A Postman, A Beetle &  A Pizza Delivered

In the year 1960, two brothers Tom and James Monaghan bought a Pizza eatery in Michigan by borrowing $900. The eatery named DomiNick owned by  Dominic DeVarti was located near the Eastern Michigan University at the West Cross Street and catered to both students and residents alike. Pizzas were sold at the eatery only and in those times home delivery of Pizzas was something which never came to anybody’s mind till Tom and James got together and  took the reins of DomiNick in their own hands.

A Brilliant Idea

James was a full time Postman and though both the brothers had distributed working hours amongst them, James never wanted to let go of his job. The hardworking brothers pushed up sales of the eatery and as the days progressed, the slowly but surely developing business demanded more and more time from the brothers. James, the Postman was getting hard pressed, which led to a brilliant idea. Within eight months of them taking over DomiNick, James  traded his part of the business with his brother Tom and bought a Volkswagen Beetle.

The Beetle, a cult car was deployed by the brothers to deliver Pizzas to households in the near vicinity. Delivering Pizzas to  homes in a Beetle was an idea so far fetched to be true, that it raised eye brows and had people talking about the initiative no end. But the Monaghan brothers pulled it off and made ‘ Home Delivery ‘ their potent business weapon. 2 more outlets were added to DomiNick and by 1965 there were 3 of them. However Dominic DeVarti did not allow the name DomiNick to be used further and so a new name had to be decided. The search was on.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc, is Born

An employee named Jim Kennedy returned from a Pizza delivery and suggested the name Domino’s. Tom Monaghan who was now running the business almost singlehanded immediately agreed on the suggestion and  Domino’s Pizza Inc was born in the year 1965. The logo had three dots indicative of the three existing stores and Tom wanted to add a new dot on opening of every new store. However the pace of expansion was so quick that the idea of adding dots was dropped and the three dots on the Domino’s logo remained forever.

The Home Delivery model coupled with some soul  stirring Pizza recipes were the fuel of Domino’s growth engine. The point of sale pizza eating public found the home deliveries easy and comfortable and particularly helping them escape harsh weather at times, without compromising on the Pizza. Domino’s had aced the Home Delivery System, which became its Core Competency and gave it that exclusivity which set it apart from its competitors.

Domino’s Marketing Initiatives and Expansion

Domino’s expanded across the world multiplying in various markets in several countries. They competed strongly against both local and international Pizza brands and held their own, by constantly upgrading their Home Delivery System. They had specially designed Chevrolet Spark cars, robots and even drones deliver Pizzas to their customers. Their marketing initiatives too were a bit different from the rest with a large display in Times Square New York giving real time updates of consumer commets, good, neutral  and the bad alike.  The 30 minute delivery challenge,  repairing pot holes on roads for faster delivery of Pizzas in their Paving for Pizza Campaign are some  of Domino’s brilliant marketing initiatives. The Domino’s chain expanded to  more  than 15000 outlets across the world with the USA, India and the UK being their top 3 markets. However in present times, things are beginning to change a bit, which has motivated me to write this post today.

Hegemony Challenged

With the advent of aggregators like Swiggy, Zomato, Glovo, JustEats etc  across the world and huge investment in technology, the Home  Delivery is much easier than ever,  with local pizza outlets in particular (  who could not match Domino’s home  delivery infrastructure earlier), seriously competing with Domino’s. For the first time it has so happened that Domino’s core competency and their exclusivity is under a serious challenge and is undoubtedly affecting the business. Their shutting shop in Italy after venturing in the country just 8 years ago is some indication. Though Italians gave preferred their home bred Pizza over an American brand, losing  the Home Delivery niche played its role in the setback too.

The Road Ahead

The response of Domino’s the Pizza behemoth to this severe challenge will eventually decide the trajectory the company takes. Domino’s surely has several options.

 1. They can totally disengage with the aggregators and launch their exclusive Pizza Booking App. This will help reduce payment commissions to aggregators, which in turn could be passed on to consumers by way of discounts. This will largely help in aligning their loyal consumers in big way and also pull other Pizza lovers to their fold looking for discounts. The news is that something similar is on the cards at Domino’s.

2.  With Covid restrictions gone, Domino’s can play the bluff. Upgrade their stores, shore them up and invite customers for a rivetingly fresh experience. This would be like catching the competitors off guard but it would be a risk and a strategy totally divergent of their core competency.

3. Out of the box marketing initiatives which Domino’s is so good at, is now required more than ever alongwith a quick churn in the products making them more and more specific to local tastes and habits.

Domino’s Pizza is a brand of repute and has outlived challenges for the past 60 years, however, changing times demand changed perspectives. May be a Beetle in a new avatar could well be the answer.