Mar 03 2011
McDonald’s; Dark horse in the coffee industry?(Marketing Blog #6)
If you haven’t noticed, McDonald’s is giving out free coffee AGAIN (last time was last November). What intrigues me about this matter is that, how and why is McDonald’s trying to put itself into the furious battle between coffee shops.
Free McDonald's coffee this week! Would you want one?
Coffee consumption has been rising for every country in the world. In Canada, the coffee consumption per capita has risen from 4.5 kg per person in 1997 to 6.5 kg per person in 2007 (Source: World Resource Institute). One reason for this may possibly trace back to the “boom” of coffee shops in Canada a decade ago.
While the major coffee competition in Canada is between Starbucks and Tim Hortons, McDonald’s on the other hand, tries to enter the battlefield. Famous for its French fries and burgers, McDonald’s squeezes itself into the market by introducing the first McCafe to Canadians in 2001 (Source: Espressotec). While the majority of the income comes from fastfood, McDonald’s tries hard to snatch customers from other coffee chains by offering specialty coffee drinks.
Now McDonald’s, as one of the newcomers in the coffee industry, attempts to promote its coffee by handing out free coffee. Does this really attract people though? According to Coffee Review, the quality of McDonald’s coffee is still not comparable to major coffee chains such as Starbucks.
In my opinion, McDonald’s is lacking the enthusiasm in creating new, special coffee products to attract potential new customers. For instance, it does not offer special recipes to customers. While McDonald’s is one (or maybe the most) successful fastfood chain, it does not have the knowledge, nor enough creativity to compete with coffee chains that specializes only in coffee. Maybe McDonald’s would be better off focusing on their fastfood products.