No One Is More Into the Sharing Economy than Millennials
They’re more likely to use Uber, Kickstarter or Etsy than older generations
May 19, 2017
Millennials are different than older generations in many ways. According to new research, that generation gap is even wider when it comes to the sharing economy.
March 2017 data from Maru/Matchbox, which surveyed 1,000 adult internet users in North America, found that millennials participate in many aspects of the sharing economy at a greater level than older respondents.
Millennials were almost three times as likely to use a space to stay, like Airbnb, or use professional services, like tax preparation, than people ages 35 and older.
They were also more likely to use car services like Uber. For example, 32% of millennials said they use ride-hailing services, while only 12% of respondents ages 35 and older said they did so.
So just how popular is the sharing economy? Well that depends on what’s included in the definition.
While Uber and Airbnb are what many people think of when they think of the sharing economy, the market is more varied than that.
In fact, a May 2016 report from Pew Research Center found that just 15% of US adults polled said they had used ride-hailing apps like Uber. Even fewer had used a home-sharing service like Airbnb.
A plurality of respondents, however, said they had purchased used or secondhand goods online on sites like Etsy, which is probably not what many people first think of when the sharing economy comes up.
—Rimma Kats
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