Domino’s Pizza emerged long ago as the largest pizza chain by sales volume in the United States. Not only has the company stayed atop, but they have also widened the gap over the likes of Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Little Caesar’s. Before we talk about their international dominance, let’s set the stage with their financial success domestically; there are two key financial metrics to look at for public food companies: 1) Sales Volume and 2) Price Per Share.
As of 2020, Domino’s has a sales volume of roughly $8.3bn compared to a cumulative $12.5bn of the aforementioned three competitors. In terms of internal success, domino’s share price on the S&P 500 was $11 in 2010 and is now $336 (that represents an almost 3,000% increase in shareholder value!). The strategy that Domino’s chose domestically is deemed as “fortressing”, which entails expanding physical stores or “fortresses” across the country. This may seem counter-intuitive with the well-known fact that the vast majority of their sales comes from deliveries and carryout, begging the question as to why would you need more stores if nobody is going to your stores? Well, the simple answer is the Pizza needs to come from somewhere and Domino’s realized that more stores mean faster delivery times, less gas expenses for drivers, and overall wider customer outreach. Now that we have established the platform for their success domestically, let’s touch upon the two main international strategies that have catapulted Domino’s as not only the leader in Pizza chains worldwide, but also a top 5 competitor amongst all food chains.
We are going to talk about the first and third processes of International Market Communications; global advertising and culture, and creative strategy. In 2010, Domino’s launched the “Oh yes we did” campaign. The slogan was an answer to the question they posed, “did we actually face our critics and reinvent our pizza from the crust up?”. This campaign was a direct internal shot at the company being self-aware of their sub-par product. They created an entirely new website for the campaign and even launched a full documentary with real employees that were very transparent on the issues with the quality and what the new direction of the company was going to be. This was extremely successful with consumers because it was refreshing to see a company accept criticism and responsibility for a lack of innovation for decades. Since then, Domino’s has hired numerous world-class chefs as consultants and menu curators. This brings us to the Creative Strategy process from a global perspective. Domino’s realized that not all countries view Pizza as the beloved fast snack that American’s do. In fact, many countries view Pizza chains like Domino’s as a luxury meal and often it is more expensive in foreign countries. Domino’s went about this discrepancy by hiring world-renowned chefs to curate new menu offerings and toppings that fulfilled the culinary desires in countries, like curry in India and bratwurst in western Europe.
Domino’s has solidified itself as the premier Pizza chain globally and their executive branch continues to show aggressive expansion internationally through candid and meaningful strategies.