A Survey by the Confederação Nacional de Dirigentes Lojistas – CNDL (Brazilian National Confederation of Shopkeepers) and the Serviço de Proteção ao Crédito – SPC (Retailer Service for Credit Protection – SPC) shows that 89% of Brazilians who have already tried some type of collaborative consumption approve this model. Only 2% of respondents said they were unhappy with it. 824 consumers over 18 years old of both genders, all social classes and from all Brazilian capitals were interviewed in the survey.

According to the research, the most employed types of collaborative consumption in the country are carpooling (41%), vacation rentals (38%) and clothing rental and sharing (33%). Bicycle (21%), crowdfunding (16%), co-working (15%) and cohousing (15%) are other sought modalities.

Coworking benefits

Pablo José Assolini, CEO of Cucas Conteúdo, is among the Brazilians who found out the benefits of sharing economy. His workspace has been shared since 2016, which allows him to coexist with a technology company, a personal styling company and also an inbound marketing firm.

“I find this model smarter and cost efficient, even though the square meter is more expensive than that of an ordinary room in an office building, for example. In our case, we cut about 30% of our fixed expenses.” Pablo points out that the company saves not only on rental, but also on maintenance fees, electricity, air-conditioning, cleaning personnel and products, taxes, insurance and others.

“Those expenses are shared in coworking. In addition to finances, there’s the time factor. As the operational issues are in the manager hands, you free up time so you can focus on your business, work growth, customer service, staff care. You just notice this when you share. And time is paramount nowadays.”

To 81% of those who answered the survey, sharing makes life easier and more practical, and 71% believe they have many things that are more of a constraint than something useful. Saving time, helping others, meeting new people and living more sustainably are among the reasons to choose the shared economy.

“I’ve already shared my printer and other equipment. I’ve already bought and sold services from coworking partners. I’ve already recommended and asked for recommendations. Well, it’s a world of possibilities. But you need to be open, you need to have a collaborative mindset. If you can reduce your fixed expenses, you gain competitiveness and this is also crucial in the business world.”

Sharing challenges

In the survey, CNDL and SPC also tried to figure out which types of sharing economy Brazilians haven’t tried yet, nor are willing to try. Household items and cookware and silverware are undesirable to 15% of respondents. The research also shows that most sharing consumption modalities were found on the internet, especially crowdfunding, sporting goods rental and workspace sharing, tied with 43% of citations each.

However, the new types of sharing economy, which include rental, buying, selling, loans and favors, are faced with great challenges. 51% of respondents said that distrust of others is the main barrier when looking for services. Fear of strangers and the possibility of failure were mentioned as important reasons to turn down collaboration agreements.

“It’s about conscious consuming, it’s more to do with access than ownership. Brazil is doing better, but we’re still too connected to ownership, since it’s a poor country. People see rental as not having money for owning a house, but I think this is changing. It’s a new life concept, it means more freedom to try here and there. It does mean having experiences with people, as we don’t take anything from here,” adds Pablo.

Get to know Braskem’s positioning on Circular Economy in full: ttp://www.braskem.com/circulareconomy

Content published in October 9, 2018