Pizza Hut Finds A Giant Slice Of Success On Mobile Devices In 2013

Pizza Hut served up a huge slice of success with some help from mobile devices and Xbox 360 over the course of 2013. The company hopes to keep this digital ball rolling next year.

Although the restaurant has offered online ordering for quite some time, things really took off this year. Internet Retailer reports that nearly 50 percent of orders came from the Pizza Hut mobile site thanks to the increasing popularity of tablets and smartphones.

In fact, so many people are using these portable gadgets nowadays that Pizza Hut said mobile ordering is up nearly 4,000 percent over the past three years. Since tablets and smartphones are more popular than ever, the company expects this number to grow considerably over the next several months.

“We recognized early on that our consumers were spending more and more of their time online, so we moved quickly to be there with them,” Pizza Hut CEO Scott Bergen recently explained.

He added, “As they moved toward mobile versus the home computer, we were there to greet them. Digital ordering is still in its infancy and we are intent on making the experience great for our consumers.”

However, mobile devices weren’t the only things that helped Pizza Hut generate upwards of $1 billion in digital sales this year. The company was the first company to dip its toes into the world of gaming. The so-called “”Pizza Hut for Xbox 360” launched in April complete with voice commands and high-definition graphics.

Bergen credited the dedicated folks working behind-the-scenes with successfully rolling out the Xbox 360 app earlier this year.

“Our technology team is one of the most robust and skilled in the world. They’ve continued to push out advancements in our digital system solely to make the ordering process easier for our consumers,” Bergen explained.

He added, “Simplicity and speed are the most common requests from our online ordering customer, and we’ve addressed that with our new site. No company offers the wide variety of digital experiences than we do at Pizza Hut. Not just in the U.S., but around the world.”

However, Pizza Hut Japan is taking a somewhat different approach to getting folks to place orders online. The Inquisitr previously reported that the company is giving away eight gold chains to help boost sales through the holidays. Instead of giving patrons cheap jewelry, each piece is reportedly worth approximately $770.

Did you order a pie from Pizza Hut through a smartphone or tablet over the course of 2013?