PROBLEMS FACED BY ZOMATO AND THE WAY FORWARD

 Spam control

In the initial days, the rating of a restaurant never impacted the business of
Zomato. Now, it does make a dissent to a certain limit. Since a lot of
restaurant owners also realize this, they try to game the system by planting
fake reviews on the platform. With time, this manipulates the decision
making of users. Over time, Zomato has learned how to identify most of
these cases, but some smart spam tactics always skip the automated filters. 

Way ahead:
Zomato is using data analysis and pattern matching to user behaviour to keep
track of various accounts. Also, the company is working on evolving its
system to outsmart these intelligent smart tactics. It’s an ongoing effort, and
it would be hard for the company to say that it has been solved for good.

 Lower server latency for our geographically widespread traffic

Maintaining a lower server latency isn’t something new, and a few

companies have already done this very efficiently. Most companies of this
size don’t even care about this. However, Zomato wants to serve all its
traffic (in New Delhi, as well as in London) from servers that sit close to
users’ physical locations. Lower server latency is equal to users get to food
faster. Replicating all Zomato’s infrastructure in various areas on a master-
slave basis and then keeping everything in sync is not easy as of now, and
 this is something the food serving giants are trying to address over the very
short term itself.

 
 
Way ahead:
Zomato is coming up with new servers at different operating locations both
domestically and internationally to serve all its traffic efficiently.

 
 The backlash from Restaurant Owners for the Gold Program:

The Gold program by Zomato was supposed to be a win-win for both

Zomato and restaurant owners. Zomato presents customers with restaurant
menus, the choice to book tables, and get food dispensed to their respective
homes. Through the Gold program, restaurants were able to get better
visibility and win some customers, but more importantly, garner improved
reviews from users because of the freebies.
The program gives an immense amount of discounts to the consumers
subscribed to the program, putting the restaurant owners at the backseat. The
owners consumed a massive amount of losses and didn’t get any share of the
profits that the aggregators generated through the program. More than 2,000
of the 6,500 restaurant partners of Zomato Gold have opted out of the
program in recent days. 
The disruption occurred over the weekend after the National Restaurant
Association of India (NRAI), a trade body that represents more than 500,000
restaurants in the country, kickstarted a #LogOut campaign against Zomato
and other dining startups such as Nearbuy, Dineout, EazyDiner, and
Magicpin.
Meanwhile, restaurants have also complained that if they do not accept
Zomato’s Gold program, they risk disappointing customers who have come
to expect that every eatery has enrolled in Zomato Gold. These customers
then leave bad ratings on Zomato, which significantly affects the number of
orders they get, they say. Zomato makes most of its revenue from promoting
and selling listings on its platform.

Way ahead:
Zomato and other food start-up companies are meeting continuously with
NRAI to come up with a solution that benefits the company and the
restaurant owners, also satisfying the needs of customers.

 Solicitation Problem:

Zomato classifies ‘solicitation’ as “where influential foodies are incentivized

or offered to join hands — in some cases for financial gains — to write
about various restaurants.” Sometimes these influencers post abusive and
fake reviews to deteriorate the image of targeted restaurants. Zomato says
they took action against the 300+ users after gathering sufficient evidence to
prove their involvement in these unethical, and sometimes even illegal
practices.
Way Ahead:
Zomato is taking this issue gravely and is continuously checking for these
accounts who try to malign the brand image of the restaurants and company.