Peer-to-peer renting
Encyclopedia
Peer-to-peer renting refers to the process of an individual renting an owned good, service, or property to another individual. It is also referred to as Person-to-Person rental, P2P renting, Collaborative Consumption
, and Product Service System
. The term is mainly used to describe online enabled rental transactions between individuals.
Individuals have been renting from each other for decades, particularly in the real estate domain, however, with the internet acting as a facilitator, there is a growing trend of websites that offer to facilitate peer-to-peer rental transactions. All of these sites are encouraging something academics call collaborative consumption — in other words, peer-to-peer sharing or renting. The trend is taking off partly as a result of the recession; renting something you don't need to use very often makes a lot more sense than buying it and letting it collect dust in your garage. There's a green aspect as well, since sharing helps cut down on overall use of resources. But one of collaborative consumption's most surprising benefits turns out to be social. In an era when families are scattered around the country and we may not know the people down the street from us, sharing things — even with strangers we've just met online — allows us to make meaningful connections.
The term Peer-to-peer renting is inspired from the computer networking term Peer-to-peer, which allows cumulative network bandwidth through direct and multiple connectivity between users. With the development of the Internet on one hand and of the Social Networks on the other hand, online tools and services tend to have more and more usability and impact in the actual world. Peer-to-peer lending, Peer to Peer Banking
and Peer-to-peer renting are three examples of actual transactions between individuals, enabled and empowered by virtual services.
Peer-to-peer renting services and Platforms are usually online marketplaces connecting individuals and enabling rental transactions between them. Peer-to-peer marketplaces are an evolution from the traditional Business-to-business
marketplaces (also referred as B2B), and Business-to-consumer marketplaces (also referred as B2C). These latter B2B or B2C marketplaces have been developed, some remaining operating, since 2000. For instance, the European B2C marketplace erento
is operational since 2003 and dedicated to the rental business, but does not allow Peer-to-peer renting transactions.
Peer-to-peer renting services and Platforms started appearing between 2000 and 2001, and were short-lived. Since 2006, various platforms have been launched in all parts of the world, and with today's economy, has seen rapid growth in popularity over the past several years.
The fast development of this market is due to a combination of the following trends:
Collaborative consumption
The term collaborative consumption is used to describe an economic model based on sharing, swapping, bartering, trading or renting access to products as opposed to ownership. Technology and peer communities are enabling these old market behaviours to be reinvented in ways and on a scale never...
, and Product Service System
Product service system
A product-service system , also known as a function-oriented business model, is a business model, developed in academia, that is aimed at providing sustainability of both consumption and production.- What is PSS? :...
. The term is mainly used to describe online enabled rental transactions between individuals.
Individuals have been renting from each other for decades, particularly in the real estate domain, however, with the internet acting as a facilitator, there is a growing trend of websites that offer to facilitate peer-to-peer rental transactions. All of these sites are encouraging something academics call collaborative consumption — in other words, peer-to-peer sharing or renting. The trend is taking off partly as a result of the recession; renting something you don't need to use very often makes a lot more sense than buying it and letting it collect dust in your garage. There's a green aspect as well, since sharing helps cut down on overall use of resources. But one of collaborative consumption's most surprising benefits turns out to be social. In an era when families are scattered around the country and we may not know the people down the street from us, sharing things — even with strangers we've just met online — allows us to make meaningful connections.
The term Peer-to-peer renting is inspired from the computer networking term Peer-to-peer, which allows cumulative network bandwidth through direct and multiple connectivity between users. With the development of the Internet on one hand and of the Social Networks on the other hand, online tools and services tend to have more and more usability and impact in the actual world. Peer-to-peer lending, Peer to Peer Banking
Peer to Peer Banking
Peer-to-peer banking is an online system that allows individual members to complete financial transactions with one another by using an auction style process that lets members offer loans for a specific amount and at a specific rate. Buyers have the option to look for an amount and rate of interest...
and Peer-to-peer renting are three examples of actual transactions between individuals, enabled and empowered by virtual services.
Peer-to-peer renting services and Platforms are usually online marketplaces connecting individuals and enabling rental transactions between them. Peer-to-peer marketplaces are an evolution from the traditional Business-to-business
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
marketplaces (also referred as B2B), and Business-to-consumer marketplaces (also referred as B2C). These latter B2B or B2C marketplaces have been developed, some remaining operating, since 2000. For instance, the European B2C marketplace erento
Erento
erento is an online rental marketplace. It brings together businesses with products or services to hire out with customers wanting to rent them...
is operational since 2003 and dedicated to the rental business, but does not allow Peer-to-peer renting transactions.
Peer-to-peer renting services and Platforms started appearing between 2000 and 2001, and were short-lived. Since 2006, various platforms have been launched in all parts of the world, and with today's economy, has seen rapid growth in popularity over the past several years.
The fast development of this market is due to a combination of the following trends:
- Networking infrastructure and high-bandwidth penetration reaching a level allowing Social Networks and Consumer-to-consumerConsumer-to-consumerConsumer-to-consumer electronic commerce involves the electronically facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a...
marketplaces, - Limited storage space in dense urban environment preventing consumers to keep all the goods they occasionally use,
- Increasing environmental concerns of consumers leading towards limitations of waste of resources and overconsumption,
- Evolution of consuming behaviors from owners to users.
See also
- Collaborative consumptionCollaborative consumptionThe term collaborative consumption is used to describe an economic model based on sharing, swapping, bartering, trading or renting access to products as opposed to ownership. Technology and peer communities are enabling these old market behaviours to be reinvented in ways and on a scale never...
- Consumer-to-consumerConsumer-to-consumerConsumer-to-consumer electronic commerce involves the electronically facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a...
- MarketplaceMarketplaceA marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
- Peer-to-peerPeer-to-peerPeer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
- Peer-to-peer lending
- Peer to Peer BankingPeer to Peer BankingPeer-to-peer banking is an online system that allows individual members to complete financial transactions with one another by using an auction style process that lets members offer loans for a specific amount and at a specific rate. Buyers have the option to look for an amount and rate of interest...
- Social peer-to-peer processes
External links
- Boston Globe - The Leased Life
- Consumerist - Rent out your household items for fun and profit
- Mashable explains the Peer-to-peer Renting service zilok.com
- Early player RentAnything.com communication report link broken
- TrendWatching article defining Transumers and corresponding consumer behavior evolutions
- ABC 7 News Video story explaining P2P renting process interviewing Zilok members
- Dallas News - Why own anything?