For years, privacy has been one of the most highlighted concerns of consumers. The publishers were getting away with their stalking behavior in the past but after the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) got approved by the EU in 2016, it provided users with the basic rights of their data protection. The Implication of GDPR aimed to increase the satisfaction level of the users by giving them control over their personal information. Some people believe that it has improved the performance level of digital marketing. But according to the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA), it has caused a drastic impact on both advertisers and users.
GDPR has brought a positive change in terms of privacy rights that it gives to users online. On the other hand, it has caused distress among the marketers and businessmen in the online ecosystem. They cannot push their ads anymore based on the search history and interest of their consumers. They are liable to provide their consumers with their data transparency. The consumers are supposed to be informed of how their contact numbers, email Ids, locations, etc are being used. Moreover, it is not just advertisers that are being affected but the user experience has also been shaken because of the unforeseen circumstances and consequences. The consumers are no longer able to enjoy the relevant advertising which further affects their purchasing behavior.
The other major revelation is that small-sized businesses are facing significant losses because of GDPR. One of the reasons for that is that they cannot compete with large-sized businesses because of the lack of resources and their limited access. Moreover, GDPR has certain requirements as well that every company or business needs to fulfill. So, a lot of businesses are planning to collaborate with third parties or technology firms that can offer them resources to tackle the current situation effectively.
According to the study, the increase in market concentration is reported to be 17% just after a week. Most of the websites have decided to not work with smaller businesses. This way, the small-size online stores, and vendors are facing more challenges because of being dependent on other sources for consumer data.
When you look at the bigger picture, the economic growth of the UK is also being slowed down because the small to medium-sized enterprises were contributing more to the economy than large-sized ones.
Subsequently, the companies or brands are now deciding to launch subscription products to compensate for the loss of their revenues. The consumers had free access to multiple products and services which they have denied to protect their data and privacy. Now, they will have to pay higher prices for the same products and services as they were being funded by the display advertisements before. This way, the online world is turning entirely into a different sphere where the consumers will be paying more. According to the study from Vox, the users would have to pay C$44 every month if the internet becomes ad and cookies-free.
Since organizations outside the EU are paying a huge cost because of GDPR, they have decided to not accommodate the users from the EU. They have blocked their access to multiple sites as they consider that it is not worth their money or efforts. The investment and trade of the EU are also going through drastic changes. The requirements of GDPR to transfer data across the border are so strict that most of the organizations are planning to stop offering their services to the EU.
More than 400 European businesses are experiencing significant budget cuts. They are putting in more effort to introduce creative and innovative products in the market to overcome the growth level. Those who are not willing to make any changes according to the current situation would get knocked down by their competitors sooner or later.
It’s a sad reality that the negative changes caused by GDPR are more visible than positive ones. For instance, the consumers have only noticed the difference in the cookie sites as the purpose of these cookies is to send the personal data of the consumer to the common pool where anybody can bid on that to target the customers using multiple ads. But now, these cookie sites ask for the permission of the consumers first before forwarding their data to a third party. So, the advertisers are forced to fetch data through some other source. Other than that, there is nothing that has proved to be obvious or beneficial for the consumers. They are paying a huge cost as the user experience is not as pleasant as it used to be before. In the end, it is not clear even after the GDPR how the consumer data is being collected and used.