McDonald's marketing strategy of adaptation

       McDonald’s is the largest fast-food chain in the world. They mostly sell beef burgers, chicken and fish, as well as french fries. The company also sells sodas, breakfasts, milkshakes, salads, wraps and fruit. McDonald's has more than 35,000 outlets in 118 different countries all over the seven continents.

But how can a company be so successful all over the world? 

Here is their secret!

The international success of McDonald's can be explained by their dual marketing strategy in going global. 

Firstly, McDonald's uses a strategy of standardisation by offering identical products worldwide, for example, the Mc Chicken, the Filet-O-Fish, the Happy Meal, the Mc Nuggets, or the Mc Flurry. 

Those are products that everyone knows all around the world and that helped build the company's strong brand image. Offering the same products in all countries also enables McDonald's to create economies of scale and therefore save time and money.

On the other hand, McDonald's must sometimes adapt to meet the consumers' needs in the consumption cultures of some countries. This adaptation strategy is therefore, the key to their success. 

An adaptation to consumers' cultures 

Let's travel around the world and discover examples of how McDonald's adapts its burgers to its consumers. 

Germany

We start our journey in Europe, by going to Germany. 

Most Germans are indisputably meat lovers, and McDonald's has adapted its meals and menus to this kind of consumption. Here is a burger made with Nürnberger sausages. German people also enjoy drinking beer while eating, and it seems that McDonald's has understood this. 

Indonesia 

Let's now fly to Indonesia- a country located in Asia. It has a population of more than 260 million people, with a large percentage who are Muslims.

When McDonald's entered the Indonesian fast-food market, the menu was adapted to accommodate the eating requirements of Muslims, namely by deciding to remove pork from the menu. Instead of pork, a wider range of fish-based food is available. 

Moreover, all McDonald's restaurants in this country are Halal. Food consumption in Indonesia is very different than in the USA and in Europe, for reasons beyond religion. The national food eaten for almost all meals every day is rice. Consequently, McDonald's has adapted its menus and now offers rice. Here are examples of menus that include rice in McDonald’s restaurants in Indonesia.

Indonesians also really like spicy food, so in order to satisfy their clients, McDonald's also offers a large choice of spicy meals.

India 

We are now going to cross the Indian Ocean and stop in India- another Asian country. 

McDonald's offers a very wide menu adapted to the population of India. They replaced beef with chicken in their meals and even plan to open completely vegetarian restaurants, in Amritsar for example. As cows are considered sacred, the Big Mac became the Maharaja Mac. 

They also created the McVeggie and the McAllo Tikki for vegetarians who represent the majority of people in India.

 

At first India seemed totally incompatible with McDonald's core business and really looked like a difficult and risky market to enter for the American fast-food company, but the company took its time to analyse the market and understand the population's needs and tastes.

Morocco 

How about going to Africa now ? We are going to end our journey in Morocco- a country situated in the Maghreb region of North Africa.  

Again in this country McDonalds has been able to adapt its offering to the local consumption. They sell sandwiches made with pita bread and traditional spices like cumin and coriander. 

During the Ramadan period, McDonalds also creates a special menu which is called "f'tor". F'tor meaning the end of fasting. This menu includes the traditional soup, dates, some milk and a BigMac. 

A winning strategy 

Some international companies make an effort to adapt their products to various different cultural environments and McDonalds is one of them. This marketing adaptation strategy enables the company to reach more consumers all over the world. But this strategy also means a higher  production and communication cost so it is vital for the company to run serious market studies before entering a new country/market in order to understand the consumers' expectations first. 

We saw that McDonald's changes some of its products depending on the consumers’ way of consumption and their cultures. But other elements of the marketing mix can also be changed in order to best fit the country's market- the price, the promotion or the place of distribution. 

Clarisse Vivier

Sources: 

http://www.mcdonalds.co.id
http://www.mcdonaldsindia.com
https://www.mcdonalds.de
http://www.mcdonalds.ma
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questions/food/menu/why-is-the-mcdonalds-menu-different-in-different-countries.html
http://hubpages.com/business/Mc-Donalds-adapting-globally
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30115555
http://seekingalpha.com/article/855441-mcdonalds-cultural-adaptability-to-bring-continued-success