Some of the trendiest words in the business world are #sharingeconomy, #collaborativeconsumption, and #peertopeer. It may take a few intriguing, yet long, hours to explain these ideas fully, but the way they continue to reshape our world is spectacular.
A life without a sharing economy means a life without Uber, Amazon, and Airbnb. If you're skeptical, try going a while without using any of those the next time you need one. The idea of the sharing economy is as fresh as it is deeply embedded in our mindset.
Who Runs the World? Sharing Economy!
Born at the rise of the 2000s, the sharing economy is now firmly established as a mainstream model. Pioneers like Kickstarter, Couchsurfing, and eBay (in addition to those mentioned above) have grown from enthusiasm-driven startups into legendary success stories. And many more continue to follow their path.
Mine Is Yours, But For a Fee
Rachel Botsman, a well-known collaborative consumption enthusiast, was among the first to explain the sharing economy using the now-classic example of the electric drill. It goes as follows.
Who has an electric drill at home?
Over 80 million Americans would answer positively. I would too, though I'm not American. However, on average, that drill gets used for about 13 minutes over its entire lifetime.
The point is, you don't really need a drill — you need a hole in the wall. A rational solution is to borrow one for the rest of the time and pay a symbolic fee.
Genius.
Profit.
The example is simple and apt, so it went viral. Some entrepreneurial minds took it quite literally and even built online shops where clients could borrow power tools, including drills. One of the best-known examples is NeighborGoods.Net.
API economy + Sharing economy = API2Cart
We've discussed APIs many times on our blog, and now we want to show how a unified API by API2Cart embodies the idea of the sharing economy in the software business. The eCommerce industry is highly interrelated and interconnected, with countless software solutions on the market. Practically all of them need to connect to other eCommerce software, such as shopping carts, marketplaces, ERP systems, and delivery companies.
Just think about it: thousands of eCommerce software companies each build the same integrations from scratch on their own. Is that rational?
Given the time, money, and effort every integration takes to build, the answer is obviously no. It's wasteful and tedious — which is exactly why unified eCommerce integrations exist.
And That's Why We've Designed API2Cart
API2Cart is a unified API that connects to all widely used shopping carts and marketplaces, allowing businesses to work with them through a single integration point. It offers methods that fit the integration needs of a wide range of eCommerce software: shipping management systems, supply chain management apps, mobile app builders, marketplace integrators, and more.
This means any application that needs to connect with multiple shopping carts and marketplaces can integrate with API2Cart, subscribe, and start working with a broad set of platforms right away — without having to build or maintain all those connections themselves, much like a modern SaaS service would offer.
P.S. Remember, sharing is caring. Enjoy the age of the sharing economy!
P.P.S. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
