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With emerging technology causing a shift in consumer engagement, companies are being forced to revise their strategies to stay relevant to a younger consumer base raised on the internet. The recent boom in the on-demand economy demonstrates these trends best, and many new companies are profiting from it. This economy, commonly called peerto-peer, is composed of companies that leverage online services or marketplaces, bringing people and businesses together to deal with each other directly, cutting out more costly and time-consuming intermediaries.
New firms come from an array of industries, ranging from food delivery and transportation to childcare and medical services. Uber's on-call car service and Airbnb's lodging rentals may be best known, yet new entrants are emerging all the time. The scope of services continues to expand, even entering fields that were previously deemed too risky for an online model. Companies like Care.com, a service where busy parents can find vetted childcare, or Drizzly, which offers alcohol delivery directly to consumers homes, are breaking the mold of traditional brick and mortar stores and testing the limits of liability exposures. Given the demand and the limited barriers to entry, this segment's growth is poised to continue.
The peer-to-peer market is still in its infancy, but it is growing rapidly. Many companies are experiencing more than the usual growing pains and facing unforeseen risks as they arise. This creates challenges for firms trying to effectively manage and mitigate risk exposure. Their rising popularity and usage is not...