Market studies

Researching consumer markets

Market studies investigate issues that have an impact on the functioning of the market for consumers such as choice, quality, safety, health, sustainability, prices and information, as well as consumer understanding, behaviour and decision making. Study findings can then be used to inform policy-making.

Recent studies

Study on the provision of information to consumers about the processing of vehicle-generated data (2023)

The report highlights that consumers often lack knowledge of the collection and processing of their personal data by connected vehicles: only 38% are aware that these vehicles collect data and even fewer understand how it is used (31%).

Study on the compliance of the car rental intermediaries online services (2021)

The aim of the study on the compliance of the car rental intermediaries online services with the requirements of the EU legislation was to check if the main car rental intermediaries used by European consumers comply with EU consumer protection legislation.

The study covered intermediary websites in the EU as well as in Iceland, Norway and the UK.

The study had three specific objectives:

1. to depict a comprehensive landscape of the main car rental intermediary websites that target EU-consumers;
2. to map the relationship between car rental intermediaries and airlines and main booking platforms and, if possible, provide more information on this relationship;
3. to check the compliance of the websites found under objective 1 with EU consumer protection legislation, including a check of the Terms and Conditions of the websites in different EU languages.

The findings of the study were used to draw conclusions on the degree of compliance and the resulting risks for European consumers, as well as to develop a set of recommendations that can help leading to sector-wide compliance with the legislative framework. These recommendations expand on earlier commitments made by car rental companies to intermediaries to achieve a common standard.

Overall, the study identified 547 car rental intermediary websites operating in Europe. This number includes dedicated car rental intermediaries, offering only car rental services, but also airlines and general booking sites. More than half of the websites (56%) have a national scope while 16% have a regional scope and 28% have an international scope.

Among these websites, the study identified four different types of business models: (1) booking intermediaries, that conduct the booking themselves;  (2) comparison intermediaries, that redirect for the booking to another website; (3) hybrids, that combine elements of booking and comparison intermediaries; and (4) embedment/partnership models, that outsource the car rental services to a third party embedded within their website.

The compliance check carried out in a mystery shopping exercises found a variety of issues at a number of websites. Please consult the final report or the executive summary for further information on these various compliance issues.

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Read the final report

Consumer market study on the functioning of the real estate services (2018)

The real estate services market is underperforming for EU consumers, as stated by the Consumer Scoreboard. The sector is complex, with numerous parties involved, information asymmetries and deeply rooted traditions.

The study analysed how real estate market works for the consumers in all Member States. To this aim, the study used a range of tools, including regulatory review, consultation with stakeholders, a consumer survey, mystery shopping, and behavioural experiments to ensure robust findings.

Among its main results, the study provides information about:

• how conveyancing/renting and real estate agents are regulated in the different Member States,
• how consumers understand and can compare the information about the real estate offers,
• the role of the real estate agents,
• corresponding fees and other costs related to the acquisition of the real estate,
• a list of the major problems consumers face in the purchasing journey and, finally,
• what mechanisms exist to address and resolve these problems.

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See the full report