Advantages of the Shared economy:
A) Labor norms
There are no fixed wages or rights for the workers here. As in most of the companies, on-demand employees are not workers of the company rather they are treated as the contract workers. So the company is not responsible for their work environment safety or anything. This is most suitable for on-demand taxi drivers.
But when we look in the case of on-demand electricians or plumbers or photographers the platform has nothing to do with the wages they earn. Because they are given the freedom to fix their wages and only need to pay a percentage of their earnings back to the platform.
B) Comfort
Cities increasingly are becoming crowded with persistent traffic making travel in the city a nightmare. If you are in a 9 to 5 job or get caught in the never-ending work process, these companies take away the burden of waiting for services or products. They deliver services or products at your doorstep making it more attractive.
C) Cost
Due to the ability to reach a large number of people unlike the physical stores, the companies have a wider marketplace and thus enabling them to lower prices that make customer stay loyal to them.
D) Flexible jobs
It has created jobs for many. Whether it is for small assignments for university students, stay at home mothers and retired people, jobs are available for all. This group of people can earn extra income, without getting into fulltime jobs. Everybody can work at their own pace. The money you gain is proportional to the hours of work you put in.
E) Quality of service
The on-demand app development companies are committed to providing a certain amount of quality of services, to their customers, which was not available in previous times. Earlier the traditional taxi drivers, never cared for customer satisfaction. Now the customers have the freedom to rate drivers according to the quality of service that was offered to them.
This was true for other industry-specific on-demand services as well.
How can small businesses benefit from the Sharing economy?
- Renting unused assets.
Small offices generally have a lot of assets, which go unused every day like empty desks to silent printers. There are platforms all over the world, which helps in renting out these extra spaces and assets to other companies or individuals depending on the need.
Not only does this lead to extra revenue, but renting of unused assets like parking spaces, can help drive foot traffic to a business.
- Sharing office space with freelancers and entrepreneurs.
In a typical office, you are likely to notice a few empty desks. The sharing economy helps businesses to fill those desks, either with solo freelancers looking for professional workspaces or with startups that need temporary office space as their companies grow and provide small businesses with a constant source of revenue each month.
- Marketing products and services to a wider audience.
Sharing websites have become an excellent source of free advertising for bandsmen, house cleaners, landscapers and other professionals in need of promoting their services to a local audience. Now service providers need not pay the local newspaper or online classified pages to list their services, they are able to solicit new clients, schedule appointments, and even manage credit card payments fast through collaborative platforms like Zaarly and TaskRabbit. It’s important to note that while free listings sites can be a helpful way for small businesses without a large marketing budget to get started online, they can’t do away with the benefits of using a combination of traditional and digital advertising services as many consumers still seek out new businesses by first hearing about them via traditional media and then turning to the Internet to learn more about them via their websites, social sites, and others.
But is on demand the necessity?
While everything looks attractive about on demand, there are things, which we do not need on demand but at ease. The classic example one can give is medical care. You may get your medicines on demand but the person proving the medical care cannot be availed through on demand. The major reason for this is medical care is a continuous process. A doctor-patient relationship is very essential for a healing process. So the craze of on-demand should be restricted in certain cases.
But that is not happening exactly. Today we have on demand OR and clinics. So until the craze crumbles it keeps going.
Conclusion:
The shared economy, also known as the peer-to-peer economy, allows individuals to provide a service, often at a cheaper rate than the standard market price to a pool of users through a branded platform. All models depend on trusting a virtual stranger to do what they promise; hence it has been called the ‘trust economy’. This new economy has had a significant influence on a variety of industries, the most widespread currently in travel, mobility, and finance.
Traditional market players are seeing a gradual decrease in their market share and utilization. Consumers are getting more control over the market than before. From a consumer point of view, the trust economy allows both customers and service providers to be more resourceful. Consumers can get in touch with individual service providers directly and quickly through a well-maintained platform with very low overheads compared to traditional models.
