Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Domino's Pizza-Ploy

My dad was over for dinner and we ordered Domino's Pizza. I phoned the hotline, asked about the promotions and this was what I heard:
  • Option A:  2 Large Pizzas, plus this-and-that ($64)
  • Option B:  2 Large Pizzas ($50)
  • Option C:  1 Large Pizza, 1 Regular Pizza($50)
Look carefully at options B and C - now, who in his right all-screws-in-place mind would ever take Option C? Assuming I didn't mis-hear him, was this a promo typo by Domino's? Were the Marketing folks out to (chicken?) lunch when they designed this?

Or were they exploiting behavioural economics? Did Domino's set it up to make it virtually impossible to refuse Option B, thus sealing the sale asap? Did they anticipate that clients would be swaying between Option A and B and so built in a no-brainer to push the customer to B and ensuring their (instant!) satisfaction in the selection?

When you think about it, the answer's pretty certain. Domino's is an international pizza chain. The chances of them offering bad Marketing options (in the form of Option C) are close to zilch. Instead they have:
  • made a good and fast(!) sale ($50 for two flattened pieces of dough, tomato sauce, olives, cheese and some slices of salami and pepperoni is in a real sense a rip-off)
  • made the customer believe he's paid for great value, and most importantly...
  • made the customer believe he's a wise purchaser!
What, then, would be the chances of a repeat sale after this?

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