Mc Donald’s is a fast food franchise founded by Ray Kroc in 1954.McDonald’s is a PLC(public limited company) that’s why McDonalds is the chosen organization for this essay. McDonalds have a standard menu which includes burgers: big mac, cheeseburgers, chicken burgers, fries, soft drinks, deserts and several other burgers however in certain Muslim countries they don’t serve certain products like pork, bacon and other prohibited items. McDonalds is leading in the restaurant/foodservice store in the world it has a net worth of $104.42 billion with 1.8 million employees worldwide and 37,000 global locations in more than 100 countries.
McDonald’s have a worldwide logo and catch phrase which is “I’m loving it” the logo is a yellow M The Golden colour represents the famous arches of its first franchised restaurant, while the red colour represents the food industry of this company. McDonalds have used celebrity like Kobe Bryant and Kris Wu who later became the brands ambassador to push their brand to next level big corporations use celebrity due to the exposure they have. The catch phrase was created by Justin Timberlake in 2003 since then McDonalds have aggressively marketed this phrase though commercials and many other different types of campaigns .
Swot analysis
Strengths
- Global brand
- Iconic logo and food
- Leading on all social platforms
- Stable cash flow Opportunities
- Animal welfare
- Expanding globally
- Dominating overseas
Weakness
- Low quality food
- Taste of products
Threat
- Competition
- Changing demographics
- Changing consumer diets due to governmental campaigns to stay healthy
From the swot analysis we can see the strengths are there global brand, stable cash flow all these factors are what are the strengths McDonalds have over the competitors and where they are strong.
There weakness are the quality and taste of food which can be changed like the taste of the products E.g. more spices ca be added to entice the customer more.
McDonalds have many competitors for example Subway is the largest restaurant chain in the world in terms of size, with nearly 44,000 locations in 110 countries. However Subway and McDonalds are world apart one is healthier and more sandwich based which is subway but McDonalds is a fast food franchise.
McDonalds market different types of services e.g. delivery, service station and pay and collect to gain a wider and diverse customer base from their target audience for example families and kids would go there a the Happy Meal, workers would go for the breakfast and coffee on-the-go or eating in , McDonalds attract teenagers with their saver menu which is affordable for teenagers with this they have deals on the back of bus tickets which is a marketing ploy due to fact majority of people on the bus are teenagers going to college .
McDonald’s have received backlash due to their fat foods which leads to obesity. From research McDonalds have been guilty of having large amount of calories in there foods but not so much nutrition which can lead to heart diseases and other health diseases all these are threats.
McDonalds have key factors that influence consumers behaviour for example the price it is very cheap and quick service the average time for a drive thru wait is 3 minutes so from this you can see its cheap, fast and fulling these are some factors that would influence their customers.
McDonald’s sells breakfast, burgers, fries, chicken & sandwiches, snacks & sides, desserts & shakes, salads, and drinks. It provides customers with a variety of options. For example, Cheese, Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger.
McDonald’s restaurant is to provide food at a competitive value driven price for the customers. Prices vary slightly between different McDonald’s restaurants according to a number of factors. While the restaurant sets prices with a demand based methodology, it does not prescribe pricing to franchisees who can set their own price structure as they see fit in their local market (McDonald’s, 2017). However, franchisees need to offer a competitive value driven price for their customers.
McDonald’s have different distributions strategies in different countries. The restaurant offers home delivery, driver thru and click and collect in some countries; however, this service is not available in many countries. Many of the McDonald’s restaurants are open 24 hour a day .McDonalds have couple major places like In the mall and airport these are places where there are constant new customers coming in and out and from there McDonalds market the right way to get them in there doors.
McDonalds use different promotional tools like TV, magazines, billboards ad several other marketing tactics for example during summer they offer monopoly tickets which give you freebies to get more customers in their doors due to fact of children are not in school, holidays etc and summer fruit drinks and toys for the kids.
McDonalds have main focus on their food preparation because it’s a process which entwines the customer and creates the façade for them to come in and be apart of the process. The whole process is visible to the customer which adds the process and brings the reality from where it starts to when they had you your order. how long they wait for their food (average wait time 3 mins), and how they are treated by the customer care assistants these are all factor that can influence customer to come back .
People are very important to McDonalds customer and there workers they have Around 97,000 workers in McDonald’s across the uk. If the employees are not happy, they are more likely to deliver poor customer service which can affect the customer behaviour and how they look at the organization .that’s why it’s important for organizations to have policies to address the needs and wants of both employees and customers.
McDonalds have several locations but with the nice location it comes with a calm, soothing environment which provides a sense of security to a new customer which will make them return and spend more and be a regular which can affect their behaviour and there influence all these are physical evidence such as the appearance of the workers speed, building maintenance and other elements which will affect the customers experience .
Bcg matrix:-
Star
Big mac
Fillet of fish
Chicken big mac
Question mark
Mc chicken
Mc Arabia
Cash cow
Mc nuggets
Cheese burger
Fries
Dog
Apple pie
Deserts
Onion rings
McDonalds have a couple of money makers which are stars e.g. big macs, fillet of fish etc which are very lucrative due to the persistent marketing campaign driven by McDonalds. The star category includes burgers which are the highest selling products. The cash cow category includes French fries which are complementary products to the star products. The question mark includes the products which do not make much revenue and is less popular also Mc chicken and Mc Arabia are not so popular due to fact they only serve them in certain countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and many more follow shariah law which in it pork is forbidden . Dog category includes the extinct products which include onion rings and other types of burgers which did not do well in the market however add a more diverse menu.
Ansoff matrix
Present New
Market penetration
Cleaver pricing
Drive through
Happy meal
Speedy service
Product development
New products
Healthier products
Market development
Africa
Nigeria
Diversification
McCafé
Chipotle
From the Ansoff matrix above we can see McDonald uses Ansoff Matrix’s growth strategies, to focus on the organisation’s present and potential products and markets & customers by considering ways to grow via existing products and new products, and in existing markets and new markets. McDonalds have also given healthier options on their menu to put their product development into place and tackle some public and ethical issues i.e. health risks and animal welfare raising animal welfare standards, developing skills and knowledge, and making environmental improvements McDonalds is trying to develop and wider there global organization by penetrating the African market and which will bring more revenue. McDonald have diversification which has also provided obdurate success in this strategy by owning a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill & Pert A Manger and acquiring Donato’s Pizza.
According to study, 86% of over-55s spend regularly online and 36% now do the majority of their shopping online from there McDonalds have recently introduced delivery service which a system which allows customers to order and pay online and deliver to their door without having elderly people to go to there nearest McDonalds store.
Due to Brexit McDonalds may be affected due to fact that taxes may rise or that the products that are shipped from the EU may rise or uk may not get a trading deal which will affect trading across the uk period.
Segmentation is separating the people into groups according to specific characteristics. Dudovskiy (2016) claims that McDonalds uses these segmentations and segmentation criteria:
- Geographical; region, density
- Demographical; age, gender, life-cycle stage, income, occupation
- Behavioural; degrees of loyalty, benefits sought, personality, user status
- Psychographic; social class, lifestyle
The wants and needs for customers matters to McDonalds when they introduced monopoly prize game in 1987 to add more excitement from the prizes beginning from minor £1 cheeseburgers to £100,000 cash sums. McDonalds strategically put this game into place from targeting the children with the games so they could bring the parent to spend the money. From McDonalds doing this we can see they care about their customers from the early 80s there was a demand for a more family vibe and more excitement and they delivered.
From the 7ps, Ansoff matrix etc McDonalds have strengths from there price, products, global brand however there negatives are ethical issues from killing animals and the obesity rate across the world which has been tackled by the Uk sugar tax by decreasing the size of sugar being added and increasing the price on them which affected McDonalds however from McDonalds receiving pressure from the government and the people from the health risks they are putting their customers in. Due to this McDonalds have begun to introduce sugar free foods and healthier options such as salads to tackle the obesity and health risks and save lives making them an ethical business in my opinion.
McDonalds can generate more revenue by targeting the grey pound and creating a new service which allows elderly people buying food online and bring it to them, feed it to those who are incapable by making their lives easier and making a profit while helping meanwhile the grey pound is worth £215 billion in the Uk alone and the 55 age group controls 80% of the UK’s wealth so they can generate a large amount money if they focus on the grey pound.
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