Situation:
The McDonalds Corporation has to be continually aware of its consumer behavior, their eating habits, as well as the situation and the trends in the market in order to understand if there is a need of any changes in their marketing strategy. Any important modifications in the marketing activities of the company have to be backed up by legitimate research. The introduction of new products, decisions on whether to invest more in certain channels of distribution, change of features of the product, advertising or pricing strategies have to be backed up by evidence based on the results of continuous marketing research. In the case of a big corporation like McDonald’s, the marketing research reports should answer lots of consumer
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O5. (Related to Q16, Q17, Q18)
To collect secondary data about the USA fast-food restaurant business, in order to determine McDonald’s market share, which are its competitors, and what changes have they done in their marketing strategies.
O6. (Related to Q11)
To collect secondary data about changes in eating trends in the USA.
Research design:
This continuous study is a descriptive one, though it encompasses characteristics of the exploratory research. The study will be descriptive to the extent that it creates data structures that describe the existing characteristics of the marketing situation at McDonalds. It will collect data about customer attitudes, purchasing behavior, customer satisfaction, competition and other marketing issues that will allow the decision maker to understand consumer behavior and identify trends that might suggest changes needed in the marketing strategies.
At the same time, the study will posses characteristics of the exploratory research design as it will collect and classify data about sales statistics in order to observe fluctuations and purchasing patterns in terms of sales pick, costumer preference of product and product combination, preference of location, etc. Observational research will be also conducted as much information can be inferred by simply observing the consumers and analyzing the actual product.
Specific Instrumentation:
McDonalds is a very big corporation
One of the most important reasons that the food advertising market is so large include the following: food captures 12.5% of US consumer spending and so there is vigorous competition, food is a repeat-purchase item and consumers' views can change quickly, and food is one of the most highly branded items, which lends itself to major advertising. More than 70% of US grocery products are branded. Mcdonald’s is a household name in America and throughout the world. It is the leading global foodservice retailer with over 33,500 restaurants in 119 countries. It remains at the top of its market by delivering a remarkably consistent customer experience while still allowing for locally relevant menu and service variation. The article I would like to share with you today focused on the integrated marketing
It is known that most products go through a ‘product life cycle’, which sees all kinds of product will eventually go to the ‘decline’ stage. The marketing research discussed in the pervious part is vitally important to understand the changing wants and needs of customers. McDonald's constantly works to satisfy customers by developing new products to appeal them. For example, McDonald's introduced a variety of salads to appeal to the healthier conscious customers (Yahoo! Contributor Network, 2005), and recently, McDonald’s added a new product line named ‘great taste of America’ so as to attract young customers. (UK McDonald’s, 2012)
We have come to the phase that allows Team A to apply the research tools and implement a market research plan. Team A will review various marketing research tools that are available for researchers to use such as secondary research, secondary on-line research, exploratory research, nondirective interviews, and the Likert scale. Our secondary research is showing that consumers are demanding healthier menu options. This market research implementation plan will develop several market research tools; including questionnaires’ and the Likert scale to verify if McDonald’s consumers genuinely want and will purchase healthier menu items.
REFERENCES•www.mcdonalds.com, accessed on 18 July, 2008•www.mcdonldsindia.net, accessed on 18 July, 2008•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's, accessed on 19 July, 2008•http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/263943/mcdonalds_strategic_marketing_mix.html?cat=4, accessed on 19 July, 2008•www.kfc.com, accessed on 25 August, 2008
In the past, many students have selected popular products that McDonald’s does not offer, but other restaurants successfully provide. This is an opportunity to use your creativity, so think critically on what products may positively impact the McDonald’s menu of products to increase revenues and profitability. The secondary research used in this assignment should support your new product idea. Remember you are in the process of finding data that will convince a hardened senior executive that your addition to the menu will be good for McDonald’s and their bottom line.
There are changing societal trends in the areas where McDonald’s operate. There are changes in consumer preferences and also in some communities they culture different as compared to other areas in the market. To remain relevant in the market, they have to deal with these issues by conducting market research that will help them be knowledgeable of the needs of the market. They also need to adjust their menu to suit the needs of the consumers.
Marketing is a mix of business activities that work towards a bigger goal of building a brand and creating lasting relationships to capture value from customers. Implementing a marketing strategy is vital as it examines every aspect of a business by identifying customer needs and meeting these in a better way than competitors (Armstrong et al. 2015). McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s are examples of companies with excellent customer-driven marketing strategies, strategically deciding which customers to serve (segmentation and targeting) and how (positioning & differentiation). Using this as a guideline they’ve incorporated the marketing mix consisting of; product, price, promotion and place to produce the response it wants in the target market.
McDonald is recognized as one of the biggest and leading fast food chains all around the world. McDonald retains a strong market position in the worldwide food market with various branches opened in several geographical locations globally. From the perspective of customer retention, its success image is primarily upheld by its increased concentration over the strategy of sustaining its brand image in the market. Researchers contributing to the subject under discussion stated that one strategy to implement is to use operations and coordinate its policies, together with the vital factor
I, Tayneata M. Starr, decided to discuss McDonald’s for this strategy report. McDonald’s began in the 1940’s as a “mom & pop” bar-b-que diner in San Bernardino, California by Dick and Mac McDonald (“McDonald’s History,” n.d.). In December of 1948, McDonald’s was rebranded as a self-serve drive-in restaurant (“McDonald’s History,” n.d.). The original menu was comprised of nine items, with the staple product being the “15-cent hamburger” (“McDonald’s History,” n.d.). Today, McDonald’s is a publicly traded organization that operates in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, and Latin America (“MCD Profile,” n.d.). As of December 2015, McDonald’s has 36, 525 restaurants in operation, offering products such as soft drinks, hamburgers,
McDonald’s is a fast food giant and is one of the best known burger chains in the world. McDonald’s builds its brand equity by listening to its customers and continually adjusting its communication and marketing methods. Because McDonald’s faces stiff competition around the world from other fast food chains it must continually adapt. This paper will show how McDonald’s is segmented in the fast food industry, its target markets, and the selection process for that target market. Developing a marketing strategy is very important and to do that it is important to understand the
Market research is the process where the marketing problems and opportunities are defined through the information gained from the customers. The Market research is also used to help understand the marketing process, which then helps increase the performance of the company’s marketing. Due to the raise of the public awareness of obesity and its consequences, the soft drink companies such as Coca Cola where heavily bombarded with negative publicity. As a result the sales of many soft drink companies have declined. In response to this major companies such as Coca Cola have embraced the idea of quantitative market research to understand the needs of the consumers. To be able to achieve an effective market research the company has spent around $132.8 million on many methods of retrieving information but one of the main method was by surveys. The surveys have shown that the image of the company was associated with unhealthy products, due to the results that were provided Coca Cola was able to understand that to attract more customer the only solution was to change the marketing plan to re- brand the business into a health conscious business.
From drive-through restaurants, to Chicken Mc-nuggets to a hamburger joint, McDonald?s has come a long way. It?s the leading chain of fast food restaurants in the world that serves more than 55 million clients on the daily basis. In 1940, the corporation was established by two brothers from California, Maurice and Richard McDonald. However, directed by Ray Kroc, the current McDonald?s business times its establishment to the inaugural of a licensed restaurant on 1955, in Illinois. Later, the McDonalds expanded globally after Kroc bought the brothers? capital in the company. Today, McDonald?s runs about 32,000 restaurants globally, in about 115 countries (Eric, 2001). The restaurant provides its clients with great tasting and cheap food; dealers with a mutual obligation to deliver the highest quality products and ingredients; and franchisee and staff with opportunities for growth. Through its growth into numerous worldwide markets, the company has become a figure of globalization and a great supporter of how Americans live. It has become a common public debate topic about consumer responsibility, company ethics, and obesity, due to its fame (Eric, 2001).
McDonalds failed to recognize the changing trend in customer’s preferences to better tasting, fresher food. This trend led to new sub markets emerging for tastier, fresher and fast food perceived as healthier. A few of the smaller/privately owned competitors (Cosi and Quizno’s) were able to operate in niche markets
Since McDonald’s is the most well know fast food chain in the world with a market cap of 69.35 billion, brand recognition is their biggest strength. The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate and maintain consistency in the operation of its many outlets. In recent years McDonald’s has introduced Premium Salads, Snack Wraps, fresh Apple Dippers in the United States, and Corn Cups in China. Also, McDonald 's products are priced so low that economic conditions are almost insignificant.