Marketing Strategy for Mc Donald Plc

Marketing Strategy for Mc Donald Plc

Marketing strategy is essential for the success of a product in a

target market as argued by Philip Kotler (1988). This is mainly because

of the increasing diversity in the nature of the customers and the

stiff competition in the market. In this essay the marketing strategy

of Mc Donald the leading conglomerate in the fast food restaurants and

services industry on selling vegetarian burger in the UK. Furthermore,

the consumer behaviour for vegetarian burger in the UK is critically

analysed in order to justify the approach of Mc Donald’s approach to

deploy the identified strategy.

The company under debate: Mc Donald Plc in the UK is the subsidiary

of the American conglomerate Mc Donald Inc who specialise in fast food

(burgers and fries) restaurants across the globe. The company is well

established across the west and has a wide range of fast food products

to cater the customer requirements and the market demand.

The vegetarian burger is a key product for the company in the UK

(Company Profile, 2005). It is further interesting to note that the

company promotes vegetarian burger as its key product mainly in the UK

among the western countries apart from its operations in the Far

Eastern countries like India where the company pioneers in vegetarian

range of burgers and fast food products.

The marketing strategy for any product comprises of three key

elements as argued by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003)

• Product: The product in this essay is vegetarian
  
  burger. The key features of the product include low fat, high level of
  
  carbohydrates and above all the use of quality ingredients to prepare
  
  the product. The fact that the burger meals are under fast food
  
  category and that its sales is predominantly high during the lunch
  
  hours makes it critical that the quality of the product and its
  
  ingredients are of high standards in order to achieve customer
  
  satisfaction. The deployment of best practises like washing the hands
  
  and the worktop before preparing the vegetarian burger every time in
  
  the kitchen of all the retail outlets (company profile, 2005) and the
  
  use of fresh ingredients to prepare the filling for the burger are the
  
  key features that distinguish the product from its competitors in the
  
  market. Also, the bran Mc Donald that is famous for its adherence to
  
  strict quality principles in preparation of the products as well as the
  
  procurement of the ingredients is an accelerating force for the
  
  promotion of the vegetarian burger in the retail outlets of Mc Donald
  
  Plc across the UK.


• Price: Philip Kotler (1988) further argues that
  
  price is the ultimate decision making factor for purchasing a product
  
  by the customer. Even though food is n the bas of the Maslow’s
  
  hierarchy of needs making it an essential element for survival, the
  
  argument of Malcolm McDonald (1996) that the customers prioritise their
  
  needs not only based upon their requirements but also based upon the
  
  price of the product they are intending to purchase. The approach of Mc
  
  Donald Plc to sell its products at a relatively lower price to its high
  
  street competitors like burger King Plc makes it evident that the
  
  pricing of the product is an essential element for the growth in its
  
  sales. Alongside, the pricing of the products in Mc Donald not only at
  
  a lower level but at a competitive level to reflect upon its quality
  
  further justifies the pricing strategy of the company with respect to
  
  the vegetarian Burgers sales in the UK.
  


• Promotion: The advertising and promotion
  
  initiative of an organization to increase the sales of a product play a
  
  critical part in the marketing strategy s argued by Frances Brassington
  
  and Stephen Pettit (2003). This is evident from the company’s
  
  investment in advertising its products and the launch of promotion
  
  campaigns reflecting upon the social and national events like football
  
  premiership, health awareness initiative of the government etc.
  
  Furthermore, the promotion of the vegetarian burger as a corn burger
  
  and not just a vegetarian burger emphasises upon the company’s strategy
  
  in distinguishing its vegetarian burger from that of its competitors.
  
  This is because it is universally known that corn is low in fat and is
  
  a healthy diet in the UK, which was forgotten with the increase in the
  
  fast food culture (Simon Taylor, 2001). This approach of the company to
  
  promote its vegetarian burger has not only increased its sales but also
  
  accomplished the process of establishing the product as a unique item
  
  in the category of vegetarian burgers in fast food.

The above three elements mentioned might appear to embrace the 4Ps

of the marketing mix without the Place facto in the scene. This is

mainly because of the fact that the marketing mix is the heart of the

overall marketing strategy for any product in an organization as argued

by Frances Brassington and Stephen Pettit (2003). Since the ‘Place’

factor is analysed under consumer behaviour in next section, the other

three elements that form the marketing strategy were discussed in this

section.

Philip Kotler (1988) argues that the consumer behaviour plays a

vital role in the designing of the marketing strategy by an

organization to either promote the sales of an existing product or for

launching an existing product. This is clear in the case under debate

where the company has devised its marketing strategy to reflect upon

the consumer behaviour in the UK food market.

Simon Taylor (2001) argues that the increase in the awareness for

vegetarian diet as an alternative in the UK meals is evident since the

late years of the 1990s itself. The fact that the consumers for

vegetarian food not only in the fast food industry but also in the

overall consumer food industry right from the supermarkets up to

restaurants since the dawn of the twenty-first century (Simon Taylor,

2004) further justifies that the consumer behaviour towards the

vegetarian food in the UK has been increasingly positive. The major

driving factors for this state in the target market are identified by

Simon Taylor (2004) as mentioned below

Awareness: The increase in the awareness among the general public

who comprise the consumers in the food industry that the vegetarian

diet is a healthy option for overcoming obesity and other health

problems is the primary element for the drive of the consumers towards

vegetarian range of food products.

Scientific developments: The continuous research on meat based food

products and the establishment of the fact that the animals (pig, cow

etc) that are slaughtered for producing meat can carry germs that cause

diseases like the transfer of malarial bacteria from the female

anopheles mosquitoes into pigs eventually transferring into human

beings causing malaria to the consumers has increased the pre-caution

among the consumers to avoid meat products in their food. The above

argument might appear weak since the strict adherence of the quality

and hygiene standards laid by the government among the meat retailers

might contradict the above statement. But the fact that the transfer of

disease causing germs can grow in meat faster than in vegetables as

argued by Simon Taylor (2001) supports the argument.

The strive of the government to encourage the vegetarian food in the

diet among the UK general public is the major cause for the consumer

behaviour towards the vegetarian foods. The fat nation campaign by the

BBC in 2004 is a classical example for the support of the media towards

eliminating obesity through encouraging the general public to change

towards vegetarian diet.

Furthermore, Isla Gower (2004) argues that the fast food retailing

in the UK has grown tremendously with the increase in the retail parks

in the geography. This is mainly because of the fact that the general

public or the consumers are increasingly treating the process of

shopping as a outing event with the family rather than perceiving it in

the generic form of buying essentials. This attitude of the consumers

has increased the sales in the fast food centres like Mc Donald Plc

that is present in the retail parks or in the cit centres where the

public gather to spend their time in leisure. The above scenario with

the arguments on the increase in the awareness on the vegetarian diet

apparently increases the demand for vegetarian range of fast food.

The above arguments justify the consumer behaviour elements that

attribute to the marketing strategy of Mc Donald Plc in promoting the

Vegetarian burgers in the fast food industry. The fact that the

awareness among the consumers that the fast food products are rich in

fat and are not healthy were the major elements that contribute to the

customisation of the vegetarian burger as Corn burger since corn is

very low in fat making the vegetarian burger as a healthy alternative

fast food.

Also, the customised range of vegetarian meals apart from burgers

with the salads as option to fries in the retail outlets of Mc Donald

justifies that the above mentioned arguments on the consumer behaviour

towards vegetarian diet and obesity are the driving factors for the

marketing strategy of the company.

The discussion on the marketing strategy of Mc Donald Plc for

vegetarian burgers makes it clear that the company is dynamic in nature

to respond to the changes in the market. Alongside, it is also clear

that the design of the marketing mix which is the heart of the

marketing strategy should reflect upon the target market demand in

order to increase the sales proving the arguments of the academic

authors mentioned in this essay. The analysis on the consumer behaviour

has also revealed that the consumer behaviour in the UK fast food

market was the major element for the marketing strategy of Mc Donald

Plc in selling vegetarian burger. Alongside, the insight into the

company’s strive towards increasing sales through a range of products

in vegetarian fast foods further justifies that the consumer behaviour

is the key to design the marketing strategy for any product in an

organization.