Weightless Economy

What Is the Weightless Economy?

The term "weightless economy" alludes to the trade of intangible or abstract products and services, for example, counseling, software, and professional services. The weightless economy sells thoughts, data, ability, or services.

Different terms, like post-modern economy or new economy, are additionally used to portray these theoretical products.

The concept of the weightless economy largely advanced at the turn of the 21st century with the rise of information technology and the numerous products associated with it.

Understanding the Weightless Economy

In truth, weightless products have existed all through civilization: Music is one. Notwithstanding, it is just since the mass adoption of computing and the development of the internet that economies have become overwhelmed by weightless products.

It is currently conceivable to deliver products and services to large numbers of customers and across great distances without the need to make, ship, or store those products and services utilizing physical labor and machines. A few products, similar to music or software, must be made just a single time before being distributed at negligible cost to however many consumers as need them.

Making Music in the Weightless Economy

For instance, a performer records a tune just a single time. In the past, a record company expected to physically produce vinyl records or CDs recreating the melody, package them, move them from plants to warehouses, and at last deliver them to record stores where they could be purchased by customers. These stages include costs in terms of both money and labor.

Today, that equivalent artist and record label can convey their music online through web-based features, for example, Spotify and online marketplaces, for example, the iTunes Store. Albeit the time expected to create a melody is largely unchanged, its delivery is for all intents and purposes easy and momentary whether the tune is sold to one customer or 1,000,000.

The Economics of the Weightless Economy

An economist taking a gander at this model would agree that that the performer has a marginal cost of production of almost $0. Hence, the marginal profit associated with selling each extra melody is basically 100%. When you have recorded the melody and made it ready to move online, it costs you barely anything to sell each extra unit.

This is the fundamental motivation behind why it is workable for some technology companies to turn out to be so profitable in a generally short amount of time. In the weightless economy, there is barely anything keeping a company from gaining a large pool of customers in the event that demand for the product or service takes off.

At the point when a product or service comes to rule its market, the company that produces it can accomplish practically boundless growth and profitability in the weightless economy. Models are Microsoft's Windows operating system, Google's web search tool or Android operating system, and Facebook's social network and advertising platform.

These products have substantial continuous costs connected with their management, marketing, and product improvements. Yet, their production costs are negligible.

By comparison, traditional firms, for example, manufacturing plants and brick-and-mortar retailers face more obstructions to growth and profitability due to the higher costs and strategic obstacles they must defeat to make their sales.

Certifiable Example of the Weightless Economy

The weightless economy is described by data technology and is made conceivable by intellectual property rights. An artist can't bring in money selling melodies online in the event that their rights to those tunes are not protected by copyright laws.

One of the outcomes of the weightless economy is that it permits new [entrepreneurs](/business visionary) to offer products and services to a large potential customer base with somewhat limited barriers to entry.

For instance, in the event that coding is part of your range of abilities, you can make a smartphone application and sell it through the Apple and Android app stores. Despite the fact that there are surely costs engaged with doing as such, those costs could not hope to compare to the cost of laying out a factory, for instance.

In 2011, Garrett Gee made a barcode checking application called Scan while he was a student at Brigham Young University. In 2014, he sold the application to Snapchat for $54 million. In spite of the fact that Gee is an exception in having made this level of progress, his story is representative of the sort of achievement that is made conceivable by the weightless economy.

Features

• The growth of data technology has given the weightless economy a prevailing job compared to traditional parts of the economy like manufacturing and distribution.
• For entrepreneurs, the weightless economy has set out open doors for a fast ramp-up from a thought in its earliest stages to a profitable business.
• The weightless economy is comprised of immaterial products and services.