What can auctions and stamp collectors teach us in times of ubiquitous data monetization?

Each of us collected something as a child. Postage stamps, athlete cards, postcards or model kits. A great passion that develops in a child's mind drives the desire for knowledge about the subject of our collections. Not only do we get to know the intricacies of sports teams, who had a match with whom and when, but also who scored how many goals or had the best result of the season. The uniqueness of collector's cards makes some more desirable than others. Their aesthetic value, tied to the history of sports icons, makes them sought-after and valuable goods. Even collecting postage stamps or widely available banknotes brings great joy. But the question is, what makes a collection valuable? The answer is very simple: its completeness and the quality of the exhibits. The value of the collection grows with its completeness. Two complete card collections from a given season differ in value due to the quality of individual exhibits. This regularity was noticed in the last century. Numerous businesses specializing in issuing collectible treasures and having partnership agreements with sports club leagues were established. Postal services around the world and mints, by issuing collectible coins or postage stamps for collectors, also noticed business opportunities in collectors. Their value always had a nominal and collector's value, often differing by several orders of magnitude. But here too, the quality and completeness of the collection are most important. Rare exhibits (often unique in the world, which is typical for works of art) appear at auctions worldwide. Their value is assessed by experts based on many factors which, however, boil down to a simple rule – something is worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. For a collector, who lacks just this one item, it will probably be worth much more than for someone who is just starting their adventure. This truth is the basis of valuation.

A similar phenomenon occurs in the digital world. Companies and their clients are creating more and more data. It turns out that for some time now, more and more specialized institutions are emerging that follow the path of collectors. These companies (most of them coming from the telecommunications market) aggregate and sell data. They saw potential in the fact that having good-quality data and a complete collection constitutes value. Exactly as in the case of collecting postage stamps. The price for providing this data may be standardized (e.g., a credit report, or weather forecast) or depends on the specifics of the aggregate that must be prepared and the data set that must be used to prepare such a query. As for the idea of this type of marketplace (data marketplace), they are nothing new and also operate on the principle of "willingness to pay" or a minimum price.

And we would probably end this story about the possibility of data monetization and constantly emerging data providers and marketplaces here. In the not-too-distant future, there will probably be many more of them because generative AI becomes a wonderful tool for converting data into information and knowledge. Companies, having their own operational data and collecting it, see an easy opportunity to earn on them simply by changing their form. It's like selling eggs and flour separately. By putting in a bit of work and knowing the recipe, you can turn this into a cake and sell it for a much higher price. And most importantly, in a repeatable way, as a new business model.

So what is another possibility? And here again, a certain business model known to us all comes to mind. We remember how in the '80s or '90s in front of stadiums where concerts or matches were held, there were ticket sellers, offering them for several times their nominal price. There are probably still such places. Nevertheless, this business has almost completely been replaced by websites where you can buy tickets for all events in a given city. Sophisticated revenue management models optimize the price depending on demand and availability, and high service commissions make it a great business. What makes it profitable? Namely, its nature – real-time mode. The platform owner must have information about demand, supply, events, and weather predictions, for example, to optimally manage the price (and sometimes availability or apparent unavailability). This platform model is a wonderful example of data monetization. But what phenomenon is key to success here? This mechanism is the dynamic asymmetry of information. The phenomenon of information asymmetry has been known in economics for a long time. It can have negative or positive connotations. However, in the case of digital business models, it is the basic "engine" for making money. It is easy to check whether a startup will be doomed to failure or has a chance of success by only checking whether and how many levers of dynamic asymmetry of information it possesses. Thanks to the mechanism of dynamic asymmetry of information, the platform owner makes decisions about connecting the buyer with the seller or launching specific actions. An example would be the order of display of products on a sales platform depending on how much the seller paid for the "position". Sound familiar? But the real magic is on the other side, the advertisement seller knows exactly how much to ask for such a position. So de facto knows dynamically how much that information is worth at any given moment. What's more, all of this happens automatically and is admittedly controlled by very basic, but still artificial intelligence.

Dynamic asymmetry of information based on artificial intelligence and operating very quickly (basically imperceptibly to human decision speed) poses a very large threat in the ethical, social, and economic scope. Improperly or unethically used, it manipulates the customer, supplier, and sometimes also the platform owner. But that's a topic for another article.