Fairshare
Small businesses lend and borrow equipment, with insurance and payment built in
What happened, step by step.
Challenge
Haufe-Lexware first asked for third-party services on its platform for small businesses. In January 2016 the team reframed it: how might small businesses focus on their core work?
What the team learned
Many small businesses own machines they rarely use or need special equipment for one job. Sharing only works with trust, so reviews, verified profiles and insurance matter.
What they built
fairshare is a B2B platform where small businesses rent out and borrow resources. It offers map search, an availability calendar synced with Outlook, automatic damage insurance, payment, delivery options and ratings, funded by a service fee.
How it evolved
- Step 1Critical-function prototypes showed that saving time and using personal networks matter most.
- Step 2Dark-horse tests: proactive help was valued, but full automation raised privacy and control worries.
- Step 3Final build added two-way calendar sync, refined during a test week in southern Germany.
Impact
Recommended next steps: a 20 % fee per transaction, onboarding for existing Lexware customers and a launch in focus regions such as Freiburg.
Full project text
The team’s original texts from the project page.
Challenge
How might we bring added value through new (3rd-party) services on the platform „solution place” for SBEs (Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs), who are already Haufe-Lexware customers and also for new customers, considering that brand loyalty in ecommerce is low and adoption is based on easy learnability and long-term usefulness rather than on coolness.
Solution
Fairshare is a sharing-platform, through with small businesses are able to share and distribute their resources in a fast and convenient way. The platform is fully integrated into the daily routines of the small business to keep any additional administrative effort to a minimum. All functions of fairshare have been designed to adapt to the pragmatic needs of small businesses. At the same time, fairshare aims to communicate a trustful environment for instance through different delivery options and an automated insurance solution for all rented objects. In this way resource sharing between small businesses becomes a socializing experience, that brings small businesses together and facilitates their networking.
From the field to the prototype.
