Ride-hail firms such as Uber and Lyft are obviously collecting large quantities of data on their customers’ travel habits and needs. Where do they go? Where are the popular destinations, journey flows and when – what days of the week, times? As they learn more about lifestyles and match journeys to basic demographic data they also hold, commercial opportunities can unfold.
Lyft in the US is providing an interesting example of just such a commercial opportunity by tieing up with a Chicago brewer.
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The tie-up hinges on the journey home for Lyft riders at the end of a Friday or Saturday night out. They may well want a beer for the ride. And they may be even keener to get a cool palate cleanser if they know there is a Lyft discount code on the brand of beer they select.
Chicago’s Baderbrau Brewing is supplying Chicago bars with a customised canned beer – ‘Five Star’ lager – that comes with a Lyft discount code.
“We know through data that nightlife is one of our largest business segments, especially going out on a Friday or Saturday night,” David Katcher, general manager for Lyft in the Midwest told The Chicago Tribune. “Harder (to understand) is the psychology of how they decide to get home and when they decide to make that happen. That’s a little more art than science.”
Beer seemed like just the tool to help, he told the newspaper.
The Chicago Tribune report said that Five Star Lager will be available only in bars and only in 12-ounce cans, each of which comes with a discount code for as much as USD5.00 off a Lyft ride. The beer is a rebranded version of Baderbrau’s South Side Pride lager.
Baderbrau co-founder Rob Sama told the Tribune that it is hoped bar goers will be inclined to end evenings with an ‘easy-drinking palate cleanser such as Five Star’. And while drinking it, a customer will enter the discount code into the Lyft app and get a discounted ride to their next stop.
‘Five Star’ lager’ is named after the Lyft rating system.
Five Star’s discount offers 40 to 60 percent off a Lyft ride up to a total of USD5.00. The code expires within seven days, and is usable only on ‘classic’ Lyft rides.
