'Zomato developing feature to share customers' phone numbers with restaurants upon consent': CEO

In a post on LinkedIn, CEO Aditya Mangla shared specifying that once shared, their contact information cannot be withdrawn and by consenting, the customer agrees to the T&C and Privacy Policy.

New Delhi: Zomato is in early stages of launching a feature whereby customers' phone numbers will be shared with its restaurant partners after obtaining their consent, CEO Aditya Mangla said on Thursday, a move which responds to the restaurant industry's long standing demand.

In a post on LinkedIn, he shared that under the new feature being rolled out, a pop up will appear after customers place orders via the app, asking them to choose if they wish to share their phone number with the restaurants they order from, to receive offers directly from them. It specifies that once shared, this information cannot be withdrawn and by consenting, the customer agrees to the T&C and Privacy Policy.

"We at Zomato are in the early stages of launching a feature on the app which gives customers the option to opt-in to receive marketing and promotional updates directly from restaurants. If and when consent is provided - only phone number will be shared with the restaurant. No other information will be shared," Mangla said.

Swiggy too, is in discussions with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) regarding the sharing of customer data, people in the know said.

While NRAI did not share comments for the story, the restaurant association has been demanding customer data from food delivery aggregators consistently in the past.

Anshoo Sharma, CEO & Co-founder at magicpin, the third-largest food delivery player, told PTI: "Being part of ONDC, we do share customer data with our merchant partners, in line with industry protocols and customer's privacy standards. Merchants already have access to comprehensive dashboards that offer insights on new customers, competitive comparisons, rankings and detailed performance charts - tools many partners find intuitive and motivating. Any data sharing on our platform is governed by established protocols with user trust and privacy at the core."