The collaborative economy is becoming bigger and bigger, 51% of North-Americans have used a mobile app or website for a sharing service, and before 2018 over 80% is expected to be part of the collaborative economy characterized by sharing products and services.
The major reason behind this tremendous growth of the collaborative economy can be explained by the focus of these new companies; they truly understand what their customers want and why they want it. Disruptive start-ups enter the market and immediately change the rules of the game which is intimidating many large, established companies. All companies in the market have to adhere to the new rules or are doomed to disappear from existence, with the thought in mind that any new idea might pop-up to transform the rules again. This blogpost will provide traditional companies with strategies to remain competitive and relevant in markets disrupted by collaboration; by truly focusing on price, convenience and brand recognition.
The sharing economy is an increasingly popular concept where valuable assets, such as houses, clothing and parking spaces are shared among individuals. Value co-creation is a key term in the sharing economy, value is created for different sides of the marking by renting and renting out products. Mobypark is an online platform that offers shared parking as a solution to optimize the use of parking spaces in big cities, it is often referred to as the new AirBnB for parking. Owners of private parking spaces, individuals but also hotels, companies, universities, airports and hospitals can rent out their parking spaces at times they don’t need it. Individuals can easily find a car park through www.mobypark.com or by means of the mobile application.
Who is not familiar with the struggle of parking in urban areas? The car was built to provide mobility and flexibility, however with the number of cars in the world exceeding one billion (Greencarreports.com, 2014), parking struggles do not necessarily increase mobility and flexibility. The increased number of cars, and lack of parking space in urban areas results in difficulty for drivers to find a parking space. In turn this results in unnecessary road use and thus traffic congestion, increased road heat, air pollution and noise pollution (Hagman, 2006).
Consumer Value Creation 