Management summary

• Author: Pierre Hausemer - Julia Rzepecka - Marius Dragulin - Simone Vitiello - Lison Rabuel - Madalina Nunu - Adriana Rodriguez Diaz - Emma Psaila - Sara Fiorentini - Sara Gysen - Tim Meeusen - Simon Quaschning - Allison Dunne - Vadim Grinevich - Franz Huber - Linda Baines
• Pages: 41-42

Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets –

Task 3 Report

7. Management summary

Online P2P platforms appear to be embraced by experience-driven, proactive,

“deal savvy” users. Based on the perception of the moderators a lot of current

users across countries share common values and personality traits. P2P is to

them a lifestyle and a way to feel different.

Platforms are mainly categorized by sector (goods, mobility, accommodation and

other services). Pure sharing platforms are not popular and less known in all of

the countries investigated.

A key benefit of all of these platforms is cost savings. Across categories people

mention cost savings of up to 80%. However, besides the monetary savings other

benefits are key in defining the attractiveness of P2P. Saving resources, a broad

and unique offer, convenience… are also drivers. Additionally, next to the

functional benefits, plenty of emotional elements (such as, feeling smart, enjoying

the buzz of the deal, feeling part of a community of kindred spirits, feeling different

and trendy, engaging with real people, sense of locality) add to the charm of the

sharing economy as a whole.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest barrier concerning the online sharing economy is the risk

involved. People are very aware of the risk but they also accept it as part of the

game. Not that all of them are necessarily risk takers, but the benefits and drivers

(e.g. significant monetary savings also compensate the risk. Also, generally only small

amounts are involved and you don’t use it to make a living. There is a risk and they

are willing to take it. Users accept that P2P is different from the traditional economy,

that problems occur more frequently and are not necessarily easy to solve. They

accept these problems as part of the game and inherent to the cost saving nature of

P2P.

Ways to deal with problems appear to differ from country to country and from

situation to situation. Based on the perception and the country knowledge of the

moderators differences in modes to take action between countries could potentially be

explained by differences in culture or in the maturity of the online P2P market:

 The more direct people are, the more they tend to work out a solution amongst

each other without platform involvement (e.g. the Netherlands, Germany)

 The less mature platforms in countries are the less people are inclined to resort

to platforms in case of issues (e.g. Slovenia vs. France)

 And related to that, people more often resort to the platform for help when

engaging on professional, large, international platforms.

The best performing platforms are often those that are reachable by phone or mail,

that charge management costs, that have a str ict registration system, that have a

customer support policy, that provide receipts and invoices, that have a ranking and

review system and/or that have an integrated or trusted third party payment

mechanism (= measure of professionalism). Users, although appreciating the

directness of transactions in a P2P context, also value the larger degree of

involvement of professional platforms when a problem occurs. They appreciate

having the help of a good platform in the back in case of problems. Moreover, less

problems occur on better quality platforms. These platforms actually succeed in

successfully facilitating direct transactions, by setting good ground rules (e.g. through

strict registration systems) and by interfering only when asked for (e.g. through a

good customer support system). However, this larger degree of involvement often

comes at the expense of the prices charged.