Taking an Inside Look at Collaborative Consumerism Essay

In 2010, Big Skinny CEO Kiril Alexandrov was looking to transcend from retail distribution and print advertising to the world of online marketing to achieve maximum growth. The retail sales pitch was an easy one, as Alexandrov focused on the value of the wallet and the impulsiveness of consumers (Benjamin & Kominers, 2012). Unfortunately, translating this type of sales pitch was much harder to do in the world of cyberspace.

Americans are an elite class of consumers. As consumers, Americans are very comfortable in knowing when a product will be needed or wanted, where to find that particular product, and how much they are willing to pay for a particular product. Consumerism has become a second nature that we seldom give much thought to the process. This desire for products can be attributed to the work put in to marketing and promoting such items. Marketing strategies put in an overwhelming amount of effort to grab the consumer’s attention, create a need or desire and develop brand loyalty. The first REDBOX kiosk was launched in 2002, inside a McDonald’s restaurant. Since then REDBOX has expanded to over 27,000 locations. Solely in part to the way the REDBOX

Additionally, AskforTask practices the idea of collaborative consumption, also identified as a sharing economy. The notion emphasises

All of these factors are contributing to a new global outlook and sense of responsibility for the planet and its people. This attitude shit has already affected consumer choice – particularly in the food market and is now bleeding into other product markets, including clothing. Society attitudes have started to shift towards a less capitalist – oriented and more pragmatic one, in backlash to the over-materialistic world we now live in, and the unequal disposal of the world’s economy. WGSN identified two key consumer groups: “Cloud surfers – who want to be in charge of their participation in social networks, collaborative experiences and collective actions, rather than being controlled by them…they want to identify where goods come from and

Consumerism often causes people to identify with a product or brand on a personal level. Certain products have come to represent different levels of society, with swankier products like muscle cars indicating high class and such products as generic “store brand” shampoo indicating low class. People feel that they have relationships with their favorite brands and products and define themselves by what they buy and own. The mass production of cheap products uses precious fossil fuels at an alarming rate. This has an obvious negative impact on the environment.

The world's wealthiest billion people, primarily living in developed countries like the U.S., consume far more resources than is ecologically sustainable on average. We have multiple sets of TV’s, video game consoles, and cable boxes; we buy new cars; our houses have all types of appliances, for example, air conditioners, dryers, dishwashers, and microwaves; and we constantly buy more clothes, toys, and other household items (Bellinger). In fact, we consume 24 hours a day, we consume air for breathing, water to drink, and food to eat. In addition to these essentials for life, we consume ever increasing amount of goods and services - cars, houses, appliances, computers, furniture, books, traveling, and entertainment (“Over-consumption”). Americans

The narrator in the film Fight Club is questioned about his devastated condo and declares, "That condo was my life, okay? I loved every stick of furniture in that place. That was not just a bunch of stuff that got destroyed, that was me!" This attitude of defining self-identity through a consumer culture has become institutionalized in the American society. The film Fight Club addresses the excessive consumerism as a sign of emotional emptiness and as a form of self-distinction. While the title suggests that it is just another cliché action movie, it is not so shallow or narrowly focused. It instead provides the viewer with a provocative view on American society and it raises valid questions about

The United States has serious labor market challenges as a result of rising wage inequality between people and the slow middle class wage growth. The need to provide individuals with variety of goods, service and information raise specific economic phenomena called “sharing economy”. This model of economy includes different types of industry categories: sharing information (YouTube), property (Airbnb), transportation (Uber) and more. The sharing economy works in the same way as a traditional market, where individuals exchange different goods and service. The central concept of sharing economy (collaborative consumption) is the access to the goods. The application of regulation is the major issue with this type of innovated economy. The sharing economy is a nontraditional, because the workers’ luck of benefits and the type of economical market system that creates an income and job opportunity. On the other hand this type of market provides a different type of benefits as: flexible schedule and employment; saving energy and less waste; self regulation; lower costs of the product. The context is of a great interest since participation in sharing communities and services is characterized by obligation to do good for other people and for the environment, such as sharing, and engaging in sustainable behavior (Prothero et al, 2011). The challenge of any market includes and market of sharing economy is to ensure the supply and demand. Specifically for the sharing market is the way

In today’s world of various products and services, businesses aim to excel and lead the competition by marketing the most number of consumers, which is a full time endeavor of business. To survive in the market, a firm or an organization has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer trends and tastes. Marketers need to understand consumer behavior because the decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. Consumers’ behaviors and their purchasing patterns is a huge advantage to understanding the way customers think and the reason for their purchases. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior is important because it allows the

A growing number of businesses consider the Black Friday and Cyber Monday as the two most profitable sales events of the year. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day, which stands for the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.Similarly, Cyber Monday is the Monday following the Black Friday in the United States.It seems that both of the two shopping days will make the retailers and consumers go crazy extremely in that time.Thus, people are gradually paying attention to the culture of consumerism, a phenomenon of over consumption, that is represented by Black Friday and Cyber Mondaywith the prevalence of the two holidays.

I moved through the process of selecting the right gym to join quite quickly as I was very motivated to get started. I took into consideration that this purchase posed physical and social problems and considered those when making my decision.

The traditional retail market has been transformed by technological advances. The internet today has allowed consumers to purchase various products from home ranging from apparel to groceries. The online shopping market has grown significantly within the past decade, leading to many online e-commerce startups such as Amazon, eBay, and mobile start-ups such as Instacart. While e-commerce provides convenience for shopping, it has created major disruption to the traditional shopping industries. Traditional retailers have since faced bankruptcy due to their inability to compete with such start-ups. The traditional American toy store, Toys R Us, announced its state of bankruptcy just last month due to a significant decline in sales. More and more consumers are turning to online giants such as Amazon to purchase daily items as a result of convenience. According to the Washington Post, Toys R Us is just one of more than 300 retailers to file for bankruptcy this year, as Americans ditch the shopping mall in favor of their laptops, smartphones, and tablets (Bhattarai, 2017). Shopping which used to require walking or a vehicle trip to stores is no longer required for consumers with online shopping. Online shopping has appealed to consumers worldwide by encompassing the business aspect of service convenience which constitute saving time and/or effort (Jiang, Yang, and Jun, 2012). For consumers whom have busy lives and those whom are physically disabled, online shopping is a positive

By 2020, the world could develop into a myriad of different scenarios, but there is no one scenario that can accurately represent what the US, let alone the world, will become—even in four short years. The four scenarios in “Consumer’s Futures 2020” has options that could unfold, but it is unlikely in such a short timeframe. Nevertheless, the most likely of the four-presented scenarios to me is ‘sell it to me.’ This is because the scenario allows people to keep spending and minimizes the work individuals have to put into becoming more sustainable. It also marks a more prosperous, flourishing economy that enables the option to buy more selectively the brands and products that intrigue them. Lastly, this scenario utilizes the technology that we are already hyper reliant on to generate more personalized business. Many of these aspects are already occurring to some degree, but I can see them becoming more prominent over time.

As for the practical side, this study can be used by managers of Airbnb as well by other managers of sharing economy-based companies, as this study provides the results of primary data analysis. It shows, how aware people are of Airbnb in some countries, like Russia or Germany and gives some insights into the main reasons to use collaborative consumption on the example of Airbnb. Moreover, this study emphasizes the importance of trust in the creation and maintaining the relationships with customers.

Shopping and buying have become an addiction, to consume increasingly of what is not needed. Consumers are compelled to shop and purchase items that are, for a brief time, marketed at a discounted rate.