Marketing Plan on "Mcdonald's Marketing Plan"

Marketing Plan 5 pages (1457 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

McDonald's

Interviews and Impressions

My visits to McDonald's to interview seniors proved surprisingly fruitless. Perhaps the demographics of the area are simply not conducive to seniors, but there were few to be found. On two of my four visits, there were no seniors in the restaurant, even though there were a few dozen customers on all four occasions. The seniors I encountered were younger, one a gentleman dining alone and another a couple. I was able to ask some questions about their experiences. Having seen no seniors on my first visit, I changed my questions a little bit, beginning by trying to find out why so few seniors ate at McDonald's. The first thing that came up was that their friends did not eat at McDonald's. Health concerns were also cited, alongside the reputation that McDonald's has of serving unhealthy food. This leads to a hypothesis that the food mix is not right for seniors. The seniors I was able to interview were in their early 60s, as opposed to older. From that, I realized that the first generation to grow up with McDonalds was the baby boomers, and they were only now entering their early sixties. That is another reason why maybe few seniors were at my McDonald's -- burger chains are not part of the culture of people who are much older than sixty. With the baby boomers entering their senior years, however, that is about to change. The article by Elliott (2009) highlights the growing importance of courting the senior's market.

SWOT

The information I was able to gather revealed the following. In terms of strengths, the low price of McDonalds was something that appealed to seniors. Convenience is important as well -- a McDonald's in an area with a large population of seniors was likely to have more. So demographics is probably a factor. Most attributes of McDonald's, however, would be construed as negative. Obviously, one cannot interview people who are not dining at McDonalds, but I made notes about what I saw. The menu does not appear to be particularly senior friendly. The couple noted that McDonalds was a treat to them, but normally they try to eat healthier. Seniors today are quite conscious of their health and take care with their lifestyle choices. Even when McDonalds puts healthier items on their menu, the restaurant retains its "junk food" reputation. "I don't come here for salad," one lady said, "they aren't really good at making salads."

Another disadvantage that I noted was that the restaurant's accessibility was relatively poor. There was a power door for wheelchairs, and the entire restaurant was at ground level, but the tables and chairs within the restaurant were fixed in position, so not very good for people with mobility issues. The front door was relatively tight, so hard to open without pushing the wheelchair button for someone with strength issues. In addition, the restaurant itself was cluttered. There was not much room in between the tables and chairs for walking. It was pretty crowded each time, and that created significant audio and visual noise, which could be annoying to some. So for seniors, there are a number of potential physical challenges that could turn them away from my local McDonald's.

As noted above, however, the senior's market is a great one to target. The baby boom generation is huge, and is just getting into their senior years. This generation will be strong for another twenty years as its members get older, so attracting them now is important for a company like McDonald's, in order to maintain its status as a place they will go. Naturally, many seniors become locked into their habits, so if McDonald's can establish itself as part of their lives now, that bodes well for the future. In addition, this is a generation that grew up with McDonalds, the first such generation, and as a result its seniors are more likely to patronize McDonalds than seniors of a previous generation. Thus, the baby boom and the seniors market represents an exceptional opportunity for McDonalds to enhance revenues from a demographic that up until now has not been enthusiastic about what McDonald's has had to offer.

There are threats, of course. The first is the company's health reputation, which opens up the door to competition. There are hundreds of quick service restaurant concepts, and some cater… READ MORE

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