E-ISSN: 2469-4339

Management and Economics Research Journal, Vol. 4, Iss./Yr. 2018, 281–288

Case Study

Gig Economy and the Future of Work:

A Fiverr.com Case Study

Green et al.

HATASO, USA
 Management and Economics Research Journal 281

Gig Economy and the Future of Work: A Fiverr.com Case Study

Daryl D. Green1*, Jack McCann2, Thao Vu1, Nancy Lopez1, Samuel Ouattara1
1Paul Dickinson College of Business, Oklahoma Baptist University, 500 W.

University Drive, Shawnee, OK 74804, USA.

2Union College, 310 College Street, Barbourville, KY 40906, USA.

*Correspondence: [email protected]

Received: Aug 2, 2018; Accepted: Nov 6, 2018

Copyright: DD. Green et al. This is an open-access article published under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
This permits anyone to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work provided the original work and source is appropriately cited.

Citation: Green DD, McCann J, Vu T, Lopez N, Ouattara S. 2018. Gig economy and the future of work: a Fiverr.com case study. Manage-
ment and Economics Research Journal 4: 281-288.

Abstract
Twenty years ago, Google became the first web search engine to help people find things on the Internet. Today, people
use Google to help organize the infinite data found on the Internet and to find things such as logo designs, business
copywriting, promotional videos, or even information on astrology. With the technological advancements of the past
decade, these services are found not only at the local marketplace but also in the global marketplace — a workplace
of freelancing challenges in a gig economy. The term “gig economy” is clarified in a detailed analysis of one larg-
est freelance websites, Fiverr.com. This case study starts with valuable reviews from a variety of authors about this
new economy. Fiverr is the target for analysis regarding growth of the gig economy, and with that growth, there are
also opportunities for Fiverr’s competitors. This study includes a PESTLE analysis, Competitive analysis, as well as
SWOT analysis of Fiverr and its competition. The results are significant, because the conclusions can better assist schol-
ars and practitioners about how to better utilize freelance services from firms such as Fiverr, found in the gig economy.

Keywords: Fiverr.com; Gig economy; Business case study; Freelancer; Global marketplace.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fiverr.com is a digital platform that offers freelance services posted by lean entrepreneurs. A service offered
by Fiverr is defined as a gig. The website Fiverr.com offers an enticing proposition to users — buy (or sell)
service for $5 a gig — operating on the notion that the seller has a talent that someone else needs. Fiverr is
a global marketplace where these suppliers and freelancers can make a deal. Fiverr.com enables freelancers
from anywhere in the world to connect. It enables workers to make money easily or find a service in need
from home. Micha Kaufman (2015), co-founder and CEO of Fiverr, stated as follows: “The platforms then
become the home of an individual’s personal brand and professional identity — a place to feature the most
experienced, professional, and creative talent.”
Fiverr.com users offer services such as graphics and design, digital marketing, writing and transla-
tion, video and animation, music and audio, programming and tech, business, and fun and style. These
categories bring global clients and freelancers together, decrease unemployment rate, and improve their
lives. Being a market leader in the freelance industry, Fiverr become a major player in transforming this
new freelance enterprise across the globe. This case study will show the gig economic situation through the
marketing analysis of Fiverr.

1.1.  Review of Literature

Who qualifies to enter the gig economy? Workers with specialized skills, deep expertise, or in-demand experi-
ence are the ones who win in this economy (Mulcahy, 2016). According to a study from the Metropolitan
Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, CNBC reported that “over the past 20 years, the number of gig

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282 Case Study

economy workers — those who operate as independent contractors, often through apps — has increased by
about 27 percent more than payroll employees” (Wells, 2016). With the blooming of gigs in recent years and
the growth of global freelance website such as Fiverr, this new economy must face essential issues of the
U.S. labor market. In a book of Sarah Kessler (2018) — Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work,
to be published on June 12, 2018 — there is a concern for freelancers who are working without the guaran-
tee of steady hours or benefits. In addition, Mulcahy (2017) showed the gig economy’s bad sides: “The Gig
Economy is an economy of work, but our labor policies only offer benefits and protections to employees
who work in traditional jobs” (p. 11). As Kotler and Keller (2012) stated, “If technology advances or competi-
tion increases in these substitute industries, prices and profits are likely to fall” (p. 232). Therefore, Marx
(2016) stated his opinion: “A world characterized by the gig economy does not sound like a better world, but
a far worse one, where distributed exploitation of workers is taken to a new extreme, and we all have to
suffer the consequences.” In a case study analysis of Fiverr, Stefano (2015) found the following:

The terms “work” or “workers” are very scarcely used in this context, and the very same catch-
phrase “gig-economy” epitomizes this, as the term is often used to indicate a sort of parallel
dimension in which labor protection and employment regulation are summed not to apply by
default. As already said, the practical consequences of concealing the “work” nature of these
activities and their human components are also potentially detrimental. (p. 8)

Thus, the advantages of freelance market platforms such as Fiverr.com offer significant benefits to talented
people worldwide. However, the growth of this gig economy should be monitored, managed, and controlled
systematically.
According to Goldstein (2018), the gig economy is smaller than it used to be, according to a new Labor
Department report released that chronicles the jobs market in the age of Uber. In May 2017, the Labor Depart-
ment counted 5.9 M million people, or 3.8% of workers, in contingent jobs, which are those that the workers
do not expect to last or that workers call temporary. This number is down from a high of 4.1% in 2005, the
last time the government reviewed the gig economy. According to Lobel (2016), “The Gig Economy is on the
rise, but it is neither the end of work-relations-as-we-know-them nor is it problem free” (p. 12).

2. METHOD(S)

This case study uses PESTLE analysis and Competitive analysis to identify all the various macroenviron-
ment factors as well as competitors’ SWOT analysis, which affects Fiverr in the gig economy scenario. In
this research, individuals analyze the real-world business with professional marketing tools. “These theor-
etical ‘tools’ can provide you with an ‘organizing principle’ which shapes the way that you write the case
study,” stated Courtney and Du (2015, p. 164). Thus, MBA students can visualize concepts from their studies
and apply critical thinking to draw a big picture of the current gig economy. There are opportunities for MBA
students to conduct research and understand the complexities of the current economic situation as it relates
to the gig economy. They can provide an independent opinion on the problem and present alternatives or
possible solutions (Kachru, 2005, p. 86). Therefore, the following sections present the factors that Fiverr
must meet, including the pros and cons of its performance.

2.1.  Organization Background

Fiverr was founded by Israeli entrepreneurs Shai Wininger and Micha Kaufman on February 1, 2010. One
month later, there were 5000 gigs on the website, and it had grown by an impressive 600% in transaction
volume at the beginning of 2011 (Pilon, 2010). As a result Fiverr was ranked among the top 100 most popular
sites in the United States and top 200 in the world since the beginning of 2013 (Wauters, 2012). In November
2015, Fiverr raised $60 M in a Series D round of funding, led by Square Peg Capital, and that brings the total
funding to date to $110 M (Kolodny, 2015). Fiverr is offering jobs for temporary work positions, and freelanc-
ers can work from a variety of workplaces, ranging from office to at home, from anywhere in the world.
However, recently, there are criticisms for Fiverr about unhealthy living and excesses in work behaviors
(Pershan, 2017). It is a hot issue for Fiverr, and for the gig economy in general.

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Table 1.  PESTLE Analysis.

P E S T L E
Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental

Innovations Gig economy Although Fiverr

The current Tax in technology workers face deals with
Social media
Bill decreases the could have the question of online users,
National usage has
amount of tax paid an impact on classification environmental
unemployment influenced and
to the government the operations as workers or impacts such as
levels increased encouraged the
from 35 to 20% of Fiverr. For independent flood, fire, and
the number of concept of the
by corporations. example, contractors. hurricane could
service providers sharing economy
This could result advances in Should “gig prevent a wide
using the app. and peer-to-peer
in an increase in online payments economy swath of users
purchasing.
profitability. may increase workers” have from accessing the
access to users. benefits? platform.

Alternative
If the Net Neutrality
income sources Users enjoy Fiverr has
bill is reversed, it Digitization of
for sharing value, quality, become a Liability shifts
may reduce the media such
economy and variety freelance from Fiverr to
number of available as books and
workers without having marketplace the gig worker if
users through periodicals review
would reduce to incur the cost expanding a service is not
reduction of access a reduction in
the number of long-term beyond the completed.
to adequate Internet manufacturing
of service investment. original concept.
service.
providers.

Platforms such Fewer people

Collaborative
Projected dip as Fiverr may driving to a job as
No access to consumption
in inflation can reduce the well as reduction
employer benefits did not exist on
put pressure number of IT in delivery of real
such as health and the scale it does
on pricing of professionals goods could result
life insurance. today due to the
services. employed in the reduction of
Internet.
full- time. vehicle emissions.

3. RESULTS

To master the management system, PESTLE must be utilized to bring a detailed analysis for a real-world
business. The PESTLE analysis shows several environment factors influencing how Fiverr.com operates in
the gig economy (see Table 1).
Political: Workers in the gig economy lack the benefits enjoyed by employed workers. For example,
they may not have access to health insurance, retirement plans, sick leave, or paid time off (Hogan, 2017).
Currently, there is a proposal for a tax bill that may help increase profitability of self-employed workers.
The proposal includes a reduction in corporate tax from 35 to 20%. This would result in increased prof-
itability for Individuals operating as a limited liability corporation (LLC) or sole proprietorship (S-Corp)
(Tankersley, Kaplan, & Rappeport, 2017). If the net neutrality bill is repealed, experts theorize that it will
result in unregulated up-charges for Internet access of adequate speed. The resulting impact could cause
reduction in access to Internet due to price increases and could impact the number of users both providing
and using the service. “Roger L. Kay, an independent technology analyst, predicted that larger bills — not
content blocking — would be the most likely result. If the big internet and media companies will have to
pay their carriers more for high-speed services, the expenses will trickle-down to households” (Lohr, 2017).
Sara Horowitz, founder of the Freelancer’s Union, believes there are no protections for freelance workers
in America. Sara is pushing for a bill in New York City to improve worker protections. “For people who are
feeling forced into this it can be difficult for them” (Gillespie, 2017).

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284 Case Study

Economic: The gig economy may be larger than anyone imagined. According to Intuit (INTU) CEO
Brad Smith, “The gig economy...is now estimated to be about 34% of the workforce and expected to be 43%
by the year 2020” (Gillespie, CNN Money, 2017). Surveys by Upwork, Freelancer’s union, and EIWA agree
that 35–36% of the labor force also engages in freelance work (Brainard, 2016). Unfortunately, 30% of these
workers would prefer a full-time job (Gillespie, CNN Money, 2017). There is speculation that gig workers are
forced into working freelance due to lack of good paying jobs elsewhere. According to the global consult-
ing firm McKinsey, “signs are growing along with the independent workforce. Nearly 20M gig workers do
the work because they can’t find better pay or jobs elsewhere” (Gillespie, CNN Money, 2017). Should these
workers find full-time jobs of adequate pay, it would cause a reduction in gig workers. A dip in the infla-
tion rate in 2018 could put pressure on pricing because the supply of goods and services is higher than the
demand (Statista, 2017).
Social: Typically, workers in lower paying jobs are supported by social norms regarding pay equity and
benefits. This helps to equalize opportunity and access for all workers, no matter their level. Unfortunately,
independent workers do not have access to these same traditional values, harming access to benefits and
fair wages (Brainard, 2016). Social media usage has influenced and encouraged the concept of the sharing
economy and peer-to-peer purchasing. Social media users have become accustomed to sharing ratings and
reviews on everything from local businesses to brands. A fundamental key in the sharing economy market-
place is ratings and reviews (Torben, 2013). Gig workers depend on positive reviews to drive more people
to use their services. One of the benefits to the sharing economy is that it enables users to take advantage
of value, quality, and variety without having to incur the cost of long-term investment in hiring an employee
or purchasing a piece of software to acquire the service needed. Platforms such as Fiverr may reduce the
number of IT professionals employed full time. Companies are opting to use a consultant versus paying
someone for full-time employment with benefits. According to Vize (n.d.), “High-end Tech specialists may
come with higher bill rates, but these bill rates are lower than those of full-time workers once fringe benefits,
overhead costs, and other hidden costs of full-time workers are taken into account.”
Technological: The Fiverr platform is designed to bring freelancers and clients together. Specifically,
it is a marketplace where digital technology service providers working in the gig economy create a pro-
fessional brand identity and conduct business (Kaufman, 2015). Fiverr owes its success to the fact that a
demand existed for small–medium businesses needing access to professional quality services at a lower
rate. According to Alexa.com, Fiverr has a global traffic rank of 412 and 39.76 M daily unique visitors per day.
Fiverr processed more than 25 M transactions on the platform as of since 2010 and has over a million service
providers. Sellers on the platform created 4.2 M gigs in the past 5 years (fiverr.com, 2015). Collaborative
consumption did not exist on the scale it does today due to the Internet. Ten years ago, it was unimaginable
to think that you could acquire goods and services from someone online. Now, there are platforms such as
Etsy, Fiverr, and others enabling just that. The concept of collaborative consumption has grown leaps and
bounds. “In 2014, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the global sharing economy has produced $15 billion
in total revenue and could produce up to $335 billion by 2025” (Duverge, 2016).
Legal: Gig economy workers face the question of classification as workers or independent contract-
ors. In fact, the topic of worker classification has been a point of contention for those in the gig economy.
There are questions as to whether they are employees or independent contractors. There is controversy
over whether they desire this status or if it is abused. There is a mandate to push for more portable benefits
so nontraditional workers can have comparable benefits to traditional employees. Freedom to organize and
collectively bargain (Oyer, 2017). Liability shifts from Fiverr to the gig worker if a service is not completed.
Given the legal ramifications, gig workers are increasingly taking more risks including their own personal
health and finances with work operations outside of their controls (Lobel, 2016).
Environmental: Although Fiverr deals with online users, environmental impacts such as flood, fire,
and hurricane could prevent a wide swath of users from accessing the platform. Oracle reports that storm
impacted areas “experienced significant availability issues due to the high winds, excessive rain, and other
havoc wreaked by these recent hurricanes. This was especially the case among some of the hardest hit
Caribbean islands, although networks in Florida and Texas were impacted as well” (Belson, 2017). Digitiza-
tion of media such as books and periodicals contribute to a reduction in manufacturing. A benefit to this
is that more people have access (fewer barriers to acquisition) and can consume more information. Even
more significantly, digitization changes the locations where costs are incurred so that they are no longer

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Table 2.  Competitive Analysis.

Critical elements Fiverr Freelancer (competitor) Upwork (competitor)

Product selling Freelance platform Freelance platform Freelance platform

Customers have many ways Customers have options to Customers get

Value to customers
to fulfill their needs select specific needs professional services

Positioning market Top Middle Top

Marketing mix
Variety of services Variety of services Variety of services
Product
$5 start $3 $500
Price
Online Online Online
Place
Ads and freelancer Ads and employee Ads and designer
Promotion

The company is considered The company is considered

The company is also
as a leader in the freelance as one of the industry leaders
Overall impressions considered as a leader in
due to its low-cost strategy, but not the best in budget
in a market the freelance field due to
and offers a large choice of management. Otherwise, they
its professionalism.
services remain a strong competitor

Table 3.  SWOT Analysis.

Fiverr.com Freelancer (competitor) Upwork.com (competitor)

Accessible (online), affordable,

Online, many services,
networking, service variety, Online, services closely
Strengths freelancer can leave reviews of
simple to use, convenient for related to your skills
those who hire them
buyers

Competitive market, hard for new Technological problem on the Only 10% of freelancers
Weaknesses business, commission charge, website, freelancer support on the site are really
scams, entry of competition not helpful experts

People can start their own People can start their own People can start their own
Opportunities business, creativity, easy business, creativity, easy business, creativity, easy
promotion, entrepreneur promotion, entrepreneur promotion, entrepreneur

New competitors offering a better New competitors offering a New competitors offering
Threats
same service, Amazon, eBay better same service a better same service

associated with the distribution platform and are invested primarily in content production itself (Yaseen,
2014).
To run a business and avoid bad decision making, companies need to analyze their environment. This
analysis implied using marketing analysis tools such as SWOT to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of
the company. It also helps to identify possible threats and opportunities the business might encounter due
to external factors such as direct competitors. Considering to perform this first step will help companies to
elaborate a good marketing strategy, which they will look to run their business.
Operating in the gig economy, Fiverr.com provides an environment in which temporary positions are
common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements. A comparison
of Fiverr to two other competitors, Freelancer and Upwork, reveals both similarities and differences (see
Tables 2 and 3).
Fiverr is the ultimate microjobs platform on the Internet. It is a place where millions of buyers and
sellers meet and exchange services, products, goods, and whatever else you could imagine for $5. Because

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286 Case Study

of this low-cost strategy, Fiverr.com allows entrepreneurs to access a space where they can afford services
such as logo design, writing and translation, video animation, and infographics. As strengths, Fiverr has an
experimented business unit that allows them to reduced labor costs. The gig economy where Fiverr evolves
is a market with low barriers. This particularity is a strength for high profitability and revenue. As a weak-
ness, Fiverr does charge a commission to sellers who seek a service. A 20% commission is charged on every
order. Generally, people use those platforms to earn money. However, by taking huge commission, Fiverr
leaves a negative impact on the purse of the sellers.
Freelancer.com is one of the world’s largest outsourcing marketplaces. In business since 2004, the
company claims to be the world’s largest outsourcing marketplace, with 4.5 M projects posted and nearly
8 M verified users. Freelancer.com focuses on many different fields, including web and software develop-
ment, design, writing, marketing, data entry, and according to the company, “anything else you could think
of, all for the fraction of the cost.” However, even if Freelancer offers the highest numbers of online jobs
on the market, there are some noticeable weaknesses in Freelancer.com. One of this weakness is how the
website struggle with its interface. Indeed, users have complained of lengthy payment delays. In addition,
their customer service faces a bad reputation for being slow to offer assistance. Nevertheless, Freelance.
com remains a robust freelancer search. Job posting in Freelancer.com is free.
Upwork.com was officially established in 2015 after the merge of Elance and oDesk in December 2013.
Today, Upwork is considered as one of the most popular freelance platforms that connects a database of
millions of freelance professionals with jobs from around the world. This global platform represents a sig-
nificant opportunity for independent contractors who are looking for a job, and for companies or individuals
who are looking for talented freelancers. As a strength, Upwork offers $0 fees when you are signing up.
With a smooth website to navigate in, Upwork offers to its members the freedom to work when they want,
and from where they want. One particularity of this website is proficiency. In contrast, the business’ major
weakness is 10% of the seller’s total earnings per job that they take and the endless time it takes to set up
your profile (Carboni, 2016). Overall, Upwork is an excellent value for most buyers.

4.  STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

Flexible jobs mean different things to different people, but they can include the following: working remotely
from home, working nonstandard hours, job sharing, contract and freelance work, part-time and temporary
jobs, self-employment, and the newly prominent gig jobs (Smykal, 2016). The technological era has caused
a major shift in all aspects of life, including the way we work. As such, online consumer-driven services, free
communication channels, and globalized networks have created a more prominent space than ever before
for outsourcing, contracting, tempting, and freelancing. According to Laudon and Laudon (2017), the case of
study analysis in this process involved selecting the best course of action and providing a detailed explanation
of the recommended solutions. This research produced several strategic implications in this academic article.

4.1.  The Stakes for Fiverr in This New Environment

The current market environment presents significant business opportunities for the organization. Similar to
Fivver.com, many competitors are available in the marketplace, and they are offering better prices or bet-
ter services. The SWOT Analysis of Fiverr provides a deep understanding of the competitors. As a company
offering services, one of the big challenge is to attract clients. Without price regulation in this field, the door
is open for any competitors to lower its prices to grab new customers. Our on-demand culture is chang-
ing how people want to earn a living (Dunning, 2017). The freedom of being able to make our own choices
on how, where, and for whom we want to work is a huge benefit for the gig worker. Although the change
in technology impacts the industry, Fiverr should take advantage of all opportunities such as creating new
products and services, and new technologies at a reasonable cost.

5. CONCLUSION

Given the fierce competition from all industry, businesses are looking for advantages. If senior managers
understand the value of navigating in the gig economy, they have a good chance for sustainable success.

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According to Torpey and Hogan (2016), gigs are more likely to be found in some occupations versus others
because work that requires a single task, like writing a business plan, is probably a better fit to this type of
work. Furthermore, any occupation in which workers may be employed for on-demand jobs has the poten-
tial to be a gig employment arrangement.
This case study exposes issues that Fiverr must face within this economy. The hottest point is freelanc-
ers’ health benefits compared with traditional nine-to-five employees. Although the gig economy reduces
the environmental problems that are analyzed in PESTLE, its main problem is about humanity. The strategy
of Fiverr is the low cost that became one of its weaknesses compared with professional competitors such
as Upwork. There are potential solutions to help Fiverr solving these problems after we accomplished this
case study. Fiverr should create a new system in freelancers’ benefits management. In the current scenario
of this issue, focusing on freelancers’ benefits can impress the global online market. Otherwise, selection of
expert gigs should be considered. This solution helps to reduce a significant number of scams or unskillful
gigs. It does not only increase the quality of works, it also gains the trust between clients and freelancers.
To perform the reform in management is a long-run plan that Fiverr must fully consider by itself. As these
solutions are solved in smart ways, Fiverr and the other global online markets can continue their business
without any criticism in the gig economy. This case study is a detailed analysis of Fiverr; then, it suggests
some possible solutions for their vital problems recently.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Dr. Daryl D. Green is an assistant professor in the College of Business at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is a
former US Department of Energy program manager with over 25 years of professional management experi-
ence. He is a nationally syndicated columnist, where he writes in the areas of leadership, decision making,
and culture. He has a doctoral degree in Strategic Leadership from Regent University.
Dr. Jack McCann currently serves an appointment with Union College at Barbourville, KY, as associate pro-
fessor in marketing and business. He teaches courses in management, marketing, and strategy. Prior to
joining Union College in August of 2018, he was the dean of the School of Business at Lincoln Memorial
University in Harrogate, TN, from 2008 to 2014, and associate professor of management and marketing at
Tusculum University. He has over 25 years of management experience. He has an active publishing record
in leadership, management, marketing, emerging markets, and strategy. He earned the PhD in organization
and management with a specialization in leadership from Capella University.
Nancy Lopez is an MBA student at Oklahoma Baptist University in international business. She received her
BA in business marketing from Florida Institute of Technology. She has been employed as a manager of inter-
national partnerships for the last 6 years and has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and advertising.
Samuel Ouattara is an MBA Student at Oklahoma Baptist University.
Thao Vu is an MBA student in project management at Oklahoma Baptist University. She is also working as a
professional graphic designer with almost four years’ experience in marketing and advertising.

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