Customer Experience Management: McDonald's and KFC Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of customer experience management within the fast-food industry, specifically examining McDonald's and KFC. The study begins with an introduction to the fast-food sector and a brief overview of the chosen organizations. It delves into consumer behavior through in-depth profiles of five distinct customer segments, exploring their preferences, demographics, needs, and goals. The methodology section outlines the data generation process, which involves interviews and secondary research. The report then maps the customer journeys of three representative customers, detailing their experiences before, during, and after visiting fast-food restaurants. A competitor analysis is conducted, drawing on interview data and existing research to highlight key factors influencing customer decisions, such as brand value, pricing, and food choices. The findings reveal the significance of taste and price in differentiating McDonald's and KFC, with customers exhibiting varied preferences based on these factors. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of competitive strategies for both companies, underscoring the need to address strengths and weaknesses to maintain market competitiveness. The report utilizes both primary and secondary resources, including interview data and academic articles, to support its findings and recommendations.

Running head: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT
Customer Experience Management
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
The study covers the consumer journey process for a fast-food purchasing. The study covers the
objective with the help of interviews data and the available secondary resources on the chosen
subject topic. This is indeed a very easy and clear paper to understand the journey of customer
for a fast-food visit or a purchase. The study covers its entire discussion on the fast-food industry
and the chosen organization McDonald and KFC.

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Table of Contents
Introduction-....................................................................................................................................3
Brief description of fast-food industry and of the chosen organizations-.......................................3
Discussing the consumer behavior of the chosen customers-.........................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................7
Generating data using the selected customer group and the customers-.....................................7
Mapping the selected customer journey-.....................................................................................8
Analysis-..........................................................................................................................................9
Competitor analysis based on data derived from the interview and the some existing data-......9
Findings.........................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12
Appendix........................................................................................................................................14
Interview Questions-..................................................................................................................14

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Introduction-
According to Klaus and Maklan (2013), consumer experience related study has now
replaced quality to become the main focus for the contemporary marketing research. They have
argued the service quality is an outdated version now. Companies prefer doing research works on
the consumer experience. They now prefer more to go with the responses they get. The
consequence of such process might not bring quality products in market as there are ample of
examples are available in the market. There is a particular segment that prefers buying cheaper
product despite the fact that it is low in quality (Thuijsman, 2017). As opined by Mihart (2012),
the rising competition in the market has encouraged firms to go for extensive research works on
the factors that influence the purchasing. The contemporary business strategies are not to sell the
trademark product of a firm but it has rather shifted to satisfying the customer needs. Firms
manufacture products according to the needs of customers. Additionally, they target a particular
market segment based on their area of interest, which is developed through the information they
derive on the consumer purchasing behavior (Paul & Rana, 2012). The main purpose of this
assignment is to analyze the buying behavior of selected customers for fast-foods.
Brief description of fast-food industry and of the chosen organizations-
Fast-food industry-
Despite the challenges that the fast-food industry has faced in recent time, it has
successfully maintained its business progression. Although, the last few years have forced them
to think more of sustainability but still, they are able to sell their products with minimal
adjustment in the quality of food. As per the report submitted by the World Economic Forum in

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2017, it was made clear that there is a need to think of healthy and nutritional food environment.
However, this is indeed a challenge because of the behavior that majority of customers have for
fast-foods. They have not shown enough resilient against the identified threats of fast-foods
(weforum.org, 2017).
Chosen organizations-
McDonalds- It is an American fast-food chain. It is one of the rarest companies that have
successfully expanded their business into the different international markets. It has followed
Uppsala model to move to various global platform sequentially (Yeu et al., 2012).
KFC- It is another American fast-food restaurant chain. In very few times, it has garnered huge
success in the different parts of world. It is only next to McDonald in terms of globally expanded
restaurant chains. It is specifically popular for fried chicken (HUSSAIN, 2014).
Discussing the consumer behavior of the chosen customers-
1st customer-
Name
- Olivia
- A smart lady
Behaviors
- Love fast-foods
- Prefer pricing of the product
- Prefer infrastructure as well
- Likes to have vegetarian foods
Demographics
- 35-40 years old
- Female
Needs/goals
- Wants to be recognized
- Loves to have fast-foods very frequently

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- Business lady
- Economics major
- Engaging with humans
2nd customer-
Name
- William
- A good personality man
Behaviors
- Prefer going to fast-food centre in weekend
- Decide by brand name
- Love to have fast-foods that are also nutritional
Demographics
- 38-42 years old
- Male
- Works in a private company
- Human Resource major
Needs/goals
- Wants to be busy with his busy office schedules
- Love to visit the restaurant with the entire family
- Want to be energetic
3rd customer-
Name
- Group of people in particular the Millennial
- Teenagers
Behaviors
- Love to enjoy foods outside
- Prefer going to any of the fast-food brands
Demographics
- less than 30 years old
- Millennial boys & girls
- They all study in different universities
Needs/goals
- They want to become rich
- Need money to support their needs financially

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4th customer-
Name
- Zoe
- Beautiful lady
Behaviors
- Like to spend some time outside
- Outing also includes visiting to an accessible fast-
food restaurant
Demographics
- 35-38 years old
- Home owned business
- Business major
Needs/goals
- Want to become very social
- Want to become a successful business lady
5th customer-
Name
- Jack
- Smart person
Behaviors
- Very much dependent on fast-foods
- Prefer going to any fast-food restaurant in the
weekends
- Has a very good understanding skill of food
quality
Demographics
- 38-40 years
- Works in a private firm
- Humanity major
Needs/goals
- Want to become a successful entrepreneur
- Need more money to support his personal needs

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Olivia was the first customer with whom the interview was conducted. The interview results are
in the appendix section of this task. Olivia loves to have fast-foods but she is also very specific
with the pricing. She conducts a research online before she decides to move to the destination.
She picks her choice of destination based on the pricing standards. She also prefers having
vegetarian foods. This is how she constructs her journey to the selected destination.
William was the second customer. He gives utmost importance to weekends. He visits to any of
the fast-food brand with his entire family once in a week. He gives values to the nutritional
foods; however, he is not very strict with it. He can also have fast-foods that are not nutritional.
Pricing does not matter to him.
Group of People below 30 years of age are the third category of customer. They love to have
fast-foods. They love eating foods outside. They prefer going to popular brands. They are highly
addicted to fast-foods. However, they are low in cash as most of them are still in universities.
Zoe was the fourth customer with whom the interview was conducted. She loves spending some
spare time outside with its families. Such outing does also include visiting to a fast-food outlet.
She is very brand specific.
Jack was the last customer with whom the interview was conducted. Jack is very cool and
handsome. He depends a lot on fast-foods. He often visits to fast-food outlet. Notably, he has got
a very good understanding skill of fast-foods.
Methodology
Generating data using the selected customer group and the customers-

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The data will be generated using the findings of the interviews conducted with the
selected list of customers. Moreover, this will also include the existing customer data, which will
be available through useful articles on consumer journey. The interview questions will be found
in the appendix section of this assignment.
Mapping the selected customer journey-
Customer journey of Jack-
Jack is very passionate for fast-foods. He frequently visits to fast-foods restaurant in the
weekends. He has been to McDonald quite a few times. He now decided to visit the nearest KFC
restaurant. Following are his experiences:
Before- He was very excited as it was his first ever visit to KFC.
During- He had fried chickens there. He was sitting cool and enjoying his food.
After- He returned back with some mixed reactions. He liked the ambience there but he actually
did not like the taste. He was expecting a bit different. However, he appreciated the service
quality.
Customer journey of Olivia-
Olivia loves eating outside as well in the weekends. However, she is price specific. She
loves to have vegetarian foods. She decided to visit to McDonald as it offers vegetarian products
at a comparatively lesser price.
Before- She was expecting that she will be treated by the world’s most loved brands.
During- She felt good while having the food.

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After- She returned back with smile on her face. She actually liked the foods.
Customer journey of people below 30 years of age-
Before- They decided to move to KFC as they love chicken. Moreover, KFC is popular for fried
chicken.
During- They actually loved the foods.
After- They returned back happily and already planned to visit the centre again.
Analysis-
Competitor analysis based on data derived from the interview and the some existing data-
Each of the three respondents have different thought process altogether, which is why
they picked up their choice of food centre accordingly. KFC received one negative review from
Jack. This is quite notably as well because Jack has a very good understanding of the fast-foods.
On contrary to this, the Millennial have liked a lot their outing in the KFC. They have liked the
fried chicken offered there at the KFC. On the other hand, Olivia visited to McDonald because
she is vegetarian and also price specific. This is why she decided to visit to McDonald. She
actually found this valuable. She liked the taste and also the customer service. The interview
data has found three important factors that initiate a customer journey to a fast-food restaurant.
Those three factors are brand value, pricing of food and the choice of food.
Wibowo & Tielung (2016) have also supported some of the findings of the interview.
According to the author, McDonald is the most preferred fast-food chain. They have also
confirmed that price is the most preferred criteria when it comes to select the choice of fast-food

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restaurant. These findings have actually matched the interview data. Boparai (2016), argued that
McDonald is not good at offering the vegetarian items. The research conducted on two
restaurants in India. The research did produce some strange results. McAloo Tikki Burger, which
is for vegetarians, was largely disliked by the respondents those who took part in the survey.
Instead, they liked Mc Chicken Burger much. This is again contradicting with the decision
making process of Olivia who decided to visit to KFC just because it is good at offering non-
veggie items. Xin (2015) has supported the views Jack by going with McDonald in terms of food
taste. The author has found no other differences. The main decisive factor is taste, which is better
in McDonald.
Findings-
The interview conducted with the selected customers and the research conducted on the
available articles on fast-food restaurants have helped immensely in finding out the two decisive
factors. The two factors that differentiate between McDonald and KFC are mainly the pricing of
food and quality of taste. Customers have rated McDonald better in terms of food taste (Hanratty
et al., 2012). However, there are many such customers who are price specific like Olivia was.
There is actually a fight of pricing strategies in some regions such as in the Asian countries. They
prefer going to the cheapest brand. Apart from taste, it is also necessary to offer competitive
pricings for the different kinds of foods (Sharma & Garg, 2013). The findings of the interviews
with the selected customers do also provide solid evidences in favor of a fact that
competitiveness is hugely required in the fast-food industry. Both the McDonald and KFC need
to work hard on the relevant strengths and weaknesses in order to stay competitive in the market.

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Conclusion-
The study has used primary resources in the form of interviews with the three selected
customers and the secondary resources as well to understand the decisive factors that influence
the purchasing of fast-foods. The interview data has suggested that different factors that different
customer use while preparing for a target fast-food restaurant chain. They look for the pricing of
food as they are specific to pricing. They look for brand value as well because they feel they will
be treated there warmly. They look for the choice of foods as well because there are some who
do not want to have non-veggie items. It is also the habit of many to visit to a popular and trusted
fast-food brand in their weekends. There are some as well who is a frequent visitor of fast-food
restaurants. Irrespective of the findings of the interviews and the secondary resources, it is
evident that people love visiting to the fast-food restaurant. However, the report of World
Economic Forum has given some otherwise expectation from the fast-food industry in the future
ahead. There are few who have become conscious learners of nutritional foods. It is therefore
necessary for both the McDonald and KFC to promote sustainability in their food items. This is
the only way those companies will be able to enjoy a sustainable run.

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References
Boparai, U. S. (2016). CONSUMER’S PERCEPTION FOR VARIOUS PRODUCTS OF
MCDONALD’S AND ITS SUPPLY CHAIN IN VARANASI DISTRICT OF UP (Doctoral
dissertation, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi).
Hanratty, B., Milton, B., Ashton, M., & Whitehead, M. (2012). ‘McDonalds and KFC, it's never
going to happen’: the challenges of working with food outlets to tackle the obesogenic
environment. Journal of Public Health, 34(4), 548-554.
HUSSAIN, S. (2014). The impact of sensory branding (five senses) on consumer: A case study
on KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). International Journal of Research in Business
Management, 2(5), 2347-4572.
Klaus, P., & Maklan, S. (2013). Towards a better measure of customer experience.
Mihart, C. (2012). Impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behaviour:
effects on consumer decision–making process. International Journal of Marketing
Studies, 4(2), 121.
Paul, J., & Rana, J. (2012). Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food. Journal
of consumer Marketing, 29(6), 412-422.
Sharma, M., & Garg, S. (2013). Functional Foods: Marketing ‘Health’To Modern
India. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 2(5).

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Thuijsman, T. (2017). Bridging the gap between service expectations-and service perceptions of
customers-Conducting a gap-analysis at IVM using the SERVQUAL-method (Master's
thesis, University of Twente).
weforum.org (2017). Shaping the Future of Global Food Systems: A Scenarios Analysis. [online]
weforum.org. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/shaping-the-future-of-
global-food-systems-a-scenarios-analysis [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017].
Wibowo, S. W., & Tielung, M. (2016). ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP)
APPROACH ON CONSUMER PREFERENCE IN FRANCHISE FAST FOOD
RESTAURANT SELECTION IN MANADO CITY (Study at: McDonald’s, KFC, and
A&W). JURNAL RISET EKONOMI, MANAJEMEN, BISNIS DAN AKUNTANSI, 4(2).
Xin, G. (2015). The Study of Brand Choice Decision of Top 3 Global Brand Quick Serviced
Restaurant (KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King) in Bangkok.
Yeu, C. S., Leong, K. C., Tong, L. C., Hang, S., Tang, Y., Bashawir, A., & Subhan, M. (2012).
A comparative study on international marketing mix in China and India: The case of
McDonald's. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 65, 1054-1059.