Domino's Feels The Pressure From Third-Party Delivery Sites, Rolls Out GPS Tracking At All Locations

Domino’s same-store sales growth for the second quarter was reported at only 2.1%, a record-low from the past seven years. CEO Rich Allison alleged that “aggressive activity from third-party delivery aggregators” was responsible for the recent downtick, as reported by Nation’s Restaurant News.

Allison, however, is not threatened by the impact of these sites long-term. Live GPS tracking, similar to those used by Uber and the aforementioned delivery apps, will arrive at all Domino’s stores by the end of 2019. Allison claims that the added feature will not only benefit customers, but will allow for franchise operators to gather data on consumers and make their restaurants’ delivery process more efficient.

“Ultimately it will come down to whether franchisees are making more or less money on those platforms,” said Allison. “We don’t expect pressure from these third-party aggregators to subside … but there will be survivors in this business and some of these aggregators won’t be around in the future. That’s my hypothesis,” Allison concluded.

The brand opened 42 new U.S. stores in Q2, coming in at 16,314 stores globally.