Business Analysis Report: McDonald's and Mothercare (BM561)

This report analyzes the business operations of McDonald's and Mothercare, focusing on the UK market. It examines market analysis, consumer behavior, and competitor analysis, highlighting challenges such as changing consumer preferences towards healthier options for McDonald's and increas...Read More

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Executive Summary
The objective of this paper will be to discuss about the behaviour of the consumers, market
analysis, competitor analysis and identification of the problems that are faced by McDonald’s
and Mothercare. Usage of secondary researches only will be used in this paper, which will
help to critically analyse the secondary business research sources of the application to the
business operated by these two companies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Market Analysis.........................................................................................................................3
Consumer Behavior....................................................................................................................4
Competitor Analysis...................................................................................................................5
Identification of Problems..........................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
Appendix....................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The aim of this paper will be to discuss about the behaviour of the consumers, market
analysis, competitor analysis and identification of the problems that are faced by the
organizations of McDonald’s and Mothercare. Usage of secondary researches only will be
used in this paper, which will help to critically analyse the secondary business research
sources of the application to the business operated by these two companies.
Market Analysis
McDonald's Corporation is a fast food organization from America having its presence
in more than 100 nations. The organization was founded in 1940, and is the largest restaurant
chain in the whole world serving more than 69 million customers on regular basis. The main
products that are offered by this multinational fast food chain are hamburgers, French fries,
salads, chicken items, coffee, desserts, wraps and breakfast, but it is widely popular for their
hamburgers and French fries across the whole world. In the context of the business done by
them in the region of the United Kingdom, it can be said that they are running their business
in this region for 44 years. At present, there are 1,270 restaurants in all corners of the United
Kingdom, where more than 120,000 people are employed from different ages and
backgrounds. They offer their wide delicacies of products to the people of the United
Kingdom, according to their tastes and preferences of the people in this region
(Mcdonalds.com 2020).
On the other hand, Mothercare plc is a retail organization from Britain which was
established in the year of 1961, who proudly claims that they are the best one-stop service
provider shop for would-be-parents and their children. Headquarter of this business house is
located at Watford, Hertfordshire, but it also operates in 40 international regions, which

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includes almost 1,227 franchisees globally. They are specialized in baby products, thus
establishing themselves as an emergency service provider in the regions where they serves.
Initially the business operations mainly focused on nursery furniture, pushchairs and
maternity clothing, but the management of this organization subsequently expanded their
range of products, which include clothing range for children up to five years and eight years
for later purposes. Currently, they offer a wide range of clothing accessories for expectant
mothers and children, bedding, furniture and home furnishings, travel equipment, toys
bathing and feeding (Mothercareplc.com 2020).
Consumer Behavior
It can be noted in this context that in fast food industry, there has been a shift in the
overall needs and requirements of the people, as they are looking for healthier options to
remain fit. It is globally known that the type of food offered by McDonald’s do not fall under
this bracket, and the management needs to look after this issue and follow necessary steps so
that the market share as well as the revenue earning of this globally reputed organization can
be maintained. People of all ages get attracted to the wide range of offering of McDonald’s in
the region of the United Kingdom, but the busy work life of the people, mainly who are
middle aged and young adults (Murphy and Dweck 2016). Perception towards a particular
product will depend on the amount of fitness that the food will be able to provide to those
consumers, thus forcing the management of McDonalds’s in the region of the United
Kingdom to prepare their menus according to the tastes and preferences of the people who
live there. Healthy foods like salads, organic milk products and vegetarian burgers need to be
introduced in this market so that the position of McDonald’s in the market place of the United
Kingdom can be maintained along with the revenue earning for the organization, which will
help to introduce more healthy food in the menu.

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On the other hand, advancement in the field of technology has force the management
of Mothercare to try something new and innovative so that the lost market place can be
regained. Stiff competition is faced by the management of this organization as increase in the
overall costs and online retailers, which has become possible due to this advancement of
technology. Usage of smartphones and internet has provide the power to the people to use
various online platforms and select and purchase the right product according to their
requirement, which are available at comparatively low prices than from the offline market
places. Increase in the number of supermarkets also provides stiff competition in the region
of the United Kingdom, as parents prefer to visit the supermarkets to buy different kinds of
baby products from there. Convenience in the availability and purchase of the products,
prices of the products and the overall customer experience has led to this shift, which needs
to overcome by the management of this business entity (Popescu and Iosim 2015).
Competitor Analysis
Every business organization has to compete with other business organization of the
same industry. Competitive analysis, strategic research, helps a business organization to
collect and analyse the information about the competitor firms. Through this analysis, a
business organization can get an idea about the activities, planning, and strategy of the rival
firms. Strategic research is required to identify the threat to the financial well-being of a
business organization. In this part, competitor analysis will be conducted in the context of the
UK, to identify the threats of two business organization McDonald's and Mothercare.
One of the most popular and largest fast-food chains in this world is McDonald’s.
Though this organization is one of the largest food chains in this world yet this organization
has to conduct competitor analysis to get a clear idea about the rival firms. Burger King,
Wendy’s, Yum Brands, Subway, Chipotle, and Starbucks are the competitors of McDonald’s.

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The closest competitor of McDonald’s is Burger King. Fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s
can be marked as a competitor of McDonald’s. On the other hand, Yum Brands which
includes Pizza Hut, Teco Bell, and KFC, is a rival firm of McDonald’s. Subway, the largest
restaurant chain, competes with McDonald’s. The biggest coffeehouse chain named
Starbucks competes with McDonald’s. Lastly, a fast-casual restaurant chain named Chipotle
is one of the rival firms of McDonald’s (Al Badi 2015).
‘Mothercare Plc’, a British retailer, produces products for mothers and children up to
8 years of age. Though this organization produces and delivers products for mothers and
children yet this organization has to compete with several business organizations in this
industry. The top competitors of this company are Anstel, Zulily, Skechers, and Swap.com.
In the retail industry, Anstel is the wholesaler of specialized products for the baby. Zulily is
an online retailer that provides beauty and wellness products at big discounts. ‘Sketchers’
creates and designs products for children, women, and men. For products of baby and
women's, maternity, Swap.com is the biggest online consignment store. So it can be said that
Mothercare has to analyse the policies, strategies of these organizations to get a clear idea
about the business operation.
Identification of Problems
Both the companies of McDonald’s and Mothercare plc are facing serious problems in
the region of the United Kingdom as well as in the other parts of the world where they serve
their people. It can be stated in this context that there is no source of minerals, vitamins or
proteins in the wide range of offerings by McDonald’s or the whole meal, where carbs,
sugars and fats are only present, which restricts the people to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Customers cannot get over the concept that low prices equal low quality, which is creating
problems in the business operations of this organization in the British market. Consumers are

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altering their eating habits as well as wellbeing in order to stay fit in their busy schedule, and
it has been seen that there are plenty of options that are present in the market places which are
healthy in nature. Or in other words, it can be said that health food products are getting
widely accepted in the market places as consumers are shifting towards more health
conscious offerings. Free-range eggs, meat free from antibiotics and less sugar & salt foods
are getting preferences in their eating habits (Rai 2015).
On the other hand, the management of Mothercare failed to differentiate their
products from their rivals as a specialist retailer along with too many alterations in the senior
management level hampered the flow of the business operations of this organization. Failure
of providing the same ease and comfort like its rival business houses also negatively affected
the flow of operations of Mothercare, which forced to shut down many of their outlets in the
market place of the United Kingdom. More variety of products with lower prices are
available on different online platforms like Amazon, which is also causing a shift in the
overall purchasing pattern of the customers of baby and maternity products.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be stated that both Mothercare plc and McDonald’s
possess strengths which need to be capitalized to capture the opportunities that are available
in the market place of the United Kingdom. The management needs to follow the strategies
that will help them to regain the lost market share and place among the customers, so that the
competitiveness can be enjoyed again by this two business entities.

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References
Al Badi, K.S., 2015. The dimensions of marketing mix. Journal of Management and
Organizational Studies, 2(1), pp.136-142.
Mcdonalds.com. (2020). McDonald’s UK: Burgers, Fries, Salads & More. Quality
Ingredients. [online] Available at: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb.html [Accessed 24
Jan. 2020].
Mothercareplc.com. (2020). Home. [online] Available at: http://www.mothercareplc.com/
[Accessed 24 Jan. 2020].
Murphy, M.C. and Dweck, C.S., 2016. Mindsets shape consumer behavior. Journal of
Consumer Psychology, 26(1), pp.127-136.
Popescu, G. and Iosim, I., 2015. The role of consumer behavior in issues related to the
environment. Research Journal of Agricultural Science, 47(4).
Rai, N., 2013. Impact of Advertising on Consumer behaviour and attitude with reference to
consumer durables. International Journal of Management Research and Business
Strategy, 2(2), pp.74-79.

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Appendix

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