Brief: Why The Sharing Economy Matters For Customer Experience Professionals

In the past few years, thousands of companies that eschew traditional business models in favor of digital platforms have popped up to deliver peer-to-peer services to customers. These companies, including Lyft, Airbnb, Lending Club, and Rent The Runway, comprise the $100 billion sharing economy, poised to disrupt incumbents in hospitality, travel, finance, and many other industries. Unlike traditional companies driven by operational efficiency or blinding product focus, sharing economy firms obsess over the quality of the experience they deliver. Customer experience (CX) professionals can learn from the sharing economy's success to guide their experience design transformations.