Customer Experience Management for Fast-Food-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCustomer Experience Management for Fast-Food Industry. Answer: Introduction- According to Klaus and Maklan (2013), consumer experience related study has now replaced quality to become the main focus for the contemporary marketing research. They have argued the service quality is an outdated version now. Companies prefer doing research works on the consumer experience. They now prefer more to go with the responses they get. The consequence of such process might not bring quality products in market as there are ample of examples are available in the market. There is a particular segment that prefers buying cheaper product despite the fact that it is low in quality (Thuijsman, 2017). As opined by Mihart (2012), the rising competition in the market has encouraged firms to go for extensive research works on the factors that influence the purchasing. The contemporary business strategies are not to sell the trademark product of a firm but it has rather shifted to satisfying the customer needs. Firms manufacture products according to the needs of customers. Additiona lly, they target a particular market segment based on their area of interest, which is developed through the information they derive on the consumer purchasing behavior (Paul Rana, 2012). The main purpose of this assignment is to analyze the buying behavior of selected customers for fast-foods. Brief description of fast-food industry and of the chosen organizations- Fast-food industry- Despite the challenges that the fast-food industry has faced in recent time, it has successfully maintained its business progression. Although, the last few years have forced them to think more of sustainability but still, they are able to sell their products with minimal adjustment in the quality of food. As per the report submitted by the World Economic Forum in 2017, it was made clear that there is a need to think of healthy and nutritional food environment. However, this is indeed a challenge because of the behavior that majority of customers have for fast-foods. They have not shown enough resilient against the identified threats of fast-foods (weforum.org, 2017). Chosen organizations- McDonalds- It is an American fast-food chain. It is one of the rarest companies that have successfully expanded their business into the different international markets. It has followed Uppsala model to move to various global platform sequentially (Yeu et al., 2012). KFC- It is another American fast-food restaurant chain. In very few times, it has garnered huge success in the different parts of world. It is only next to McDonald in terms of globally expanded restaurant chains. It is specifically popular for fried chicken (HUSSAIN, 2014). Discussing the consumer behavior of the chosen customers- 1st customer- Name - Olivia - A smart lady Behaviors - Love fast-foods - Prefer pricing of the product - Prefer infrastructure as well - Likes to have vegetarian foods Demographics - 35-40 years old - Female - Business lady - Economics major Needs/goals - Wants to be recognized - Loves to have fast-foods very frequently - Engaging with humans 2nd customer- Name - William - A good personality man Behaviors - Prefer going to fast-food centre in weekend - Decide by brand name - Love to have fast-foods that are also nutritional Demographics - 38-42 years old - Male - Works in a private company - Human Resource major Needs/goals - Wants to be busy with his busy office schedules - Love to visit the restaurant with the entire family - Want to be energetic 3rd customer- Name - Group of people in particular the Millennial - Teenagers Behaviors - Love to enjoy foods outside - Prefer going to any of the fast-food brands Demographics - less than 30 years old - Millennial boys girls - They all study in different universities Needs/goals - They want to become rich - Need money to support their needs financially 4th customer- Name - Zoe - Beautiful lady Behaviors - Like to spend some time outside - Outing also includes visiting to an accessible fast-food restaurant Demographics - 35-38 years old - Home owned business - Business major Needs/goals - Want to become very social - Want to become a successful business lady 5th customer- Name - Jack - Smart person Behaviors - Very much dependent on fast-foods - Prefer going to any fast-food restaurant in the weekends - Has a very good understanding skill of food quality Demographics - 38-40 years - Works in a private firm - Humanity major Needs/goals - Want to become a successful entrepreneur - Need more money to support his personal needs Olivia was the first customer with whom the interview was conducted. The interview results are in the appendix section of this task. Olivia loves to have fast-foods but she is also very specific with the pricing. She conducts a research online before she decides to move to the destination. She picks her choice of destination based on the pricing standards. She also prefers having vegetarian foods. This is how she constructs her journey to the selected destination. William was the second customer. He gives utmost importance to weekends. He visits to any of the fast-food brand with his entire family once in a week. He gives values to the nutritional foods; however, he is not very strict with it. He can also have fast-foods that are not nutritional. Pricing does not matter to him. Group of People below 30 years of age are the third category of customer. They love to have fast-foods. They love eating foods outside. They prefer going to popular brands. They are highly addicted to fast-foods. However, they are low in cash as most of them are still in universities. Zoe was the fourth customer with whom the interview was conducted. She loves spending some spare time outside with its families. Such outing does also include visiting to a fast-food outlet. She is very brand specific. Jack was the last customer with whom the interview was conducted. Jack is very cool and handsome. He depends a lot on fast-foods. He often visits to fast-food outlet. Notably, he has got a very good understanding skill of fast-foods. Methodology Generating data using the selected customer group and the customers- The data will be generated using the findings of the interviews conducted with the selected list of customers. Moreover, this will also include the existing customer data, which will be available through useful articles on consumer journey. The interview questions will be found in the appendix section of this assignment. Mapping the selected customer journey- Customer journey of Jack- Jack is very passionate for fast-foods. He frequently visits to fast-foods restaurant in the weekends. He has been to McDonald quite a few times. He now decided to visit the nearest KFC restaurant. Following are his experiences: Before- He was very excited as it was his first ever visit to KFC. During- He had fried chickens there. He was sitting cool and enjoying his food. After- He returned back with some mixed reactions. He liked the ambience there but he actually did not like the taste. He was expecting a bit different. However, he appreciated the service quality. Customer journey of Olivia- Olivia loves eating outside as well in the weekends. However, she is price specific. She loves to have vegetarian foods. She decided to visit to McDonald as it offers vegetarian products at a comparatively lesser price. Before- She was expecting that she will be treated by the worlds most loved brands. During- She felt good while having the food. After- She returned back with smile on her face. She actually liked the foods. Customer journey of people below 30 years of age- Before- They decided to move to KFC as they love chicken. Moreover, KFC is popular for fried chicken. During- They actually loved the foods. After- They returned back happily and already planned to visit the centre again. Analysis- Competitor analysis based on data derived from the interview and the some existing data- Each of the three respondents have different thought process altogether, which is why they picked up their choice of food centre accordingly. KFC received one negative review from Jack. This is quite notably as well because Jack has a very good understanding of the fast-foods. On contrary to this, the Millennial have liked a lot their outing in the KFC. They have liked the fried chicken offered there at the KFC. On the other hand, Olivia visited to McDonald because she is vegetarian and also price specific. This is why she decided to visit to McDonald. She actually found this valuable. She liked the taste and also the customer service. The interview data has found three important factors that initiate a customer journey to a fast-food restaurant. Those three factors are brand value, pricing of food and the choice of food. Wibowo Tielung (2016) have also supported some of the findings of the interview. According to the author, McDonald is the most preferred fast-food chain. They have also confirmed that price is the most preferred criteria when it comes to select the choice of fast-food restaurant. These findings have actually matched the interview data. Boparai (2016), argued that McDonald is not good at offering the vegetarian items. The research conducted on two restaurants in India. The research did produce some strange results. McAloo Tikki Burger, which is for vegetarians, was largely disliked by the respondents those who took part in the survey. Instead, they liked Mc Chicken Burger much. This is again contradicting with the decision making process of Olivia who decided to visit to KFC just because it is good at offering non-veggie items. Xin (2015) has supported the views Jack by going with McDonald in terms of food taste. The author has found no other differences. The main decisive factor is taste, which is better in McDonald. Findings- The interview conducted with the selected customers and the research conducted on the available articles on fast-food restaurants have helped immensely in finding out the two decisive factors. The two factors that differentiate between McDonald and KFC are mainly the pricing of food and quality of taste. Customers have rated McDonald better in terms of food taste (Hanratty et al., 2012). However, there are many such customers who are price specific like Olivia was. There is actually a fight of pricing strategies in some regions such as in the Asian countries. They prefer going to the cheapest brand. Apart from taste, it is also necessary to offer competitive pricings for the different kinds of foods (Sharma Garg, 2013). The findings of the interviews with the selected customers do also provide solid evidences in favor of a fact that competitiveness is hugely required in the fast-food industry. Both the McDonald and KFC need to work hard on the relevant strengths and weaknesses in or der to stay competitive in the market. Conclusion- The study has used primary resources in the form of interviews with the three selected customers and the secondary resources as well to understand the decisive factors that influence the purchasing of fast-foods. The interview data has suggested that different factors that different customer use while preparing for a target fast-food restaurant chain. They look for the pricing of food as they are specific to pricing. They look for brand value as well because they feel they will be treated there warmly. They look for the choice of foods as well because there are some who do not want to have non-veggie items. It is also the habit of many to visit to a popular and trusted fast-food brand in their weekends. There are some as well who is a frequent visitor of fast-food restaurants. Irrespective of the findings of the interviews and the secondary resources, it is evident that people love visiting to the fast-food restaurant. However, the report of World Economic Forum has given some otherw ise expectation from the fast-food industry in the future ahead. There are few who have become conscious learners of nutritional foods. It is therefore necessary for both the McDonald and KFC to promote sustainability in their food items. This is the only way those companies will be able to enjoy a sustainable run. References Boparai, U. S. (2016).CONSUMERS PERCEPTION FOR VARIOUS PRODUCTS OF MCDONALDS AND ITS SUPPLY CHAIN IN VARANASI DISTRICT OF UP(Doctoral dissertation, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi). Hanratty, B., Milton, B., Ashton, M., Whitehead, M. (2012). McDonalds and KFC, it's never going to happen: the challenges of working with food outlets to tackle the obesogenic environment.Journal of Public Health,34(4), 548-554. HUSSAIN, S. (2014). The impact of sensory branding (five senses) on consumer: A case study on KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken).International Journal of Research in Business Management,2(5), 2347-4572. Klaus, P., Maklan, S. (2013). Towards a better measure of customer experience. Mihart, C. (2012). Impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behaviour: effects on consumer decisionmaking process.International Journal of Marketing Studies,4(2), 121. Paul, J., Rana, J. (2012). Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food.Journal of consumer Marketing,29(6), 412-422. Sharma, M., Garg, S. (2013). Functional Foods: Marketing HealthTo Modern India.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development,2(5). Thuijsman, T. (2017).Bridging the gap between service expectations-and service perceptions of customers-Conducting a gap-analysis at IVM using the SERVQUAL-method(Master's thesis, University of Twente). weforum.org (2017).Shaping the Future of Global Food Systems: A Scenarios Analysis. [online] weforum.org. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/shaping-the-future-of-global-food-systems-a-scenarios-analysis [Accessed 10 Nov. 2017]. Wibowo, S. W., Tielung, M. (2016). ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP) APPROACH ON CONSUMER PREFERENCE IN FRANCHISE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT SELECTION IN MANADO CITY (Study at: McDonalds, KFC, and AW).JURNAL RISET EKONOMI, MANAJEMEN, BISNIS DAN AKUNTANSI,4(2). Xin, G. (2015). The Study of Brand Choice Decision of Top 3 Global Brand Quick Serviced Restaurant (KFC, McDonalds, Burger King) in Bangkok. Yeu, C. S., Leong, K. C., Tong, L. C., Hang, S., Tang, Y., Bashawir, A., Subhan, M. (2012). A comparative study on international marketing mix in China and India: The case of McDonald's.Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,65, 1054-1059.