McDonald?s Market Segmentation

Posted by Adverd Muzoo on May 8th, 2017

Segmentation which is part of the marketing strategy of McDonald's can be defined as a set of logics and criteria basis which the broad target market of the company is divided into multiple subsets of consumers. The criteria basis which the segmentation is done generally entails the factors including but not limited to the common interests, needs or the demographic factors as well as priorities of the consumers. Some of the well-used segmentation strategies include: geographic factors, demographic factors, behavioral factors, psychographic factors etc. Following are the two different segmentation criteria which may be used by McDonald’s in different markets for segmenting its target markets:

Demographic segmentation:

This is the type of segmentation which segments the customer as per the variables including age, gender, and occupation and education level. For McDonald’s the variable which can be used is the age in view of the fact that this helps in dividing the market into different groups of the individuals belonging to different life stage and tailoring the messages by the companies in accordance to that. By the very nature of the product offering as well as the brand value which McDonald's has it can be said that it appeals more to the psyche of the consumers who belong to the lower age group. Also in the developing markets belonging to Asia and Africa, McDonald's is considered to be a cultural symbol of the USA to which the people belonging to the lower age band are more open to. Hence this can be identified as one of the most efficient segmentation criteria for the company. 

Behavioral segmentation:

In these segmentation criteria, the market is divided into consumers groups in keeping with the knowledge of the consumers regarding the brand, attitude towards the brand, usage rate of the brand, response towards the brand, as well as the loyalty status of the consumers for the brand. This can be used for McDonald’s since this helps in developing a base of loyal customers of the company in the new markets, who can also act as the brand evangelist through word of mouth marketing for the brand.

Propose a new positioning for a selected product or service of McDonald’s:

Positioning can be defined as a marketing strategy which helps the companies to prepare its specific product or service as well as the marketing activities around it in such a way so that the same can occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the consumers as compared to the rival business companies or their products. It is important for the company to identify the dimensions of the product which can be helpful in defining the product 'space' as well as the goodness of fit between the product and the market requirements.

The new product which can be used for the purpose of this section of the report is the McChicken which is a substitute of the hamburgers and beef burgers in the Asian nations like India where the majority of the consumers do not eat beef or pork. The positioning which can be used for this product is low price full meal. This can be used in view of the fact that the consumers of India are highly value oriented and they like articles which are not very costly but can be effective for their needs. This positioning can cater to these factors and can be apt for the product.

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