Cooperative Consumption

"Sharing has never been so hip. Thanks to rise of online social networking, people are sharing just about everything from carpooling duties to their living rooms. (Witness the Couch Surfing Project, an online community of people willing to open a couch up to travelers and show visitors around their city.)

Sharing costs is becoming an increasingly popular concept: Fractional ownership allows people to enjoy the benefits of ownership at a reduced price. It’s a concept that’s clearly right for big-ticket luxury items, and one of the first hot ideas in this realm was fractional aircraft ownership. Companies like NetJets offer the lure of private planes with no maintenance to worry about, no managing the pilot and ground crew; as one owner put it, “When you’re done with the plane, it just disappears.”

Outfits such as PartialOwner.com and Fractionallife.com extend the partial-ownership model to everything from homes and luxury cars to restaurants and racehorses. Likewise, art lovers can buy into syndicates such as ArtVest, based in Glasgow, Scotland, which offers partial ownership of artwork.

The concept can be extended into many areas of life, with plenty of scope further down the income ladder. For instance, women who want the use of designer accessories without the burden of designer prices can join Bag Borrow or Steal; a subscription allows members temporary use of a range of high-ticket items. Along the same lines, young women in Argentina and elsewhere are holding clothes-swapping parties in order to leverage the benefits of fashion purchases.

While the concept itself isn’t new (think timeshares or joint stock companies), the technology for pooling demand and resources is becoming increasingly sophisticated. And the appeal of fractional ownership is growing as the luxury category becomes more democratic and accessible to the masses. Over the coming decade, expect smart entrepreneurs to apply the idea to a wider variety of categories (exotic pets perhaps, or leisure equipment)."

Read more here: http://thecorporaterockstar.blogspot.com/2008/02/ten-trends-for-2008-jwt.html