Marketing Strategies of KFC in China - Paper Example

The question used in the collection of data for this report has two sections. The first section has 11 questions. Questions 1-5 had the role of collecting background information which entails age, gender, the level of education, residence and the monthly cost of food. This will help in the distribution of sample since there is need to consider all groups of respondents within various factors (Hox,2005).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Their considerations were made in some cases:

In the age question formulation, there was the use of multiple questions since some people especially ladies feel uncomfortable while disclosing their age.

Another point was the monthly cost of food since it concerns food consumption. In the survey design, this factor was disregarded since the highest population that consumer fast food consists of students. This means using this variable to analyze marketing strategies would bring bias to a conclusion.

The highest obtainable degree was used in the category of education level, and this was used to establish the knowledge structure of the participants.

In agreement with Chinese Civil Law, a city of residence is placed an individual has lived for more than one year. The development is a particular city affects both the consumer's choice and the knowledge they have about a particular brand (Hox,2005)..

The next question 6 was aimed at establishing the dining experience of the customer in KFC. The experience was of the respondent was essential, but just an idea was from advertising and communication was not conclusive.

Question 7 was aimed at knowing the preference of the customer between KFC and other companies offering fast food such as McDonald's.

Question 8 and ten was used to determine the impression of the KFC products to the customers. This entailed the marketing strategies used in the Chinese market environment. Through this information, it was possible to evaluate the pattern adaptation of the marketing strategies.

Question 9 and 11 were about the opinion of the customer on KFC prices. Price in their opinion is what someone pays to obtain a specific product. Price is an important factor in the marketing mix since it is one of the 7Ps.

The second section which entails questions 12 and 13 regards the view of the customers in the KFC integration of cultural values in their marketing strategies. The customers were requested to evaluate their views on Likert-type scale across some ten items. The items were formulated in agreement with the marketing theory of 7Ps. This scale was decided on to differentiate the results and enhance accuracy (Hox,2005)..

The Kotler's 7Ps model shown below shows various factors such as product, price, promotion, process, people and physical evidence. For the report, those factors concerning marketing strategies were selected.

Place: The coverage and location are related to culture and technology since the decision on selection of the location varies with countries. For example in US most fast food joints are located by Highways sides while in a country like China, the fast foods chains are located in the downtown and mostly within working distance. These means marketing strategies would vary between the two scenarios.

Product: The product design in the marketing according to the Chinese market should be formulated in such that it communicates effective Chinese language. This would mean appropriate products, size, and portfolio.

Promotion: This entails how the KFC coupon and other discounts used how they conform to direct marketing and sales force. The channel of advertising should correspond to the advertising any company's public relations. The marketing activities should be specified to Chinese market and the fast food service industry.

The People: People in marketing does not just mean the staff but also other stakeholders such as media and customers. Not to affect the effectiveness of the marketing strategies in the Chinese market there would need to avoid scandals. For Example, KFC in China used Sudan Red as food additives which were later found to be cancerogenic. Such activities might affect the marketing activities.

Physical Evidence: It is essential is marketing as it relates at what attracts the customers and their experience while consuming.

Process: The service process is not easy to define, but KFC offers online services according to Kotler's model. This will help in establishing the key factors concerning market reflection.

It is essential to distinguish between quantitative and qualitative methods as used in this report. The quantitative method can be explained as a technique that involves the collection of data that is numerical in nature and has a relationship between research and theory. It is also perceived as deductive and predilection and has its social reality conceptions objective. Qualitative research on the other has different from the quantitative approach in some ways. This because it is a method that focuses on quantification in the collecting and analysis of data. In this report, there will be the simultaneous application of both approaches in this project.

Data Collection

The questionnaire was designed from www.surveymonkey.com which in an online survey system accessible to all internet users. It helps ensure that only a customer can answer the questionnaire once due to the IP address. In this report, an online survey is viewed as an effective and feasible way of collect data. The fast food customers entail the young generation, and this means this method would be effective. The only limitation is that this online survey would be limited to only those who have access to computers and smartphones.

Results

After one week process of data collection, there was the response of 60 customers through the surveymonkey.com. The validity of the questionnaires was that all questions had to be answered.

The characteristics of the Subject

Gender: There were 27 answers from female and 33 answers which balance the correspondence.

Age: The data shows that the customers composed of the young people. This is essential since KFC's target market consist of the young.

Educational Level: It was seen that most of the customers had a higher level education.

From the data from the questionnaire and the secondary sources, marketing analysis of KFC was possible to establish issues that face its marketing strategies.

Tactics to reach the target consumers

Concerning the young generation which constitutes most of the company customers, there is a changing in the marketing and advertising landscape in China. There has been international dramatic flux in advertising and marketing. Despite the strong foundation of traditional advertising techniques such as television and print, there has been a challenge from the emerging marketing techniques. According to survey the use of television in marketing is the primary channel, but there has been a shift to online marketing. A Survey in 2013 has shown that the 79% of respondents think that TV is the primary method of promotion. The same survey carried out in 2016 showed a decline in the use of television to 60%.

Despite the appeal of the application of traditional marketing techniques there has been expected a reduction in its application in the coming years.

Another study has shown that there is increased use of the emerging means of marketing being applied in the fast food industry.

Online and mobile marketing are the future

For business success especially in the fast food industry digital and mobile marketing will be a critical success factor and a part of the marketing mix. This is due to the business prospects of integrating the promotional message in both the traditional and digital platforms. It is seen that 90% of respondents view online marketing as most important to reach the customers in the Chinese market.

Conclusion

After the analysis of information from the questionnaire and the secondary sources, this area will focus on the conclusion of the report details and the implications of the study in addition to limitations of the results.

Summary

The purpose of this report to analyze the marketing strategies of KFC in China and establish the shortcomings in these marketing strategies. This entails finding out what customers think of the marketing strategies and the crucial factors in the company's business operations that help in the successful development of appropriate marketing strategies. To establish the performance of KFC's marketing strategies, the report was based on the questionnaire, academic studies, and past research (Shuttleworth 2008)..

After conclusive evaluation KFC's marketing strategies, it was established that it is more on traditional marketing such as television and the print media. A conclusion can be drawn that the company needs to update its marketing strategies to online and mobile marketing which is the future and has a lot of potentials to reach the target customer segment especially the young generation. In addition to these marketing strategies, the company is needed to adapt to most of the Chinese culture. There is need to make radical changes to fully adapt which will ensure their survival and achievement of the company goals in the emerging markets. This has been evidenced through the analysis of primary and secondary data with respect online and mobile marketing. This means that KFC needs to integrate its marketing strategies to involve online and mobile marketing which will help in reaching most of the young people.

Suggestions and Implications

China has a long established culture which is deeply rooted in the people's minds and their daily activities. This means that in addition to the adaption of online and mobile marketing, there is need to consider adoption to the cultural aspect of the customers. As much as the company needs to appeal to the young people, there is need not to bring so much of the American culture in the Chinese market. Despite changes and pressure from external factors, the Chinese market environment will still keep its culture to some extent. It is also essential to note that there is the effect on the advancement of science and technology. The young are more culpable to change due to technology advancement. Instead of just copying the accumulated culture from their ancestors, they tend to add more. Due to the concept of globalization, there is the westernization of the Chinese people since they are studying and accepting the new culture. Also Chinese are learning increase which has a profound effect in bringing change (Shuttleworth 2008).

In conclusion, it essential to point out that a foreign fast food brand needs cultural adaption to establish its operations. For success in this modern environment, KFC will need to integrate the traditional marketing strategies with emerging techniques such online and mobile marketing (Shuttleworth 2008).

Limitation and Suggestion for further research

One of the limitations includes the many causes of a variety of KFC's marketing strategies performance. These other factors include prices and cost reduction. There was the examination of the SWOT analysis and BCG analysis to assess the weaknesses in KFC's marketing strategies. Another issue is that the study was done from the market and customer perspective. Most of the information was from secondary sources such academic research and business articles. Information on marketing strategies was not conclusive. It would have been comprehensive and precise if it was possible to access KFC's senior executives (Shuttleworth 2008)..

Works Cited

Joop J. Hox, Data collection Primary vs Secondary, Utrecht University, the Netherlands 2005

Martyn Shuttleworth (Operationalization. Retrieved Feb 17, 2017 from Explorable. com: https:// explorable.com/operationalization Jan 17, 2008).