It is estimated that by the end of 2013, the global sharing economy will make in excess of $3.5 billion, a growth of 25% from 2012. Also known as ‘collaborative consumption’ or ‘peer-to-peer rental marketplaces’, the sharing economy is powered by individuals and businesses sharing everything from their cars, wardrobes and books through to their tennis racquets and audio equipment. The sharing economy enables practically anything to be hired, including skills, goods, knowledge and time, mostly facilitated via online platforms. It is quickly disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not just what we consume but how we consume it.

HireJungle (http://www.hirejungle.co.uk) is the world’s first free peer-to-peer renting platform to truly capitalise on this growing trend and it is the fastest growing rental marketplace in the UK, enabling users to hire out goods and services at no cost.

The new eBay-like sharing platform offers a comprehensive database (130k+ pages indexed in Google), with easy-to-reach customer support, offering a great new way to find products and services advertised by the people providing them.
Whether you are looking to hire a skilled tradesman or rent the right tools for a DIY job, HireJungle empowers users by posting unlimited free classified ads, offering zero commission on transactions with all enquires being sent directly to the owners. This can help SMEs and individuals to build awareness around their new businesses, or enable new income streams that would otherwise be impractical.

HireJungle Founder Marcelo Barreneche believes that if users have widely accessible, reliable platforms available to them, they will turn to sharing their goods and services under any circumstances, either to save money or earn extra income.

“The first ‘Eureka!’ moment,” says Barreneche, “was when I needed a drill for a home refurbishing task but didn’t have one. I didn’t want to buy a new drill and only use it once a year, so I thought it might be a good idea to hire one instead. But where and from whom? On the flipside, if I wanted to hire out my TV, which website would I use? This started the brainstorming process that eventually led to the creation of HireJungle. Now we all have the opportunity to earn income on the things we don’t use, or advertise skills that other people need.”

HireJungle doesn’t charge users for renting and hiring, and there is no fee for posting classified adverts. Instead, the company’s business model relies predominantly on advertising, which is a revolutionary step for users in the sharing economy.

From a practical perspective, the platform’s ‘Product’ and ‘Services’ categories are linked in a fashion that ensures relevant search results, displaying the ‘Services’ classifieds on the left-hand side and the ‘Products’ classifieds on the right. For instance, a search query for “builders in London” will not just display results for the builders’ services available in London, but also building-related products such as drills, ladders, screwdrivers, to name but a few.

Martin Varsavsky, founder of Madrid-based WiFi-sharing platform Fon, says that one of the next big markets for the sharing economy is renting out ‘expensive DIY home equipment, appliances, expensive gardening tools’ and other assets that get little use in their product lifespan. With this in mind, the creation of HireJungle is timely.

Varsavsky commented: “We live in a world in which benefits are only accrued through economic growth and the endless consumption of resources. There has to be other ways out there for more people to benefit. Why should everyone have their own car when most of the time they are not using it?”

Since launching earlier this year, HireJungle has already attracted a large user-base of over 950,000 users, uploading tens of thousands of products. Furthermore, the company will be launching a mobile responsive version of the platform in November 2013 and aims to be at the forefront of the sharing economy in the UK and Europe with plans to expand into India, Canada and the US by 2014.