Are you a sellsumer? A new trend, as defined by trendwatching.com is making ‘consumers’ become ’sellsumers’. Find out how…
A recession-induced need for cash, and an ever-growing infrastructure enabling individuals to act as (part-time) entrepreneurs, are fueling concepts that help ordinary consumers make money instead of just spending it.
Now, the economic recession is ‘helping’ to spread this ever-evolving trend among cash-strapped ordinary consumers (as opposed to just 20-something digital ‘Wunderkindern’ 
. Expect plenty of novel ways for consumers to make some money on the side.
After all, if saving is the new spending, then making money—from selling personal assets, properties and creations—outshines saving.
In a nutshell:
SELLSUMERS: Whether it’s selling their insights to corporations, hawking their creative output to fellow consumers, or renting out unused assets, consumers will increasingly become SELLSUMERS, too. Made possible by the online revolution’s great democratization of demand and supply, and further fueled by a global recession that leaves consumers strapped for cash, the SELLSUMERS phenomenon is yet another manifestation of the mega-trend that is ‘consumer participation’.
PART I
* Parking | Parkigspots.com connects those who have parking spots to rent out with those who need them on a monthly basis. The Toronto-based company lets spot-holders in the US and Canada list their off-street parking spots, along with the price they want to charge.
A similar service is offered by ParkAtMyHouse, operating in the UK, Ireland, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands. Fun detail: car owners can pre-book a spot daily, but can also make one-off bookings for a football match or a day of shopping in the city.
Also check out UK based YourParkingSpace and Boston and New York based SpotScout.
* Storage | Los Angeles-based Homstie offers listings for excess storage space, collecting fees for featured listings and for providing custom lease agreements. Also check out Store at My House.
* Camping | Swedish Single Spot Camping offers a P2P camping solution by connecting anyone who owns a suitably sized piece of land with anyone looking for a place to pitch their tent. Listings cost the landowner a mere EUR 40 per year.
* B&B | Air BnB is an online marketplace that allows locals to earn money by renting out their extra space as alternative lodging for hotel-weary travelers. Also see Roomorama.
* Any space | Combining all of the above, UK-based Spareground is a marketplace for just about any kind of unused space. Consumers with space to share simply create a listing with its description, location and price. Those seeking space search by category or keyword and then contact the owner directly to arrange the terms.
Credits: Sellsumers, Trendwatching.com, April 2009 briefing.
Part II to follow…
Tags: Make money, Recession, Sellsumer
Tags: Make money, Recession, Sellsumer
April 25th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
i have to agree that with the recent events over the past few years, more and more people are starting to act up and start becoming entrepreneurs. With the growing number of people becoming millionaires via the internet, its no surprise that others are following.
I guess that could have started the birth of the sellsumer group.
I think sellsumer are growing rapidly, there is even mention of it on this site that is about a new generation, generation g.
http://www.myggo.net
July 27th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
the Economic Recession has been pretty hard on us. some of my friends lost their job because of the massive job cuts. i just hope that our economy becomes better in the following years.
August 2nd, 2009 at 5:48 am
the economic recession has been pretty hard on us. there is some good progress on the economy this year. i just hope that the economy will continue to recover in the following months and years.
September 6th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Economic recession created huge unemployment rates around the world. I think the world economy is already on the road to recovery.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:57 am
the economic recession made a lot of workers jobless. my best friend and me lost our jobs because of job cuts. i hope that our economy would recover soon
December 8th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Our country was also hit hard by the Economic Recession. At least we are seeing some signs of economic recovery now. I hope that we could recover soon from this recession.
a.-