On the occasion of this year’s German Consumers Day, the German Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) has published today the results of a population-representative study on the expectations of German consumers regarding a Sharing Economy.
The survey with 1,009 participants shows that German consumers fancy to benefit from the advantages of the Sharing Economy, but not at any price and risk:
- 88% of German consumers would generally lend their personal belongings to others, yet 79% would only do so within their own circle of friends;
- 69% place great importance on data protection issues and 60% demand a guarantee for receiving the ordered services;
- 62% would rather lend to and borrow from a company than from a private person due to security reasons (32%) and provided insurance coverage (25%);
- 38% agree that consumer reviews create trust, but 56% fear that their personal data will be given to third parties.
Klaus Müller, director of vzbv, commented on the study results: “The Sharing Economy brings new possibilities for German consumers while simultaneously bearing new risks. The success of shared services must not be bought at the expense of established consumer rights and data protection standards.”
Further information can be found here.
Source: vzbv