In The New Rules of the Collaborative Economy, Jeremiah Owyang and Alexandra Samuel found that participation in the collaborative economy has grown by 25 percent in the past year. Owyang (@jowyang) recently published a series of infographics that describe this growth and illustrate data predictions over the next 12 months. His visuals suggest that the sharing economy is here to stay.

Adoption of newer forms of sharing services

In 2015, data show that people are participating in a broader range of sharing services. Even though the sharing of pre-owned goods is still the most prevalent form of participation within the collaborative economy, there has been a greater demand for things like crowdfunding, space-sharing, and custom products.

Future growth of the collaborative economy

Owyang and Samuel predict collaborative economy growth to remain strong throughout the next year. If 2015 was an example of its growing popularity, we can expect to see a 20% increase by 2017. Owyang writes, “for every person who has participated in a form of sharing in the past 12 months, there’s a new person who intends to try that type of neo-sharing in the year to come.” These numbers are very promising.

What does this data mean for established corporations?

Owyang explains that the collaborative economy “is not a fad or trend.” Established companies need to evolve their business model to incorporate sharing initiatives that better suit the needs of changing customer preferences.