"We have been unfairly criticized for analyzing cell phone data"
In an interview with the *Sonntagszeitung*, Valora Board Chairman Franz Julen speaks out in favor of data collection. He believes there needs to be a level playing field and a shift in public attitudes.
There was great public outrage when the then Schweiz am Sonntag (now Schweiz am Wochenende) reported at the end of 2016 on a pilot project by Valora to use cell phone data to analyze the routes taken by customers at Zurich's main train station. Sensors in Valora's K-Kiosk, Press & Books, Brezelkönig and Caffè Spettacolo stores were to anonymously record and store the signals that smartphones emit to detect WLAN networks. "In this way, we can see whether the customer also visits a Brezelkönig after buying coffee at Spettacolo and how loyal he is to us," Valora's Digital Innovation Manager Cyril Dorsaz told Schweiz am Sonntag at the time.
The plans were not well received. Not only data protectionists criticized the (involuntary) tracking of customers, but readers of the well-known online portals also rejected the data collection in surveys and comment columns in no uncertain terms.
Back in May, Valora CEO Michael Mueller warned the Handelszeitung that legal restrictions on the analysis of customer data would have drastic disadvantages for Swiss companies (Werbewoche.ch reported): "If we stifle every evaluation by law, the industry will come under even more pressure, especially from providers from abroad," says Mueller
In the current issue of the Sonntagszeitung, the new Chairman of the Board Franz Julen, former CEO of Intersport, doubles down: "Online retailers collect data about their customers without end. For us, it is just as important to know our customers, but this is made more difficult for us," Julen said. "We've been unfairly criticized for anonymously analyzing customers' cell phone data to capture customer flows. We need equal footing with online retailers."
He was aware that data protection was a sensitive issue and that data evaluation and collection needed limits. As soon as personal data is involved, the customer must retain control, he said. "But a change in thinking is needed - also among the general public. Stationary retailers must be allowed to learn more about their customers so that they can make suitable offers," says Franz Julen.
Since online retail will penetrate stationary retail even more strongly in the future, it is important that the latter takes advantage of the opportunities offered by digitization - and receives "backing" from policymakers in the process. (hae)
Photos: Valora
