KFC Marketing Plan Essay

KFC formally known as Kentucky Fried Chicken is the world biggest and most popular chicken-based restaurant chain, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky in the United State. It is originally founded by Colonel Harland Sander in 1952. Throughout its rapid growth it has now over 150,000 stores available nationwide in 105 countries boosting 59 years of history of success and innovation. In Malaysia, the first KFC restaurant was open in 1973 on Jalan Tunkul Abdul Rahman, and today there are more than 500 outlets throughout Malaysia and are still counting (KFC, 2011). 2.0 KFC Current Concept and Practice Malaysia’s KFC restaurant is an organization that runs and managed by Malaysian which practices self service concept in it business. Customer need to serve themselves when doing purchasing. Besides that, it also practices on the concept of Halal food. Halal food is food that conforms to Islamic Law or Shariah, it regulates that food consumed must be hygienic, not harmful to health, free from any forbidden parts of animals’ origin and anything regarded as filth under the Islamic law (KFC, 2011). 3.0 KFC Marketing Mix (7P’s) Marketing mix strategy is choosing and implementing the best course of action to meet the organization goal and gain competitive edge. The 7ps of marketing mix is one of the most popular used marketing concepts by marketing professional. It composes of product and service, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence (Behera, 2008). 3.1 Product and service Product is the tangible product or service offered to customer to provide customer satisfaction. No matter the product is tangible or intangible, it must provide the right feature and value to customer that include aspect such as appearance, function, and packaging (Anon., 2010). KFC are well known for his signature pressure-fried chicken pieces made with the original recipe. KFC primarily sell chicken in form of pieces, and salads (Wisnudewobroto, 2011). Although the main focus product is fried chicken, but KFC also developed a wide range of product offering variety choices to customer. It includes of burgers, signature Kentucky Nuggets, and wraps with a wide range of side dishes and dessert to pair with (KFC, 2011). 3.2 Price Price is the amount of money customer pay for a product (Anon., 2012). The price offered must be reasonable and competitive, and most importantly is to entail profit. The pricing tactics include not only the price list but it also comprise of on-going discount, offers and promotions (Behera, 2008). KFC products are priced high but not high overly, and their target customers are middle class people. However, to compete with other fast food restaurant KFC trickle down product price for selected item during mealtime to attract lower middle class customer to penetrate both sides of the markets (Wisnudewobroto, 2011). Promotions such as KFC a.m., Lunch Treats and, dinner treats are the current promotion available at KFC (KFC 2012). 3.3 Place Place refers to the location, and distribution channel whereby the product is reachable and can be purchased by the target customer and how the product reaches the location (Behera, M., 2008). KFC has over 500 outlets nationwide, and are generally in easy reached, nearby location. Besides dine in option, KFC also provide home delivery service up to customer doorstep and drive through counter offering convenience and different alternatives to customer, however these services are only available at selected area with fixed menu. In the same time KFC also developed the â€Å"Meals on Wheels†, a catering service for all sort of functions and occasion which can be done at any place (KFC, 2011). 3.4 Promotion Promotion includes various ways in selling and communication in spreading information to target customer of what the organization has to offer. Promotion tactics comprises of advertisement, public relation and sales promotion. A successful promotion strategy will be able to draw customer attention to be aware of the product and affect customer behavior (Behera, 2008). The distribution channel of KFC is quite varieties such as television advertisement, internet, and templates. Lately, KFC have come out with a range of attractive promotion item, KFC Cracker Sandwich, Lunch Treats, Zinger Double Down, Pokkits, and Bargain Bucket are examples (KFC, 2011). 3.5 People People refer to the individual that involve in the sales of product, such as attendant who deliver the service, promoter and product salesperson. Therefore these people are the important element for the organization. Adequate product knowledge training is essential to these people (Behera, M., 2008). KFC’s front-line staff always dressed neatly and appropriately. All staff is provided with appropriate standard working uniforms and is required put it on while on duty (KFC, 2012). Besides that, KFC also provide great serve training to employees. The front line staffs are nice and friendly, staffs greet every walk in customer with a smiley faces, and prompt in servicing customer (Mohammad, 2007). 3.6 Process The process in marketing mix is especially relevant to the service industry. It is the procedure of delivering service to customer, and the behavior of the person who serve. It is critical to customer satisfaction, hence, it is important to keep staff well trained in order to have a thorough understanding towards the service available (Anon., 2009). KFC is a self-service concept fast food restaurant (Anon., 2012). Dislike fine dining restaurant, customer need to help themselves from ordering up to picking up their meal. There is no hostess available as well, customers are free to choose their preferred seats to dine in. Sauces are available at the condiment bar in the dining area for free load. 3.7 Physical Evidence Physical evidence is the experience of using a product or a service. Customer cannot experience before they make a purchase which will make them feel risky, however organization can reduce this uncertainty by providing evidence to customer through testimonial demonstration showing that the organization keeps its promise. (Anon., 2009). The bright and bold graphic designs in KFC that showcase the company’s icons â€Å"11 secret recipe† and â€Å"Finger Linckin Good† communicate a fresh sense of pride towards its starring result of their product. While the warm and contemporary design and spacious seating makes customer feel welcome and cozy (KFC, 2011). 4.0 Marketing Objective The objective for this marketing plan is to increase sales revenue up to 20% by final year 2013. The reason for proposing this objective is to boost company sales revenue for KFC product range in this global economic downturn by the end of 2013 whilst gain a competitive edge in fast food business. 5.0 Marketing Strategy KFC decided to launch veggie burger and veggie warp in coming 15th December 2012. A 100% vegetarian product food product firstly available in KFC. The new products are named â€Å"Vege Bugger† & â€Å"Vege Wrap†, it is a hamburger style and wraps that does not contain any animal products. The patty of the veggie burger and wrap is 100% free from animal product. It is made from vegetables, grains, seed, and textured vegetables proteins, legume, soy, beans, nuts and mushrooms are examples. It will also blend in the KFC signature recipe, the Sander â€Å"Original Recipe† which contain of 11 herbs spices making it healthy and delicious. This concept comes from the changes of consumer behaviors in society these days. It is clear that consumers are much more health conscious today than ever before when come to food consumption. They are more conscious when they buy and seeking out food product, and generally prefer foodstuffs which is health benefited (Ligaya, 2009). In addition, the widespread in vegetarianism is another main factor that builds up this concept. According to Kayne, (2012), vegetarian diet is significantly healthier then diet which include meat and animal product. Studies have found that decrease of meat intake will increase health benefits and longevity might increase as much as 20 percent. Therefore eating green and healthy whilst saving the environment are the concepts for the new product. This 100% vegetarian ingredients product enables to attract new batch of potential customer which KFC has never target before. 5.1 One Year Integrated Marketing Plan The group of customer that KFC has decided to target for is vegetarian and health conscious consumer, as the main selling point of Vege Burger and Vege Wraps stressed on non animal product and healthy food. In the one year marketing plan, KFC marketing team will be using multi-market strategy in promoting the new product. The segment covers adults, children, family and budget customer who is looking for healthy and delicious food. The purpose of using this strategy is to target every possible customer segment as possible to increase and maintain revenue for the company. 5.1.1 Product and Service The new product KFC will be going to introduce is Vege Burger and Vege Wrap. It will be launch in the 15th Dec 2012, targeting health conscious consumer and vegetarian segment. The Vege Burger and Vege Wraps emphasized on 100% veggie made, and 100% free from meat, even the sauce and cheese used are 100% vegetarian. The burger and wrap are hi in fiber and protein and low in cholesterol as meat component has been replace by vegetables and use zero trans fat oil, thus it is the perfect choice for weight conscious customer. The burger and wraps will come in standard size, however customer may customize on the fillings according to their preferences as KFC are using customization strategies for this new product to attract more customer. The morale behind is that people can choose what they wanted for their food, customer will be more satisfied if they can choose what they want, and are not restrained with fixed menu. In order to get more new customer, continuous innovation and improvise will take place from time to time according to preference and taste of customer. 5.1.2 Price KFC come up with different pricing and bundling strategies for the new launch product, the Vege Burger and Vege Wrap, such as lunch treat, combo meal, and family meal. The super worthy meal enable to attract middle and lower class customer to increase overall sales volume. On the other hand, KFC is also using skimming pricing strategy on the new product. As the product is new, company need to adjust the price from time to time base on customer respond and cost of production. The product price will be firstly fixed in the range from RM 8 to RM 15, base on the type and size of meal ordered, however changes will occur whenever necessary. If the charges of the product are too low it might lead to customer perception that the food quality is poor, while charging for the product too high will cause customer to switch their preferences to other competitors. KFC also will take into consideration on the probable reaction from other competitor in their pricing strategy 5.1.3 Place Place is the main distribution channel, it is important so that the product is available to the customer at the right place, at the right time and with adequate quantity. Vege Burger and Vege Wraps will be launch at every single KFC outlet in Malaysia. They will be available throughout Malaysia as the idea is everyone can enjoy good food. However it will be firstly launch at outlet located in big cities before spreading to the rest. Besides than KFC restaurant outlet Vege Burger and Vege Wrap will also be available through online ordering and home delivery service. 5.1.4 Promotion In order to draw customer attention and to persuade customer to purchase the Vege Burger and Vege Wrap, KFC has come up with different promotions strategies and tactics to tackle as many customer as possible. For instance, special discount rate will be offer on the first three months when the Vege Burger and Vege Wrap is launch. Set meals upon ordering during lunch time and dinner time will be given special rate, which include of a standard size Veggie Burger or wrap, a non sugar carbonated drink and a coleslaw salad as side dish. Customer with large order quantity will be given cash voucher which applicable on their next purchase. Besides that, KFC use various promotion channels to effectively communicate the product information, to make people to aware of the new item, feel positive and remember it well. KFC apply broadcast advertising through newspaper, radio and TV program, the best and important marketing medium for promotion. KFC will advertise on the front page on the best selling newspaper to draw reader’s attention, paper such as Kwong Wah daily, The Star and News Strait Times. In addition television and radio advertisement will be broadcast during golden hours. 5.1.5 People KFC understand the importance of its employee and value customer, a happy customer result from the service provided from a happy employee. KFC will punt in extra effort and marketing their employee training and recruitment. 5.1.6 Process Due to the vegetarian sensitivity and particular in the process of food preparation, KFC will practice transparency to confide consumer in the coming launch product. The food manufacturing at KFC is completely transparent, food preparation process are visible to customer across the counter. It enable customer to view and judge the hygienic standard in KFC, besides that is also allow customer to know the ingredients used for food that they consume. This practice creates a solid proof to customer gaining their confident towards KFC. As Vege Burger and Vege Wrap is 100% vegan, ingredients will be prepared separately, using dedicated utensils and equipment. On the other hand, special training will be provided to all employees on method of cooking and preparation giving thorough knowledge to employee towards the new product. Managers are also designated to monitor the process of preparation to ensure standard procedures are follow. 5.1.7 Physical Evidence KFC focuses on the cleanliness and hygienic interior of its outlet especially at the dining area, providing a clean and hygienic dining environment to customer. In the same time, maintain attractive and proper decorum at its joints. Better facilities will be provide at KFC centre, such as internet facilities and dedicated area for children to play while parent can have quality time together. In order to match up with the launch of Vege Burger and Vege Wraps, KFC also launch a new design working uniform for their staff which come in green color imaging of eating green and living healthy. Physical appearance affects not only the impression from outsiders but it also a company brand image. 6.0 Budget KFC is using competitive parity method for company budget. In order to defend against competition, KFC will compare its budget with major competitors like Mc Donald’s and Burger King, spending as much as competitor. Example, if competitor is spending RM 500,000 in their promotion, KFC will also allocate the same or almost equal amount for their brand promotion. This method is easy to implement, it does not occur complicated forecast and appraisal, and most importantly, it enable to prevent competitor from making inroad to the company market share. 7.0 Controlling and Evaluation 7.1 Operation control Operation control focuses on day-to-day operation. To effectively control the operation and reduce risk, it requires standard policies and procedure to ensure a consistence standard of business runs. KFC operational control management will monitor the daily operation of the outlets especially towards the aspect of personnel and technology to avoid any obstacle occurs from affecting stores operation. A systematic system ensured activities carried out accordingly as planned. Corrective action will be taken by management whenever is necessary. 7.2 Strategy Control In the strategy control KFC management will look into the planning and tactics implement to reach the objective that has been targeted. Proper monitoring will be put into practice from carry out up to completion of the strategy such as promotion, advertising activities, and pricing. At the end management will analyse on how effective is the planning from the result. Revision and changes will be made to improve it if necessary. 7.3 Evaluation Lastly, final evaluation will be carry out to review the respond and comment from customer towards KFC. Customer feedback will be majorly focused on comment through questionnaire, customer forum, and feedback form. Besides that KFC will also ask for real-life comments where feedbacks were warranted. Customer will be asked to expand their feedback and how would they like to have the job done or handled. Looking at the service from customer point of view would provide a better understanding on what customer really need. In addition, sending mystery shopper can also help to monitor the quality of customer service and food furnished. Assessment can be carried out by reviewing the service level provided by front-line staff, food standard, and outlet environment. Thus help the management to evaluate the overall performance of an outlet. Feedbacks compiled will be filter by management selecting whichever is useful to the company and problem will be brought to attention according to severity so that appropriate remedial action can be taken. KFC will ensure follow up on every customer to see whether the solution has helped the customer, and will also maintain customer database so that company can send regular questionnaires and receive new opinion and ideas from customer for future improvement. Every feedback from customer is valuable therefore small gift like cash vouchers will be given to thanks customer for giving helpful tips and as a sense of respect to encourage ongoing open communication from customer in future. Appendixes Appendix A: References 1. Behera, M., 2008. The 7Ps of Marketing Mix. 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