With more than 50 years of history and over 11,000 stores in more than 75 markets worldwide, the US’ Domino’s has continued to evolve to meet the changing needs of customers in different regions and different life stage. On the occasion of the opening of Domino’s second store in Hanoi and the 18th in Vietnam, vice president of Domino’s in the Asia Pacific region Steve Pizzol told VIR’s Hoang Anh that Vietnam simply demonstrated Domino’s strength and relevancy to consumers in developing countries and that Vietnam was one of the firm’s most important markets.
Vice president of Domino’s in the Asia Pacific region Steve PizzolHow is Domino’s doing globally and locally in Vietnam?
We have seen enormous growth momentum globally, especially from international operations which have been the accelerant for growth in the past 10 years. Among the three international regions, Asia Pacific was our fastest growing region in international operations, beating Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America in terms of same store sales growth in 2013. With the Asia-Pacific region on a growth trajectory, there are solid plans in motion to expand further into region, building out existing markets as well as developing greendfield sites.
Vietnam has been doing extremely well since we launched the market in November 2010, consistently achieving year-on-year double digit growth. Vietnam is one of the markets with the highest number of order counts in Asia, which means we are attracting a lot of customers every day. All our stores are doing tremendously well with customers queuing up for our freshly made pizzas every Tuesday during our Two for Tuesday promotion.
In terms of market potential, Vietnam is a unique country in the Asia Pacific region with a large proportion of young population, over 50 per cent of the country’s population is under 39, which are typical Domino’s target customers. With the country’s rising middle-class and increase of income per capita across the board, we look forward to firming up our expansion plans in order to enable the brand to ride the growth wave in this highly important market.
Vietnam’s pizza market seems to be increasingly crowded with more local and international players coming in, what is your take on this?
Vietnam is a market with strong and robust economic growth and with tremendous opportunity for pizza. The economic growth has attracted a lot of foreign investments which brings in a lot of consumers with western taste. At the same time, as average household income increases in this country, people living in the six major cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi has become more affordable for pizza and international food brands. We are very positive on the future of our business in Vietnam. Competition on pizza has previously dominated by a single player, and with us entering the market in 2010 consumers have greater variety of choice. This also lifts the consumer’s overall interest and awareness in pizza.
How does Domino’s differentiate itself from other pizza companies and fast food chains?
Since its inception, Domino’s has been a byword for quality and quick service. When you have a pizza delivered, you want to know two things, how good it is and how long it will take to arrive. Domino’s guarantees both these things and this has been the backbone of Domino’s success.
Domino’s is committed to providing customers with the ultimate pizza delivery experience and in line with this, we offer the following guarantees: 30 minute delivery guarantee, which guarantees that your order will arrive within 30 minutes or we’ll give you a free Regular Pizza voucher. Product satisfaction guarantee is a Domino’s guarantee that your pizza is guaranteed to be hot, fresh, and great tasting when it arrives at your doorstep, otherwise we’ll replace your order or refund your money. Also, Domino’s guarantees that you will receive your take-away order within 15 minutes or we’ll give you a free medium pizza voucher to be redeemed on your next take-away order.
Our customer base continues to grow and with more and more customers going online, we recognised the benefits of moving forward with technology and we have integrated our online platform into our order and delivery system to provide added convenience to our customers. This speeds up the ordering process as customers are able to do everything online at the Domino’s website, from placing their orders to making payments and tracking the status of the pizza.
Domino’s is hailed as the number one pizza delivery company in the world. As a few Vietnamese have adopted home delivery as a concept, have you changed any of your operations to match local consumer behaviour?
As mentioned before, the country’s middle class is rising with a busier and career-oriented lifestyle as seen in major cities, pizza delivery is soon becoming very relevant to local consumers. In fact, delivery contributed to about 40 per cent of our sales and this shows that Vietnamese love pizza delivery. Our belief is to meet the changing needs of customers in different regions and different life stage.
Đăng ký: VietNam News