Making Social Media Work for Pizza

Domino’s Pizza in Britain has bested all of their pizza-selling competitors on this side of the Atlantic when it comes to using social media to push successful online marketing initiatives. Domino’s UK said online promotions through Facebook, Foursquare and other social media outlets helped push their online order component to 32% of all pizza orders and allowed the company to post pre-tax earnings that had increased by nearly 30%.

Domino’s UK CEO Chris Moore recently said the rise in online orders are proof that their web and social media efforts are paying off and added, “All of these web-based activities offer a dual benefit of driving pizza sales online and building customer loyalty.” Domino’s also reported a 13% sales increase in 553 stores in a 26-week period running to the end of June of this year. Moore also said, "It is easy to try and attribute our success to one thing, be it the weather, or Britain's Got Talent, or the World Cup, but the underlying trend shows a more compelling picture." The picture seems to show that as consumers in a weak economy are spending less on food overall, take-out pizza can still perform very well.

Domino's now has 627 stores in the UK and plans to open 55 more this year. The company is celebrating 25 years of business and noted that their online business has grown by more than 60% in the interim. While is impossible to know exactly how many dollars social media campaigns have contributed to Domino’s UK financial gains, it does seem the company is on the right track when it comes to utilizing the Internet to improve their bottom line. Whether or not the model will be as successful here in the United States remains to be seen.