Segmentation & Target Market Paper - Mkt/571
Segmentation and Target Market
MKT/571
August 26, 2013
Meraj Khan
Segmentation and Target Market
Target Market, Segmentation and Positioning of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is a fast food giant and is one of the best known burger chains in the world. McDonald’s builds its brand equity by listening to its customers and continually adjusting its communication and marketing methods. Because McDonald’s faces stiff competition around the world from other fast food chains it must continually adapt. This paper will show how McDonald’s is segmented in the fast food industry, its target markets, and the selection process for that target market. Developing a marketing strategy is very important and to do that it is important to understand the company’s target customers. Once the customer base is understood, communication to that customer base is easier. This also translates into marketing to the customer base in the most effective way possible. McDonald’s segmented its products by psychographic, behavioral, and demographic characteristics. Their products are targeted at children, students, families, and business-people. The immense size of these market segments is why McDonald’s targets them, and the growth rate projections come into play as well. These segments tend to generate massive profit margins.
Market Segmentation Market segmentation is the dividing of a one market into smaller market segments. The reason this is done is to make it easier to address the desires of smaller groups of customers. This in turn allows McDonald’s to sell different products, according to each groups consuming habits. A segment typically represents a group of people who have similar characteristics. These characteristics include gender, region, age, lifestyle, income level, and many others. McDonald’s uses a segmentation program that takes into account three different characteristics. Psychographic segmentation is associated with convenience and lifestyle. In the United States that
MKT/571
August 26, 2013
Meraj Khan
Segmentation and Target Market
Target Market, Segmentation and Positioning of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is a fast food giant and is one of the best known burger chains in the world. McDonald’s builds its brand equity by listening to its customers and continually adjusting its communication and marketing methods. Because McDonald’s faces stiff competition around the world from other fast food chains it must continually adapt. This paper will show how McDonald’s is segmented in the fast food industry, its target markets, and the selection process for that target market. Developing a marketing strategy is very important and to do that it is important to understand the company’s target customers. Once the customer base is understood, communication to that customer base is easier. This also translates into marketing to the customer base in the most effective way possible. McDonald’s segmented its products by psychographic, behavioral, and demographic characteristics. Their products are targeted at children, students, families, and business-people. The immense size of these market segments is why McDonald’s targets them, and the growth rate projections come into play as well. These segments tend to generate massive profit margins.
Market Segmentation Market segmentation is the dividing of a one market into smaller market segments. The reason this is done is to make it easier to address the desires of smaller groups of customers. This in turn allows McDonald’s to sell different products, according to each groups consuming habits. A segment typically represents a group of people who have similar characteristics. These characteristics include gender, region, age, lifestyle, income level, and many others. McDonald’s uses a segmentation program that takes into account three different characteristics. Psychographic segmentation is associated with convenience and lifestyle. In the United States that
References: Marketing at McDonald’s. Retrieved August 21, 2013, from www.aboutmcdonalds.com/MCD/our_company/mission_and_values.html McDonald’s positioning. Retrieved August 22, 2013, from https://sites.google.com/site/mcdonaldsfranchisestrategy/home/mcdonald-s-positioning