Consider the business of cars. Consider the business of houses. Each in their own way have created reproductization economies around their manufacture, sale, lease, and re-purchase.
In many ways as the “usage period” of a product drops and the endurance of its materials persist beyond their usage and as maintenance and repairs are made easy and accessible—any product can beco
me part of a “reproductization” cycle. In fact, the faster a “usage period” for the purchasing consumer passes, the more likely the longer term viability of reproductizing a consumer good.
I find the “lease” of a car, instead of a purchase, an interesting economic model. Also, I like the idea of a business that helps me accelerate my ability to get into my next car quickly and easily.
For example, I would gladly pay $1000 a month to drive a different car every month—or if I chose to—the same car (but with the option at anytime to get into a different car).
I don’t mind if the car isn’t 100% new. For if it is “nearly new” or at least this years model that’s good enough.
The problem with treating cars in this fashion is that they lack “efficient transfer” models. When I’m done with my red Porsche in Riverside how does Jane in Eureka get it quickly and efficiently a few days after putting in her request?
While this model may not work for cars, wouldn’t it be cool to be able to move into different models of MP3 players each month?
Or wouldn’t it be cool to “lease” a PS3 and then, after a few months, send in the console and the games and get a Wii with a set of games. Perhaps a month or two later, I could revert to GameCube and its games! And then on to xbox 360, and the next generation of game consoles yet to be announced.
I can imagine all this easily viable for the price of about 15% of the cost of any one console. Why wouldn’t I pay 15% of the cost of a console and its games to “lease” it per month?
In this way reproductization is rapidly accelerated. Such a system, I contend, would reduce e-waste castoffs, increase the total number of consoles manufacturers would sell, and increase the rate at which new items could be brought to market.
One of the tricks of electronics is that great new products can’t meaningfully overlap because the market has to have time to saturate. Imagine a system of flowing new products into and out of the hands of consumers that massively increases the rate at which saturation for any one product and has built in efficiencies to flow “great new products” into the hands of consumers.
Today I might have a Zune and a Wii. Two days from now I could have an iPod and a GameCube…a month or so from now I could cycle into an iPhone and a PS3. All for $37.99 a month! Just a thought…
While not exact analogs for the model of reproductization I discussed, the following businesses are interesting in how they fit into the “reproductization” market:
Bag Borrow and Steal
Get a designer purse, get bored with it, send it back in and receive a different one of your choosing.
TicketsNow / StubHub
Sell your old tickets. Buy cut rate tickets for the latest shows.
Hewlett Packard
Trade in your old HP elctronics.
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