What it means: The old business model is broken, but some people are picking up the pieces and turning them into cash. Now that the high-fliers have crashed and burned, the smart money is on the person who can get the most out of the reduced resources available to them.
Want a cheap holiday? Then sign up to a house-swap site. Can’t afford to own a car? Join a car-sharing scheme, and drive the car of your dreams every day. Need to put up a shelf? Rent power tools from your neighbour and save on DIY costs. All over the globe, people are using social networks and other web platforms to trade, swap, rent or barter goods, skills, services or expertise. You can see the rise of collaborative consumption everywhere, from people selling their own iPhone apps to mothers trading clothes their kids have grown out of.
It’s all about thinking small and saving big, and going back to basic community values. At last year’s TEDx conference, Rachel Botsman, co-author of What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, predicted that collaborative consumption would bring “a revolution in the way we consume”.
How to say it: “It’s great that you’re getting into collaborative consumption, son, but no, you can’t do a parent swap.”
