Subscription Economy

The research project "Consumer Resilience in the Subscription Economy" (VerSE) is dedicated to the interdisciplinary question of which instruments and processes can be used to strengthen the resilience of consumers to new risks of the so-called "subscription economy" from a legal and political science perspective. The project is jointly led by Prof. Dr.  Christoph Busch (Osnabrück University) and Prof. Dr.  Kathrin Loer (Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences) and funded by the  Federal Ministry for  the Environment and Consumer Protection (BMUV).

The starting point is the observation that companies across all sectors are increasingly resorting to business models in which a one-off exchange of services ("one-off purchase") is replaced by time-based contracts and continuing obligations ("subscription"). While subscription contracts are not a completely new phenomenon in themselves, the current trend towards a subscription economy differs from previous developments in terms of quantity and quality. What is new in particular is the possibility of collecting comprehensive data on user behaviour as part of digital subscription models and using this to personalize offers. Also new are the possibilities for manipulation that are difficult to recognize in the context of digital contractual relationships, for example through so-called "dark patterns", which trigger the need for regulatory action.

This research project is the first to systematically examine the consumer policy field of action of the subscription economy from an interdisciplinary perspective by looking at legal and political science aspects together. It analyzes how the risks to consumers are changing as a result of the trend towards subscription models and how consumer policy in Germany and the USA is reacting to this. It also examines which new consumer policy instruments can be used to strengthen the resilience of consumers to the specific risks of the subscription economy. Both legal instruments ("consumer enabling laws") and technological instruments ("consumer enabling technologies") are included.

Project duration: 24 months (02/2022-01/2024)

Events:

Project workshop "Consumer resilience in the subscription economy: political science and legal perspectives", European Legal Studies Institute, 13-14.10.2022  Program (PDF, 237 kB)

Project workshop "In the jungle of subscriptions", Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, 13-14.12.2023

Publications:

C. Busch, Updating EU Consumer Law for the Digital Subscription Economy, 11 Journal of European Consumer and Market Law 41-42 (2022)  PDF (PDF, 162 kB)

C. Busch, Pay to Play: Social Media Meets the Subscription Economy,  VerfBlog 23 May 2023, Open Access

C. Busch, Pay to Play: Social Media Meets the Subscription Economy, in: C. Goanta et al (eds.) Radical Reforms: Bringing Fairness to Social Media Contracts, 2023,  Open Access

C. Busch & Christian Twigg-Flesner: A Roadmap for Regulating Subscriptions, Journal of European Consumer and Market Law 2024, 234-241,  SSRN

C. Busch & K. Loer, Consumer Resilience in the Subscription Economy, Practical Handbook, 2025,  Open Access (PDF, 7.89 MB)