The Future Is More About Access Than Ownership

Services like Spotify or AirBnB, which give you access to objects, places and experiences without making you to buy them, foretell how consumption will work in the future.

Picture the following scenario:

It’s Monday. You wake up and go to work. You take an Uber. To take advantage of your commute, you take out your laptop — well, the one your office lends you- and you start answering emails while listening to your favorite playlist on Spotify.

The story repeats for a few weeks, until one Thursday you realize that a good friend is getting married this weekend in a nearby city. You log into Zipcar to rent a Jeep for the road trip.

You’re not staying at your place, wherever that is, but in an AirBnb that you and a friend rented for two months to be near the beach. You have no formal clothes in this closet, and you have nothing to wear to the wedding. So, you head to the Rent-The-Runway page to rent a Tom Ford suit you had your eye on. They drop it off on Friday, you’ll return it on Monday.

You get back from the wedding Sunday afternoon, ready to resume your routine. Despite your absence, the house is spotless, thanks to Homejoy, a cleaning service which spares you from even buying cleaning products.

You decide to plan for the week ahead, so you check the weather forecast. The next few days look to be sunny and delightful in your location by the sea. You get the idea to ask Zirtual, your virtual assistant, to rent you a convertible for the next few days.

To live this scenario, we need own nothing, from the cheapest mixtape to the most expensive designer clothes. And that sets us free. Because, our future is not going to be about getting to own anything, but getting access to everything.