The most interesting thing I learned in chapter 12 was in the “Real World” section where it talked about McDonald’s multiple methods to identify the problem of losing customers to Starbucks and other coffee shops. I had no idea that so much research goes into figuring out where people are purchasing there beverages after they order their food. McDonalds conducted several three hour interviews, which were videotaped, in which interviewers studied beverage buying habits of their customers. The problem they saw was that McDonalds was missing out on one of the fastest growing beverage industries. The text explains how data proved that soda sales had flattened while specialty coffee and smoothie sales were growing at double digit rates.
I did some additional research to find out which type of person goes where. Studies prove that the average age of a McDonald’s customer is 18-34, as for Starbucks the average age of a customer is between 35-44 years old. Income also plays a role in which goes where, people with incomes over $60,000 per year tend to go to Starbucks where as people with an income lower than $60,000 tend to buy McDonald’s products.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1702277,00.html
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wow i had no idea that mcdonald's would have to conduct so much research just to start selling coffee. i would have thought that such a sound firm would be able to not worry about the profit of one item on their menu. after all.. it is just coffee. but in my marketing class, one of our projects is to come up with a new product line for an existing brand, which requires a lot of research and brainstorming so i guess i can understand why they would want to do the same thing before essentially breaking into a new industry- the coffee industry. personally, however, i don't think they could ever make coffee that is up to par with starbuck's.
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