Abstract
Among the fast food chains across the world, McDonald's is quite popular . Started in the early 1950s, the chain has grown regularly until the late 1980s with more than 5200 restaurants in the United States. At present, there are more than 30 000 restaurants located in about 110 countries. McDonald's serves more than 48 millions of meals every day. Thus, it would be interesting to study the CRM strategy of one of the biggest companies in the world.
During the last 50 years, the strategy of McDonalds has evolved considerably. They have evolved from being a basic fast-food joint to a fast-food chain and are also provide plenty of add-ons as well. Hence, I wanted to choose McDonald's as an example of a company that has a good CRM. Additionally, it would be interesting to study and analyze a company whose primary concept was to have the least relationship with the customer and a company that now wants to retain them for as long as they can in their facilities.
McDonald's CRM objectives and strategy
a.General strategy
First of all, we shall study about the general strategy of McDonald's. This will allow us to precisely understand as to how they work and react to the market.
McDonald's have developed a price-slashing and low volumes policy; and comprise the main components of its competitive advantage. Prices have to be affordable in order to deliver a variety of meals everyday. McDonald's is not a regular restaurant. They want to attract the customer as regularly as possible, and thus, the prices of the meals cannot be too expensive. The prices are not the same in every country and they can vary in a country depending on the city or the restaurant.
Moreover, about 70 % of the sales at McDonald's are conducted within four hours. Hence, they decided to try and change the dietary behaviour in order to attract more customers during the off-hours. For example, if you buy a meal at lunch, you have a discount on a second meal which is bought before six in the evening.
