Pizza Hut iPhone App Generates $1 million in Pizza Sales

by Russell Buckley on 04. Nov, 2009 in Analysis

I just put up a couple of posts that you might find worth a read.

At Media Week, I wrote about the amazing success of Pizza Hut’s relatively new iPhone App, that has already generated over $1 million in pizza sales. mCommerce has been a long time coming, but it’s arriving at last.

Also on the subject of iPhone Apps (is there a hotter subject in mobile or marketing right now?) I wrote about Virgin Atlantic’s new App that helps people overcome their fear of flying.

Other subjects that caught my eye recently were Revolution’s coverage of a new AdMob campaign for STA Travel. What’s interesting is that it’s click-to-call, which has been slow to take off in mobile and which ought to be a no-brainer. Anyone have any thoughts as to why it’s not used more often?

Finally, I also like the new Guinness ad, though it reminded me a lot of one of the scenes from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie, when they’re creating Earth. The Guinness ad can be seen here and like most ads from the makers of the Black Stuff, it’s very classy indeed.

—–>Follow us on Twitter too: @russellbuckley and @caaarlo

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  • I need to get out of the stone age and get one of these iPhone. I can't beleive the stuff you can do with your phone these days.
  • Uri
    Indeed, congrats!
  • Alex
    Congrats on the acquisition, by the way.
  • Alex
    Russell, again I can't disagree - differentiators like this can only help win business from competitors who are slow on the uptake with new sales channels.

    I can't see much future using the iTunes payment channel though - Apple take a 30% cut of the revenues, which means that prices would need to rise by more than 40% for Pizza Hut to take the same money. I've no idea what the margin is on a Pizza, but surely even iPhone owners won't pay this premium for a tiny increase in convenience.

    On the other hand, is there anything stopping Pizza Hut just asking users for their credit card details in the app?
  • Russell Buckley
    Alex - I'm sure that some might have cannibalised other channels. On the other hand, I think they've done a fine job at allowing their customers to order in the way they like. I would also bet that they won some of these orders from people who would have used their competitors, but for the iPhone App. Factor into account the efficiency of the iPhone channel ie doesn't need synchronous (expensive) communication, like someone to answer the phone live and they have a winner.

    I don't believe that this included a payment system. However, there is certainly potential for that using the iTunes payment platform, or an indie one. And that's where things will get really interesting.

    Russell
  • Alex
    Very interesting read about Pizza Hut - it's a very impressive statistic, very cool.

    Might have a pinch of salt with mine though - how much of this $1M would actually have been done over the phone or on the website were it not for the iPhone application? I suspect the majority. That said, a dedicated pizza-ordering app can't help but build brand loyalty and repeat purchases.

    Also, to what extent is this mCommerce? Does the application accept payments within the app, or do you still have to give the delivery man cash when he turns up with the goods?
  • That's a great app and it's very encouraging that it's delivering the dough for Pizza Hut!
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