Recently, people in Vancouver, BC are more actively involved in the idea called ‘home exchange’, and BC has became the province where home exchange was the most popular in Canada, because of the perfect skiing site and natural scenery (snowbirds) here in Whistler, BC.
The article mentions that Home Exchange‘s ‘target segment’ in BC is ski, and this reminds me of the idea of positioning in marketplace. In my point of view, the reason for Home Exchange’s success is that it correctly positions itself in the crowded market of house swapping:
In comparison with Airbnb, Home Exchange positions itself as ‘more trustful’. Customers of Airbnb take part in home exchange activities primarily because of the money they can get from renting out their houses. Sometimes renters even lock parts of their houses just because they don’t trust their ‘tenants’. While in Home Exchange, people do exchange their houses, thus they have trust in each other, which makes home exchanging experiences more realistic.
In comparison with Craigslist, Home Exchange positions itself as providing ‘better global customer support services’ and ‘more flexibility in choices’. This is because customers can get constant inflow of inquiries on Home Exchange website, and this is what Craigslist cannot provide.