Internet sales boost Domino’s pizza profit
PIZZA DELIVERY AND BANKING ARE LATEST TO JOIN THE DIGITAL PAYMENT REVOLUTION
DOMINO’S Pizza UK & Ireland said a “breath-taking” surge in online sales and a recovery in the Irish market helped fuel a 14.6 per cent rise in full-year profits, beating City expectations.
The pizza delivery company called 2011 “the year of the app”, after the launch of two new applications letting customers choose a pizza from their smartphones or iPads helped drive a 43 per cent rise in orders over the internet last year.
Chief exec Lance Batchelor said Domino’s was now regularly taking 50 per cent of orders online, with a growing number of stores taking three quarters of their sales on the internet.
The FTSE 250 firm, which has 726 stores in Britain, Ireland and Germany said pre-tax profits rose 14.6 per cent to £43.6m in the year to 25 December, on sales up 9.3 per cent to £530.6m.
The group conceded that 2012 remained a challenging market but its performance showed “the resilience of the pizza home delivery market.”
Sales of its popular “Two for Tuesday” deal doubled on Valentine’s night, which Batchelor said was an example of people staying at home “with their other half” and treating themselves to take-away food rather than eating out at restaurants.
Domino’s opened its first six stores in Germany last year and plans to add 12 this year. It bought the 75 per cent interest in the franchisee from its US parent last year and expects to open 400 stores in the next ten years.
Batchelor said while Ireland continued to be a “tough market in the current economic climate”, the decline in sales slowed to 4.1 per cent compared with 8.4 per cent in 2010.
Group like-for-like sales in the first seven weeks of 2012 were up 3.7 per cent. UK stores are up 3.8 per cent while stores in Ireland are in positive territory, up 2.3 per cent, for the first time in three years.
Its franchisees created 1,800 jobs by opening 62 stores in the period, mainly in the UK, and the group expects similar growth this year.