Case Application #$3$ Using Tech to Sell Pizza Topic: Technology and strategy

Since $2008,$ Domino$$s Pizza has fanatically pursued any and every possible $$digital doodad$$ to sell pizza. Here$$s a brief timeline showing the company$$s progressive investment in technology:$77$

$2008$ Pizza Tracker, a system to track pizzas on their way to their destination

$2013$ Domino$$s Live, a camera live$-$streaming from a store kitchen in Salt Lake City

$2014$ An app that let customers order and pay from their Ford vehicle

$2014$ Dom, the Siri$-$like, order$-$taking voice, making online ordering more conversational

$2015$ DXP$,$ a retrofitted subcompact, designed to keep up to $80$ pizzas warm

$2016$ AnyWare marketing campaign, touting that customers could order from anywhere with any of their tech ware

$2017$ Drone delivery tested in New Zealand

$2017$ Driverless car deliveries tested in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Why Domino$$s is Winning the pizza wars!

With more than $14,400$ stores around the world $(85$ countries$),$ Domino$$s finally claimed the title of largest pizza chain by global revenue besting longtime rival, Pizza Hut. Using innovative technology, clever marketing, and creative ordering methods, Domino$$s is winning the pizza wars! While making a pizza is still very traditional and hands$-$on$,$ marketing a pizza, at least in Domino$$s playbook, is very little human and a whole lot digital contact$\mathrm{.}78$ As Domino$$s has increased its tech credibility, its financial results have been improving as well. As one analyst said, $$Domino$$s figured out mobile ordering before Starbucks and delivery before McDonald$$s$.79$

It was a different story altogether back in $2008.$ Domino$$s was experiencing declining sales and disappointed franchisees. The company$$s stock bottomed out at $$3$ a share. In the spring of $2009,$ a moment dreaded by every fast$-$food chain in the YouTube era$...$one employee at a store in North Carolina filmed another employee putting cheese up his nose and adding snot to a sandwich. Well$...$you can imagine the outrage. $($Note: The products tampered with never left the store, and both employees were put on probation.$)$ But that wasn$$t even the biggest strategic threat to the company$...$it was the reality that their pizza wasn$$t actually all that good. Consumer tests resulted in comments like: $$The crust tastes like cardboard. The sauce tastes like ketchup. This is an imitation of pizza.$80$ Company executives knew that something had to change. Company chefs experimented and enhanced the taste of the pizza. The CEO starred in an ad campaign in late $2009$ acknowledging that the company had heard its customers that Domino$$s pizza just wasn$$t very good$$and did something about it$.$ The ad campaign struck a chord with the public, and by February of $2010,$ Domino$$s was selling so much pizza, it almost ran out of pepperoni! In addition to its tech investments, Domino$$s revamped about $85$ percent of its menu.

Domino$$s tech team numbers almost $400,$ the biggest division at corporate headquarters. The preceding timeline explains what the team has been doing. They$$ve taken the simple act of ordering a pizza and given it a tech twist. There are at least a dozen different ways to order a Domino$$s pizza now$...$not including walking into a local store. But all those orders means getting the pizza to the customer in a timely fashion. Right now, more than half of the $260,000$ Domino$$s employees are drivers. $($And the company had to abandon its long$-$running $30$ minutes or it$$s free$$ marketing slogan because of several accidents, including one fatal, that cost the company millions of dollars.$)$ So there are some areas where tech solutions are still being tested. Stay tuned, though, because Domino$$s likes winning the pizza wars, and it likes being on the forefront of technology!

Discussion Questions

$5-23$ What role do you think goals might play in planning for Domino$$s future? List some goals you think might be important. $($Make sure these goals have the characteristics of well$-$written goals.$)$

$5-24$ What types of plans would be needed in an industry such as this one $($for instance, long$-$term or short$-$term, or both$)?$ Explain why you think these plans would be important.

$5-25$ What contingency factors might affect the planning Domino$$s executives do$?$ How might those contingency factors affect the planning?

$5-26$ Get in your assigned group and discuss the following: What competitive advantage$($s$)$ do you think Domino$$s has? What competitive challenges do you think the company faces?