Dive Brief:

• Domino's customers can now order pizza via Facebook’s Messenger app.
• The process leverages a bot that customers with a Pizza Profile can use to place their most recent order or an Easy Order via the app.
• "We know that customers spend a great deal of time messaging, so we knew the next place we needed to add ordering was via Messenger," said Dennis Maloney, Domino's vice president and chief digital officer, in a release. "Messenger allows customers to order conversationally with the help of Domino's bot. We hope this new option will continue to make ordering as simple and as convenient as possible."

Dive Insight:

Domino's has been creative in offering its customers different ways to order pizza including via Amazon Echo, through an Apple Watch and even by texting an emoji. Given this range of options, adding Facebook’s Messenger app to the mix falls right into line with Domino's overall strategy of making it as easy as possible for customers to order food from the chain.

Messenger hit one billion monthly active users in July, and its open API has made it a very brand-friendly messaging service with Facebook allowing for customer service bots, and even promotional messaging within a 24-hour timeframe when a user engages with a brand via a bot. Most recently, Facebook announced the capability to make payments within the app, a feature in closed beta but expected to be more widely available soon. This move, along with Domino's bot for ordering pizza, points out the growing acceptance and legitimacy of conversational commerce where the transaction is happening away from what most consumers would consider a more traditional e-commerce checkout.

Other messaging platforms are also focused on driving use cases for brands and bots. For example, Sephora and H&M offer bots on Kik. However, Facebook Messenger is quickly becoming a leader, with more than 11,000 bots currently available.