Revenue of platform providers in the global sharing economy 2017-2022

Total global revenue from sharing economy platform is expected to reach 40.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

The sharing economy

The sharing economy is where technology is used to match private owners of a product or service directly with consumers. This differs from traditional arrangements as the company who offers the product or service does not own it, they only facilitate an interaction between individuals. Uber is probably the name most associated with the sharing economy, whose online platform allowed for ridesharing services at rates generally cheaper than traditional taxies, leading to the company generating 11.3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2018. Airbnb is the other most prominent company within the sharing economy, providing an online platform allowing for private residential space to be rented to travelers. In most cases, this allows for accommodation at prices below that of a hotel.

Further growth

While the sharing economy overall is expected to continue growing, the market value of both Uber and Airbnb is slowing. There are several reasons for this. First, both companies have lost their first mover advantage, whereby being the first company of their type allowed for rapid growth. For example, Chinese ridesharing company DiDi was founded three years after Uber but started operating in the Chinese market several years before Uber. This allowed DiDi to eventually purchase Uber’s Chinese operations, making them now the second largest ridesharing company globally. The second reason is the increasing regulation of these services, which were often set up specifically to escape regulation. For example, in 2018 Berlin banned the renting of full apartments through Airbnb and in 2019, New York City implemented regulations requiring all ridesharing drivers to be paid a minimum wage of 27.86 U.S. dollars per hour before expenses (or 17.22 U.S. dollars after expenses).