Ordering a pizza is about to get as simple as a tweet.
Beginning May 20, Domino's, the pizza delivery behemoth, will roll out a "tweet-to-order" system that lets U.S. customers tweet for pizza. Domino's will become the first major player in the restaurant industry to use Twitter, on an ongoing basis, to place and complete an order.
Even wackier: Domino's frequent customers will be able to order by tweeting only the pizza emoji to @Dominos.
"It's the epitome of convenience," says Patrick Doyle, CEO at Domino's, in a phone interview. "We've got this down to a five-second exchange."
For the pizza industry — if not the entire restaurant delivery industry — it's all about attracting the attention of busy, younger consumers who are ultra tech-savvy but also ultra-pressed for time. For Domino's it was a no-brainer, with upwards of 50% of its sales already taking place digitally.
One analyst says it's a savvy PR move. Domino's will enjoy a "burst of publicity" as social media buzzes with the news, says Rebecca Lieb, digital advertising analyst at Altimeter Group. In the early going, she says, it also gives Domino's a competitive edge.
For Twitter, it's much more than just extra cheese. It's an evolution that the online social network is making from a place to chat about or even advertise stuff to a digital gathering place where folks can also go to buy stuff. Several familiar retailers, including Old Navy and AMC Theaters, have previously tested selling items on Twitter via "buy now" buttons on tweets.
Despite its enormous size, with more than 302 million monthly active users, Twitter keeps looking for ways to grow and engage with digitally-savvy consumers. Some 500 million Tweets are sent every day — with more than 300 billion sent since the company was founded in 2006.
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