Foodies, take note! Next time you visit us use code xxx to get Rs 200 straight discount on your favorite dish. Such promotional messages may soon be arriving in your inbox as food delivery giant Zomato has decided to start sharing customer data with restaurants, ending a years-long battle with the restaurant industry. The issue has already caused a storm, with politicians and marketing gurus raising concerns about data privacy and the potential misuse of customer information.
Zomato is in talks with the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), an umbrella body of over 5,00,000 restaurants, to start sharing customer data with eateries. A report in Business Today says that similar talks are going on with Zomato’s competitor Swiggy.
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What will Zomato do?
Currently, food delivery platforms hide customer data, which means restaurants don’t have access to your phone number and other personal details. This issue has been the center of conflict between aggregators and restaurants for many years. As a pilot, Zomato has started sending pop-ups to customers asking for permission to share their phone number with restaurants for marketing and promotional messages. However, once shared, the user cannot take the information back. The text reads, “I give restaurants permission to contact me for promotional activities.”
Will this move of Zomato cause trouble? Before knowing about this in depth, let us understand what happened till now.
Currently, those ordering from the Zomato or Swiggy apps have the option to directly call or message the restaurant to make any necessary changes to their meal. However, restaurants can’t contact customers directly because food platforms don’t share phone numbers.
These platforms only share certain macro-level data with restaurants, such as the number of people ordering within a certain radius, but not specific customer details.
What do restaurants want?
This left a sour taste in the mouths of the restaurants. NRAI had earlier filed a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Zomato and Swiggy for “anti-competitive practices”. The restaurant body also reported cases of deep discounts and huge commissions by food aggregators, which in some cases went up to 35%.
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In fact, the advent of food delivery platforms like Zomato and their widespread adoption, where one can order their favorite biryani or paneer tikka from the comfort of their home, has been the biggest disruption in the restaurant sector. And this is only going to increase, with reports estimating growth of 18% year-on-year.
The main complaint of restaurants has been that due to hiding data they were not able to connect directly with customers. By sharing important details, they will be able to better understand consumption patterns and personalize for customers. With this, restaurants will also be able to channel their marketing costs properly.
For example, restaurants can call users directly if there’s an issue with a food order or if they want to confirm a choice.
Zomato in trouble
However, the issue has sparked controversy over privacy, with social media users saying it will lead to spam messages. Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora and Standing Committee on Information Technology member Priyanka Chaturvedi have strongly opposed this move.
Shiv Sena’s Deora tweeted, “So, Zomato and Swiggy are planning to share customers’ mobile numbers with restaurants. This poses privacy risks and opens the door for more spam in the name of better service. We need clear, unambiguous opt-in guidelines as per the new DPDP rules, so that consumers’ data is respected.”
Earlier this week, the government notified the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) rules, which govern how one’s personal data can be collected, processed, stored and deleted.
Priyanka Chaturvedi warned that such unilateral steps would lead to scrutiny by Parliament. The Shiv Sena (UBT) MP said, “Zomato may think this is an effort for transparency, but for a customer, this is a violation of data privacy. If Zomato and the apps unilaterally adopt such a stance, then as a member of the Standing Committee on IT, I would request them to look into the violation of data privacy laws.”
Marketing expert and businessman Suhail Seth said such a move is “completely unacceptable”. Seth said, “I hope the government will not allow this at all. After this, they will share our eating habits with everyone!”
Amid this controversy, Zomato CEO Aditya Mangala has tried to allay concerns. “If and when approval is granted, only the phone number will be shared with the restaurant. No other information will be shared,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
News Source- India Today website- Information
