Collaborative consumption approach

Have you ever shared an audio CD with a friend? If you did so, without knowing, you had actually engaged in a 'collaborative consumption.' One of you paid for the CD, but two or more of you actually benefitted from the CD. Collaborative consumption ultimately reduced the total cost for two or more consumers in reaping the benefits of the product.
The concept of collaborative consumption prevailed over decades. It flourished and became widely noticed with the sharing of private jets and luxurious holiday resorts/ apartments - concepts of sharing luxurious products or services. In lieu of higher prices of luxurious products, the concept of collaborative consumption (by sharing access and ownership) provided opportunity to many to avail them. Eventually, the concept spread among non-luxury categories of products and services.
One necessary element to moderate the collaborative consumption is the sharing of information - information about availability of products/ services that can be shared. The tremendous advancement of technology around the millennia lowered the costs of investments and operations of businesses. Businesses based on models of collaborative consumption thus benefitted from technology. The e-bay and craigslist (organisations that evolved in the mid-90s) are internet-based models of businesses relying on collaborative consumption.
Further down the millennia, social media further popularised the concept of collaborative consumption. As a result, increasing number of organisations started to come up with arrays of products and services. Even though collaborative consumption has its roots in formal businesses, consumers took it to the next level and started yet another more informal form of collaborative consumption. Sharing baby-sitters, house-maids, cleaning services, or dropping kids from neighborhood to school by turns - are all examples of such collaborative consumption.
Today, both formal and informal collaborative consumptions allow customers to enjoy products and services at more affordable prices. Prior to this widespread informal use of the collaborative consumption concept, the best available alternative for many was to buy or rent products and services. Buying is always more expensive than renting, and renting is, by definition, collaborative consumption. However, a rent-shop is rarely capable of customizing according to the needs of different customers. With improved technology, customer can now satisfy their own needs while offering other products or services, or money to the other consumers. If we calculate the total amount saved in such process, we would understand how every little bit of collaborative consumption help consumers and economies to save big.
Businesses allowing people to share their time, space, skills, and money with each other also boost communal affiliations and knit communities more tightly. These types of communal sharing existed in many localities for many years. With the aid of technology, the concept is spreading quickly. It is indeed a positive change for society where it may direct the current nuclear society towards a more clustered society.
Market analysts today are suggesting that people's wants to share consumption of products and services is emerging as a new market trend. We need to carefully observe this trend of sharing and reasons of sharing. Are they just "sharing for sharing's sake?" Are they are "sharing for fun and savings/ profit?" Or are they "sharing for savings/ profit only?" All these indicate separate avenues where consumers may be heading. "Sharing for sharing's sake" could be a short time phenomenon for certain types of products after recent financial crisis. "Sharing for joy and profit" could lead to a new market opportunity where social goods will be more desirable. And "sharing for only profit" is the reason why Olx, e-bay and similar trade sites exist.
"Sharing for joy and profit" is an avenue where social businesses may very suitably expand. Customers of this avenue are from a segment that is price sensitive, and also have a positive attitude to sharing because they enjoy it. It may be possible to develop social businesses for this segment by addressing social issues from this particular segment/ community. Access to information can be provided through collaborative consumption of internet to the customers at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). A single internet connection may be used like a traditional cyber café, and unused time slots can be shared by internet users in a community. Buying original books is expensive for most of BOP market. Selling partial ownership of books to them may aid knowledge enhancement in communities through such social business. The very popular Khan Academy is a great example in the area of collaborative consumption of knowledge. Similarly, collaborative consumption of cloths and similar products are being shared through Punoh ( http://punoh.com), another social business portal in Bangladesh.  
Panther Social, a social business portal in Bangladesh is aimed to eliminate poverty and create better living condition for the poor by renting space on rickshaws for advertisements. The rickshaws are being shared by the rickshaw-pullers for their livelihood, and by Panther Social to generate funds (ultimately paying back the cost of the rickshaw). In this model, the rickshaw-pullers get to own the rickshaws by the end of two years, when the rickshaws have already been paid for from these advertisements.
The idea of Panther Social may be taken to the next step - shared community transportation through social business ventures. For BOP market, mobility is often quite expensive. Selling co-ownership of rickshaw, boat, car and other similar modes of transportation may solve their mobility problem to a large extent. General Motors (GM) partnered with RelayRides to reach broader customer base by offering their cars for rent. GM's Vice President Stephen Girsky said that they are trying to address the new need of "mobility" rather than the need of owing a car.
The recent increase in collaborative consumption can be attributed to many different factors. One of these is definitely the improved information sharing resulting from the advancement of information technology, telecommunications technology and the development of the worldwide web. Rural villagers of Bangladesh living close to poverty-line now have access to mobile telecom devices. As more of the global population gets access to information, collaborative consumption will definitely grow - as strong Social Businesses.
Both the writers are faculty members of North South University (NSU) Email: [email protected]