Dominos and Nike Offer Case Studies in Technology Transformation

​Technology can help drive corporate efficiency and revenue growth. The value of implementing innovative, tech-driven transformations has reached a critical juncture, as demonstrated in various case studies, including Domino’s Pizza and Nike.

By the early 2000s, Domino’s Pizza emerged as one of the largest pizza restaurant chains worldwide. In 2007, the company’s stock price reached a record high of $32.25. However, as the global recession took hold, discretionary spending plummeted. Domino’s stock value fell sharply, reaching a low point of $5.95 only a year later. Most did not question the quality of its core product, but it had to figure out how to stand out from competitors in a hotly contested marketplace and provide extra value. Domino's sought to deliver “better service at the same price,” and it found that digital orders would propel the strategy. 

In 2011, Domino's decided to shift its business from 20 percent to more than 50 percent online within four years. It laid the infrastructure for seamless accessibility through Pizza Profiles, a platform that allowed customers to save their information, such as addresses and payment details, all bundled into an Easy Order. The concept combined a favorite set of menu choices with order type (delivery or takeout), favorite store, preferred payment method, and address.

Building on Pizza Profiles, the company engineered the transformative launch of Domino's AnyWare in 2015. It enabled seamless ordering through text, a smartwatch, a tweet, Facebook, or a click on the Ford Sync console. DominosAnyWare.com explained the various ways customers could order and accompanied it with a nationwide ad campaign, featuring spots where celebrities shared their opinions on their favorite way to order, highlighting its convenience. In addition, Domino's promoted AnyWare on shows like The Today Show and Jimmy Fallon. The suite of ordering technologies generated 2 billion earned media impressions and 500,000 visits to the Domino's AnyWare.com website.

The new device- and console-integrated ordering approach drove a 10.5 percent year-over-year sales growth, as Domino’s quickly surpassed its goal of receiving half of its orders online, with the stock price approaching $400. A JP Morgan analyst stated, “We have found ourselves describing the 'new' Domino's as a technology company disguised as a marketing company disguised as a pizza company… and dominant outperformance bears that comment as true.”

Next, Nike, which historically expanded its business as a wholesale brand that supplied third-party sportswear retailers with products such as shoes and athletic wear. In 2017, with wholesale accounting for 80 percent of its profits, the company adopted a new strategy of directly connecting with clients through innovative e-commerce channels.

It launched apps that extended services, such as Nike Training Club and Nike Run Club. They built a core community of fitness-focused users who gained practical value from vitals- and performance-tracking training programs, along with options to purchase lifestyle-relevant gear online, through a simple click within their profile. Nike acquired Zodiac, a data analytics brand, which enabled tracking of individual purchases and behavioral data points. This accurately predicted future consumer activity and delivered hyper-local personalization in product suggestions.

In 2019, Nike also announced that it would no longer offer products on Amazon, the dominant e-commerce platform of the era. It afforded Nike greater control over consumers' experiences and harnessed the increased profits associated with direct sales, but helped halt the proliferation of counterfeit goods. The direct-to-consumer retail strategy paid off during the pandemic, as its business increased by 82 percent and digital sales rose to 42 percent of total sales. Correspondingly, the wholesale revenue segment declined to around 60 percent, still important, but no longer critical, to corporate success.

Ben Weinstein

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