Exploratory Study of Consumer Issues in Online Peer-To-Peer Platform Markets
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Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets Task 1 Report March 2017 Justice and Consumers EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROPEAN COMMISSION Produced by Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) on behalf of Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers Directorate E — Consumers Unit E.1 — Consumer policy Contact: Antonia Fokkema E-mail: [email protected] European Commission B-1049 Brussels EUROPEAN COMMISSION Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets Task 1 Report Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers EU Consumer Programme 2017 EUR 2017.4058 EN Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets – Task 1 Report Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you). This report was produced under the EU Consumer Programme (2014-2020) in the frame of a service contract with the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) acting under the mandate from the European Commission. The content of this report represents the views of the contractor and is its sole responsibility; it can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or Chafea or other body of the European Union. The European Commission and/or Chafea do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this report, nor do they accept responsibility for any use made by third parties there. The European Commission and/or Chafea do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this report, nor do they accept responsibility for any use made by third parties there. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017 EN – Task 1 ISBN: 978-92- DOI: 10.2838/7661 PDF/Volume_02 DS-01-17-529-EN-N Report 79-69180-5 © European Union, 2017 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets – Task 1 Report TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................... 10 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 14 1.1 Aims and objectives of this study ..................................................... 14 1.2 Objectives and activities in Task 1 .................................................... 15 1.3 Overview of this report ................................................................... 15 1.4 Scope of the study ......................................................................... 15 2 P2P MARKETS IN POLICY AND LITERATURE ............................................... 18 2.1 P2P markets from a consumer policy perspective ............................... 19 2.2 Types of P2P transactions facilitated by online platforms ..................... 21 2.3 Main actors and relationships in P2P markets ..................................... 22 2.3.1 Peer consumers ................................................................. 24 2.3.2 Peer providers ................................................................... 25 2.3.3 P2P platforms .................................................................... 28 2.4 Platform monetisation models ......................................................... 32 2.5 Geographical spread of P2P platforms ............................................... 34 2.6 Overall indicative size of P2P markets ............................................... 36 2.7 Summary of findings ...................................................................... 40 3 P2P PLATFORM SERVICES AND BUSINESS MODELS .................................... 42 3.1 Methodology for platform selection ................................................... 42 3.1.1 Platform selection criteria .................................................... 42 3.1.2 Service categorisation ......................................................... 44 3.1.3 Limitations ........................................................................ 48 3.2 Services offered by P2P platforms .................................................... 50 3.2.1 Overview of platform services .............................................. 50 3.2.2 Pre-transaction services ...................................................... 51 3.2.3 Transaction services ........................................................... 54 3.2.4 Post-transaction services ..................................................... 58 3.2.5 Channels of service delivery ................................................. 60 3.2.6 Summary of findings .......................................................... 62 3.3 P2P platform monetisation models ................................................... 64 3.4 Data and data protection ................................................................ 66 3.5 P2P platform business models ......................................................... 69 3.6 Summary of findings ...................................................................... 74 4 ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF P2P TRANSACTIONS .................................... 76 4.1 Methodology to estimate economic importance .................................. 76 4.2 Development of platforms in the EU ................................................. 78 4.3 Peer participation .......................................................................... 82 4.3.1 Peer usage of online platforms ............................................. 82 4.3.2 Daily unique visitors ........................................................... 84 4.3.3 Registered peers and number of listings ................................ 89 4.3.4 Peer expenditure and revenue distribution ............................. 92 4.3.5 Peer provider revenue ......................................................... 96 4.3.6 Estimate of the revenue of platforms and other non-peer revenue 98 4.4 Summary of findings ..................................................................... 100 5 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................... 102 6 ANNEXES ............................................................................................. 106 6.1 Annex 1.1: Country fiches .............................................................. 106 6.2 Annex 1.2: List of references .......................................................... 106 6.3 Annex 1.3: Final list of case study platforms for Task 4 ...................... 114 6.4 Annex 1.4: List of platforms ........................................................... 114 6 Exploratory study of consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platform markets – Task 1 Report TABLES Table 1: Types of peer to peer sharing .............................................................. 19 Table 2: P2P platform monetisation models ........................................................ 31 Table 3: Net revenue and growth rate of collaborative platforms in five sectors in the EU (EUR billion) ................................................................................. 34 Table 4: Median gross hourly earnings by type of activity on platform ListMinut (personal services) and in the offline labour market between December 2013 and December 2015 ................................................................................. 35 Table 5: Number of platforms per country and P2P market ................................... 41 Table 6: Overview of P2P platform services ........................................................ 44 Table 7 : Comparison between Task 1 platform selection and Task 2 survey responses in terms of P2P market distribution of peers. ................................. 47 Table 8: Combination of monetisation models ..................................................... 63 Table 9: Types of services offered by five monetisation models ............................. 68 Table 10 : Types of services offered by three types of monetisation models ........... 71 Table 11: Daily unique visitors, turnover and operating profits of 29 large European P2P platforms .......................................................................................... 79 Table 12: Selected platforms with over 100,000 daily visitors ............................... 84 Table 13: P2P platforms with over 100,000 peers ................................................ 88 Table 14: Percentage of total expenditure and revenues by the top 10% of peer consumers and peer providers, per sector, in the 10 MS under study .............. 90 Table 15 : Total estimated peer consumer annual spending in EU28 MS, based on estimations from Task 2 survey responses ................................................... 92 FIGURES Figure 1: Evolution of peer to peer marketplaces ................................................ 22 Figure 2 : Different layers of rule-making on online P2P platforms ......................... 23 Figure 3: Typology of peers using collaborative platforms ..................................... 24 Figure 4: Instance of business operating using a P2P platform (AirBnB) ................. 26 Figure 5: Mapping of P2P platforms ................................................................... 28 Figure 6: Number of P2P collaborative economy start-ups by city .........................