Domino’s Pizza in India is dominating the market. With a 70% share of the pizza market and 16% share of the total QSR (Quick Serve Restaurants) market they are clearly in first place. India’s QSR market may reach Rs 25k in the next 5 years.
Studying how Domino’s has internationalized for the India is an MBA case study being written daily.
In this article you will see why they are winning:
1. Centralized Management
Domino’s in India is run by Jubilant food works as a master franchise (source). This single owner concept is a big reason for speed & success.
In other countries, Domino’s has many different store owners that need communication from corporate. In India, corporate communicates only to Jubilant.
They have been able to plan and execute with complete control. Whereas if all the stores had individual owners it would be much slower and harder to move as fast as they are.
2. Fast store expansion
Jubilant Foodworks has been able to expand so fast they have made India the 2nd biggest market in the world for Domino’s. They recently passed the UK by building about 150 stores this year. They plan to add between 120-150 stores a year till 2021.
1 in 7 Domino’s Stores built in the world is in India. India is the only place in the world where there are 2x more Domino’s than McDonald’s.
It is an aggressive timeline but they are doing it. The goal is to cover as many cities as possible. Time will tell.
3. Evolving the Menu for Indian Palates
The recipes that are successful in other countries needed change. India is a different place with a lot of vegetarians (70% in some areas) and the pizza meat of choice is chicken. Compared to pepperoni and sausage (pork) being the most popular in the U.S.
3 of the top 4 most of the popular pizzas according to Foodpanda are vegetarian. The next has chicken.
4. Social Media & Deals
A lot of companies struggle with Social Media fan engagement but not Domino’s. They have been dominating social media with 5x the engagement when compared to the next quick-serve pizza brand in India.
Two factors play into this: 1) Handling Customer Messages. 2) Aggressive daily pizza offers.
Handling customer messages make sure Domino’s stays in social feeds with positive messaging. They address any customer messages promptly in publicly positive manners.
The daily offers generate a large buzz on all channels like Twitter, Facebook & Instagram. Both of these together are making them omnipresent compared to competitors.
5. Mobile First Focus
India is a mobile-first country. This means a lot of people only use their mobile to access the Internet.
By 2021 there will be 810 million smartphone users in India.
Domino’s has focused on their app and mobile ordering flow. Making it simple for smaller screens to complete orders. Some competitors are still serving desktop/PC experiences to users.
6. It’s a No Brainer
They have made the decision-making process easy for consumers.
With a 30-minute delivery guarantee you know it will be fast. Sharing with a group of people is easy with Pizza. It appeases both vegetarians & meat eaters.
Other quick serve restaurants don’t have these cultural tie-ins and fast delivery. This is a big competitive edge for Dominos.
7. The Price
Trying to undercut the competition Domino’s is serving some of the lowest priced pizza on the planet in India.
A plain cheese pizza in Indian can be as low as Rs.99 ($1.47 USD). Compare that to the UK price of Rs.582 ($8.62 USD) or the US RS.340 ($5.04 USD) and you the difference.
They are still keeping quality high but this low price is making the competition struggle to compete.
In the end, Domino’s is still battling with other players but is way ahead. You can view all these points in this simple infographic:
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