Prosumer Economy in Practice: Building a Community of Smes With Deepened Circular Supply Networks

Abstract

The dominant economic paradigm is dysfunctional, both in its ecological and social dimensions. A planetary boundaries framework update reports that currently, 6 out of 9 boundaries are already transgressed, indicating the earth isn't a safe space for humanity anymore (Richardson et al. in Science Advances 9, 2023). The normalization of unjust economic practices is the root cause of the polycrisis humanity experiences. Solving the polycrisis may only be possible by shifting the dominant economic paradigm.We set out to create a prosumer economy as an alternative sustainable economic paradigm. The prosumer economy is defined as "a macroscale circular economy with minimum negative or positive ecological and social impact, an ecosystem of producers and prosumers, who have synergistic and circular relationships with deepened circular supply networks, where leakage of wealth out of the system is minimized" (Özesmi in The prosumer economy- Being like a forest, 2019). This prosumer economy system was implemented in Good4Trust.org where more than 25.000 prosumers and 770 producers (SMEs) came together and are working together. Good4Trust is an online bazaar that brings ecologically and socially fair producers and prosumers together to create a full ecosystem. It doesn't reinforce competition like a marketplace but solidarity and symbiosis like a local bazaar where producers all help each other and work together. Exchanges include retail, wholesale, services, and contractual sales. Good4Trust also has an inbuilt community currency called "Trust". Every time a prosumer supports a producer, by buying a product from them, they create "Trust". These trusts then, can be gifted, transferred, or used in other exchanges. We discuss Good4Trust as a viable sustainable ecosystem and demonstrate how the prosumer economy may help in the creation of a needed paradigm shift to solve the polycrisis. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.