McDonald’s Shifting Gears

Posted on March 6, 2017 by bermanevansretail
McDonald’s is revamping its global strategy in hopes of stimulating sales and profits. Some of its planned changes are substantial.
In January 2017, McDonald’s announced that it was selling a majority stake in its Chinese business. Given the huge size of the Chinese market, this is a dramatic move. As reported by Sui-Lee Wee for the Irish Times:
“McDonald’s is to sell its businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong for $2.08 billion to Citic, a state-owned conglomerate, and the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. The deal gives Citic and Carlyle franchise rights for 20 years. Citic and its investment arm, Citic Capital, will have a controlling stake of 52 per cent, while Carlyle will take 28 per cent. McDonald’s will retain the remaining fifth of the company. ‘China and Hong Kong represent an enormous growth opportunity for McDonald’s,’ Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s chief executive, said in a news release. ‘This new partnership will combine one of the world’s most powerful brands and our unparalleled quality standards with partners who have an unmatched understanding of the local markets.’”
“McDonald’s opted for a franchise deal to save on investing and modernizing stores itself, according to Ben Cavender, a senior analyst at China Market Research, a consultancy based in Shanghai. ‘At the end of the day,they can be more profitable if they are asset light and make money off franchise fees and leave the heavy lifting to somebody else.’”
Click the image to read more about McDonald’s China shift.

 

Then, just a few days ago, the fast-food giant issued a major press release, “McDonald’s Unveils New Global Growth Plan.” Here are some highlights:
“The growth plan focuses on enhancing digital capabilities and the use of technology to dramatically elevate the customer experience; redefining customer convenience through delivery; accelerating deployment of ‘Experience of the Future’ restaurants in the U.S.; initiating a new 3-year target for cash return to shareholders; and establishing new financial targets for sales, operating margin, earnings per share, and return on incremental invested capital.”
“The strategy connects key tenets of the brand to well-defined customer groups built around three pillars: (1) Retaining existing customers by fortifying and extending our areas of strength. Through a renewed focus on areas such as family occasions and food-led breakfast and transforming the experience in our restaurants, McDonald’s will build on the strong foothold it has and grow the core of the business. (2) Regaining customers lost to other QSR [quick-service restaurants] competitors. As customers’ expectations increased, McDonald’s simply didn’t keep pace with them. Making meaningful improvements in quality, convenience, and value will win back some of McDonald’s best customers. (3) “Converting casual customers to committed customers by being more present in underdeveloped categories and occasions and competing more aggressively given the untapped demand for McCafé coffee and other snack offerings.”
Click the image to read A LOT MORE, and see how honest McDonald’s is in assessing itself — a rarity for firm in a public press release!

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Looking for Retailing Salary Information?

Posted on March 1, 2017 by bermanevansretail
We’ve talked before about salary information sites such as PayScale. Today, we’re highlighting another valuable salary guide — Good Calculators.
At  the salary calculator section of the site, you can learn salaries by state, occupation, and career, and all occupations by region.
Here are several RETAILING-related career salary examples from Good Calculators. [PLEASE NOTE: In reviewing these numbers, please keep in mind that they refer to specific careers. In each state, all of the careers illustrated below are available!]
  • Arizona, management occupations, administrative services — average annual salary = $91,460; average hourly salary = $43.97; no. of employees: 6,240
  • California, personal care and service occupations, first-line supervisors of personal service workers — average annual salary = $42,690; average hourly salary = $20.52; no. of employees: 16,910
  • Florida, management occupations, lodging managers — average annual salary = $64,980; average hourly salary = $31.24; no. of employees: 3,430
  • Illinois, office and administrative support occupations, customer service representatives — average annual salary = $36,620; average hourly salary = $17.61; no. of employees: 120,210
  • Maryland, management occupations, transportation, store, and distribution managers — average annual salary = $98,430; average hourly salary = $47.32; no. of employees: 1,370
  • New York, computer and mathematical occupations, database administrators — average annual salary = $87,620; average hourly salary = $42.12; no. of employees: 6,720
  • North Carolina, computer and mathematical occupations, Web developers — average annual salary = $65,990; average hourly salary = $31.73; no. of employees: 3,110
  • Ohio, business and financial operations, human resources specialists — average annual salary = $57,760; average hourly salary = $27.77; no. of employees: 18,390
  • Pennsylvania, business and financial operations occupations, credit analysts — average annual salary = $69,330; average hourly salary = $33.33; no. of employees: 2,500
  • South Carolina, business and financial operations, logisticians — average annual salary = $68,640; average hourly salary = $33.00; no. of employees: 2,440
  • Texas, business and financial operations occupations, wholesale and retail buyers — average annual salary = $59,920; average hourly salary = $28.61; no. of employees: 8,480

 

To learn A LOT MORE about salary possibilities by state, occupation, and career, click the image.


 

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Worldwide Growth in Restaurant Loyalty Programs

Posted on February 28, 2017 by bermanevansretail
Some restaurants have had customer loyalty programs for years; others are newer to the game. In any event, restaurants globally are more involved with customer loyalty programs than ever before. However, although customer enrollment is growing; many people don’t actively use their restaurant loyalty programs!!!
As eMarketer reports:
“One initiative that’s experiencing lots of innovation is the restaurant loyalty program, where a combination of changing consumer perceptions and new restaurant-focused IT efforts are helping more restaurant marketers warm to the idea. But such programs get mixed reviews from diners. One sign of interest in restaurant-focused loyalty programs is the changing perception of such initiatives among diners worldwide.”
“According to a November 2016 survey by Oracle, a growing proportion of internet users are signing up for restaurant loyalty memberships. More than 65% of respondents in the US said they were members of a food service loyalty program. And worldwide, restaurant owners and marketers also appear to also be investing more money in loyalty-driven technology systems. According to a June 2016 Hospitality Technology survey, loyalty programs were the most popular customer experience tool mentioned by restaurant executives.”
“But loyalty programs have their challenges. The biggest one is just because consumers have a membership to a program, doesn’t mean they will actually use it.”

 

 

Posted in Global Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments