INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightAntonio SalvaniImage caption
Antonio never imagined his camera rentals would fund a flat for his mum
Doca
Peer-to-peer "sharing economy" tech platforms have mushroomed in the last decade, but very few have rivalled Airbnb or
Uber in size, largely because consumers have found them difficult to trust
So how are tech firms rising to this challengeWhen photographer Antonio Salvani, 36, was commissioned to do a wedding, he realised he didn't
have all kit he needed to do the blushing bride justice.Normally he would have gone to a camera rental shop to get the extra equipment., but
"It would've been 40-50% more expensive through the rental shop."This experience persuaded him to list all his camera equipment worth about
Macedonia with the proceeds of this flourishing sideline business.Image copyrightAntonio SalvaniImage caption
Antonio
thinks his rental proceeds will enable him to buy the Macedonian flat outright
But isn't he concerned about his equipment
getting broken or stolen"I was very worried at first renting out my expensive kit to people I don't know
I couldn't sleep!" Mr Salvani admits
"But you're covered by insurance - I've had 700 rentals and no breakages so far."One guy did fail to return a smoke machine, but Fat Lama
personal relationship, making fraud less likely
Lama chief executive Chaz Englander acknowledges that the sharing economy idea has been around for at least a decade, but trust and
insurance have been stumbling blocks for many start-ups."Insurance companies were very sceptical at first because the market was still too
small and the risks too high, so we concentrated on tech to make our risk profiling of customers as accurate as possible," he says.Media
captionFrom footballs to gym pods, what China's economy lets you shareThis involves analysing 150 data points on customers, explains Mr
Englander, from their browsing behaviour - searching across lots of different product categories could be suspicious - to which type of
phone they use - messaging from an iPhone one minute then from an Android the next might be another indication of dodgy behaviour."Our risk
The cost is included in the 15% commission the firm charges both parties involved in the transaction.Fat Lama, which has attracted 80,000
customers in London and is expanding in New York, is just one of thousands of firms around the world exploiting smartphone apps, cloud-based
servers, GPS technology, eBay-style ratings, and flexible digital payment systems to facilitate what's been dubbed the sharing economy -
something of a misnomer.For while there are organisations such as Freecycle dedicated to promoting the sharing of goods and services -
without money changing hands - most P2P platforms take a commission.The market has been growing exponentially
given holidaymakers a much bigger choice of places to stay
The idea is that the stuff we own - houses, cars, camera
equipment, our money - sits around doing nothing for most of the time when it could be earning us extra cash.Younger generations in
particular have embraced renting rather than buying, not only as a way to save money, but also as a way to live more sustainably in
opposition to our throwaway culture.In finance, companies like Funding Circle, GreenSky, and Lufax are matching lenders with borrowers in
direct competition with those banks offering poor interest rates on savings.In short-term property rental, Airbnb has blazed a trail,
followed by the likes of HomeAway, HouseTrip and Tripping.com.The taxi sector has been thoroughly shaken up by Uber and Lyft, while car
rentals are being challenged by companies such as Turo, Getaround and easyCar Club.But many start-ups have fallen by the wayside in this
nascent market, unable to engender enough trust and confidence in such novel services, or reach scale quickly enough to survive the
cut-throat competition."The biggest challenge for peer-to-peer brands is trust," says Richard Laughton, chief executive of car sharing
platform easyCar Club and chair of trade body Sharing Economy UK."People on both sides of a rental need to be confident that their assets
will be looked after and their safety guaranteed."Technology is making the vetting of users easier, he argues, enabling techniques such as
video verification and social media profile analysis to supplement the established rating systems
And smart "internet of things" sensors could be "built seamlessly into the rental process to provide accurate feedback on how assets are
being used," he adds.Kitemark schemes, such as Sharing Economy UK's TrustSeal, also help to engender confidence, says Mr Laughton
More Technology of BusinessImage copyrightMagnum PhotosOne P2P car sharing firm, Cube Intelligence, thinks the distributed ledger technology
blockchain could eradicate the trust issue once and for all."Blockchain is set to reduce risk by facilitating a 'trustless' system in which
personal data can be verified and payments can be transferred quickly and securely," says Robert Cooke, the firm's director of
partnerships.Smart locks will detect when a customer has arrived at the vehicle, meaning the owner doesn't have to be present to hand over
He's hoping the system could be extended to bicycles and motorbikes.But for Turo, one of the world's largest car-sharing platforms, the
main challenges have not been insurance or trust - its insurer Liberty Mutual is an investor - but the threat of regulation lobbied for by
car rental companies, says company spokesman Steve Webb.Uber and Airbnb have had their fair share of regulatory issues, too, but if the main
threats have switched from lack of trust to opposition from incumbent rivals, then the sharing economy must be doing something right.Follow
Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
