McDonald’s now occupies 18% of the market share in North India and operates 250 stores across India. Its ambition’s greater – 1000 store by 2020. With the fast growing fast food market in India (25-30% annually, 17% from franchises), it is not hard for McDonald’s to achieve its goal. However, will veggie McDonald’s effectively help its growth?
Localization is especially important in a traditional country like India. However, in my opinion, a fully localized McDonald’s is just going too far. Fully localized McDonald’s does holds better point of parity, but it loses its point of difference at the same time. Why would people go to a foreign restaurant to get local food? By completely localizing, McDonald’s is putting itself into a greater competition with all local restaurants.
Also, full localization makes the brand exclusive. Being a big fan of Indian KFC, I prefer the more international taste of KFC in comparison to McDonald’s. McDonald’s is aiming to locate it’s veggie stores in the tourism places. The consumer group will be more international. Veggie McDonald’s does not fully matched the demand, either traditional Indian or international. The name McDonald’s keep away the demand for traditional Indian food, and the veggie options also keep way another.
Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19479013
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13142703/Marketing-MixMcdonalds-India
http://export.gov/india/build/groups/public/@eg_in/documents/webcontent/eg_in_049379.pdf
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-05/mcdonald-s-plans-first-vegetarian-outlets-in-india
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