Collaborative Consumption (Are You A Part Of This Forecast Change In How We Consume?)

Before my 3yo started throwing a tanty because he wanted to watch ABC2 I was watching a very interesting talk by author Rachael Botsman on ABC1*.

Essentially she was explaining that Gen Y are leading a very significant change in how people are consuming goods, services, time and information. She said that since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 people have:

A) Had a rethink on how important their communities are to them.

B) Become very "into" sharing.

She said that this significant shift in our approach to consuming has been helped by the online networks people have established. Prior to this shift we were all basically passive and individualistic consumers. We were advertised to by big establishments who were in total control of consumables. We would desire... then buy... then use... or not use and stash away... or throw away and that was the cycle of consumption. Now it's more like this:

WE decide what we want.... we research... we consult our network... if the product or service can be obtained via cashless means then we get it that way (FreeCycle etc)... often people decide to embark on fulfilling a need themselves (WAHMs making things for other mums)... then importantly after we have finished with the product we are more likely to pass it on than stash it or throw it.

Rachael said that in this new system the "middle man" ie retail stores etc. Have been eliminated. The goods and services move more directly from maker to buyer. But she also said that this is meaning we are changing the way we relate to each other. We are trending away from simply feathering our own nests... to consume in isolation... to work in isolation etc. The transaction process in this new regime is requiring us to actually establish relationships with our network. Unlike the previous regime where if we wanted something we could just walk into a store, pick something up from the shelf, walk to the cashier, maybe grunt "thanks" and walk out and return to the isolation of our homes to use it. Now we are having to engage in more dialogue (think ebay questioning and emails to WAHMs with requirements and feedback etc).

Rachael is extremely optimistic and positive about this developments. So am I! I also think that another benefit of this new way of consuming is that people are going to have to start to actually care about their reputations in their networks. Whereas before if you had the money you had the power to avoid the "shame" of having to ask for help or to borrow something... because you could just obtain the goods, services, information etc and that would be that. Now it's different. You can't just expect it to be a one way street... you have to be a part of it. You cant do that dodgy deal on ebay because word will get around and no one will want you to be a part of their network... and if you are not part of a network then you are going to struggle no matter how much money you have!

Anyhow that was the thrust of Rachael's talk... did anyone else catch it? How are you a part of her predicted change in how we consume?

Examples that I am:

1. I pass on lots of baby clothes to friends and family. My sister and I swap clothing as our weight fluctuates.

2. DH helps people in our friend and family network with free financial advice (mainly in the form of education eg "what is negative gearing?") and recommendations. In return my BIL shares his knowledge of car mechanics in the form of diagnostics ("hi, um our car is vibrating and making this weird sound... what could it be? Can I fix it myself or do I need to take it to a mechanic?")

3. Since becoming a member of BB I have shared and given lots of time and info to help people and received it in return. I've bought lots of products eg MooGoo based soley on the high number of positive recommendations. (MooGoo is an emerging cottage industry that sells soaps, shampoos, creams that don't have any nasty ingredients.) Ditto MCN (cloth nappies).

4. I have given away and received lots of unwanted household items between friends and family. More than half of our furniture was free secondhand.



* Rachel Botsman is the co-author of the upcoming book What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption (Harper Collins, September 2010). She is a consultant, writer and speaker on the power of collaboration and sharing through current and emerging peer-to-peer technologies, and how these things can transform the way we live.

ETA: the talk that I saw is on YouTube.

Thanks to BB I used mcn for DS, I grow some fruit and veges myself, I buy more natural personal products

I pass all of DS too small clothes to a friends little boy, then she passes them on to her nephew.

My cousin passes her sons too small clothes onto DS, I then pass them on etc.

I go to Op shops every so often and buy DS clothes and sometimes toys, which I then hand down to friends son

I have purchased or just recycled familie's old furniture which is my 'new' furniture

Interesting thread Bath

Typical, GenYers taking all the credit!!! Gen Xers (in my circle anyway) have been doing this for a long time, and I suspect that the pre-war generations did a lot of this too, but informally in small family and neighbourhood-based networks rather than with the help of social and online networks - which increases the range of the resources available but possibly also adds to the complexity or even dare I suggest the commercialisation of such networks - for example I was checking out some of the websites mentioned in the wikipedia article on this topic, and I noticed that many of them are fee-based.

I agree there is a reputation-based benefit...we've all had the experience of lending something only to have it returned, dirty and/or trashed, or unusable.

Like you, my sister and I swap a lot of goods back and forth, sometimes they come and go several times as our needs change over time.

There are a number of boxes of toys that have done the circuit between households, depending on teh ages and stages of our children, they have back and forthed. Likewise bicycles in different sizes have gone back and forth, also swingsets.

Looking around my house, very few of my pieces of furniture have been bought brand new from a traditional retailer. You wouldn't know it by looking at it though, it doesn't "look" like "secondhand"...which I think is a feature of this trend too. People don't necessarily hang onto stuff just because they spent good money on it/it was such a bargain. So there's more good stuff in circulation. I wonder how much the shrinkage of homes/outside storage areas (like sheds) has contributed to this...unlike the Baby boomers who typically aspired to own large homes then filled them with 'stuff' that stayed there for decades, younger people Xers and Ys are more likely to live through a number of changes of life circumstance - homes, relationships, careers, localities, perhaps we value things like flexibility and mobility more than stability.

Book swapping - well this one's been going on since the dawn of printed material...and I did notice that when I was financially able to buy more books and therefore contribute more to my informal network, I started to be given newer and more interesting books than when I was a partial participant...so there was already a participation-based reward system operating.

Also, having worked in a large govt organisation, i was a little surprised to see how much stuff is bought and sold or traded on their social-club networks.