Joe DavidSWOT analysis of Domino’s (Domino’s Pizza)
This is a detailed SWOT analysis of Domino’s. It aims to address the internal and the external environments of Domino’s by examining its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Domino’s Pizza, simply known as Domino’s, is a leading pizza brand in the USA and many other countries in the world.
Strengths of Domino’s
Domino’s is a major pizza brand in the USA. It is also a major player in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and some other countries. It was founded in the USA in 1960 and there are a total of 6126 stores in the USA (Lock, 2020). Domino’s opened its first store in the UK in 1985. It has over 1,000 stores across the UK and more than 35,000 team members (Domino’s, 2021).
Domino’s is the largest pizza company in the world in terms of sales. It is ranked 4th in the world’s leading quick service restaurants. Its financial position is very strong as well. Efficient supply chain and quicker than expected service in stores have contributed to the growth of the company significantly.
Since the inception in 1960, Domino’s has been heavily focusing on product innovation. It has offered customers a very good number of highly developed products over the years. Handmade Pan Pizza, Parmesan Bread Bites, Marbled Cookie Brownie, Stuffed Cheesy Bread, and Specialty Chicken are some of the recent product innovations by the company.
It is worth noting that Domino’s has not limited it innovations to products only. For example, its revolutionary Pizza Tracker allows customers to follow the progress of their order online from the time they click the “Place Order” button or hang up the telephone until the Domino’s delivery expert is knocking on their door (Domino’s, 2021).
Weaknesses of Domino’s
Many customers have expressed their disappointment with the services of Domino’s over the years. The company’s Facebook page has been flooded with the stories of customers’ disappointment who received pizza with the ingredients they did not order for. According to McCauley (2017) the top five complaints Domino’s has received in Australia and New Zealand are missing garlic breads, uneven pizza slices, poorly distributed pepperoni, order mix-ups and poor customer service. Domino’s has received similar complaints in many other countries as well. It should be mentioned that A Domino’s takeaway in Wales (the UK) was fined £10,000 in 2019 after an object resembling ‘a piece of metal’ was found in a customer’s food (Gupwell and King, 2019).
While franchising model of business has a number of advantages, it has disadvantages too. It is not very easy to monitor and control franchisees around the world. Particularly, quality control becomes a difficult job. Domino’s often faces this problem. For example, the court of an additional district magistrate at Shahjahanpur in India has fined Domino’s and its supplier a large sum of money as a sample of cheese used in a pizza failed to pass a lab test (Singh, 2018).
Opportunities for Domino’s
Domino’s operates in more than 90 countries. However, its competitors such as Subway and McDonald’s operate in more than 100 countries respectively. Therefore, there are opportunities for Domino’s to explore new countries and territories. Likewise, it can grow further in its existing markets, particularly in the emerging economies where competition can be less compared to advanced economies.
Introducing new products in the menu is always an opportunity worth exploring. Domino’s can add new low-calorie items to its menu to draw the attention of the health-conscious customers. Domino’s has a great history in product innovations. Therefore, introducing new products into the markets should not be that of a challenge for the company.
Threats to Domino’s
Threat is the last element to discuss in the SWOT analysis of Domino’s. Domino’s faces a fierce competition from a good number of competitors e.g. Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, KFC, Taco Bell, and Papa John’s Pizza.
Legal challenges may turn out to be costly for the company as well. As mentioned above, an Indian court has fined Domino’s a large sum of money in 2018. Likewise, the company settled a lawsuit brought by a woman with a payout of $15 million in 1993 that indeed destroyed the company’s 30-minute delivery guarantee almost in all countries it operates.
We hope the article on the SWOT analysis of Domino’s has been useful. You may also like reading SWOT analysis of Starbucks and SWOT analysis of Burger King. Other relevant articles for you are:
And
If you liked any of these articles, please feel free to share with others by clicking on the social sharing icons.
Last update: 12 January 2021
Further Reading/References
Domino’s (2021) About us, available at: https://corporate.dominos.co.uk/about-us (Accessed 12 January 2021)
Gupwell, K. and King, L. (2019) Domino’s store fined £10,000 after customer finds metal object in their pizza, available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dominos-store-fined-10000-after-21094304 (accessed 12 January 2021)
McCauley, D. (2017) Biggest complaints about Domino’s pizza revealed as the fast food giant promises to do better, available at: https://www.news.com.au/finance/small-business/biggest-complaints-about-dominos-pizza-revealed-as-the-fast-food-giant-promises-to-do-better/news-story/0fc317d8877dff040ebc7b26d9d85e91 (Accessed 22 June 2018)
Singh (2018) Domino’s cheese fails lab test, Rs 9.5 lakh fine imposed, available at: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/adm-court-imposes-fine-of-rs-9-50-lakh-on-dominos-after-cheese-in-pizza-fails-lab-test/articleshow/62841953.cms (Accessed 24 December 2017)
Lock, S (2020) Number of Domino’s Pizza stores in the United States from 2006 to 2019, available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/277311/number-of-dominos-pizza-stores-united-states/ (Accessed 12 January 2021)
Wohl, J. (2018) Domino’s unseats Pizza Hut as biggest pizza chain, available at: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/domino-s-unseats-pizza-hut-biggest-pizza-chain/312463/ (Accessed 22 June 2018)
Photo credit: www.pixabay.com
Author: Joe David
Joe David has years of teaching experience both in the UK and abroad. He writes regularly online on a variety of topics. He has a keen interest in business, hospitality, and tourism management. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management.
M Rahman
Veeren Gowrea