ICC World Cup 2023: Domino’s nearly halves rates of its large pizzas as rivalry hots up, says report

Popular pizza chain Domino's has reportedly slashed the prices of their large pizzas by almost half ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023, which starts on October 5. Domino's had sent messages to its subscribers last week alerting them about an "epic price drop on large pizzas", the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

The pizza chain said prices of vegetarian large pizzas have been reduced from Rs 799 to Rs 499, and that of non-veg large pizzas from Rs 919 to Rs 549. "Pay less, get more," the company said in the messages. The rates are applicable from October 4.

The pizza segment, of late, has become very competitive due to the emergence of smaller and newer rivals, such as Tossin, GoPizza, Leo's Pizzeria, MojoPizza, Ovenstory, and La Pino'z. The quick-service restaurant (QSR) major is trying to use the offer to drive sales during the sporting event and upcoming festive season.

Besides this, Domino's India has introduced Everyday Value offers to cater to a wider audience. Its Howzzat50 offer gives customers a flat 50% discount on pizzas.

Recently, Domino's India broadened its reach by launching 23 new outlets and venturing into one new city taking the total number of stores to 1,838 spread across 394 cities. Additionally, the company introduced four new eateries for Popeyes and made its debut in two new cities, Manipal and Coimbatore, resulting in a total of 17 restaurants across four cities.

Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates Domino's in India, has more than 1,800 stores. It also runs 21 Dunkin' restaurants and 13 Popeyes outlets in India.

In the April-June quarter, Jubilant FoodWorks reported a 74 per cent on-year drop in net profit to Rs 28.91 crore and 1.3 per cent decline due to demand headwinds and cut-throat competition.

It is to be noted that most renowned Western-style QSR brands, such as Domino's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and KFC, have witnessed a slowdown in sales over the past three quarters because of heightened competition from local players and the impact of inflation on consumer preferences.

IIFL Securities said in a note that the pizza market is becoming "highly cluttered" with regional chains accounting for close to 30% of all outlets. "Home-grown brands like La Pino'z have scaled rapidly, more than doubling stores in three years," the ET report noted.

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