McDonalds Product Line
McDonald’s is an American Company operating both domestically and internationally. It is the world’s largest hamburger restaurants and has more than 65 million customers. It has operations in more than 100 countries of the world. The company started as a small restaurant but with time it grew and developed to become the one among the world's Fortune 500 service companies. It offers plenty of products to its customer's something that helps us understand its product line better. Its product line includes Burgers, Breakfast products, Chicken, pork, beef and fish among others. This implies that most of its products are in those categories. McDonalds Company operates in very many nations of the world providing diverse products depending on the nation’s cultural preferences and purchasing power. This paper focuses on discussing operations of McDonald’s in America, China, Malaysia, and India (Chan et.al 2012).
Implementation of the 4Ps marketing mix Concept in McDonald’s Company
Product Mix
McDonald’s Company provides its customers with a variety of food and beverage products. This plays a great role in helping its customers to make choices on which products satisfy their needs. When customers have a variety of products to choose from they are encouraged to develop a lasting relationship with the provider of the products and services. Some of the company’s product line includes snacks, McCafe, Beverages, Hamburgers, Desserts and shakes and all day breakfast line. Its products are quality thus able to attract many customers in its restaurant to enjoy the meals. Most of the company’s food products contain milk, beef, chicken and potatoes (Morrison, 2014).
Promotion
McDonalds uses various promotional strategies to lift its sales and enhance its competitiveness in the market. Some of these strategies that the company uses include advertising, direct selling, public relations, and sales promotion. Advertising strategy is the most commonly used by the company in promoting its products and services in the market. McDonalds uses commercials to sway its customers to buy its products and services. Some of the commonly used commercials include the TVs and radio adverts.
Besides, the company has also embraced technology in its operations following the gradual change in technology. Digital marketing is becoming one of the McDonald’s most important advertising tool. The company uses the online media to advertise its products and services. For instance, the company uses its website through which it displays its products and provides information concerning its services and products thus helping the customers to understand and develop interest on the same. Besides, the company also uses its social media such as Twitter and Facebook to promote its products (Morrison, 2014).
On the other hand, the company uses sales promotion to attract customers in its restaurant. The most commonly used sales promotion strategies include offering discounts and perks for some of its products. Additionally, McDonalds also uses public relations as one of its major marketing strategies by participating in community-based activities through its programs such as environmental and charity programs. Finally, on few occasions, the company also uses direct selling, especially when handling community and local government events.
Pricing
McDonald’s pricing strategy is geared towards the psychology of the customers and bulkiness of the products offered. The company uses pricing bundling through which it provides products and meals in bundles to assist it in offering discounts to its customers. Besides, the psychological pricing of the company focuses on enhancing affordable prices for the company’s products and services. For instance, the company has products with prices which are as low as $1 (Morrison, 2014). This shows that its products are affordable by many of its customers. McDonald’s uses price bundling to motivate its customers to more products to receive discounts.
Place
Most of the company’s products are distributed to restaurants from where the customers can get them. However, there are also other distribution centers through which the company distributes its products. Some of these areas include kiosks, mobile apps, and postmates website. The company yields high sales revenues from its restaurants. Most of its restaurants also collaborate with kiosks to make selling of the products faster and simpler. In some occasions such as parties and events, the company uses temporary kiosks to distribute its products. Besides, customers are free to make orders for the company’s products through the website or mobile app. Place strategy adopted by the company plays a great role towards enhancing its growth and market penetration.
Differences observed in Implementation of 4Ps in different countries
The implementation of the marketing mix by the company differs in the regions where it has business depending on cultural practices encouraged in such regions, target group and the income status of the customers. When focusing on place or distribution mix adopted by the company, it is worth to note that there are significant differences arising on its implementation in various nations. For instance, McDonld’s in China focus on the use of kiosks to distribute its products. This is because the most of the Chinese citizens like buying their breakfast products in streets. This makes kiosks the most important distribution outlet for the company's products in China. However, this differs from the company’s distribution in America where most of its products are distributed in restaurants and supermarkets since many American citizens like doing their shopping under a closed roof. Also, Chan et al (2012) reveals that the company in China place outlets in areas with 50,000 people because it is a basic requirement. However, in India, Malaysia and America, the company has managed to spread its outlets evenly.
Besides, the products offered in different regions also differ significantly based on cultural preferences. For example, McDonald’s provide beef, pork, fish and chicken products in China because they are supported by the culture of the nation. However, this is a different case in India where it supplies chicken products in plenty because Indians do not take beef or pork. On the other hand, in Malaysia, the company provides a special meal referred meal known as prosperity burger, beef, and chicken (Chan et. al, 2012).
Furthermore, the promotional strategies applied by the company in these regions also differ significantly. For instance, most of McDonald,s promotional strategy used in America and China differ from that the company uses in India and Malaysia. Most of McDonald’s promotional strategy used in both China and the USA is via the internet using the company’s website or mobile apps. However, in India and Malaysia, McDonald’s uses print media and traditional advertising since they are the most supported by the Indian and Malaysian culture (Chan et al, 2012).
Nonetheless, the pricing strategy implementation also differs depending on the income status of different nations. For instance, the price in America market is standardized implying that most of the products have the same price in almost all areas. However, in India and Malaysia the price is segmented to accommodate different classes of people.
References
Chan, S., Kong, C., Lee. C., SU, H., Tang, Y., & Bashawir, M., (2012). A Comparative Study on International Marketing Mix in China and India: The case of McDonald’s. Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier Ltd: Jakarta. Retrieved from http://ac.els- cdn.com/S1877042812053566/1-s2.0-S1877042812053566-main.pdf?_tid=414ec32a- 091e-11e6-b142- 00000aab0f6b&acdnat=1461393803_82bee31173b34894d972ef378ac856e2
Morrison, M. (2014, March 13). Three Strategies McDonald's Is Using to Lift Sales. Advertising age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/mcdonald-s-focus-improving- marketing-digital-menu/292155/
