Domino’s Pizza Group today unveiled its full-year results: we take a look at what they say about the changing way that customers buy.
The pizza company turned in for the first time system sales of more than £1bn (£1,004.2m, to be exact) in the year to December 25 2016. That’s 14.5% up on the same time last year, while UK sales were 7.5% ahead. Revenue of £360.6m was 14% up on the £316.8m reported last year. Pre-tax profits of £82m were 13% up on the £73.2m reported at the same time last year.
Store, online or mobile? How UK customers buy
Domino’s Pizza opened 81 new stores in the UK in 2016, bringing its total to 950.
Nonetheless, 72% of all delivered sales in this country were ordered online. That’s up from 67% in 2015. Almost three-quarters (73%) of online sales were ordered via mobile devices. That’s 31% more than at the same time last year.
Total UK online sales were 18% up on the previous year, with average orders up by 2.6%, which Domino’s said reflected its investment in ecommerce and a commitment to providing customers and franchisees with the best digital platform. Mobile ordering is the real growth area.
“Mobile sales continue to drive much of our success, with orders 2.7% ahead and mobile order value 2.9% ahead of last year,” it said in its full-year statement. “14.9m customers have downloaded the app.”
In August 2016, it launched chatbot via Facebook Messenger, allowing it to broaden its ecommerce platform from ordering to customer service.
In the Republic of Ireland, online system sales grew by 26% to represent 49% of total system sales, up from 42% last year. Mobile represented 74.4% of online system sales, up from 68.6% a year earlier.
Our view: These results continue a long term trend of sales moving online, and predominantly to mobile. Domino’s serves a customer base that wants pizza without hassle: these figures show that customers opt for their mobile devices, most likely mostly smartphones, when they go in search of convenience.
