Influx

Brain Picking has a great summary of the new businesses and models that circumvent and provide alternatives to traditional avenues of consumption.

There are sites that encourage people to lend stuff to neighbors; SnapGoods, Neighborgoods, Share Some Sugar

Sites that encourage “swapping”; Swaptree (the site has facilitated some 1.6 million swaps, saving its users an estimated $10.3 million while reducing their collective carbon footprint by 9.3 million tons) and Giftflow.

An organization that finds people land to grow their own food; Landshare.

These are examples of companies trying to capitalize on the movement away from conventional consumption that includes the powerbrands: EBay, Craigslist and something as traditional as yard sales.

Interestingly, there different levels of emotional engagement on offer here that suggest there’s something in these alternatives- sharing (doing good), swapping (get something your really want) and obviously the thrill of finding a bargain.

While many believe the power of the “new” is simply too powerful a force to contain, the growth of these alternatives suggest it might faces some challenges.

Posted by Ed Cotton