Data isn’t granted, so don’t take it for granted!
And all of this can only be achieved through access, comprehension and optimal use of data – irrespective of how it is gathered.
“Data isn’t oil, it isn’t soil, it is human behavior. We are all going through cycles of fashion, habits, and popularity. If you understand all of this and make sure your brand is aligned with these three as well as have brand integrity, where you are not always chopping and changing things, but just catering to your audience who already enjoy what you do, then you are on the right track,” he said, “It has a commercial element – understanding spend per head, peak hours, length of time for meals to come out of the kitchen etc. So if you have a bestselling item and you marginally increase the cost by AED 1 or 2, the volume of sales will result in great results. That's how you can use data,” he said.
However, in this country it takes leg-work and effort and the basic sense of understanding that it isn’t necessarily about the complex algorithms or the mathematics and numbers, which people tend to get carried away with, but about being on the ground and deciding what is best for the customers that will in turn yield results for the business.
“I’m trying to get data on the demographics, age groups etc. of the people that reside in Dubai South. Elsewhere in the world, I could walk into a government office and get the data for some money. It doesn't work that way here. So what we do instead is we send two people that we educate to drive around the neighbourhood to see what cars are parked, go to the shopping centres in the neighbourhood and see who is queing and what’s in the baskets. So we are having to do our own research. This data should be readily available. If it is, then it will help us make better decisions,” he added.
Eventually, all retailers and operators are working on grabbing the attention of that small portion of the pie, which is the population of Dubai. “Our population is 10 million, 60% of that would be the workforce who wouldn’t spend money in any of our businesses and send money home. And then we have a portion that choose not to eat out. And then there is the 20% that we are all fighting for,” he concluded. ■