Domino's Customers Can Follow Their Pizza's Progress
The pizza chain's graphic-heavy software program, Pizza Tracker, is helping to boost market share.
By David Farkas, Senior Editor -- Chain Leader, 7/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
Domino's Pizza employees better beware. Screw up an order and your name is mud--digitally speaking, that is.
Last week the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based restaurant chain unveiled graphic-heavy online ordering system dubbed Pizza Tracker. Its highly customized software can identify by name the person making a customer's pizza.
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"Stanley put your order in the oven," reads Pizza Tracker, a customized software program from Domino's Pizza that allows customers to assemble and view the progress of their pizzas. |
"Pizza Tracker tells us that Stanley is making our order," explained Jeff McCrumb, the Web development manager who oversaw the project, during a webcast slide presentation. "So [customers] can see what is happening with an order as it is being processed."
Citing NPD Group's CREST data, officials also announced the chain ranked No. 1 in online ordering sales for the first quarter of 2009 with a 28 percent share, besting both Papa John's and Pizza Hut. In the past 24 months Domino's jumped from an 11 percent share to a 28 percent share.
Some Assembly Required
The new software also allows customers to assemble their pizzas visually before placing the order. A graphic shows what pizzas look like as users add and subtract toppings, change crust type, and add more or less cheese and sauce. In addition to naming the employee making the pizza, Pizza Tracker also shows the progress of an order to within 60 seconds.
"[The interface] is clean and user-friendly," declares Stan Garber of Onosys, a technology company that builds online ordering systems for pizza chains, including Papa John's Pizza Express units. "They definitely spent a considerable amount of money."
Domino's Pizza won't give a dollar figure for the project. Spokeswoman Holly Ryan says Pizza Tracker was a "significant undertaking and can't be duplicated easily." The chain launched online ordering in 2006, relatively late in the game. Louisville, Ky.-based Papa John's, for example, rolled out Web-based ordering in 2001.
During the webcast's question-and-answer period, company officials were asked if they believed Pizza Tracker would be as significant a development as the chain's 30-minute delivery guarantee introduced in 1973. Boasted Chief Marketing Officer Russell Weiner: "I can see 30 years from now Pizza Tracker still being talked about."
Doubtful Future
Garber, however, has his doubts. "As the industry evolves, [online ordering] will fall into a convenience battle, offering newer, faster methods. Mobile will become a huge play," he says, suggesting small screens may not accommodate software customization. His company his working on an iPhone ordering app, he adds.
Domino's could be, too. "Obviously, our competitors are on the line," Weiner declared during the webcast. "We are not going into anything future-looking."
