Peer-to-peer business models are rising as an important feature of the collaborative economy we are living in nowadays. According to Glind (2015), we are moving towards a situation where the majority of people uses online and offline marketplaces for economic transactions. People will get what they need from other individuals, because it is often faster and more convenient. An advantage of these marketplaces is that to avoid trust implications they are very transparent in their process and how they earn money.
Word of mouth (WOM) is the concept of interpersonal interaction on the marketplace. More and more marketplaces can be found online, which contributed to the rise of e-WOM. With content becoming easier to upload, the quantity of e-WOM information that is available to the digital audience has increased significantly.
As a result of this increase the relative share of knowledgeable contributors is lower, leading to a harder search for robust online information. Because of this and the lack of user identification on the internet, the quality and credibility of e-WOM may decline.
Together with co-creation specialist 100% Open, the energy company E.ON has issued a challenge for the best idea to a home energy makeover. Such contests are not new, but the approach they used is very interesting. In 2012, the companies started a crowdsourcing project for a five-part documentary called Home of the Future. In this documentary the Perera family from Sheffield is filmed while experts install new gadgets or other projects to safe energy. The documentary focuses on the need for future energy efficiency, environmental-responsibility and saving time and money. Examples include domestic power stations and waterless washing machines. Next to this, future technologies are assessed in how useful and cost effective they are in a real world situation.
Consumer Value Creation 