Marketing Strategy for International Brands

This assignment examines marketing strategies employed by international service brands. It requires an in-depth analysis of their positioning strategies, drawing on relevant academic literature and real-world examples. The focus is on understanding how these brands create a distinct identity and competitive advantage in the global market. Students are expected to explore concepts like segmentation, targeting, differentiation, and competitive analysis.

MARKETING
PRINCIPLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Various elements of the marketing process...........................................................................3
1.2 Benefits and costs of a marketing orientation........................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Micro and macro environmental factors influencing marketing decisions............................5
2.2 Segmentation criteria.............................................................................................................8
2.3 Targeting Strategy..................................................................................................................8
2.4 Buyer's behaviour in different buying situations...................................................................9
2.5 Positioning strategy..............................................................................................................10
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Development of product/services to sustain competitive advantage...................................10
3.2 Distribution strategies..........................................................................................................10
3.3 Pricing strategies..................................................................................................................11
3.4 Promotional activity.............................................................................................................11
3.5 Extended marketing mix......................................................................................................11
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Marketing mixes for two different segments.......................................................................12
4.2 Differences between business buyers and consumer buyers...............................................13
4.3 Differences in international marketing and domestic marketing.........................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17
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ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................8
INDEX OF TABLES
Table 1: Cost-Benefit Analysis........................................................................................................5
Table 2: PESTLE Analysis..............................................................................................................6
Table 3: SWOT Analysis.................................................................................................................8
Table 4: Different Buying Situation..............................................................................................10
Table 5: Marketing mixes for two different segments...................................................................13
Table 6: B2B v/s B2C....................................................................................................................14
Table 7: International Market v/s Domestic Market......................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing principles can be referred to as the ideas which form the basis for product
promotion strategies. Most of the business organization uses a variety of marketing principles for
the purpose of optimizing the market performance of existing product in order to successfully
launch this product into a new market (Aaker, 2011). It is vital for the company to adopt various
marketing principles. This present report describes the marketing principles of McDonald's.
Further, this report also describes the concept and process of marketing in the context of
McDonald's and also the concept of segmentation, targeting and positioning. Moreover,
discussion has been made on the extended marketing mix of McDonald's and also the usage of
marketing mix in different context of McDonald's.
TASK 1
1.1 Various elements of the marketing process
Marketing process basically means the process which is followed by firms in order to
discover unfulfilled customer needs and bring product in the market which satisfies those needs
of the customers. Marketing process is also followed by McDonald's in order to identify and
satisfy the needs of customers in an effective manner (Ferdous and Hossain, 2011). There are
range of elements involved in the marketing process of McDonald's which are enumerated as
follows:
1. Situation Analysis: Firm do thorough analysis of the situation and find opportunities
and threats available for the success of McDonald's. With the use of scanning tools such
as SWOT, PESTLE and value chain analysis, McDonald's assesses the whole business
environment in order to identify the favorable and unfavorable elements prevailing in the
internal and external environment (Michman, 2006).
2. Marketing Strategy: After analyzing best opportunity which will satisfy the customer's
need, McDonald's moves ahead in forming strategy which can be applied upon the target
market. It is done in order to attract customers towards the brand for satisfying their
needs. These strategies involve segmentation, targeting and positioning activities.
3. Marketing Mix Decisions: Product, price, distribution and promotional decisions will be
made at this level and McDonald's will decide that which product needs to be introduced
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and in which market, it will be launched, pricing strategy to be used and along with that,
location decisions will also be taken (Rangaswamy, 2013).
4. Implementation and Control: At this stage, company will implement all the decisions
that have made at earlier stage. Thus, after implementation of all the decisions,
McDonald's will assess its impact on the organizational working and on its employees.
Further, marketing manager will also put a control measure over the variations and
negative consequence which is identified during or after the implementation (Widmier,
2007).
1.2 Benefits and costs of a marketing orientation
There are basically four types of orientation which are adopted by organization in order
to sell their products effectively. In the contemporary world, marketing orientation is widely
used by the companies in order to survive in this competitive market. Marketing orientation can
be described as a business model which is focused to deliver e products as per the needs, desires
and requirements of customers. It has been adopted by McDonald's so that it can provide food
products according to the needs and preferences of customers (Melewar and Alwi, 2012). By
doing this, company gains many benefits. On the other side, firm has also to pay cost for it.
Various stages of marketing orientation are mentioned below as:
 Product orientation- Product orientation can be termed as the process in which
organizations completely ignore the need and demand of people in market (Michman,
2006). Further the products are developed only with the a prime objective of
maintaining its quality. Organizations that has adopted this process believes that if they
will be easily able to gain attention of customers by providing them best quality
products. The main focus of an product oriented company is to enhance the overall
quality of its products and services.
 Production orientation- It is an kind of approach that focuses on the production and
manufacturing process of an organization. Further businesses with such kind of
approach always seeks for enhancing efficiency of their processes and operations. One
of the key focus of business is on process of production rather than on determined what
to produce (Ferdous and Hossain, 2011). Some of the important characteristic of this
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approach includes narrow product lines, packaging that focus on protecting the product
and production cost that its completely based on pricing.
 Sales orientation- This is a kind of approach which focuses on promoting and increasing
sales of an organization irrespective of what it manufactures or supplies. As per this
concept companies believes that more and more customers can be attracted if an
aggressive sales techniques is used. Effective promotion and strategies that are focused
on price are some of the essential elements of sales orientation approach.
 Marketing orientation- It is an approach that focuses on meeting need and demand of all
customers in a particular market. In addition to this, needs of customers are kept on
priority and all products are developed according to the same. Market research is
considered as one of the most important aspects of this approach. Other than this, it can
be also stated that the companies which has adopted the concept of marketing
orientation measure and evaluates all their activities related to marketing at regular
intervals.
 Societal orientation- It is an approach where organizations operates with an objectives
of societal interest. At the initial stage, companies assess the interest of people in society
and then it delivers products according to the same. Companies which adopts this
approach maintains a balance between profit margin and interest of society.
Thus, benefits and costs of adopting marketing orientation are described as follows:
Table 1: Cost-Benefit Analysis
Benefits Cost
Marketing Orientation provides benefits to the
customers by building buyer value which will
aid firm to acquire customer loyalty and repeat
purchase.
There is the involvement of extensive and
expensive research and thus, it adds more cost
to the company.
This helps in responding demand in a quicker
manner which is created in the market. If,
McDonald's responds to the demand earlier
than it may gain the advantage of first mover
There is a greater risk involved while
conducting market research because
McDonald's might underestimate the market
and due to which wrong results can be
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(Cooper, 2000). interpreted.
Competitive advantage can be attained by
McDonald's if it provides services in
accordance to customer's needs.
There are diverse needs of all the consumers,
thus it is difficult for organization to provide a
range of services to different customer base.
Optimum utilization of resources can be done
if this approach is adopted because there will
be minimal wastage of resources and other
materials.
This process is time consuming and it may lead
to the wastage of precious resources of
McDonald's (Blankson and Kalafatis, 2007).
TASK 2
2.1 Micro and macro environmental factors influencing marketing decisions
McDonald's is such a brand which has many competitors and it provides such services
which are based on changing lifestyle, taste and preferences of the customers. Thus, it is
necessary for McDonald's to analyze its environment on a regular basis so that changing needs of
customers can be known. Moreover, for taking a range of marketing decisions, company has to
assess its internal and external environment (Blankson and Kalafatis, 2007). This assessment
influences marketing decisions in a diverse manner. The micro and macro analysis is described
below:
Macro Environment Analysis
For identifying the effect of outer environment on McDonald's, PESTLE analysis is being
conducted which is described below:
Table 2: PESTLE Analysis
Factors Impact
Political  McDonald's operates its business in over 100 countries
and every country has different political environment
which affects the policies of company in one or another
manner.
 McDonald's has to comply with the regulations which
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are concerned about the health and hygiene of their
citizens (Gnizy and Shoham, 2014).
Economical  Economic downturn affects the performance of business.
 Fluctuating foreign exchange rate impacts the
profitability of company.
 Recession rate is high in the UK thus, employment rate
has come down due to this reason.
Social  There is huge change in the society's thinking and their
standard of living has also increased, thus it signifies that
it is a good opportunity for McDonald's.
 Eating habit of people has changed over time and they
now prefer to eat outside which can be a gate pass for
McDonald's to enter in the new market (Terpstra, 2000).
Technological  There is rapid changes in the technological advancement
as new food production techniques help in reducing the
wastage of society. This can be adopted by the
organization to minimize the production cost.
Legal
 Laws about food packaging have changed and also other
rules such as environmental protection rules have been
forcefully imposed. This affects the business
performance.
Environmental
 There is a great concern of consumers towards
environment and thus, company has to introduce several
policies which is in favor of environmental protection.
Micro Environment Analysis
Some of the core micro factors which affects businesses includes its employees,
suppliers, investors, competitions and customers. Further it can be stated that workers of
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McDonald's have direct impact on its sales, profits and quality of all its products (Ferdous and
Hossain, 2011). In order to grow and deliverer best quality, the chain of restaurant is required to
have highly skilled and efficient employees. Suppliers are also very important micro
environment factors as they provide products and services that add values to McDonald's
products. The organization needs to make sure that it meet the demand of all its suppliers. Either
the production falls or firms starts suffering from quality when the suppliers needs are not
satisfied. Other than this, competitors also have direct impact on the operations and activities of
McDonald's. Rivals always seeks for the ways through which they can takeaway the customer
and market share of an organization. Another micro-environmental factors that affect
McDonald's includes its customers. Further buyers can be also considered as one of the least
controllable factors. The chain of restaurant is required to respond very quickly to the changing
need and demand of all its customers (Blankson and Kalafatis, 2007). While carrying out its
operations McDonald's the organization is required to take care of all its micro environmental
factors. In addition to this, strategies should be developed on the basis of adequate analysis of the
environment.
With the use of VRIO tool, an internal environment of McDonald's is assessed:1. Valuable: The human resource of company brings value to the firm, thus they create
competitive advantage for the organization. In McDonald's there are highly skilled and
able workforce is employed which create competitive advantage.2. Rare: The human resource are rare in this firm and also the McDonald's have economies
of scale on other resources such as the veggies comes directly from farms, buns are made
in the company itself which possess high amount of nutrition (Graham, 2008). Potato is
freshly chosen and than french fries are prepared.3. Inimitable: McDonald's provides the services which is unique in its own manner but
some of the services are common as other food chains.4. Organized: The resources are highly organized in the enterprise. Duties and roles are
clearly defined to the staff members and all the task are organized so it does not create
any chaos (Porter, 2011).
As per the above findings, SWOT analysis of McDonald's has been carried out, which is
enumerated as follows:
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Illustration 1: SWOT Analysis
(Source: What is SWOT Analysis, 2015)
Table 3: SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 Resources are rare and it possess
economies of scale on resources.
 Firm has a capability of employing
technical innovations in order to
improve the services of customers.
 Company is highly concerned towards
environmental protection (Aaker,
2011).
 Services are not inimitable and other
food chains also provide similar
services.
 Customers are getting switch to other
brands due to less innovations.
Opportunities Threats
 Can emerge into new markets.
 Societal needs or lifestyle is changing
which create many opportunities for the
McDonald's.
 Can switch to more advanced
technology.
 There is high threat of political
environment, economic downturn and
legal factor.
 Substitutes of this brand are many
which imposes greater risk (Ferdous
and Hossain, 2011).
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2.2 Segmentation criteria
This term can be defined as a marketing strategy which divides the broad target market
into small subsets of customers on the basis of common needs, interest and priorities (What Is
Market Segmentation, 2014). Segmentation is done on the 4 basis that is Demographic,
Geographic, Behavioral and Psychographic (Michman, 2006). The criteria used for each basis
for segmenting the market are heterogeneity, homogeneity, accessibility, measurable and
responsiveness. Other than this, there are various kind of criteria on the basis of which market
segmentation can be done. Some of the common criteria includes behavioral segmentation,
demographic segmentation, geographic segmentation, life style segmentation and psycho-graphic
segmentation (Melewar and Alwi, 2012). It can be also stated that behavioral segmentation
divides people in the market on the basis of their behavior. Some of the common behavioral
segmentation includes occasions, benefits, loyalty status, user status etc. On the other side,
companies can also segment their market on the basis of demographic variables such as age,
gender background etc. For example products and services can be made for a particular market
segment which consists of people between age 25 to 45. Companies can also divide market on
the basis of geographical location. For example an organization can aim at delivering products
and services to people in Asian countries. Lifestyle segmentation can be also carried out by
businesses where they are divide their target customers on the basis of their lifestyle. Products
can be manufactured and marketed for the people which posses rich and luxurious lifestyle. At
last the segmentation can be also done on the basis of psycho-graphic factors. Organization that
posses this segmentation divides their market social class, personality and lifestyle (Terpstra,
2000).
McDonald's have to promote its existing product in different market and for that purpose,
it has segmented its market on the basis of demographic and geographic segmentation that is
high to moderate income group people of age group 7-65 and they have high quality lifestyle.
Further the criteria used for this purpose is homogeneity and measurable (Rangaswamy, 2013).
2.3 Targeting Strategy
Among the diverse items included in the menu of McDonald's, the targeting have been
done for the Big Mac which has to be relaunched in the market with some modifications
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(Widmier, 2007). The targeting strategy used for this purpose is as follows but prior to that
understanding about the three types of targeting strategy is to be done which are conducted as
follows:
1. Differentiated Strategy: In this, all the segments are approached using different strategy.
2. Concentrated Strategy: Each segment is appealed using separate strategy for each
segment.
3. Undifferentiated Strategy: All the segments are communicated and attracted using single
strategy or information.
For Big Mac, the targeting strategy will be used to communicated the message is
differentiated because for young group there will be different and for children targeting will be
done in a different manner. Further, for the old age people communication of information will be
done in a separate manner (Cooper, 2000).
2.4 Buyer's behaviour in different buying situations
Buyer behaviour plays a very important role in the growth and success of any
organization. Further it consist of set of characteristic that helps a person to make decision
regarding whether to buy a product or not (Gnizy and Shoham, 2014). Companies are required to
understand buyer behaviour to determine the why people in market choose particular product or
services. In addition to this, organizations are also required to take care of the stages of buyer
behaviour process. Business enterprise needs to be aware of various factors that directly or
indirectly affects the buying behaviour of people in market.
Table 4: Different Buying Situation
Buying Situations Buyer's Behavior Impact on Marketing
Activities
Complex Buying Situation Under this situation buyer take
high amount of time for taking
decisions. They thinks that
whether to avail the services or
not (Blankson and Kalafatis,
2007). They ask other
Marketing of the brand or
product is done by spending
high cost on its promotion
because the product or service
is precious.
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expertise before buying.
Dissonance Buying Situation Buyer take comparatively
lesser amount of time because
there are not much options
available in this situation.
Marketers do the promotion of
products by using sales
promotion and advertisements
(Widmier, 2007).
Routine Buying Situation Low involvement of thinking
for taking decisions due to the
presence of large number of
similar products. These
products are purchased by
customers on a regular basis.
Marketing of such products is
done without assessing the
market because customers will
purchase these products
whenever required.
The marketing manager of McDonald's should consider the dissonance buying situation
because the involvement of time for decision making is lesser than complex but still customers
take time to decide that is whether to visit McDonald's or to other restaurant. Further, the
marketing of products should be done accordingly (Melewar and Alwi, 2012).
2.5 Positioning strategy
Positioning refers to as a marketing strategy which is being used by companies to make
its product or brand occupy a distinct place in the minds of customers against the competitors.
There are various factors such as features/attributes, quality, price, competitors strategy, suitable
image that is premium, luxurious, etc. which is used for positioning.
For positioning the Big Mac in the new markets, features/attributes and quality will be
used (Cooper, 2000). Further the suitability factor will also be used for the effective positioning
of the Big Mac. It can be stated that the competition among business in the restaurant industry is
very intense. The customers are available with wide variety of options such as Burger King,
Subways. Therefore, it is not easy for McDonald's to attract more customers and retain is old
one. This can be done by positioning its products which is Big Mac in effective manner
(Michman, 2006). The brand can communicate the quality and special attributes of the product to
people in market. Further it can also create its distinctive image by positioning its burgers as
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healthy. Now a days the need and preference of customers has shifted from fast food to more
healthier food products that do not create harm to healthy. McDonald's can use this strategy for
positioning to promote its products i.e. Big Mac in best possible manner. This will also help the
brand to attract more customers and gain competitive advantage.
TASK 3
3.1 Development of product/services to sustain competitive advantage
Product is a primary unit which is created as a result of process of manufacturing or
service. It can be either good, idea, method, object or service and it is produced so as to serve the
need and desire of consumers for the purpose of satisfying their needs. Product should be
developed in such a manner that it sustain competitive advantage for the organization (Blankson
and Kalafatis, 2007).
At McDonald's range of products are offered on the menu. For that, McDonald's spent
considerable time to develop the menu as per the requirement of customers. McDonald's have
also bring changes in its menu at proper time period. For sustaining competitive advantage
company has introduced new products and also phased out old ones and in order to maintain the
competitive edge company will continue to do so. The care has been taken for stabilizing the sale
of existing products while introducing new products (Gnizy and Shoham, 2014). This firm has
adopted different promotional techniques for its existing and new product who have reached at
different phases of life cycle. Through this process, McDonald's have able to sustain competitive
advantage in the product line. The stages involved in process of new product development are
mentioned below as:
 Idea generation- This is the first stage in the development process of any product or
services. With the help of external and internal analysis and current market trends, idea
regarding development of new product is generated in McDonald's. Further it can be
stated that the key sources from where the brand generates idea includes its customers,
competitors, suppliers and employees (Terpstra, 2000).
 Idea screening- It is considered as the second stage in development of any new product.
In this stage unsuitable ideas are being rejected and McDonald's starts working on
appropriate or suitable ideas. The organization use various kind of tools and techniques
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to screen all the ideas which are being generated. One of the common tool among those is
formal market research.
 Concept development and testing- In case if McDonald's find any kind of attractive idea
then it is required by the brand to convert and develop that idea into product. Once the
product has been developed, McDonald's test the same with few customers. Moreover
physical presentation of the idea is mostly preferred by the brand.
 Marketing strategy development- another stage in products development is the one where
McDonald's develop effective strategies to market its new product. This stage consists of
three main components which are defining target market, positioning of its products and
profit goals in first few years.
 Product development- This is the stage in which the concept is being converted into a
final product. Further it can be stated that huge level of investment is required in this
stage. On the basis of testing, the brand can also make changes in its products (Michman,
2006).
 Test marketing- If the new products passes from all the functional test, then McDonald's
starts its test marketing. Further the marketing plan and strategies developed by the brand
are tested on a small level. One of the benefit associated with test marketing is that it
helps McDonald's to develop appropriate marketing mix for its new product.
 Commercialization- It is the final and last stage in the process of new product
development. In this stage McDonald's introduce its products in the real world. Along
with this, effective advertisement and promotion is carried out by the organization to
make more and more people aware about its new product.
3.2 Distribution strategies
Distribution is one of the P from the marketing mix and through this product and services
are reached towards consumers. Further, McDonald's have used the distribution strategies by
opening several outlets which is highly convenient to the consumer markets (Terpstra, 2000).
Outlets have been opened in the college campus so that food can be easily made available to the
young group. Further, near office premises it has got opened so that business meetings can be
conducted there. Also, this chain provides home delivery services so that it can be made more
convenient to the consumers of every segment. The distribution strategy which has been adopted
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by the brand is the one in which it direct sales its products to all customers. There is no retailer or
whole-seller between manufacturer and customers. McDonald's operates with an physical outlet
and online stores. In its physical outlets it takes order from customers, manufacture the same
instantly and then deliver it to the customer (Rangaswamy, 2013).. Being a international chain of
hamburger restaurants, the brand has always ensured that its products and services are easily
available to its customers. Moreover in many market markets, it has set up its various outlets in
major locations so that it become very convenient for people to buy its products. The brand is
also aware of the fact that if products are not available on time then its customers will switch to
other brands in market such as Subway and burger King.
3.3 Pricing strategies
There are basically two types of pricing strategy used by the company that is skimming
pricing strategy in which premium pricing is done and the other is penetration pricing strategy in
which low pricing is done in order to penetrate the market (Graham, 2008).
McDonald's have done the penetration pricing strategy because it provides the high
quality food at low prices. Thus, this firm have set such prices which reflects the objectives of
McDonald's. Its objectives are to provide products to the moderate-high income group people
and to all the age group (Improving Organizational Performance and Productivity, 2013). Thus,
by keeping the prices low, it can provide products to moderate income group people, to college
going people as they are non-earning, etc. also they provide high quality products which help in
raising the living standard of people which is one of the objective of McDonald's. People have
also started to perceive McDonald's as a low price restaurant. Further quality products at low
prices is the thing which has attracted people from all the income group. McDonald's always
seeks for adopting new and advanced technology which can help in lowering down its overall
cost of operations (Aaker, 2011). Other than this, it has also developed good relationship with all
its suppliers which help in keeping the cost of operation low. As compared to its major
competitors, the prices charged for hamburgers and other products of McDonald's is very low. It
can be also stated that low prices strategy is one of the biggest factors associated behind the
success of McDonald's.
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3.4 Promotional activity
Promotion is the 4th P of a marketing mix, where the product information is
communicated with the target market using several promotional techniques. It includes print and
media advertisements, personal selling, sales promotion, social media marketing, etc. The target
market of this firm is moderate-high income group people of age group 7-65 (Porter, 2011).
Thus, promotional techniques used by this firm is that it uses TV advertisement to attract large
mass. Further, it has used the personal selling techniques such as employees working at outlets
do the personal interaction and communicate the information and also the drop ins are dropped at
doorstep. Further, sales promotion techniques are used such as hot wheels and barbie toys for the
children along with happy meal, free coke with the purchase of Big Mac, etc. Company also
integrate the promotional activities such as advertisement given in TV for the new sales
promotion techniques, hoardings are placed for the public relation such as customer care service
phone number. These are integrated so that in a best manner customer can be attracted towards
the firm (Rangaswamy, 2013). Some of the important promotional activities are mentioned
below as:
 Personal selling- It is kind of promotional method in which organization can use sales
forces to meet with customers and sale products to them. With the help of good products
knowledge, appearance and communication skills, seller sales product to people in
market (Aaker, 2011). One of the main advantage of personal selling is that it is able to
gain higher attention of people as compared to other tools of promotions. On the other
side, this technique is labour intensive and costly which are some of its major
disadvantages.
 Sales promotion- Sales promotion is the technique which is used to create more and more
awareness of products among people in market. Further it can be associated with
customers or with channels of distribution (Rangaswamy, 2013).. It is the activity which
is carried out to boos the sales and profitability of an organization. Discounts, incentives
commissions are provided to customers to increase sales.
 Internet marketing- It is a kind of promotional technique in which products and services
are advertised and marketed with the help of internet. Organizations such as McDonald's
can use this technique to promote its products. Further the brand can display
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advertisement of its new products and offers on search engines such as yahoo and
Goggle. Other than this, customers can be also informed with the help of emails about
the new products offered by McDonald's.
 Advertisement- It is considered as traditional technique of promoting products and
services to people in market. Ads of McDonald's products schemes, discounts can be
displayed on televisions, newspapers, magazines,radio, social media etc. This technique
can help in increasing sales by making more and more people aware about the products
of McDonald's (Cooper, 2000).
 Publicity- Publicity is an non personal form of communication in which companies create
awareness of their products with the help of mass media. One of the prime objective of
this technique is to gather more and more attention of people in market. The advantage of
publicity is that it increases sales and profits of an organization. On the other hand,
sometimes bad or wrong publicity can negatively affect entire brand image of an business
enterprise.
3.5 Extended marketing mix
These are the additional elements in the marketing mix which form the modern marketing
mix. The extended marketing mix elements are used in McDonald's are as follows:
1. Process: These includes complaints and suggestions handling process, customer service
process, etc. The service is provided in a quick manner to the customer which is a
distinguishing feature of McDonald's (Gnizy and Shoham, 2014). Further, company's
process of handling customer's complaints and taking suggestion is quite good. They
resolve the issue of customers in a quicker manner.
2. Physical Layout: It is the layout of the outlet at which the products are provided. The
layout is same at all the outlets of McDonald's all around the globe. At the outlet, a big
screen is placed and there all the customized meals are displayed. This help people in
making their own meals. Further, the toys in today's happy meals are displayed to attract
children. Outside the outlet a chair of Ronald McDonald is placed which create a pleasant
environment.
3. People: The most important element of this extension is people who are in direct contact
with the customers (Michman, 2006). They interact with customers and satisfy their
18

needs. They also influence the buyers for repeat purchase. At the time of taking orders
they interact with customers and provide them suggestions while making meals. This
satisfy the customers most.
TASK 4
4.1 Marketing mixes for two different segments
Table 5: Marketing mixes for two different segments
Marketing Mix Income Group Age Group
Product Range of products – for every
income group the product is
available ranging from £0.88
to £7.
For children happy meal is
available, for young people
Big Mac and other range of
products available. For older
age also products are available.
Price Lowest to moderate pricing is
done in order to acquire
highest market share (Porter,
2011).
Prices varies as per the age
group. That is children's meal
is available at lowest price so
that parents do not deny for the
purchase. Further, for the
younger group who are not
earning, at reasonable rates
meals are available (Cooper,
2000).
Place Maximum outlet available at
every place so as to make it
convenient for the people to
come and buy. Moreover,
outlets are opened in college
campus which is highly
convenient for the college
going students.
Options available for all age
group to avail the products of
McDonald's. For younger
group, the outlets are opened at
college campus, for older age
home delivery is available.
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Promotion For income group, promotion
is done through TV
advertisement, Magazines,
hoardings, etc.
Through fashion magazines,
kiosk at petrol pump, through
social networking sites,
younger group can b reached.
Through TV advertisement,
children can be reached
(Aaker, 2011).
4.2 Differences between business buyers and consumer buyers
Table 6: B2B v/s B2C
Basis B2B B2C
Meaning It is that situation where
producer provide products or
services to other organization
for further use.
It refers to the situation where
manufacturer or the producer
sells the product or services to
ultimate consumers for
consumption (Rangaswamy,
2013).
Product In this case, company provides
product in bulk and not in
smaller quantity because buyer
is purchasing for the further
use. Thus, it can be interpreted
that company is selling for
increasing its sales.
Here, product is provided in
single unit or in smaller
quantity and the product
cannot be used for further
production. It is used for
ultimate consumption only.
Price Prices are generally kept low
in this case due to bulk
purchasing by other
organization (Michman, 2006).
Prices of the products are kept
relatively higher that those
charged by business
organization.
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Place There is no defined place or
layout for this case, in fact the
products and services are
provided directly through the
place of origin. It may be the
manufacturing place or
sometimes form warehouses.
There are range of outlets in
order to provide product and
services to the customers. Also
the home delivery facility to
reach the customers.
Promotion Direct selling is done in this
case and regular contact or
public relation is maintained in
order to retain the business
customers. It is because the the
count of these customer are not
much thus, company can
maintain them on calls in an
easier manner.
In this, several sales promotion
technique are applied, heavy
advertisements are done and
digital marketing is done to
attract lot of customers.
Integrated sales promotion
techniques are used so that
every age group can be
contacted with different
promotional tools (Melewar
and Alwi, 2012).
Example In this case, tie-ups with Coke
company and Cadbury
company can be done to
provide additional goods to the
customers. Further, company
can also provide burgers at
other restaurants so that sales
can be increased.
Vouchers can be provided by
playing games at social media
sites. Referral amount can also
be provided by referring the
McDonald's outlet to other
people.
4.3 Differences in international marketing and domestic marketing
Table 7: International Market v/s Domestic Market
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Basis Domestic Marketing International Marketing
Meaning Marketing activity which is
performed within the nation
boundary is termed as
domestic marketing. In case of
McDonald's which is a US
based organization, its
domestic market is USA.
Performance of marketing
activity outside the nation's
surrounding is termed as
international marketing.
McDonald's have numerous
outlets outside the USA and
that is an international market
for McDonald's.
Risk Involvement Degree of risk involved is low
because the external
environment is known by the
company (Melewar and Alwi,
2012).
There is a high risk involved in
this market because company
has to change the policy as per
the external environment of
country.
Languages and Culture There is no such barriers of
language and company can do
hassle free marketing. The
cultural differences are also
not much so it will be easier
for the hotel to do marketing
without undermining the
culture of people.
High language barrier and
there is huge culture diversity,
hence complex procedure for
the McDonald's.
Knowledge Requirement Due to familiar market, less
knowledge of customers are
required.
Market is totally unfamiliar so
high amount of knowledge and
risk is required to carry out
marketing (Aaker, 2011).
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CONCLUSION
As per the study conducted on the marketing principles of McDonald's, it can be
concluded that McDonald's have duly assessed its internal and external environment so that
products can be developed as per the requirement of customers. Further, products are introduced
and declined products are discarded so that every time new menu can be presented to the
customers. Moreover, the political and economical environment affect the most to the
McDonald's environment due to which performance of the company get decline. Further, it has
to take extra care while promoting its product in international market as high risk is involved in
this.
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REFERENCES
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