Pizza Hut is helping customers get used to mobile shopping by offering 50 percent off all orders made through mobile devices over the next week.

The promotion will run through January 9. The pizza chain is hoping that familiarizing consumers with its mobile ordering platform will encourage more mobile sales in the future.

“The weeks after the holiday season can be financially tight for many,” said David Timm, chief marketing officer at Pizza Hut.

Raising awareness
Now that the holidays are over, people around the country are letting themselves and their bank accounts recover.

The holidays are the biggest shopping season of the year, and for many their bank accounts are feeling a little tight. Pizza Hut cites a report that showed more than half of Americans thinking they spent more than they should have over the holidays.

As a response to this, Pizza Hut is hoping to keep sales strong without bankrupting its customers with a new promotion that takes 50 percent of all orders that come through mobile or online.

In addition to giving customers a much-needed discount, the promotion will also help to familiarize them with Pizza Hut’s mobile ordering platform.

The promotion is available for all regular menu items, meaning consumers do not have to change their ordering preferences to meet the criteria for the discount. The whole meal can be 50 percent off until January 9, giving consumers a break for the first week of the year.

Consumers can take advantage of the Pizza Hut promotion by ordering through the brand’s mobile application.

This is an additional convenience for customers, but also serves as a way for Pizza Hut to get customers to install the app. Once the app has been installed on their phones, they are more likely to make use of it again in the future.

Mobile ordering
With mobile shopping being such a boon for both consumers and brands, it makes sense that Pizza Hut would want to encourage its use at every opportunity.

Mobile ordering provides quick and efficient check-out options for consumers, as well as helping brands to keep their lines moving and their supplies rolling out at a quick pace.

Pizza Hut wants its customers to embrace mobile shopping and is offering this promotion as a way to introduce those who have not used mobile platforms before to the option.

The more consumers hear about this promotion and venture to download the mobile app and take advantage of it, the more mobile customers Pizza Hut may potentially entice to keep coming back to the app.

Pizza Hut has made further inroads in the mobile ordering world recently, bringing its mobile ordering platform to Facebook Messenger and Twitter (see story).

With these kinds of mobile ordering technologies in place, Pizza Hut is now shifting its attention to bringing awareness of those options to consumers.

“With this quick and easy offer, we’re making sure Pizza Hut fans can enjoy the pizza they love without breaking the bank,” Mr. Timm said.