Price Increases from Online Privacy

Consumers value keeping some information about them private from potential marketers. E-commerce dramatically increases the potential for marketers to accumulate otherwise private information about potential customers. Online marketers claim that this information enables them to better market their products. Policy makers are currently drafting rules to regulate the way in which these marketers can collect, store, and share this information. However, there is little evidence yet either of consumers’ valuation of their privacy or of the benefits they might reap through better target marketing. We provide a framework for measuring a portion of the benefits from allowing marketers to make better use of consumer information. Target marketing is likely to reduce consumer search costs, improve consumer product selection decisions, and lower the marketing costs of goods sold. Our model allows us to estimate the value to consumers of only the latter, price reductions from more efficient marketing.