Trendwatching.com has spotted what it believes to be a new trend – that of ‘sellsumers’. In essence, consumers are increasingly starting to sell or rent various skills, services and assets. From making money in their spare time via Google adverts to renting out parking spaces, people are becoming every more enterprising.

In essence, most of these novel services have become possible as a result of the Internet. We can now reach out many more people, at negligible cost and do it instantaneously. Plus the new services allow us to be found via sophisticated search mechanisms.

Part of me was a little annoyed to see the term in the first paragraph include the word “sell”. Because the various services outlined are marketing, not selling.

To me the difference between selling is this: you put up a stall in the market, you put up great signs, you get the pricing right, you choose your pitch and decide what to sell: that is marketing. Spotting casual browsers, engaging people who squeeze your product, chatting with punters that were going to walk by and charming people into parting with their money: that is selling.

But I guess “marketsumers” does not work quite so well as a term.

And then I realised that the sellsumer term at least makes the concept of selling more palatable, at least in the UK.

I may have spotted another trend: a lot of marketing is increasingly being called selling. If that is the case, and the general population are getting less squeamish about the concept of selling, then I am all for it.

For more about sellsumers, have a look at http://bit.ly/a4VZkW