How Domino’s focus on being a 'tech company' brought it back from the dead in 2008
While Domino’s has made itself synonymous to ‘pizza’ today, back in the years between 2006 to 2008, it was in a huge crisis. The company’s stock price had hit a record low.
The support team was receiving 100s of complaints about their pizza quality and service, with people saying that their pizza crust tasted like cardboard and it's pizza sauce like local ketchup. One thing led to another, with conditions becoming worse day by day.
What steps were taken?
The team decided to change the entire menu and ingredients. Along with that, the CMO, Russell Weiner decided to double-down on ONLINE sales, rather than waiting for people to come to their physical outlets and giving feedback about their pizzas and service. While the former was a no-brainer, the latter was a big gamble, which could topple the entire brand, if it was not executed properly!
With the decision to go digital, Domino's revamped their mobile app and online ordering system, adding features such as pizza tracker and custom-pizza builder tools, helping the hungry souls make a personalized pizza, suited just for themselves and enjoy the wait, till it reaches the doorstep.
What was the result?
In UK alone, BBC had reported that more than 75% of all orders were online and out of that, 50% were through their mobile app! People were loving the ease and interactiveness of their pizza ordering and delivery experience, leading to an increase of 15.6% in the second quarterly sales; which was roughly around $980 million.
Post, this growth Domino’s also started taking orders even through Apple Watches.
In 2014, Domino’s also came up with their iPad app, which was a 3D-pizza builder; another marketing effort initiated by the company. “The new Domino’s iPad app takes the experience of ordering pizza to a whole new level,” said Kevin Vasconi, Domino’s Pizza chief information officer, in a statement.
With continuous years of success, Domino’s opened its 14,000th store in Malaysia this year. Patrick Doyle, Domino's President and CEO said, "Last year we were opening, on average, a new Domino's store every seven hours. Our global growth has been tremendous. The story of our brand is clearly one of incredible momentum and brand resonance worldwide."
Let's take a look at their numbers:
- Digital orders now contribute towards 40% of overall sales of Domino’s.
- This pizza giant delivers 1 million pizzas a day.
- Global sales doubled to $10.9 billion last year from its transition in 2008.
Seeing the massive success from online, it is now planning on reducing the steps to a successful pizza delivery to just 5 clicks. Good time to stay alive, pizza lovers!
Even Domino’s competitors, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s, took a cue from its playbook and have ramped up their digital presence since then. Papa John’s today has 60% of its sales coming through digital platforms (going by the figures in May, this year).
Takeaway tip
Online is where all the customers are heading to. It doesn’t matter which sector a company operates in; you have to use technology in order to reach your customers faster and satisfy them better. But what businesses should keep in mind is that, going online is not just about just throwing in a coupon code and getting users to download your app! On an average, after an app is downloaded, it is used only once. Be it an app or a website, it should offer VALUE, making customers use it not just for discounts, but for the added-comfort or experience.
Domino’s bet on online paid off amazingly well, with multiple new stores opening across the world solely existing to deliver pizzas nearby, ordered online!
What strategy is your business using to bank-in on the online trend?