I am Professor of Electronic Commerce at Goethe University Frankfurt, where I have held Germany's first Chair of Electronic Commerce since 1999. My research examines how digital technologies reshape markets, firms, and consumer behavior. By combining rigorous empirical methods with close collaboration with industry, I seek to address research questions that are both scientifically important and highly relevant to practice.

Much of my team’s and my work focuses on digital marketing, online platforms, marketing analytics, and artificial intelligence. For example, in my ERC Advanced Grant, we have studied the use of personal data in online advertising and its implications for consumers, firms, and public policy. In a project funded by the German Research Foundation (“DFG”), we developed a method to identify self-preferencing on the Amazon Marketplace, contributing to the debate on fair competition in digital platform markets. More recently, we published one of the first articles on Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. Another long-standing research interest focuses on customer lifetime value, including how to measure it, increase it, and link it to firm valuation.

My research has appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Marketing Science. In 2025, I received the EMAC Distinguished Marketing Scholar Award, the European Marketing Academy's highest honor. In 2023, I was elected to the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina —one of only two scholars from business administration to receive this distinction. Earlier, in 2018, I was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for the project, "Economic Consequences of Restrictions on the Usage of Cookies."

Developing young researchers is one of the most rewarding aspects of my academic career. Nineteen of my former doctoral students, including six women, have become professors at leading universities in Europe and the United States, among them London Business School, Indiana University (Bloomington), Santa Clara University, LMU Munich, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, and ESADE Business School. Fourteen currently hold tenured positions. In recognition of my commitment to doctoral education, Goethe University Frankfurt awarded me the 2023 Award for Excellence in Doctoral Supervision.

I also serve on the executive boards of the efl – The Data Science Institute, the Schmalenbach Society for Business Administration, and the European Marketing Academy (EMAC).

Before entering academia, I worked as a software developer at SAP, where I programmed in Assembly language and later developed one of the company's first interactive applications in ABAP. This experience sparked my enduring interest in the intersection of information systems and marketing. It also inspired me to co-found Marini Systems. This company develops AI-powered integration and automation solutions (iPaaS) to help organizations connect data and applications and automate business processes.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and our three grown children. I share a passion for skiing with my daughters, chess with my son and cycling with my wife.