Marketing Mix of McDonald's: Product, Price, Place, Promotion Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of McDonald's marketing mix, examining its product, price, place, and promotion strategies. The report begins with an abstract and introduction outlining the purpose and scope of the analysis, followed by a methodology section detailing the use of secondary data sources. The core of the report is a case study that delves into each element of the marketing mix: product diversification, pricing strategies like bundle and psychological pricing, place strategies including restaurants, kiosks, and digital platforms, and promotional activities such as advertising, sales promotions, and public relations. The report concludes with a summary of key findings, recommendations for enhancing McDonald's market share through strategies like product diversification and menu localization, and a list of references. The analysis highlights McDonald's effective control over the 4Ps, contributing to its competitive advantage in the fast-food industry.

Running Head: MARKETING 0
The marketing mix of mcdonald
SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

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Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Method.......................................................................................................................................3
Case Study..................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Abstract
Marketing starts with the finding of the customer needs, evaluating information require to
design and produce goods or services according to the customer expectations. Maintaining
long-term relationship with customer and suppliers is also an important aspect of marketing
(Homburg, Wieseke and Bornemann, 2009). In marketing, a business profit comes from the
satisfaction of customer.
In this report, marketing mix of McDonald is evaluated which includes 4Ps – Product, Price,
Place and Promotion (Ivy, 2008). Marketing mix is used in both function of a business i.e.
Operative and Communication function. For successful evaluating the marketing mix, an
organization can analysed cost per lead, cost per customer, market share, and competitive
analysis.
For this research, the secondary data is being used which includes various journals,
publications, books and trusted online resources.
In addition, this report also outlines the marketing mix of McDonald, which gives a
competitive advantage to the company. They have wide varieties of products and all at
affordable prices. The company also sell their products via restaurant, online website, mobile
app and kiosks. In terms of promotional mix element, the company use all integrated tools
like advertising, sales promotion, publicity, etc. This shows the competencies of the
McDonald as a market leader.
For longer sustainability, the company can established their corporate image with the help of
menu localisation and product diversification.

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Introduction
The purpose of this report is to analyse the effect of marketing mix on the business operations
of McDonald. This assessment of the roles of each Ps of marketing mix can be a crucial part
for the overall marketing approach of McDonald. This can also help the McDonald in
determining the marketing strategy effective for the organization.
McDonald is a fast food chain, which was started in 1937 by the two brothers Richard and
Maurice (Dunlap, 2017). Their revenue had reached $350,000 by the mid-1950s. Due to its
high end competitive strategy, it is the most valuable brand in the fast-food industry.
In this report, the marketing strategy used by McDonald to be the leading restaurant chain is
being analysed in the light of the marketing mix, which includes product, price, place and
promotion.
Method
In this research of the marketing strategy used in McDonald, the data is being collected from
the secondary sources. In secondary sources, the data is collected from various optional
sources like magazines, books, reports, journals, the web and more (Vartanian, 2010). These
sources belong to trusted one and also differs from the blog or open website where anyone
can modify or change the content of the page.
Case Study
The marketing mix of McDonald consists of various core elements derived from the company
marketing system that helps the company in achieving their overall objectives.
 Product – McDonald always focuses on developing their menu according to the
needs of customers. Their market research plays an important role in this. However,
with the time, the customer requirements are also changes. McDonald has a
diversified product range which includes – Hamburgers and sandwiches, Chicken and

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fish, Salads, Snacks and sides, Deserts, shakes and beverages. The company is
primarily known for its hamburgers, which satisfy most of its market demand.
McDonald product growth and diversification are due to their generic and intensive
growth strategy (Gregory, 2017).
 Price – McDonald charges the price from customers paralleling to the customer
perception value. For customer, there are some psychological connotations attached to
the price and product, which is successfully analysed by McDonald. The combination
of pricing strategy used by McDonald includes Bundle pricing strategy and
Psychological pricing strategy (Arora, 2008). In the bundle pricing strategy, various
meals and product are offered by McDonald which can be purchased separately by the
customer considering the product value. For example, Happy Meal, Extra Value
Meal, etc. In psychological pricing strategy, the company applies perceived prices that
look from affordable from customer perspectives. For example, $5.99 (not rounding
off to the nearest dollar).
 Place – This marketing mix element illustrates the locations and venue where the
customer can access the products of McDonald. The most prominent place in case of
McDonald is the restaurants where the company products are distributed and most of
the sales revenue generated. Other main places are – Restaurants, Kiosks, Mobile app
made by McDonald (in ios and Android) and postmates websites and app (Kimes,
2011).
Kiosks sell a limited course of products like sundae and other desserts. With the help
of company mobile applications, customer can find many products with every day
deals and offers. They can also get the information about the nearby locations of
restaurants and thus place an order easily. This aspect of marketing mix also helps the
company in achieving its vision and mission, which is related to serving more
numbers of customer around the world.
 Promotion – McDonald uses various promotion mix to communicate with the
customers such as Advertising, Sales promotions, public relation and direct
marketing. However, advertisements are the most significant part of their promotional
mix. McDonald uses print media, radio, online platform and television for the purpose
of the advertisement (Karunanithy and Sivesan, 2013). In addition, sales promotion is
made by the company to get their attention towards the restaurant. For attaining this
objective, they give various offers like freebies and discount coupons to their certain
product bundles. The public relation approach is used by the company to strength

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their goodwill in the industry. The company also used direct marketing for their
corporate clients, local governments and other parties.

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Conclusion
For a long period, McDonald has established themselves as a leader in the industry in
respective with product line. They have effective control over all their fours Ps of the
marketing mix elements that also gives them a competitive edge in the industry. The
psychological pricing strategy of the company also helps them to gain the attention of the
customers. In addition, they have made their presence at all levels i.e. restaurant, online and
kiosks, which help the customer in easy access to their products.
Their integrated approach in the promotional activities also helps McDonald to gain the
customer awareness towards the brand.
McDonald is capable of offering new products and services that can increase its market share
in the industry.
Recommendations
McDonald’s is the powerful brand name and thus its strategies seem so good. However, I
have several recommendations for the company, which can help in their growth and thus also
increase the market share of the company. They should re-established their corporate images
in the market so that they can slow down their company into reaching the maturity phased of
the life cycle. Product diversification and innovation can help them in reaching out with
strategy. The company should also focus on their menu items as per the locality of the nation
they are serving.
This will help them to keep a strong competitive advantage over their competitors.

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References
Arora, R. (2008) Price bundling and framing strategies for complementary products. Journal
of Product & Brand Management, 17(7), pp.475-484.
Dunlap, T. (2017) 11 Surprising Facts About the Real History of McDonald’s. Available
from https://people.com/food/11-surprising-facts-about-the-history-of-mcdonalds/ Accessed
on 27 September 2018.
Gregory, L. (2017) McDonald’s Generic Strategy & Intensive Growth Strategies. Available
from http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-generic-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies Accessed
on 27 September 2018.
Homburg, C., Wieseke, J. and Bornemann, T. (2009) Implementing the marketing concept at
the employee–customer interface: the role of customer need knowledge. Journal of
Marketing, 73(4), pp.64-81.
Ivy, J. (2008) A new higher education marketing mix: the 7Ps for MBA
marketing. International Journal of educational management, 22(4), pp.288-299.
Karunanithy, M. and Sivesan, S. (2013) An empirical study on the promotional mix and
brand equity: Mobile service providers. Industrial Engineering Letters, 3(3), pp.1-9.
Kimes, S.E. (2011) The current state of online food ordering in the US restaurant
industry. Cornell Hospitality Report, 11(17), pp.6-18.
Vartanian, T.P. (2010) Secondary Data Analysis, New York: Oxford University Press.