Havas Worldwide.
The study, which surveyed 10 574 people prosumer and “mainstream”
buyers aged 16 and older in 29 markets, including South Africa, predicts a new
collaborative economy, where selling a vehicle will require an entirely new way
of thinking about consumption — “one that involves individuals not as passive
consumers but as active participants”, according to Havas.
Doing it
for us
The report states a
third or more of the sample group believes that by 2050, people in cities will
be more likely to share than own a car, energy production will be in the hands
of individual producers, and communally operated healthcare markets will have
replaced the current models. It will require a major shake-up for today’s
industries for these predictions to happen, but only around a quarter of
respondents (27%) believed this shake-up won’t happen, while the majority expect
a consumer revolution, which means today’s toddlers will be doing jobs in
business sectors that don’t exist yet.
These businesses will have to insert a higher level of trust and
certainty into peer-to-peer transactions, starting by making stuff to last, and
standardising cables and batteries to enable cross-platform sharing.
“They can reject planned obsolescence in favour of products capable
of a second or even third life. They can make it easier for mindful consumers to
turn their best intentions into actions they can be proud of. And they can use
the digital data at their disposal to make the collaborative economy more
personalised and targeted,” states the Havas report.
Collaborating
companies
Havas points out that
just as consumers are carving out new roles for themselves within the retail
economy, brands are already finding new ways to make use of individuals in their
operations.
The U-haul Investors Club invites individuals to invest in a
vehicle via crowdfunding and receive a share of the income when the truck is
rented.
New platforms of consuming less by sharing more are meanwhile also
popping up. BlaBlaCar, available in 12 countries, uses social profiles to
connect people who’d like to share a longer-distance car ride.
Among other things, members indicate their preferred level of
chattiness, ranging from “bla” (just let me look out the window) to “blablabla”
(I can’t wait to learn all about your childhood issues). More than a million
people use the service each month.
Rental schemes here
for a while
Some things are,
however, more shareable than others. Havas reports there is a big difference in
people’s minds between joining a car-sharing service such as Zipcar or daimler’s
car2go and actually handing over the keys to one’s own vehicle to a stranger.
“So, for the near term at least, the sharing economy will have more
in common with traditional rental schemes than with communal ownership.
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that two-thirds of our global respondents would
be willing to rent at least certain categories of things they own to a stranger.
They’re most likely to share items that are inexpensive, impersonal, and easily
replaced (tools, sports equipment), and least likely to share big-ticket items
(car, home) and those that are highly personal (clothing).
Owning
it is handy
Among the surveyed
group, ownership is still the most convenient.
Nevertheless, point out
Havas, “the fact that nearly four in 10 chose sharing over owning supports the
view that sharing will become an increasingly significant sector of the consumer
economy, especially as better mechanisms are put in place to facilitate the
transfer of goods between individuals”.
