Domino's tracks your pizzas with new Facebook Ordering app
If you get hungry when reading through your Facebook feeds, the Domino's pizza ordering app will get your pizza delivered. You might never have to leave Facebook again.
The Order Now app sits on Domino's New Zealand and Australia Facebook pages and can be downloaded to your PC. Alternatively, you can bypass the app and order a one-off pizza without logging in to the site and saving your details.
Using Open Graph technology, the pizza you have just ordered can also be shared on your timeline to encourage your friends to order from Domino's too -- or perhaps invite themselves round to share yours. You can decide how much or how little information about your pizza purchases to share with your Facebook feed.
The pizza tracker within the app lets you track the status of your pizza order so you can see exactly when it will be ready for you.
Michael Gillespie, Domino's Online Marketing Director said: “Our Facebook ordering gives pizza lovers the chance to order from their local store quickly, ‘like’ their favourite pizzas and share both experiences with their friends on Facebook easily -- all without leaving the social media environment.”
Even through Domino's has been at the forefront of online ordering for some time, this is not the first time that it has been possible to order pizza whilst you are inside another application. Other companies have been experimenting with 'in page' experiences for quite some time.
Back in 2005, it was possible to order a pizza whilst playing Everquest II by typing "/pizza" inside the game. The Pizza Hut Web site appeared inside the game accepting orders for real items whilst gamers continued to play.
Domino's has been leading the way with its initiatives for mobile and social engagement. In March, the 'Social Pizza' application was launched on its Facebook page in Australia. This app allowed fans to vote on their favourite crust, sauce and ingredients -- echoing the successful McDonald's 'mein burger' campaign.
Domino's continues to work hard to get new and innovative ways to sell pizza. And it works too. In the UK, mobile commerce brought in $1 million in sales in just one week last year.
More and more B2C companies will jump onto the Open Graph app sharing opportunity and release apps that tell all of your Facebook friends what you are buying. Our timelines are going to fill up with over-shared information -- what our friends are reading, buying, eating or doing.
Success will depend on how much customisation you can have on each app -- and how much you decide to share with your friends.
Oversharing your food purchases might lead to timeline fatigue amongst your friends, defeating the brand objectives to get more customers and extend its reach.
You might turn away from Facebook if all you ever see are shared pizzas, images, news items read and the annoying 'Who has looked at your Facebook profile' spam links. On the other hand, you might decide that you actually want to install and use the Domino's app itself. However, how much sharing is too much?
The success of a Facebook Open Graph app, shared too often might just lead to its downfall...
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