Domino’s Takes Tip From 7-Eleven With Pinned-Location Delivery

As Domino’s looks for ways to retain delivery customers’ loyalty in the face of increasing competition from aggregators’ pizza offerings, the chain is making it possible to get food brought to more types of locations, taking a page from 7-Eleven‘s book.

The pizza giant announced Tuesday (June 20) the launch of Domino’s Pinpoint Delivery, which lets consumers order delivery to pinned locations, enabling the chain to deliver to specific spots in parks, on beaches and in other locales where a street address may not suffice.

“Domino’s is proud to be the first quick-service restaurant brand in the U.S. to deliver food to customers with the drop of a pin,” Christopher Thomas-Moore, Domino’s senior vice president and chief digital officer, said in a statement. “We’re always striving to make customers’ experiences even better and more convenient, and Domino’s Pinpoint Delivery does exactly that.”

The move comes as Domino’s, known for its extensive in-house delivery network at a time when most restaurants are relying on third-party aggregators to meet delivery demand, looks for ways to gain advantages over pizza chains on these popular marketplaces. By offering delivery to locations not served by aggregators, the restaurant can carve out unique occasions that others cannot meet.

Overall, PYMNTS research found that restaurants’ direct channels are more popular, exceeding third parties’ share of total restaurant orders two-to-one. Specifically, in a survey of nearly 2,000 U.S. consumers, 16% reported primarily ordering food via restaurants’ direct ordering channels such as their website or their app. Meanwhile, only 8% stated that they mainly order food via third-party aggregators.

Domino’s may claim to be the first quick-service restaurant (QSR) in the country to offer this service, but it is not the first food seller overall to do so. Back in 2019, convenience retail giant 7-Eleven announced the launch of 7NOW Pins on its 7NOW delivery app, a similar feature. The app’s latest Apple App Store description suggests it continues to offer it to this day, four years later (nearly to the day). As such, it seems the program proved successful for the retailer.

“We continuously challenge ourselves to find even more ways to offer convenience and value to our customers — when and where people need it most,” Raghu Mahadevan, 7-Eleven’s then vice president of delivery (now senior vice president and chief digital officer), said in a statement at the time.

For Domino’s, the move comes at a time when delivery sales are falling as restaurant prices rise. The company shared on its last earnings call, in April, that carryout orders were up by 13.4% year over year in the first quarter, while delivery decreased 2.1%.

Research from PYMNTS’ study “Connected Dining: Rising Costs Push Consumers Toward Pickup,” revealed that 39% of restaurant customers ordered their most recent meal for pickup, and only 10% did so for delivery.

Plus, the findings showed that 48% of consumers have been more likely to pick up their restaurant orders themselves rather than have them delivered due to inflation. Since the survey in January, restaurant prices have only continued to rise.