Subscribing to the future

Collaborative consumption, defined as the “acquisition and distribution of a resource for a fee or other compensation”,1 is growing in popularity. Uber, Airbnb, and Airtasker are all examples of brands built around what is, in essence, sharing. Owners with an underutilised resource provide others with access to the resource for compensation. Of course, sharing models have been around for years, so why revisit the topic? Rather than the model of Uber or Airbnb where the brand merely provides the platform for consumers to share their own resources, a number of new sharing models use the brand’s own resources in a subscription-based service that not only provides consumers access to products they may otherwise be unable to afford, but also encourages sustainable consumption.

For brands such as Airbnb that provide a platform for peer-to-peer sharing, research suggests that perceived sustainability of the platform is key to developing positive attitudes toward it, which somewhat translates to actual behaviour.2 The study also found that the economics benefits of shared consumption is a strong motivator for participation. These results may extend to brands offering their own products in a collaborative consumption model. For example, Toyota launched its Kinto subscription service in Japan earlier this year.3 Consumers pay a monthly subscription to access vehicles (with registration, taxes, and insurance included) and earn points from Toyota based on safe or ecofriendly driving behaviour which can be used toward paying the subscription cost. Another example is Knotel, a workspace provider based in the United States that now offers its modular furniture line as a subscription. Clients are able to subscribe to the service to alter their workspace as needs and tastes change. The subscription model reduces the challenges of ownership (such as how to dispose of used products) and paves the way for a more flexible and less wasteful office environment.

Beyond products?

Extending the sharing model beyond products, Ikea’s Space10 and architecture firm EFFEKT are exploring the concept of subscription living through The Urban Village Project. The Project encourages communal living where residents subscribe to monthly ‘shares’, which progressively increase the ownership of houses by the individual. What makes the project unique is that residents can swap and change houses as their family needs change, meaning they can stay within the same community indefinitely. The facility utilises a modular building system, allowing houses to be changed as necessary. Additionally, residents can subscribe to services such as food, transport, and media while also using communal spaces and facilities such as childcare. While The Urban Village Project was only announced as a concept in early 2019, it has the potential to provide a more sustainable (both environmentally and financially) way of living.

  1. Belk, R. (2014). You are what you can access: sharing and collaboration consumption online. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1595-1600.
  2. Hamari, J. Sjöklint. M., and Ukkonen, A. (2015). The Sharing Economy: why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(9), 2047-2059.
  3. LS:N Global. (2019). Source.