Reducing resource use through shared access to consumer goods Chris Hellawell Founder & Director, Edinburgh Tool Library Eve Kekeh Founder, Bundlee Dr Carmela Bosangit & Dr Nicole Koenig-Lewis Marketing & Strategy Section Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University Academic Researchers Business Owners

Audience Participation Go to www.menti.com and use the code 25 17 70 9

Setting the Scene ggggg Source: Ellen McArthur Foundation & Circular Fibres Initiative (2017): A new textiles economy: redesigning fashion’s future

Consequences of Consumption Excessive capacity and waste • 30% of clothes in our wardrobes not been used for at least one year (est. £30 billion) (https://www.wrap.org.uk/content/textiles-overview) • 80% of household items are used less than once a month (https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/explore/cities-and-the-circular-economy) • average car remains 96% of the time idle (https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/mobility#a5) • around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing send to landfill in the UK every year (https://www.wrap.org.uk/content/textiles-overview) • Materialism ≠ Happiness Levels (Moldes, Andres and Ku 2020)

Access-Based Business Models Renting & Lending without transfer of Ownership e.g. AirBnB; hiyacar, HURR, Our Closet e.g. ZipCar, Stich Fix, Bundlees, BuildUrBricks, Library of Things Peer-to-Peer Lending Business-to-Consumer Business-to-Business Peer-to-Peer Offline – traditional sharing with family members, neighbours, friends, colleagues  Membership fee + Pay per use  Subscription

New Business Models John Lewis Furniture & Technology Rental with Fat Llama Source: https://flex.fatllama.com/ Selfridges & HURR – Clothes Rental https://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/features/project-earth/rent/

• British Academy/Leverhulme Trust funded research project on access-based consumption • Could access-based consumption models for every-day consumer goods become mainstream? • To what extent could manufacturers and traditional retailers leverage the growth of the sharing economy and generate revenue by renting items? • Relatively little knowledge on how consumers perceive alternative consumption models (Edbring, Lehner, & Mont, 2016) – specifically underlying motivations and barriers to renting every-day consumer goods • a general gap in knowledge about the social-psychological effects of shared consumption on the individual (Roos & Hahn, 2017) Study Rationale Academic Research

(based on UK online panel study, Dec 2019, n=1,462, 18-54 yr olds) Awareness Levels Main findings

• around 50% agreed that by renting consumer goods they could help to conserve natural resources, contribute to reducing waste and a better living environment • 41% of respondents felt that renting from an online rental company for a fee is a good alternative to ownership Main Findings (based on UK online panel study, Dec 2019, n=1,402, 18-54 yr olds)

Main Findings • Sense of ownership was less important • Still a stigma attached to renting and pre-owned goods • sustainable benefits linked to renting can serve as a positive self-sigma • 41% of 18-24 yr olds would feel proud to rent consumer goods instead of buying these brand new

the baby clothing rental service bundlee.co.uk, @bundleebaby Eve Kekeh, [email protected]

Why buy when you can share? • Save money • Save space • Be kind to the planet • Better communities www.edinburghtoollibrary.org.uk @ETLChris @edintoollibrary

Audience Results

Any questions from the audience? Illustration by www.laurasorvala.com More information on our BA/Leverhulme funded research project here: https://sway.office.com/VrmwE7Dvum0MvqkV Contact: [email protected] [email protected]