Sharing is caring

Following ebay, now we have airbnb. The new business model, collaborative consumption, is taking heat right now. Collaborative consumption, as I read in the article, and from wiki, means to scrub off the old model of ownership, and instead focus on renting, sharing, and you know, like exchanging your partners? (Not included that one, hahaha, just kidding)

Well, sometimes I'm intrigued by new business model. Because it could probably be a fad, but we never know. Ebay and Alibaba are also a trend, but not just a website, but trend-setter. They start a trend of online b2b and b2c. Of course, you can always argue that they may be at the top of the business but they're just lucky to be able to extend the trend to become a global phenomenon. Well, my argument is that being lucky is quite a crucial factor since the advent of Internet is rising rapidly at that time.

Butta, sometimes when a business wanted to start up some trend, they will execute carefully planned marketing activities to make sure the crowd accept the trend and then embrace it into their life. Like Apple distinguishes its brand from other competitors by positioning its products as trendy and cool. It gives this impression that its users are smart, outstanding, and think differently from the others. So people will see its product differently from other similar offerings, because the seed is planted in our mind (INCEPTION! OH NO! Damn you Leonardo!)

Back to collaborative consumption. (Don't tell me you're still interested in switching partners...Shake it off already!) Traditionally we pay for ownership, like paying to buy a personal computer (it's called personal for a reason), we own our car, hey, some people even buy the right to own a parking lot! But this new trend says that we share! See? An opposite way of doing things! Hey, you say, it's nothing new. We have car pool already. We have hostel rather than hotel. That's nothing new to me.

Now they let you share your room! I mean, your house's room! Imagine now you don't have to buy a car by yourself. You do carpool with some close friends. That saves a lot of money. Well, if we expand our imagination, we can think of many practical things to share, like (not partner sharing!) share toilet (eewww..), share rooms, share pets (I'm not sure about that...probably can work). Cost saving, synergy, and all those theoretical benefits, you name it. I guess it's a good trend, probably can last if nurtured well. Let's see what business you can think for yourself!

So, what do you wanna share?