For several decades, owning, being the owner of what one bought was part of the social lifestyle and habits. The idea of sharing outside the cocoon of family or friends was incongruous. Today, collaborative consumption and crowdfunding have definitively established a new era of exchanges.
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Collaborative consumption
This economic model is now based more on use than on ownership. Inseparable from the rise of the Internet, the strong growth of this trend has continued over the years.
Indeed, digital technology allows the continued development of numerous usage enhancement services:
- Mobility: Car sharing and shared mobility
- Accommodation : Hosting Services
- Material goods: Rental, loan between individuals and barter
- Exchanges and knowledge: Social networks and collaborative learning…
The sharing economy
This form of economy, commonly called the “sharing economy”, has now become widespread across all sectors of activity. It is found in particular in food, fashion, distribution and project financing. However, it was the automobile and transport that acted as pioneers in this area. Indeed, distributors and automobile manufacturers were the precursors of this movement by very early on promoting carpooling, barter or sharing schemes, as well as car-sharing services.
Faced with this current context of economic changes and continuing crises, this transition takes on its full meaning. It thus pushes us to a necessary individual and collective questioning. More than ever, we feel the need to question our consumption patterns, while profoundly rethinking our place in society.
Technologies, unconditional support for the collaborative economy
Thanks to the rapid development of digital technologies and the central place occupied by community solutions on the Internet, forms of exchange and sharing between individuals are progressing considerably. Internet and Peer-to-Peer* solutions have made it possible to:
- The deployment of Internet user communities grouped by subjects of interest and needs, promoting their social links and the connection between those who have and those who seek.
- The development of evaluation systems of reputation, which create and promote opinions and critiques on users, products and services present on the Internet, thus establishing essential relationships of trust between users of exchange systems.
Fashion and ready-to-wear — which represent around 6% of global consumption, all sectors combined, ahead of automobiles (4%) and telecommunications equipment and services (3%)** — have fully integrated these trends: wardrobe clearance, rental of accessories, barter, exchange and rental of clothing, appeal to the creativity of the future buyer, etc.
Crowdfunding
Participatory financing, or “crowdfunding”, is also a solution that is attracting more and more fashion designers. For example, to finance raw materials, participate in trade shows and above all unite and energize their networks. The ability to create social connections is a major asset in the development of consumption and collaborative financing platforms. This is an opinion shared by many historians and sociologists. For the consumers that we are, there is a search for affinity relationships, a need for real contact with the producers, creators, partners and suppliers of the products and services that we consume. Pleasure is therefore found in the act of exchanging goods or services, certainly, but also in the relational exchange.
An essential tool for entrepreneurs
In this dynamic, crowdfunding is a way for business creators to break out of isolation, to surround themselves, get advice and support. Fundraising is almost the icing on the cakewater.
Coming from the “Do It Yourself” culture (the platform helps project leaders to raise funds on their own), crowdfunding – literally “financing by the crowd” – has become widely popular with “Main Stream” projects which concern the heart of global economic activity. These “real economy” projects therefore have every chance of attracting crowds. Thus, the funding is very concrete, the rewards tangible and the direct impact is visible to donors.s.
For example :
- For a restaurateur: A new room to open, a cellar to transform into a wine bar, improving kitchen equipment… The ideas are numerous and the rewards to offer to sponsors are attractive. For example: wine tastings, evening dedicated to donors or free meals.
- For a farmer or winemaker: If he needs new production equipment, a new machine, or to set up a work space, he can offer, in exchange for financing, tours of his property, local products or tastings.
The impact on the global economy
The benefit of creating a short circuit between the entrepreneur and the donor becomes obvious. Consumption can thus have a direct impact on the overall economy. Consumption patterns and the development of business creation reflect the dynamisme, the capacity for adaptation and innovation of a country’s economy.
The awareness of nOur power as a consumer is essential. The need to undertake is encouraged and promoted. It’sIt is with small gestures, by putting the responsible consumer and the entrepreneur at the center of society, that we access a more human way of life.
*Exchanges between peers, based on the development of a network of exchange and sharing between Internet users, in free participation and engaged in the production of common resources. Source: “How are fashions spread? », article written by Martine Fournier for the magazine Les Grands dossiers des Sciences Humaines, n° 22 (structural macroeconomic data kept for illustrative purposes).
