TrendWatching.com just released a briefing to introduce the "Sellsumers".
According to their report, Sellsumers are an ever-growing group of ordinary consumers making money as (part-time) entrepreneurs. They are driven by the recession-induced need for cash and enabled by the infrastructure of the web.
As TrendWatching.com puts it, "in a nutshell":
"SELLSUMERS: Whether it’s selling their insights to corporations, hawking their creative output to fellow consumers, or renting out unused assets, consumers will increasingly become SELLSUMERS, too. Made possible by the online revolution’s great democratization of demand and supply, and further fueled by a global recession that leaves consumers strapped for cash, the SELLSUMERS phenomenon is yet another manifestation of the mega-trend that is 'consumer participation'."
Obvious connections for campus stores include:
- Creativity: Tap into the "sellsumers" in your customer base for ideas and creativity for new products, services, and business ventures. Don't think you're going to get it away from them...plan to partner!
- Staff resources: Consider hooking up with local or web-based sellsumer ventures to add skills, capabilities, and services to your businesses portfolio.
- Master the Consumer Involvement concept: Study this and other examples of the growing trend that suggests customers want to be co-creators of the products and services that solve their problems, meet their needs, and enhance their lives. The sooner you master this one and find ways to engage your consumers accordingly, the better!
Read the full "Sellsumer" brief (with tons of examples and ideas) at http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/sellsumers/.
--The Retail Muse
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