Partner Article

Secrets of the Sharing Economy

New research from the UK’s first social delivery company, Nimber.com, suggests that far from being the preserve of the millennial, the Sharing Economy is being more readily embraced by older consumers, with 35-44 year-olds emerging as its most vocal supporters. Nimber’s research of 2,000 UK adults sets out to examine what people think of the Sharing Economy, the extent to which they use it and their motivations for doing so.

When asked what they thought of the Sharing Economy, around 35% of 16-34 year-olds stated that they thought it was a ‘great idea’, however the figure rose to 43% among the 35-44 age bracket. 25-34 year olds were also the most likely of any age bracket to declare that they ‘hated the idea’ of the Sharing Economy (despite only small numbers stating this) with just over 7% expressing this view, compared with just over 2% of 35-44 year olds.

Nimber is a Sharing Economy business which challenges traditional – and often expensive – delivery methods by connecting a community of ‘senders’ and matching them with ‘bringers’ who deliver items as part of journeys that are being made anyway. This means ‘senders’ can take advantage of cheaper delivery costs and greater convenience when it comes to shipping their items, whilst ‘bringers’ can recoup money on already planned journeys and meet people along the way. The company commissioned the research to gain further insight into UK consumers’ attitudes to the sharing economy as a whole, following Nimber’s UK launch in Spring 2015.

The research examined why we use sharing economy businesses and revealed that our key motivators were price and convenience:

Top five motivators:

1. Price (54%)
2. Convenience (47%)
3. Flexibility (35%)
4. Opportunity to earn money (30%)
5. Choice (18%)

The opportunity to make money also features highly as a driver when it comes to using a delivery service like Nimber for potential ‘bringers’. With a third of adults (33%) saying they often wished they could find a way to cover some of their everyday travel expenses, a huge majority (79%) of those surveyed said they would potentially deliver an item to someone else as part of their daily journey if they could make money by doing so. Nimber’s own figures suggest that Brits could make on average £2,750.00 a year through its platform – that’s just over £50 a week.*

Money saving is also an important motivator when it comes to using Nimber for its senders. Over half of those surveyed (57%) said they had been let down/disappointed by a delivery service with another 70% being shocked and/or surprised by the high cost of a delivery and almost three quarters (73%) of adults abandoning a purchase due to high delivery costs.

When it comes to the services that consumers would most readily seek to obtain through the Sharing Economy, there is a clear appetite for disruption, with consumers embracing businesses which are challenging highly established sectors, such as JustEat and Deliveroo in the food delivery sector, Uber in the taxi/chauffeur sector and of course, Nimber in the delivery sector.

Top five Sharing Economy services:

1. Delivery services (47%)
2. Garden equipment (27%)
3. Taxi/chauffeur services (25%)
4. Household management services (cleaning, laundry etc) (24%)
5. Food delivery/takeaway services (22%)

Nimber CEO, Ari Kestin, comments:

“It’s great to see the extent to which consumers in the UK are throwing their support behind the Sharing Economy. The UK is a market where people have been quick to recognise the opportunity to do things differently and challenge established business models in search of financial benefits, greater convenience and the experience that the Sharing Economy brings, which is hard to match in a traditional setting.”

Debbie Wosskow, Chair of Sharing Economy UK and founder and CEO of Love Home Swap, commented:

“This research from Nimber.com really illustrates the growing popularity of the sharing economy in the UK – but also the extent to which sharing businesses are changing traditional marketplaces, from delivery and household services, even to gardening. Given that Sharing Economy business models are still relatively new to consumers, these are really encouraging figures and show just how significant the UK’s Sharing Economy can become in the future.”

*Calculation is based on doing 5 deliveries at £16.25 (UK average) over 260 days (£4,225 - £1,800 = £2,425).

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sartika Thatcher .