Saturday, January 30, 2010

From eCommerce to eBorrowing

I rencently guest blogged about eBorrowing on Zippycart.com. Here's the article:

From eCommerce to eBorrowing
January 28, 2010
OpEd Guest Post By Keara Schwartz, Founder of Share Some Sugar 

So you’re a business owner and DIYer and you’re planning on painting your office this weekend. What do you need to complete the job? A paint roller and extender, a drop cloth, a ladder, paint brushes and of course paint. Head to a local or online hardware store and your tab can easily run you upwards of $150. That’s a lot of money to spend when you end up using these items so infrequently. 

But what’s the alternative? You already saved yourself lots of money by signing up to paint your living room yourself rather than hiring a professional painter. Think about all of the people that live in your neighborhood who probably already own these painting tools. How do you know who has what? If you could type in ‘ladder’ on Google Shopping and you get approximately 128,000 search results on ecommerce sites, you should be able to do the same thing in your own community and find neighbors and friends who are willing to lend you what you need. 

Welcome to the world of eBorrowing. An online world full of items that people own and are willing to share with people who need to use them. Lots of people own items that collect a lot of dust because the items don’t get used very often. These people are usually happy to share things, like a ladder, with someone who needs it for a weekend project to paint their living room. 

A new era has emerged. An era of C2C or consumer to consumer sharing sites likeShareSomeSugar.com which finds someone in your neighborhood who is willing to lend you something that you need. Sharing or eBorrowing sites leverage consumers’ existing inventory, or items that people already own. 

The concept of eBorrowing is not new. B2C services like Zipcar.com, the car sharing service orBagBorrowOrSteal.com, a site that lends out designer purses and accessories, have recently been gaining critical mass. Why? Because it doesn’t make much sense to purchase and own something that you don’t use all that often. But why are these sites gaining popularity now? Well this reasoning is rooted in the current economic climeate where consumers are consuming more consciously. These sharing services have a high capital investment in inventory and the consumer pays directly to a business. 

These days, consumers are asking themselves if they really need to buy that ‘ladder’ that they will use once or twice a year. Or if it makes more sense to borrow or rent it from a friend, neighbor or another small business, use it and give it back when they are done. Borrowing and sharing isn’t for everyone. It is however one economic and environmental solution that fulfills your need to temporarily use an item. Next time you consider buying a durable item that you may use infrequently, ask yourself if you really need to own the item or if you could just borrow it instead.



Saturday, January 9, 2010

Life without Cable!


So one of my new years resolutions was to save money. One way that I decided to save money is by canceling my cable. I had already downgraded to the cheapest package which consisted of what seemed like sub basic cable channels. I had the 4 main local news channels and then about 75 infomercial channels. So really there were only 4 legitimate options of shows to watch at once. I did DVR shows and movies that I'd otherwise miss while at work. But all in all I realized that:

#1 I don't watch that much TV. I had been watching the news in the morning and at night. However I don't really have any 'shows'. I'll admit the only show I watch each week is 'The Bachelor', and my girl friends and I get together to watch it.
#2 With HULU and the growth of t.v shows and movies being streamed on the internet, I figured that I could just watch 'T.V' on the computer if I really wanted to watch a show.
#3 I can read the news online to stay in touch with what's going on in the world and in my city. I had already been doing this, but with the absence of TV, I just rely solely on getting the news online.
#4 I'm not a big reader, I'll admit. Without TV I end up reading more!

Beyond the internet...
So now that I don't have cable, I have not only been watching 'TV" online, but I've also been wiping the dust off of my DVD's. I own approximately 25 DVD's. I decided that I would post my DVD's on Share Some Sugar so others could borrow them. If you're reading this and you own 1 DVD, I have a request. How about posting your DVD on Share Some Sugar and helping out the Cable-less people like myself?

If you're not a member yet, go ahead and sign up @ www.sharesomesugar.com.
Once you're a member:
- Click on 'my items'-->Add one item
- Click on Entertainment-->Other-->DVD
and enter the title of the movie and any info along with a photo of
the movie (you can grab one from Amazon).
That's it!


I look forward to being able to borrow movies from neighbors instead of buying or paying to rent them. I hope you are excited for this as well! Let's all save $, meet new neighbors and catch up on movies while it's freezing cold outside!