Google, Zappos Labs, Foursquare and taxi-hailing app Uber talked about the trade-off of consumer data in exchange for better customer experiences during PSFK’s Future of Retail forum Thursday along the San Francisco marina.
Uber’s data evangelist, Bradley Voytek, kicked off the exchange with an anecdote about how when he started at Uber, the average wait for pick-up in San Francisco was 15 minutes. That wait time has since dropped to two minutes, which he credits to relational data that drives Uber’s algorithms.
By harnessing huge volumes of data, Uber is able to aggregate demand patterns and subsequent development strategy around findings like the nuances of pick-ups in financial districts in New York and San Francisco. “I always say, ‘I don’t need to know anything about anyone I just have to know a whole lot about a lot of people,'” Voytek said. This, in turn, “helps you find relationships between disparate” points of data.
“You’re trading your location for convenience and an on-demand ride,” said Scott Lachut, head of research and strategy at PSFK Labs. “In the context of retail environments, we’re seeing systems that allow customers to freely trade their data [and share] their online behaviors in order to get something of value in return.”