Figures out this week from both Domino’s Pizza and Just Eat , the marketplace that enables customers to find and order a takeaway online, have given useful insights into the way that takeaways are changing in a digital age. Meanwhile, the launch of Amazon Dash for AmazonFresh customers will no doubt help to make grocery ordering still easier.
Here’s what grabbed our attention in these announcements.
Online
Takeaway shoppers prefer to buy online. Some 81% of Domino deliveries were ordered online in the first half of its financial year, up from 77% a year earlier. Ecommerce, says Domino’s, helps to drive order numbers, with like-for-like online orders up by 18.6% over the same period, and average order value up by 2%.
All of Just Eat’s orders are placed online.
Mobile
Mobile is far and away the single preferred option for ordering a takeaway at both Domino’s Pizza and Just Eat. More than 62% of Domino’s Pizza orders were placed by mobile (70.8% in the Republic of Ireland), and the pizza company said mobile migration was clearly evident. Some 13.2m customers have now downloaded its mobile app. Conversion from a newly responsive website also increased by 62%.
Just Eat, meanwhile, says 70% of its total orders came via mobile – and 78% in the UK alone. Some 42% of orders were over apps, while the web accounted for 28% of orders. Part of the difference, it said, was because of the nature of apps: “app users typically order more frequently”. Customers can now order via their Apple TV and Microsoft Xbox, and the company said it was working to add smart TV ordering to the mix.
Delivery
Just Eat has gone truly innovative with a trial of self-driving delivery robots in London, in partnership with Starship Technologies. It is also rolling out Orderpad terminals, which will notify customers when their order is on its way. The aim is to have a third of UK orders processed through this technology by the time of its full-year update.
Convenience
Online, mobile and delivery are all part of a wider drive to make ordering food more convenient. The launch of Amazon Dash also plays into this. Now available for customers’ of the online giant’s grocery delivery service, AmazonFresh, Dash enables shoppers to scan a product or speak its name into the device in order to add it to their basket.
“We’re all used to trying to remember the contents of the fridge and kitchen cupboard and scribbling down reminders on pieces of paper,” said Ajay Kavan, vice president of AmazonFresh. “With Dash, at any given time, customers can keep track of products when they come to mind and scan to reorder groceries and household essentials as soon as they run out. At Amazon, we’re always looking to innovate based on feedback and Dash has been designed to continually learn as customers use it.”
Just Eat also recognises the importance of convenience. “Customers continue to be drawn to the convenience of digital ordering of takeaway food, driven by innovative marketing campaigns in each of our markets, supported by data-driven CRM. Over the first half, we have introduced greater localisation of marketing.” In the UK, it said, this included “engaging musical videos and a pun-based approach with lyrics and song titles”.
Not sure about the pun-based lyrics, but the appeal of convenient ordering makes sense. After all, takeaways are all about convenience over cooking. It follows that ordering them should be as hassle free as possible.
The underlying figures
These digital updates came as Domino’s Pizza reported system sales of £494.5m in the 26 weeks to June 26. That’s 17% up on the same time last year. Pre-tax profits of £40.9m were 20.6% up on last year.
Just Eat revenues rose by 59% to £171.6m in the six months to June 30, with pre-tax profits of £33.8m up from £14m a year earlier.
Amazon this week reported a 31% rise in second-quarter sales to $30.4bn (£23.0bn), while operating income was $1.3bn (£0.9bn) after a quarter in which it launched AmazonFresh grocery delivery service in London.
