collaborative consumption alexandra penel english

VIEWS ON COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION

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A Presentation based on the dissertation La location entre particuliers ou la remise en cause d’un modèle de consommation fondé sur la propriété - Alexandra Penel - Master Information & Communication - CELSA-Paris IV - July 2014

Collaborative consumption may frighten brands as it seems to radically question the model

of our society.

It is said to point out “the slow down of today’s global economic model”

Tout se loue sur Internet, mais à quel prix - Le Figaro - 09.02.2012

Of which it would initiate the end : “It is not a crisis, it is a world change.”

Michel Serres

Companies would lose their power : ”a lifestyle that puts the economic initiative

into the hands of civil society.“ La révolution du partage - Le Monde - 20.09.2013

And Brands would be losing their sex appeal : “We are looking for functionality”

Question de choix - France Info - 20.12.2013

On the other hand, it might also be seen as a solution to the reduction in purchasing power.

To environmental damage : “Collaborative consumption comes alongside sustainable consumption”

Kiwizz

Even to the immorality of our system: “Collaborative practices illustrate the birth of

a world where help replaces selfishness.” La révolution du partage - Le Monde - 20.09.2013

Maybe because it would bring back together our capitalist system with socialist values.

“Perhaps what is the most exciting about Collaborative Consumption is that it fulfills

both the hardened expectations on both sides of the socialist and capitalist ideological spectrum

without being an ideology in itself.” What is mine is yours - Rachel Botsman & Roo Rogers

Whether it seduces or frightens, collaborative consumption is everyone’s concern,

as it seems to disrupt the world we all know.

How far does collaborative consumption

create a new society model?

Collaborative consumption has no limits, and can be found in all categories.

Therefore it presents itself as an evolution of the hyper-consumption system.

The end of hyper-consumption?

“We are not always happy to hyper-consume“ The Age of Acces - Jeremy Rifkin

Collaborative consumption would be

a way to “continue hyper-consumming”

L’avènement de la consommation collaborative - Edouard Dumortier

Whereas “hyper-consumption” is ambiguous, “purchasing power” brings everyone together.

Source : Igobono - 2014

Therefore, collaborative consumption is a next step to a model based on abundance and mass-consumption.

The difference is it boasts moral values which today’s system would lack.

SHARE

The end of ownership and the birth of the sharing era ?

Let’s take the example of peer-to-peer renting, which seems to question ownership the most.

Redistibution market Collaborative lifestyle Product service system

What is mine is yours - Rachel Botsman & Roo Rogers

Even if “owner” has disappeared from the vocabulary of brands like Airbnb (which has

replaced it by « host »), ownership remains at the heart of peer-to-peer rental services.

Insurance system Guaranty Safety technologies

Peer-to-peer renting remains a trade exchange between 2 parties, secured by a third party.

$

Location

Start-up

Start-up

This model, where ownership remains dominant, also applies to other collaborative activities.

Second hand market Owner Buyer

Crowdfunding Idea owner Supporter Owner Owner

Swapping

Ownership is questioned for only one side of the trading exchange: the consumer,

who no longer needs to own in order to use.

For the owner, the goal is to make objects more profitable by extending their usage

through renting, reselling, swapping…

Collaborative consumption is thus not a sharing of our goods,

but the monetization of ownership.

This explains the misunderstanding on the word « share » : be it trough swapping, reselling, renting, crowd funding or crowd sourcing, what is mine is actually never yours.

Rather than a model revolution, collaborative consumption is

an evolution in the means of access.

Alongside these new access possibilities, arbitrations are becoming more and more sophisticated

and consumers more and more experts.

We might think that these arbitrations are made between the rational and the emotional.

“We are looking for functionality”1

“You can save concrete and immediate money“3

“Optimise resources”2

Sources : 1Question de choix - France Info - 20.12.2013, 2Je loue ta voiture, tu loues mon costume, on sauve la planète - Rue 89 Le Nouvelobs - 18.08.2011, 3 site Sharewizz, 4 site Zilok

“The need for convenience”4 Brand preference

Pleasure buying

Investment

PRICE

UTILITY

CONVENIENCE

QUALITY

PLEASURE

STATUS

SMART CONSUMPTION

PLAISIR INDULGENCE

CONSUMPTION

Yet collaborative consumption

intensifies the needs for quality and service.

Because it makes the access to brands

considered as more qualitative

than low-cost offers easier.

“it gives you the opportunity to have access to some things that you

wouldn’t have bought.”

“Good value for money” 

“For occasional works, a handyman won’t invest in high performance tools

because of the price. Yet the difference on usage and results

between a 15€ and a 100€ grinder at is real. Peer-to-peer renting helps to

avoid that.“

Source : qualitative group organized in April 2013, and exchange with peer-to-peer renters.

And because the peer-to-peer process

requires a high level of service to secure the

exchange.

“There is a certain amount of bother.”

“The fact that it’s between individuals is rather a handicap because there is a

risk on quality.”

“you need a trusted third party”

Source : qualitative group organized in April 2013, and exchange with peer-to-peer renters.

Rather than the search for the lowest price or the sign of disenchantment about brands,

collaborative practices are seen as an affordable way to have access to quality.

In this way, collaborative consumption probably threatens low-cost products

more than premium brands.

Des arbitrages de plus en plus conscients et sophistiqués.

Utility did not kill emotional and status needs.

Des arbitrages de plus en plus conscients et sophistiqués.

Because collaborative technologies are

valorising and benefit from a more modern, embodied, social and environmental image.

“A better consumption model for society”

“an activist practice”

Source : qualitative group organized in April 2013, and exchange with peer-to-peer renters.

Des arbitrages de plus en plus conscients et sophistiqués.

Because these solutions reveal our

emotional relationship to some objects,

rather than questioning it.

“Me, I’d rather have an affordable dress, from Zara or H&M,

but my own one.“

“I like to keep my books, but my man buys books and then throw them

away.”

“Some people have a convenient relation to their cars. And for others

it is status.”

Source : qualitative group organized in April 2013, and exchange with peer-to-peer renters.

Beyond a purely rational usage, our consumption choices remain a way to

express status and reveal our relationship to objects.

In the end, collaborative practices don’t create «anti-consumers» who hate brands,

but expert consumers, empowered by a diversity of solutions to satisfy their needs for quality and status.

Collaborative consumption is neither the end of capitalism and ownership,

nor the end of a model based on consumption, nor the birth of a doubting consumer.

On the contrary, we can see it as the generalization of trade at the scale of individual, a society of hyper

liberalism where every owner can be a business man and where capitalism has entered our sellers.

Which means, far from being a threat, it is an opportunity for the established brands.

1  Secure peer-to-peer exchanges

1  It means to offer platforms which make peer-to-peer exchanges

easier and which will ensure the quality of both deal and exchanged good.

Like Trocathlon that allows to sell and buy second-hand goods at Decathlon, France’s leading sports retailer.

Or indirectly, Habitat vintage which buys and sells old second hand furniture of its brand.

2  Widen the user target, beyond the buyer target.

2  It means to offer not only the purchase,

but also the renting of the stocks.

DriveNow and the ability to rent a varied fleet of BMW cars in German cities.

3  Share the conception of your projects

3  It means switch from “client” to “shareholder”.

By offering to anyone the opportunity to finance a project.

Or by simply using the existing crowd sourcing platforms, like Popularise or Quirky to fund future

projects and products.

4  Make your network more profitable by creating services for the collaborative economy.

4  It means to provide spaces in your network,

where people could exchange, which is a way to deliver a new service, while driving new traffic to your store.

When will it be possible to withdraw or deliver swapped, rented, or second-hand products at your Post

office, your usual retailer, or your newspaper seller?

5  Widen your brand experience to new services.

5  It means offering added services, next to purchase,

and offering a global solution to your customers.

For example, when will it be possible to rent a steam stripper or a sander at Ikea ?

These are only 5 applications among a lot of future models …