McDonald’s is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with a presence

in over 35,000 locations and serving over 70 million customers in over 100
countries every day.
Known for its delicious hamburgers, McDonald’s also offers different types
of chicken and beef sandwiches, French fries, breakfast items etc.
McDonald’s modify its menu and offerings basis the region they are
operating in, so as to suit the regional customers taste and needs.
Eg: In India, McDonald’s does not serve beef products and lay equal
emphasis in promoting their non-veg (chicken) burgers and Veg burgers. In
USA, McDonald’s is famous for its Beef burgers.

SEGMENTATION:

Market segmentation is the process of dividing up mass markets into distinct

groups of similar needs and wants. The motive behind segmentation is Get
to know the customer in a much more detailed manner, gain a competitive
advantage and be able to serve the customers’ needs and wants in a better
way.

McDonald’s uses different types of segmentation to break a bigger market

into small customer groups.
1. Geographic Segmentation:
Geographic segmentation divides markets according to geographic criteria.
McDonald’s breaks its business into different geographical segments like
1. America
2. Europe
3. Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Africa
4. Other Countries (like Canada, Latin America)

Based on their geographic segmentation, McDonald’s optimizes its Menu

and food offerings to suit the regional tastes and needs.

McAloo Tikki and McVeggie are available in India

Bacon Smokehouse Burger and Quarter pounder (beef) burger are available
in the USA

McArabia Chicken and Beef Burger are available in Arabian countries.

2. Demographic Segmentation:

Segmentation according to demography is based on consumer-

demographic variables such as age, income, family size, socio-economic
status, etc.

McDonald’s mainly segments the market in below demographies:

1. Children: McDonald’s offer a lot of goodies, toys, happy meals etc to

attract this younger segment audience.
2. Young Adults (Age group between 18-29): Without much thinking, this
segment is the main source of income for any business, let alone
McDonald’s. This market segment may be having a disposable income which
is lower than the average, their consumption patterns are far much more
than old the other market segments.

3. Adults: The third segment is the adults’ segment, in order to target this
segment, McDonald’s tweaked its menu and made its offering less in
calories and healthy.

TARGETING :
After segmentation, the company needs to decide on the Targeting strategy.
Companies need to select the market segments that they want to focus on
and put in their future business strategy. The marketer faces a number of
important decisions:
Type of
Segmentati
segmentatio McDonald’s target segment
on criteria
n
Region Operating in 119 countries
Geographic Density Urban/rural
Age 6 – 70
Gender Males & Females
Bachelor Stage: young, single people not living at home
Life-cycle
Newly Married Couples: young, no children
Demographic stage
Full Nest II: youngest child six or over
Income Low and middle
Occupation Students, employees, professionals
Degree of
‘Hard core loyals’ and ‘Switchers’
loyalty
Benefits
Behavioral Cost benefits, time efficiency
sought
Personality Easygoing& careless
User status Potential and regular fast foodeaters
 Social class Lower, working and middle classes
Psychographi McDonald’s targets Resigned, Struggler and Mainstreamer
c Lifestyle individuals according to Cross Cultural Consumer
Characterization developed by Young & Rubican

Above mentioned are the few potential market segments that McDonald’s
chooses to target for driving their business strategy, sales and marketing
activities.
Type of segmentation Segmentation criteria McDonald's target segment
Placement Reigon Domestic and international
Place Urban and rural areas
Demographic Age 8 – 45
Gender Males & Females
Married couples, single
Life-cycle stage
people, friends, old age
Income Middle class
Students, employees,
Occupation
teachers, regulars
Behavioral loyalty Loyal customers
Cost benefits and time
Benefits
efficiency
Personality chill & carefree personality
User status Fast food eaters
Lower, working, and middle
Psychographic Social class
classes
Lifestyle Mainstream individuals

POSITIONING:
In order to position it’s products correctly in the target markets, McDonald’s
uses segment insights or information about the consumer behaviour that
are developed through market research.
The insights focus on the values, needs and lifestyle of each segment.

Using these insights, McDonald’s create a positioning profile for every

product and then the creative team uses these profiles to create ads
targetted to relevant segments as well as to the general population.

The term "positioning" refers to the process of selecting the marketing mix that is most suited to

the target client group. The positioning matrix indicates that certain combinations make far more

sense than others, and positioning is done by manipulating the marketing mix 4Ps. McDonald's

employs adaptive product positioning, which entails the corporation redefining products and

services regularly in response to market developments.

This concludes the positioning of McDonald’s

What is the marketing mix (why do you make the 4 P’s)?

The marketing mix is used to describe the marketing policy of an
organization. With this strategy, you can play the target group and market.
By forming the right strategy you can achieve the sales goals. To make this
model you need to carry out extensive research. These analyzes are an
important input for the marketing mix. Some analyzes are:
 Internal analysis
 External analysis

The marketing mix is generally made in the implementation plan. This is a

plan in which you indicate in concrete terms which actions a company must
take to achieve the objectives.

The marketing model was developed by McCarthy in 1960. Since the four
marketing tools all start with a ‘p’ it is also called the 4Ps. Changing one of
the instruments can have consequences for the other three Ps. All 4P’s of
marketing are in connection with each other and that is why an adjustment
in some cases can result in a completely new marketing mix. The maketing
mix consists of:
 Product
 price
 Place
 Promotion