MOONP :
Hwang bro said platforms should allow flexibility in switching positions, and…
Mr. Heung :
Man, that sounds cool to me.
MOONP :
You said three factors are critical in platform business.
What should we do to have a successful platform business?
For Uber, the model fell apart as taxi drivers in Korea were opposed to it.
In light of that, what matters for success of a platform business?
Mr. Heung :
Since Uber failed to thrive in Korea, I have little direct or indirect experience with it.
Can I bring up Airbnb instead?
MOONP :
Sure.
Mr. Heung :
I have some experience with Airbnb.
What I noticed recently is, these girls who used to throw parties at hotels
or service residences before now do so at Airbnb properties.
That might look like a fad, but…
Hwang Bro :
What is a fad?
Mr. Heung :
A fad is a short-lived trend that fell short of becoming a trend.
Hwang Bro :
Ephemeral trend?
MOONP :
How do you spell it?
Mr. Heung :
With F...
MOONP :
Fed?
Hwang Bro :
Fad.
MOONP :
In short, throwing PJ parties at Airbnb properties is a fad?
Mr. Heung :
I think it can be a trend.
For a platform business to succeed, it has to become a trend.
It may sound too theoretical, but people have to love it,
and we have to see people whom we like use it.
I’m not trying to deny what Hwang bro said,
but platform means nothing when it does not have people.
So in this book I authored (crafty PR move on his book),
I said “people need people.” Platform really needs people.
MOONP :
I agree.
For a platform business to succeed,
there needs to be a trust in the network and the platform itself.
For instance, we often see postings by people about their experiences
of getting scammed by sellers.
What’s interesting is they don’t speak badly of the network
on the postings where they met the sellers.
Rather, they say, I was off luck to meet the sellers.
Despite the bad taste in the mouth,
they come back to the site again when they need to buy something.
For a platform business to succeed,
there needs to be a trust in the network, or the platform itself.
I think this is it. What do you think, Hwang bro?
Hwang Bro :
I’ll talk about what was brought up earlier first.
When you talked about Uber and Airbnb, you mentioned entry barrier,
and taxi companies that were already established in the market backlashed.
In the past, when Park Chung-hee was the president,
they said this as they raised the bus fare.
Would it expose my age range too much if I bring this up?
Mr. Heung :
That’s fine.
MOONP :
Your appearance says it all.
Mr. Heung :
Your look and feel does.
Hwang Bro :
They phrased it as ‘making bus fare realistic.’
This in fact was a very successful marketing campaign.
Then did we live with unrealistic bus fares up until then?
They can simply say they are raising the bus fare.
How to phrase things is everything in marketing.
Let me say this like an old bastard.
Shared economy, how wonderful does it sound?
As capitalism advances, people are bound to have more than what they need.
Mr. Heung here has a car.
From Monday to Friday, he just owns it, but it is an idle asset.
Let’s say there are some people who want to tap into that idle asset.
Bridging those two parties is shared economy.
It is such a holy cause.
But it is, in a nut shell, a continuous repetition of super-short-term leases.
That’s what distinguishes Uber and Airbnb.
MOONP brought up a very good point, but it is slightly different.
For transactions of second-hand goods,
those who use Auction get rarely scammed and don’t speak badly of Auction,
but it’s not the case with Junggonara.
The biggest difference between the two is who becomes responsible,
whether it is an individual or the party that created the platforms.
When things go south after you buy something off Junggonara,
the site doesn’t address the problem for you.
I was out of luck and met an asshole.
But if you get scammed on Auction, you can lodge a complaint at Auction.
What this means is, with Uber, I become a passenger by tapping into idle assets,
but who will be responsible for bad incidents?
If Uber, the platform owner, shows some responsibility for them,
it becomes a platform like Auction.
In Korea, though, the burden of responsibility is all on individuals.
That’s a fundamental issue at work here.
In my personal view, shared economy is a great business model,
but if you disregard responsibility and mechanisms related
to implementing the fundamental values of sharing,
it might be short-lived.
MOONP :
You explained two things together.
Entry barrier and trust in the network.
Hwang Bro :
I think that is the biggest part.
Uber does operate in Korea.
It’s just doing business as Kakao Black.
They just don’t operate in Korea on a one-on-one individual transactional basis
where the platform owner shoulders responsibility to a certain degree.
MOONP :
Hwang bro seems a bit excited. Calm down a little.
Mr. Heung :
Hwang bro is full of chivalry, so he hates those brands that avoid their responsibility.
(To be continued)