MARKETING MIX OF MCDONALD’S

Introduction To McDonald’s
McDonald's is an American fast-food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant
operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United
States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned
the company into a franchise. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the
company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the
McDonald brothers. McDonald's is the world's largest restaurant chain by
revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries. In
response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the
unhealthiness of their food, the company has added to its menu salads, fish,
smoothies, and fruit. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent,
royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated
restaurants.

Product Of McDonald’s
McDonald's is world leading fast food services. The original restaurant, which was
started by McDonald's brothers, sold only hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
milkshakes and French fries.' change is the only constant in life ' McDonald's has
proven this by constantly evolving their product. In 1993 it started McCafé to give
a throat competition to Starbucks and other premium coffee brands. In the early
2000s, McDonald’s realized that people are getting more health cautious. So, it
started adding more salads and chicken items to its menu. To focus on kids, it also
packages 'Happy meals' and gives out a toy to attract that segment.
It adopts the product as per the local taste preference and cultural identity.
McDonald's focuses on glocalization strategy, and includes snacks or food items
which are preferred in that particular country or region. Mc Donald's sells MC
aloo tikki in india because we indian can't compromise on our aloo.
Price Of McDonald’s
McDonald's involves various price bundling strategies that offer bundling
products with meals and other products for customers. Price bundling, also
product bundle pricing, is a strategy that retailers use to sell lots of items at
higher margins while providing consumers a discount at the same time. With
bundle pricing, retailers offer several different products as a package deal, then
offer that package to consumers at a lower price than it would cost to purchase
those items separately.
To ensure customers buy more products McDonald's focuses on psychological
pricing strategies in its marketing mix that appear affordable to customers. They
had reduced prices in India by almost 25% so that customers prefer McDonald's
as lunch and dining place. Its primary competitors are KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut and
Dominos. As part of the promotional pricing strategy, McDonald's offer discounts
or bundling on certain products and combination of different menu items as
packed together. Their pricing strategy is also adapted to tap the lower middle
section of the society. McDonalds’ target customers are mostly young teenagers
who wish are brand conscious and want convenience.

Place Of McDonald’s
McDonald’s restaurants are where the company generates most of its sales
revenues. Some of these restaurants also manage kiosks to sell a limited selection
of products, such as sundae and other desserts. Some kiosks are temporary, as in
the cases of kiosks used in professional sports competitions and other seasonal
events. This element of McDonald’s marketing mix also involves the company’s
mobile apps. These virtual places are where customers can access information
about the company’s products and buy these products. For example, the
company’s mobile apps for iOS and Android let customers claim special deals, find
restaurant locations, place orders, and pay for such orders involving participating
McDonald’s restaurants. Furthermore, customers can place their orders through
the Postmates website and mobile app. This element of the marketing mix
supports McDonald’s corporate vision and mission statements, especially in
serving more customers around the world.

Promotion Of McDonald’s
Advertisements are the most notable among McDonald’s promotion tactics. The
corporation uses TV, radio, print media and online media for its advertisements.
On the other hand, sales promotions are used to draw more customers to the
company’s restaurants. For example, McDonald’s offers discount coupons and
freebies for certain products and product bundles, as a way of attracting more
consumers. In addition, the company’s public relations activities help promote the
business to the target market through goodwill and brand strengthening. For
instance, the Ronald McDonald House Charities and the McDonald’s Global Best
of Green environmental program support communities while boosting the value
of the corporate brand. Occasionally, the company uses direct marketing, such as
for corporate clientele, local governments, or community events and parties. In
this element of its marketing mix, McDonald’s Corporation emphasizes
advertising as its main approach to promote its products.

People Of McDonald’s

People are everyone who is involved in any stage and any way to make the
organization function as it does. For McDonald’s generally the people are
employees at store, manager who manages them etc. The employees in Mc
Donald’s have a standard uniform and Mc Donald’s specially focuses on friendly
and prompt service to its customers from their employees. All new franchises are
trained in customer management and in keeping the customers happy. They are
also trained for handling negative responses from customers and what to do
when there is high pressure on the outlet. Such kind of training is especially useful
when the employee has no job experience and is working in a McDonald’s outlet
which is bound to get crowded on weekends or festivals. The company
emphasizes on its employees to be customer friendly, cheering and have affection
for people. The service delivery of McDonald's is given priority and customer
satisfaction is of utmost importance. Employees are given ratings based on their
performance and they are encouraged to take a large part in decision-making
process. Hygiene is of utmost importance followed by quality and service. Each
McDonald's outlet has a restaurant manager who has the responsibility to
undertake the daily proceedings. Achieving customer satisfaction is the goal of
the company. There are approximately 210,000 people employed by McDonald’s
worldwide. The main objective when talking about the People aspect is to discuss
both customers and employees, because if the employees aren’t happy, they will
be more likely to take out their anger on the customer. This would result in bad
service and publicity. McDonald’s does a lot of internal as well as External
Marketing. They have found that it is extremely important to show employees the
proper respect and courtesy that they deserve and by allowing for them to give
input about things they think should be improved or worked on is a great way of
keeping everyone happy. If customers didn’t feel a great sense of appreciation
when they walk into a location, they are much less likely to come back and be
repeat customers. By doing research and taking surveys, McDonald’s executives
are finding out what people want and making sure that customers and employees
are completely satisfied. McDonalds has a target group of Families with children
because it is considered a treat for the children and easy for the parents. It is
considered more of an open, public atmosphere when compared to a fancier sit
down restaurant. They offer playgrounds and toys for the children at many
locations. McDonald’s also targets people without a lot of time who need a quick
meal. They offer a drive through for convenience, which brings you delicious food
to you fast and at a convenient price.

Process Of McDonald’s
Process refers to a set of activities performed in order to achieve something.
McDonald’s undertakes a number of activities to deliver its products to
customers. For example, food preparation is an important activity in the overall
process. The food preparation at McDonald’s is completely transparent i.e., the
whole process is visible to the customers. Other aspects of the process include
but not limited to how customers place their orders, how long they wait for their
food, and how they are treated by the customer care assistants.
Physical Evidence of McDonald’s

The last element of the marketing mix of McDonald’s is physical evidence which
refers to the elements of the physical environment visitors and customers
experience. The physical evidence impacts not only on the impressions of the
customers of the restaurant, but also the way McDonald’s functions. McDonald’s
interiors are attractive and the restaurant maintains clean and hygienic interiors
of its outlets.

Conclusion
McDonald's is one of the largest fast-food companies in the world. They continue
their path for success by keeping their consumers in mind regarding their product
selection as well as their prices. They encourage their employees to do a good job,
usually promotes from within, and offers several scholarships to encourage
education. McDonald's is a centralized, "wait and see" company they find ways to
use technological products that will increase their productivity, service, and sales