5.1.1 Data collected by marketplaces and price comparison tools
The questionnaires addressed to marketplaces and price comparison tools gathered some information about the collection and use of such data.
Whereas all marketplaces participating in the sector inquiry report collecting individual customer data, 77 % of the price comparison tool providers do so.
Marketplaces collect a wide range of different data such as location; product, price, purchasing and browsing history; frequency of visits; the devices and payment methods used.
Besides the data listed above, marketplaces also collect personal identification data (such as name, mother's name, age), contact details (including physical and mail address, phone number), electronic identification data (such as device ID’s), customer profile data (preferences, habits, chats, languages, interests, profiles), financial information (including billing, bank account number, and payments system data) and feedback data.
Price comparison tools also collect different types of data, most typically concerning the device used by the customer.
Figure B. : Proportion of price comparison tools collecting each type of data336
Besides the data listed above, few of the respondent price comparison tools also collect personal identification data and contact details about different categories of customers, (such as registered and past customers, customers from trusted reviews programme) as well as electronic identification data. Some also explain to collect anonymised data, not connected to individuals. Price comparison tools also collect and use third party analytics data (such as keywords, traffic sources, operating systems, browsers and devices used).
Marketplaces and price comparison tools use part of the collected data to invoice retailers. As some respondents explain, they distinguish via the collected data the human clicks from software (internet bot) ones. Some price comparison tools explain that they charge different prices for clicks from foreign and from domestic IP addresses. A few explain that they also charge different prices for clicks from mobile and desktop devices due to different conversion rates. Some identify repeated clicks (within a short timeframe) from the same IP, so as to avoid charging the seller inadequately.
Marketplaces and price comparison tools use part of the collected data to improve customer experience. For instance browsing history allows for customers to see the products visited earlier. Displays may also be adapted to device types. For instance when browsing from smartphone, some price comparison tools only expose merchants who provide a smartphone-optimised experience.
They also use the collected data to assess and improve business performance. With the help of the collected data they analyse customer behaviour and demand (such as the number of unique and frequent customers, the reaction to promotions), to prioritise features that may be more popular in a certain geolocation; optimise product listings and displays (as search algorithm "learns" from past history); improve marketing activity (for instance to display personalised banners); and develop the service provided as well as their website.
Finally, they also use the data for security and fraud prevention and to comply with legal and accounting obligations.
Roughly half of the marketplaces share some data with their professional sellers whose products were visited or purchased. Those marketplaces that do so typically provide the data necessary to process the transaction and their own individual sales data and analytics. Roughly one-quarter of price comparison tools reported to share data (typically click data and information on the devices used) with the sellers whose products were visited.
Marketplaces and price comparison tools typically do not sell data to third parties. The few that do so sell them to research companies and advertisers.
One-third of the marketplaces and few price comparison tools report to purchase data from third parties. If they do so, they purchase from entities which offer credit check and identity check services; anonymous and aggregated data from market research companies and institutions; media companies; and also personal identification data from marketing companies.
Retailers also collect data for other than geo-blocking purposes (as discussed in more detail in section B.4.3.2.5 Geo-blocking measures). They report to gather a considerable amount of both personal data (linked to the individual customers)337 and "big data" (for instance click) data. The most typical data collected are: the customers' physical address (in particular post code), real location (e.g. GPS coordinates, Wlan-data, IP address) delivery address, billing address, email address, phone number; name, birth date, gender, language, credit card and banking data, customer communication, PC information, the browser used, and data on visit- search- and purchase history.
The purpose of the data gathering is diverse. For obvious reasons the same information can be used for different purposes. For instance the billing address might be used for both communicating the bill to the customer and to send him newsletters). The most typical purposes mentioned are the following: completion of delivery and managing delivery-relating communication; executing the payment transaction; fulfilling after-sales services; payment verification and fraud prevention; bots’ fraud screening; preventing website hacking; managing customer relations; marketing; carrying out performance analytics; compliance with different laws in the Member States (for instance to comply with different VAT-rates or consumer protection laws). Personalised pricing by retailers based on data collected on online behaviour of individuals is at this stage rare (reported by 2 % of respondent retailers).
