McDonalds proceed in changes over the years in order to satisfy its consumers: a new logo was designed, the drive-thru see the light in 1975, the company started a new approach by installing seats in their restaurants…The biggest innovation was in 1996 when the company launched http://www.mcdonalds.com : the firm is offering its website to a large number of country in which it is located. In France, McDonalds launched http://www.mcdonalds.fr and adapted this website to mobile version. In addition, the company go further to satisfy customers’ needs in creating a mobile application.
McDonald’s application allows customers to order directly on their smartphone by creating an account first and pay it online, thus we can talk about M-Commerce solution. Furthermore, the goal is to make people come to a McDonald’s restaurant, we can talk about use of Mobile to Store tool. Information about the client are required while opening the account: email address, name, surname, date of birth and favorite restaurant. By collecting theses information McDonalds can improve its CRM. It is also a mobile content delivery strategy because customers can find the nearest McDonalds restaurant thank to the GPS location, scan products, see menu and actuality of McDonalds (new product, promotion, advertising campaign), create a wish list according to what they want to eat the next time and they can also find on the application movies selected by McDonalds in the closest movie theater.
Through the application, McDonalds give permanent access to its portfolio and offers‐products and establish a durable loyalty relation with its consumers.
The objectives of the brand
McDonald’s is broadly popular to everyone as a fast food brand which has been presenting its “M” logo all over the world with the very high brand recognition. However, although the presence of McDonald’s is highly dense in many big cities over the world, problems remains problematic to both McDonald’s and its customers. We identified those following problems:
- Long queue and long waiting time
- Slow counter services make customer wait at counter desk for orders after waiting in line
- Not enough cashiers are opened
- sold-out/unavailability of food items,
- quick and inconvenient order making under pressure of salesperson and other customers in line: make them ordering quickly
- For big group of customers coming to the store: time and crowd pressure while ordering even increases and not all of them have a chance to see thoroughly the menu and consider carefully their orders, time of waiting increases proportionately with the number of people
McDonalds’ objective is to combat those problems in order to maintain the advantages and comfort of a fast-food brand, McDonald’s think of an innovative solution to maximize the convenience, quickness and quality of the service and products and bring back as many values and benefits as possible to the customers. Therefore, the concept of a new innovative application coming up seems to be a perfect solution to the situation.
Who is the end user target?
Generally speaking the end user target is young adults, aged from 18 to 35 years old. They own a smartphone with internet access and/or a computer so as to enjoy the application online service. They are already McDonald’s customers and they live in city.
However, the core target are professional workers, aged from 26 to 35 years old, with a middle income. They don’t have much time during their lunch break (around 45 minutes), so they have to be very quick and they don’t want to waste their time queuing. The fact they are constantly under time pressure, this application really fits to their needs, because they could order their meal from their smartphone while they are waiting for the elevator for example and then go directly to the nearest McDonald’s and take its order. So, they will not waste 15 minutes and sometimes even more in the queue.
The secondary target is students, aged 18 to 25 years. They represent the most important penetration rate among McDonald’s customers. They can order during their lunch break or after school.
What are the expected results?
McDonalds is expected a proximity with its customers thanks to this convenience service: whenever the customers want and wherever they are, they can order McDonald’s products. It could be in the transportation, in an elevator, in the working office or while they are walking, just with a few clicks, they could order the products they want. In this way, McDonalds insure facility and simplicity during the purchase of orders.
There is no time wasting in queuing at the restaurant because the order is already registered and employees can anticipate order so this will lead to a better performance in the restaurant.
Customers have an overview of products availability and they make order without pressure from the salesperson and the customers isn’t disappointed from the unavailability of the product he wanted to buy.
Author: Sandra Essafi
Editor: Maya Al Chaarani
Burger War 