The important thing to remember when offering menu items to customers is that they have a choice. They have a huge number of ways of spending their money and places to spend it. Therefore, McDonald's places considerable emphasis on developing a menu which customers want. Market research establishes exactly what this is. However, customers' requirements change over time. What is fashionable and attractive today may be discarded tomorrow. Marketing continuously monitors customers' preferences.
In order to meet these changes, McDonald's has introduced new products and phased out old ones, and will continue to do so. Care is taken not to adversely affect the sales of one choice by introducing a new choice, which will cannibalise sales from the existing one (trade off). McDonald's knows that items on its menu will vary in popularity. Their ability to generate profits will vary at different points in their life cycle. Products go through a life cycle, which is illustrated below:
The product life cycle
The type of marketing undertaken and the amount invested will be different, depending on the stage a product has reached. For example, the launch of a new product will typically involve television and other advertising support. At any time a company will have a portfolio of products each in a different stage of its lifecycle. Some of McDonald's options are growing in popularity while arguably the Big Mac is at the 'maturity' stage.
Price
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