Shenzhen citizens complained recently that shared products are no longer cheap. The price for renting a shared power bank rose to at least two yuan (US$0.3) per hour, and Mobike rose from two yuan to 2.5 yuan per hour, according to the Shenzhen Evening News.
Mobike, a company offering bike sharing services, implemented new charging rules in Shenzhen on May 22. The starting price is one yuan for the initial 15 minutes, and 2.5 yuan per hour hereafter, which is 0.5 yuan higher than before.
Compared with shared bikes, shared power banks have seen the highest rate increase. The price for renting a shared power bank had doubled from one yuan to two yuan per hour by the end of last year. Netizens moaned that the rental price for shared power banks could reach eight yuan per hour in some prime locations.
Citizens told the Shenzhen Evening News that they were not aware of the rising price of shared bikes, but the rising price for power banks left a deep impression. One citizen surnamed Du told the reporter, “I started to feel it was expensive to rent a shared power bank when I saw the cost was five or six yuan each time.”
In 2015, the first year of the sharing economy, entrepreneurs tried to occupy the market by using the strategy of relentless subsidies. After several years of development, the sharing economy has become more rational and enterprises have gradually started to gain profits by raising prices.
The frequency that each power bank in a small cabinet machine is used is 0.8 to 1 time per day, and the renting time is about two hours for each use. Therefore, a machine with 12 power banks can earn 48 yuan per day, and 1,440 yuan per month, based on the calculation of two yuan per hour. He Shun, COO of the Jiedian Technology Co. Ltd., said this March that the top enterprises operating in the shared power bank industry have been profitable. One thing worth mentioning is that Meituan started a shared power bank project this August, which might provide changes to the established mode of the shared power bank industry.