Question

What's Next? Will sharing replace owning? In much of the United States and Europe customers have long viewed car ownership as a necessity. That is starting to change with evolving needs, attitudes, and life styles. Whether seeking a simpler life, a desire to save the planet, or just plain economics, many consumers are be- coming more comfortable with car sharing There is an economic case for turning in the keys Monthly payments, insurance, parking, gas, depreciation, and maintenance add up to an average of $8,000 per year for car owners. Let's look at a few new ways customers are transactions a year. Car owners can earn $4.000 or more a year. Some non-car owners are ridesharing Although pooling has been around a long time, ridesharing uses the Internet to connect riders with drivers going on the same car- route at the same time. Frédéric Mazzella, founder of BlaBlaCar (more on the name in a moment), came up with the idea on a holiday trip to see his family. Mazzella no- ticed that most of the cars on the road contained only the driver. He thought there had to be a way to fill some of those empty seats. BlaBlaCar members create a brief profile with a photo and an indication of how much they like to talk-a single "Bla" means not very chatty, "BlaBla" people are talkative, and "BlaBlaBlas" can't shut up. Drivers post where they are going, when, and how much a customer needs to "chip in" getting around in cars Car-sharing services like Zipcar are growing fast. Sign ing up for Zipcar is simple: Customers hop online, fill out an application, and pay a $25 one-time application fee. Ap- plicants with a good driving record receive a Zipcard in the mail a few days later. Renting a car is even easier. A member (called a Zipster) logs on to Zipcar's website without owning one. on expenses (usually a fraction of the cost of a correspond- ing rail or bus ticket). Passengers search for rides, and driv- ers have a choice about whom they carry. After the ride, searches for cars in his or her area, and makes a reserva- tion. Cars are typically parked on a street, gas station, or parking lot, making them easy to locate. At the reserved time, a Zipster unlocks the car with a wave of a smartphone drivers and passengers rate each other to help future riders make better choices. (equipped of course with the Zipcar app) and drives off, returning the car to the same general area when done Another approach lets individual car owners share their vehicles (and earn a few bucks) through a peer-to-peer net- work. Car (or truck) owners by posting photos and a brief description. They also set daily and weekly rental rates. Prescreened renters search the site, click on a car, and wait to hear if it's available from sharing have been changing. Recorded music has largely moved from owning physical goods-records, tapes, and CDs-to renting music from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Others share a bedroom or their entire home on services such as Consumers' attitudes on can list a vehicle at Turo.com Airbnb and VRBO. Identify other product-markets where consumers are sharing borrowing product-markets do you think might ship to sharing? Why? or renting instead of owning. What shift from see a owner- the owner. Turo takes a cut and provides insurance cover- age. The company facilitates hundreds of thousands of Marketers must also be careful about promotion that might encourage false beliefs, even if the advertising is not explicitly misleading. For example, ads for Ultra Slim-Fast low-fat beverage don't claim that anyone who buys the product will lose weight and look like the slim models who appear in the ads-but some critics argue that the advertising gives that impression. Attitudes and beliefs sometimes combine to form an expectation-an outcome or event that a person anticipates or looks forward to. Consumer expectations often focus on the benefits or value that the consumer expects from a firm's marketing mix. This is an impor- tant issue for marketers because a consumer is likely to be dissatisfied if his or her expecta- tions are not met. Promotion that overpromises can create this problem. Finding the right balance, however, can be difficult. A few years ago Van Heusen came up with a new way to treat its wash-and-wear shirts so that they look better when they come out of the wash. Van Heusen promoted these shirts as "wrinkle-free." The new shirt was an improvement, but consumers who expect it to look as if it had been ironed were disappointed. Meeting expectations is important 121 Questions: 1. Identify other product-markets where consumers are sharing, borrowing, or renting instead of owning What product-markets do you think might see a shift from ownership to sharing? 2. Why? LASTLY, what ethical (not legal) issues might relate to this industry?

Answer 1

1. Other product markets where consumers are sharing, borrowing, or renting instead of owning are, books and clothes. Books can be rented online. Students who don't want to keep the books their lifetime use the rented books to study in that particular semester. The lenders who have already purchased the book lend to books and earn money from it.

Similarly, clothes are also rented nowadays. Clothes like gowns, etc which re not worn daily, people sometimes rent it. It's easier for both the lenders and borrowers. Lenders who have purchased the gowns or any expensive clothes could rent it and compensate the money which he/she gets from rent to the amount with what it was bought for.

2. People rent book or clothes because renting is much cheaper than buying if the goods are to be used only once. It's better for the borrower to rent the goods. Again, it's better for the lenders as the money which they get from the rents compensates the money they spent on buying the goods.

Ethical issues might be related that renting or borrowing goods might spread a communicable disease. Secondly, renting does not imply a high standard of a person so renting or borrowing does not work for them who maintains a high standard of living.