In the e-commerce environment, change is the only constant.

By: Joseph Santamaria, CIO, PSEG [NYSE: PEG]

Joseph Santamaria, CIO, PSEG [NYSE: PEG]

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited entered the e-commerce space well over a decade ago and we were early adopters in terms of competitors in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry globally, and especially in Australia. Since then, we have rolled out our digital solutions to seven of our markets delivering $1.65 billion in digital sales for FY18, with some markets like the Netherlands and Belgium now seeing more than 95 percent of delivery orders placed online.

We are always working hard to build and improve our digital experience for customers and introduce digital advancements that drive efficiencies for our stores. We try to push the boundaries of what’s possible, achieving a number of industry ‘firsts’, and are continuing to explore new and innovative ways to engage existing customers, attract new customers, and transform our store operations through technology.

With consumers becoming more and more confident buying products and services online, the success of e-commerce organizations will be in their agility to create and tap into new technology platforms and digital experiences for their customers. However, investing in new and emerging technology and staying ahead of current trends and advancements certainly comes with its fair share of challenges, especially when you are the first to adopt something globally.

Here are the top five things we’ve learnt along the way:

1. Go beyond just an online presence. Competition is fierce, and technology trends move quickly, so attracting new customers while retaining loyal customers is critical to success. It’s important e-commerce businesses go beyond just building and maintaining an online presence. They should create an online ecosystem while developing technology platforms that create not just a presence, but enhance the overall customer experience.

2. Always keep customers front of mind. For Domino’s, our confidence in pioneering the digital experience is a result of unwavering customer focus and using technology to solve customer tension points. It can be tough forging new ground with no proven industry success to follow, however, having the right team and developing with a customers’ needs in mind is what allows us to evolve and grow online usage. With the ever-increasing pace of emerging technology, I would advise organizations to keep their finger on the pulse and look for opportunities to be first movers, but most importantly to always develop for, and evolve with, your customers.

3. Address a key tension point. Developing technology to address a customer tension or issue makes releasing products to market easier, as it removes some of the risks and challenges. If we know that the technology will solve a key friction or make a tangible difference to the customer experience, then it’s an investment worth making.

4. Don’t innovate for innovation’s sake. Working to improve the customer experience as opposed to developing technology for the sake of being ‘innovative’ is essential. Our recent technology solution, DOM Pizza Checker, is a great example of this. DOM Pizza Checker was born out of the customer tension point; “My pizza doesn’t look like it should”. Understanding this tension and empathizing with the customer is what gave us the platform to create world-first technology that genuinely improves the customer experience.

5. Don’t overcomplicate it. When introducing technology, there is a fine line between innovating for the customer and not overestimating or overcomplicating what a customer might be ready to adopt. We pride ourselves on developing new technology that makes our customers’ lives easier and their entire experience with us more enjoyable. It’s important the technology resonates with our customers; it needs to feel native and intuitive to enhance the experience, not detract from it.

About Michael Gillespie

Michael Gillespie is the Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer for Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Limited (DPE), overseeing the Digital and Information Technology teams. With more than 20 years’ experience in online marketing and digital strategy, Michael is responsible for overseeing the IT, e-commerce and key digital marketing functions across DPE’s nine markets – Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark.