#CommerceMonth: Slicing into Roman's brand-building secret recipe

Get ready for the rise of online ordering. It’s already made an impact in the traditional retail realm of groceries and online clothes shopping, now the trend is hitting the fast food industry hard.

That’s because Cooper lists online ordering as becoming “the expectation and not just a value-add, ” especially as they take cognisance of what the public wants and have been looking at bigger players in the market that have excelled at ecommerce and not just fast food brands. As a result, Roman’s Pizza is taking their lead as an example of what to aspire to. At the end of the day, ecommerce is all about convenience and increased customer experience at the touch point of the brand.

Members of the Roman’s Pizza marketing team: Benitta van den Berg, Danielle Hattingh, Bonnie Cooper, Kerry De Klerk and Tara Efstratiou.

This strategy is certainly proving effective, as Roman’s Pizza was crowned Brand Builder of the Year at the Franchise Association of South Africa’s (FASA) 2016 Awards just a few weeks ago. These awards recognise a brand by its popularity with the public through effective marketing and advertising campaigns.

Validation, motivation and engagement

Cooper says winning this title gives the brand the edge it needs, both in validating their efforts and what they stand for, as well as serving as a form of motivation in giving them more energy to push ahead and work harder. That’s because popularity with consumers is what keeps them coming back and puts money in the tills for Roman’s Pizza’s franchisees. So providing value for money to the public has a knock-on effect of also increasing profit margins for franchisees.

And those consumers are undoubtedly online, especially as Cooper confirms: “Fast food is no longer just an eating experience. When consumers take their hard earned money and spend it with a brand, they deserve high quality coupled with a good experience.” That’s why Roman’s Pizza is focusing on customer service by aggressively enhancing their customer service delivery through online ordering and ecommerce.

As the rise of the online consumer means commerce is no longer limited to the physical realm, Roman’s Pizza is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with a social media strategy that’s all about engagement. Cooper explains: “The amount of fans means nothing without a high engagement percentage. We realised the public wants to feel a brand embracing their needs and giving them value propositions that they can become accustomed to. All communication starts online so social media should be any brand’s biggest focus."

Certainly an effective brand-building strategy as ecommerce becomes more popular than before. Click here for more on Roman’s Pizza’s Brand Builder of the Year win, and keep up to date with the brand’s latest social media messaging on Twitter.