Marketing Communications in the Sharing Economy: Who Is the Target Segment for Car Sharing?

Abstract

In recent times, the notion of a sharing economy has become more prevalent. It is based on the underutilization of resources which could otherwise be distributed to those who do not have them but need them. One of the target segments is car sharing. It is not clear from academic articles and publications what generation of respondents is the target customer of car-sharing platforms. We based the primary research on the assumption that not every generation of customers wants to use car sharing. The research focused on three generations of respondents (X, Y, and Z) to identify which generations of customers are prospective for this segment. The research showed that Generation Y and Generation Z would be more likely to use car sharing compared to Generation X. We found that Generation X and Y have the most significant differences in willingness to car share between themselves, followed by Generation X and Z. These findings are valuable for platforms that mediate car sharing. It will enable them to target their marketing campaign correctly to the age group that is more likely to become the platform's customers and attract those customers with the right marketing communication strategy. At the same time, this knowledge will enhance the theoretical anchoring of the sharing economy with factual information that links the sharing economy to marketing. The Kruskal–Wallis test and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the research. The research was conducted from December 2021 to March 2022 and involved 741 respondents.