In 2010 Domino’s Pizza Inc. was worth slightly more than eight dollars a share and not showing much promise for the future. It says something about a company’s brand (and quality of its product) when just three years prior shares were hovering closer to thirty dollars and the company was still working to maintain its image. Domino’s Pizza had failed to evolve their brand into the 21st century and were quickly losing what little footing they had left in the industry. If Domino’s Pizza was going to make an attempt to stay in business, it would need to make serious changes to its overall approach to the market. The company embraced the need for this change and managed to transform itself from an almost bankrupt food delivery franchise to one of the most prominent e-commerce companies in the world.
But, how can a pizza franchise evolve into an e-commerce company?? Well, Domino’s path towards transformation began with the vision of its CMO, Russell Weiner, and its then newly appointed CEO, Patrick Doyle. Doyle began by re-imaging what business they were really in; “Domino’s is not just in the pizza-making business, but in the pizza-delivery business, which means it has to be a technology company” (HBR – Taylor). Second, he recognized the need to refresh their brand. Domino’s Pizza needed to change their recipes and they were going to use their customers feedback to do it. Doyle launched a Twitter campaign where it would have employees read customer’s painful reviews for the entire public to see. Through engaging its customers, drawing attention to the brand (both positively and negatively), and creating a channel for them to capture mass quantities of data, Domino’s Pizza was creating a path to leverage data in their favor.
Domino’s began investing heavily in its IT and analytics team by testing every new product and process they implemented. Their online ordering and tracking website had already provided enormous amounts of data, but with the addition of their mobile apps they were gaining better understanding of their customers and their sales. This understanding allowed Domino’s Pizza to restructure its costs and reposition its budget to focus on profits and technology. Over the next 2 years Domino’s Pizza continued to expand its digital product platform allowing them to capture even more massive amounts of data. Domino’s Pizza used that data to continue to transform its brand and in 2012 changed from Domino’s Pizza to just Domino’s because they were becoming, “so much more than just pizza”.
Domino’s was right, they were becoming so much more than pizza and at a pace most investors couldn’t believe. As a result, Domino’s came up with an idea to collect, harness, and utilize customer data to the max… Think Oven was born. Think Oven was a mixture of tools Domino’s had created for a Facebook page that could gather submissions and ideas from its online users. Domino’s partnered with advertising agency CP+B to launch the page but also contracted to Napkin Labs to provide the tools to help them gather the information. They offered prizes of $500 for the top two submissions and had so much success they extended the program to award additional prizes. This drive to engage their customers allowed them to collect mass quantities of information, utilize that data, and sky rocket their value from $8 in 2010 to more than $45 in just two years. But Domino’s wasn’t finished and recognized the value their new strategy was providing.
Today, Domino’s market shares are worth more than $200 dollars apiece and in February it became the largest pizza seller worldwide. This transformation was a result re-branding its image and using the data collected from its digital platforms to shape its direction forward. Domino’s has created their Domino’s AnyWare platform that allows customers to order pizzas via virtually any digital medium from smart phones, to watches, TVs, social media, and even smart speakers such as Alexa. The more Domino’s extends its offerings, the more data they collect (both structured and unstructured), and the more personal experience the customers receives. Domino’s recognized the need for change and decided to embrace their customer networks in order to reposition themselves among its competitors and set a new bar, not just for the pizza trade, but for all organizations in the e-commerce sector.
Domino’s fully embraced the need for analytics in its business structure and it was incredibly successful. Which of the 5 core network behaviors do you think Domino’s incorporated most into their strategy? Or do you think it’s a combination of all 5? What do you think the next step is for Domino’s digital saturation? Can you think of any where Domino’s isn’t utilizing their customer’s information? If so, you may want to reach out to them on their Think Oven!
For even more information on Domino’s digital transformation, read through their History page on the company website to see the progressions and campaigns they launched: https://biz.dominos.com/web/public/about-dominos/history
References:
Beer, Jeff. (2014, May 22). How Domino’s Became a Tech Company https://www.fastcompany.com/3030869/how-dominos-became-a-tech-company
Ifeanyi, KC. (2012, February 7). Domino’s Fires Up The Think Oven to Tap Consumer Creativity https://www.fastcompany.com/1679805/domino-s-fires-up-the-think-oven-to-tap-consumer-creativity
Solis, Brian. (2018, August 15). Domino’s Pizza Serves Up Innovations In Customer Experience (CX) To Drive Business Growth
https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolis/2018/08/15/dominos-pizza-serves-up-innovations-in-customer-experience-cx-to-drive-business-growth/#5764515f8bdb
Vesco, Martine. (2018, June 13). Mastering Data, One Pizza at a Time https://www.talend.com/blog/2018/06/13/how-dominos-pizza-is-mastering-data-one-pizza-at-a-time/
Marr, Bernard. (2016, April 6). Big Data-Driven Decision-Making At Domino’s Pizza https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/04/06/big-data-driven-decision-making-at-dominos-pizza/#280bf9172b8e
Wong, Kyle. (2018, January 26). How Domino’s Transformed Into An E-commerce Powerhouse Who’s Product is Pizza https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylewong/2018/01/26/how-dominos-transformed-into-an-ecommerce-powerhouse-whose-product-is-pizza/#30d7647c7f76
Taylor, Bill. (2016, 28 November). How Domini’s Pizza Reinvented Itself
https://hbr.org/2016/11/how-dominos-pizza-reinvented-itself
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