Food delivery giant Zomato is set to share customer data with its restaurant partners, a move that could resolve a decade-long dispute with the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI). This decision, which hinges on mandatory user consent, signals a major shift that competitor platforms are expected to follow.
For nearly ten years, restaurants have accused food delivery apps of data masking, preventing them from understanding their patrons’ ordering habits and preferences. This denied access has made it difficult for eateries to market effectively and build direct customer relationships.
The New Consent-Based System
Zomato has already begun testing a new feature that tackles the primary customer concern: privacy and spam.
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What will be shared? Customer details, including phone numbers, will be shared with restaurants for marketing and promotional messages.
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The condition: Restaurants will receive this information only if the user explicitly agrees to share their details during the ordering process.
Why Restaurants Are Pushing for Access
The restaurant industry views direct customer data as essential for their business survival and growth. Access allows them to:
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Optimize Marketing: Understand who orders, how often, and what kind of food they prefer, allowing them to spend marketing money more strategically.
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Build Loyalty: Create a direct, long-term relationship with patrons, independent of the aggregator platform.
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Fix Issues: Enable restaurants to contact customers directly if there is a problem with an order or a need for clarification, bypassing the app entirely.
Privacy Concerns and Industry Pressure
Past attempts by food aggregators to share data met with significant negative feedback from users worried about spam and misuse of personal information. This time, Zomato and the NRAI (which represents half a million restaurants) state the data sharing will have clear limitations and will be strictly driven by user consent, according to The Economic Times.
The NRAI’s long-standing concerns with aggregators also include rising commission rates, which restaurants claim have soared from a range of 5-7% to nearly 35%, in addition to issues like deep discounting.
The Industry Trend
Zomato is not moving alone:
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Rapido’s new food delivery service, Ownly, has already signed an agreement with the NRAI to share customer data with partner restaurants.
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The NRAI has also confirmed similar discussions are underway with Swiggy, suggesting this model is likely to become an industry standard across major platforms.
Market Context
This development comes as the online food delivery market continues its massive growth trajectory. According to Statista projections:
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Revenue in the market is set to reach $54.97 billion in 2025.
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The market volume is projected to grow to $102.43 billion by 2030 (a CAGR of 13.26%).
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The number of users in the meal delivery market is expected to reach 363.4 million by 2030.
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