It is increasingly interesting to see that a set of peer-to-peer sites are taking a proactive approach to checking the identity of their sharers and participants.
ID confirmation technology is a game changer within this industry as it enables
sharing platforms to attract new customers by giving them the confidence to
transact and share with another person on the other side of the world.
For those who are unfamiliar, various types of sharing economy activity
include: holiday rentals, auction sites, car sharing, ride sharing and renting
and sharing assets.
According to HooYu, Businesses operating in the sharing economy
are being held back by consumer fears over trust in the identity of the other
party in the transaction.
A key finding of the study is that in both the UK and the US,
consumers are unlikely to conduct peer-to-peer online transactions without
first obtaining assurance about the other person’s identity. Six out of 10 respondents
(61%) will not or are uncertain to trust without checking identity compared to
39% that are either happy to trust or would do so with reservations before they
had assurance about the other person’s identity.
Eight in 10 (79%) respondents
stated they would be much more likely to trust a stranger online if they were
sent an in-depth ID confirmation report about the person they were dealing
with.
A report sharing the findings
of the research can be downloaded at https://business.hooyu.com/sharing-economy-report.