Situation Analysis of Burger King Company
- Customers
Who are the current customers/users? Include information related to demographics, psychographics and buying behavior, price sensitivity, customer satisfaction, and loyalty
[ Burger King is one of the world’s leading franchises that operate in fast food hamburger restaurants all over the world. The company has a reliable food product from burgers, soda to milkshakes that attracts and retains its customers. The target customers are young people, both male, and female, between the ages of 18 to 34 (Stirtz 1). However, in the past, the company’s primary targets were males who they considered as heavy users. While targeting the male customers, the company established a marketing strategy like the “Burger King King” that reflected a comic book with a permanent smile and a subservient chicken that did what the customers asked. Another marketing strategy used involves the use of entertaining and funny ads that could attract their target customers. However, because of the change in culture, some of the ads have become irreverent and offensive to some people. The company also targets the employed people, specifically single men who do not like to cook. The customer buying behavior is that most customers visit the restaurants in the morning to get their breakfast. In regards to customer satisfaction and loyalty, Burger King had made a right name for itself all over the world when it first met its customers demand by offering improved products and service hence gaining loyalty to their customers. Burger King is price sensitive because the company uses the market-oriented pricing strategy and the bundles pricing strategy that makes it able to compare its prices to market behavior and demands. ]
What do the customers buy/use?
[ Customers who visit burger king have a variety of product to choose from since it offers a variety of menu from snacks to meals. The restaurant’s menu offers both the vegetable and non-vegetable categories of food to its customers. Considering the customers who are conscious of their diet, the restaurants offer salads and vegetables. Its burger and the value-added side beverage for burger consumers attracts most of the customers who visit Burger King. However, the original Whopper Sandwich was once one of the most consumed product. Whopper sandwich attracted many customers because of the 1-cent Whopper promotion (Claessen 1). Recently Burger King has concentrated on the dessert category that includes ice creams, milkshakes, Oreo shakes and cookies, therefore, making their customers to use them once they visit the restaurants.]
What changes can the company/brand expect in the future? How can the company/brand better serve its customers?
[ Due to advancement in technology, Burger King Customers would expect to order their product at the comfort of their homes or workplace. Therefore, Burger King should try to develop a mobile order and pay service to its customers. Another change to expect is that people will reduce the intake of their dessert categories that include ice creams and milkshakes because people are becoming more conscious of their sugar levels in their bodies. Therefore, to serve well their customers, they should come up with a new type of beverage that contains more fruits and less sugar and preservatives (Thimou 1). On the other hand, due to many people reducing the intake of red meat and consuming white meat like chicken, the restaurant has already taken the advantage with the introduction of the new crispy chicken sandwich.]
Opportunities (Make sure you label why you call each item an opportunity):
1 [Service quality improvement. Burger King has the opportunity to improve the quality of the services. For example, improve on the cleanliness level of their restaurants. ]
2 [Diversification. Burger King has an opportunity to diversify its products by offering more products to its consumers.]
3 [Market development. Burger King has the opportunity to develop into the market because it has a firm brand name. For example, it can come up with a subsidiary or a new type of business.]
Threats: (Make sure you label why you call each item a threat):
1[Competition. Other restaurants like McDonald are offering stiff Competition to Burger King Restaurant.]
2 [Imitation. Due to the renowned brand image, other restaurants might come up and try to use their name without their consent.]
3 [Unhealthy products/ lifestyle. Burger King is at a threat of losing its customers due to critiques that their products are unhealthy.]
- Company
This Section Discusses what the brand is currently.
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company/brand as it exists today, providing at least three strengths and three weaknesses. What does the company/brand do well and not so well at this very moment?
List 3 Strengths (Make sure you label why you call each item a Strength):
- [Strong brand image. Burger King has a reliable brand image because it has already established a reputable name for itself all over the world]
2 [Moderate differentiation of products. The way the restaurants differentiates its products, for example, the grilled chicken makes it outdo many other restaurants. ]
3 [High market penetration. Burger King has high market penetration because it has opened many Burger King Restaurants in most parts of the globe]
List 3 Weaknesses: (Make sure you label why you call each item a weakness):
1 [Imitable business. Restaurant as a type of business itself is a weakness because the same food offered at Burger King could still be available at another restaurant.]
- [Low control on the franchise model. it has limited corporate control since it is under franchising.]
3 [Limited product. Burger King Restaurants offer a specific and limited number of products.]
This Section deals with what the company/brand needs to become.
How can the company/brand improve its weaknesses and maintain or grow its strengths? Suggest how the company/brand can improve upon the things it does well and not so well.
[ For the company to strengthen its weakness, the Burger restaurants should come up with their way of preparing their menus that are different from other restaurants. The restaurants should also increase the types of food, drinks, and dessert that they offer so that they can meet all of the customer’s needs. With the firm brand name, Burger King can reduce their prices or offer free meal as a way of saying “thank you” to its loyal customers.]
- Context
Define the current business environment. Include information about political, legal, economic technological, and societal factors that may influence sales.
Political Environment: [Political stability in many countries with Burger King Restaurants has helped the company to expand, grow, and increase its sales.]
Legal: [Because of the laws that support the import and export regulations, Burger King has the opportunity of increasing its sales.]
Economical: [Due to many countries expanding and implementing international trade agreements, Burger King is now able to grow and increase in sales.]
Technological: [Due to the increase in mobile and availability of automation technology, Burger King has now experienced a rise in sales.]
Societal/Sociocultural: [Due to increasing health consciousness and the support for animal protection and rights, Burger King is now losing its sales.]
- Collaborators
Define business partnerships. Does the company/brand have any current partnerships? What other company/brand may be the right partner for them?
Business partnership refers to when two or more business comes together to work as one.
Current Partnerships and the discussion on them: [Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen is one of the current corporate partners that joined Burger King intending to learn more about the business.]
Proposed Partnerships and the discussion them: [McDonald’s. Burger King should try and partner with Macdonald since it is the biggest competitor that they face in the market.]
- Competitors
Who are the main competitors? Label and discuss the top three competitors and why you consider them a competitor.
Competitor 1: [McDonald’s. McDonald’s is a competitor because it also has many restaurants across the world hence competing with Burger King not only at a local level but also at an international level.]
Competitor 2: [KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a competitor to Burger King because it has employed more personnel that facilitate quality service delivery, unlike Burger King.]
Competitor 3: [Domino Pizza is a competitor to Burger King because it offers quality products.]
- Recommendations
Based upon the analysis, you just completed in this worksheet, what are three (3) key recommendations that you could pass along to Management regarding the future direction of the company you selected? Discuss why you have created these strategies and why you think they should be undertaken and work for the business.
1.[ Improve their service quality. Due to the unhealthy critiques that the company has received toward its products, the company should improve the quality of their services so that they can gain back their customer’s trust.]
2 [Product diversification. Because of the limited products offered at Burger King, the company should widen and increase the types of products and services they provide so that they meet the customer’s needs.]
3 [Partnership. Burger King should consider forming a Partnership with one of its competitors so that it can gain back its lost customers. The association will work for the business because the new company will bring its tricks of offering better and quality services to its customers.]
Works Cited
Claessen, Sean. “Burger King Sets a Standard for Modern Customer Acquisition.” QSR, (2019). <https://www.qsrmagazine.com/outside-insights/burger-king-sets-standard-modern-customer-acquisition>.
Stirtz, Kevin. “Burger King Learns Lesson About Customer Loyalty.” All Business (2019). <https://www.allbusiness.com/burger-king-learns-lesson-about-customer-loyalty-13921028-1.html>.
Thimou, Theo. “5 big changes are coming to Burger King in 2017.” Clark, (2017). <https://clark.com/shopping-retail/5-big-changes-coming-to-burger-king-in-2017/>.