Almost half of pizza company Domino’s UK deliveries are now ordered online, making ecommerce a significant driver of growth at the company.
Domino’s Pizza UK and Ireland said today, in a quarter three interim management statement, that ecommerce was driving growth in its business and accounted for 46.6% of its delivered sales in the 13 weeks to September 25. At the same time total online sales during the period rose by 36.4% to £45.0m, up from £33.0m at the same time last year. In the year to date, ecommerce sales have now hit £130.0m, up from £89.9m at the same point last year.
M-commerce sales are also growing fast, following the release of an iPad app. The company said today that mobile orders now accounted for 13% of all ecommerce sales.
In turn ecommerce sales helped to boost total system sales for the period by 9.8% to £127.0m, up from £115.7m. Like-for-like sales grew by 3.9%, compared to like-for-like growth of 9.9% at the same time last year, and in the UK they were up by 4.1% (11.5% last year).
Domino’s is also growing its physical store network, with 15 new stores opened in the 13 week period in the UK, Ireland and Germany and 37 so far this year, taking its total store numbers to 698 in the UK and Ireland and four in Germany. The company aims to have six stores in Germany by the end of its financial year in December and is also planning a new website for the market.
Domino’s also used the update to give a leaving date for current chief executive Chris Moore, who will be replaced after 21 years with the company by current deputy chief executive Lance Batchelor in December.
Moore said: “Lance has made excellent progress since he joined as Deputy Chief Executive and, combined with the experience he gained as a non-executive director of the Company, is ready to take the reins in three months time.
“We are pleased to have had a good quarter’s trading and, although the economy as a whole is still very tough, we have got exciting plans in place for the rest of the year. We are on track and confident that we will finish the year in line with market expectations.”
Our view: Most retailers are agreed that it’s a tough market for food sales so it’s interesting to see just how important a role ecommerce is playing in helping Domino’s hold its own in a difficult market. When it comes to like-for-like sales across the group the company is down on last year but keeping reasonable pace with overall growth in food retailing values, put at 5.0% in August by the latest Office for National Statistics retail sales update.
This kind of performance is sure to make others think about investing in those technologies that simply make it easier for customers to buy.
