KFC marketing story - part 12

16. Which services (related to your product) are offered by the manufacturer of your product? Describe the extended marketing mix for these services.

The service marketing mix of KFC is really strong and hard to be beaten. At this moment, the only competitor with the 7P’s at the same level is McDonald.

-       Product

The main product of KFC is still fried chicken. Besides that, KFC offers chicken burgers, including Zinger Burger and Tower Burger. Wraps such as Twisters and Boxmasters are also served. In the menu, there are other dishes like a variety of finger food, for example, chicken delights with three options of Fiery Grilled, Hot and Crispy and Original Recipe. One part of the menu is for streetwise (Veg Snacker, Chicken Snacker, Snack Box, Rizo Rice, Rizo Gravy, Mini Krusher), snacks (Popcorn Chicken, Hit Wings, Boneless chicken strips) and veggie as a perfect additional part of every meals (Veg Snacker, Veg Zinger, Veg Strip with Salsa). Desserts and Krusher are also included. Specifically, for Krusher, KFC offers Frappe, Iced Mochaccino and Iced Kappucino, and for desserts, KFC has Soft Wirl, Choamor and Brownie Sundae.

-       Promotion

Promotion is how one firm can inform and impress the target customers about its organization and products. The strategy of KFC is to “logo” itself. Until now, the logo of Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC is still one of the most recognized in the world that has been created; it has really proved the standard of the firm.

Promotional activities of KFC are offered through add-ons in the current menu such as gift coupons, family sets, kid meals or sometimes gifted T-shirts or bags. In every KFC outlet, LCD screens are placed, playing advertisings of KFC and promote the existing products. Online advertising and advertising on television are the two other practical promotion sources of KFC.

-       Place/Distribution

“Place” in 7P’s is how customers can approach the products. In the case of KFC, there is only one channel of distribution, which is connecting directly to the consumer without any middle-party.

The position of KFC outlets are always placed in strategic areas that are close to colleges, schools, stations, in the urban places or any populated market with a large amount of youngsters and adults. This helps KFC approaches its clients easily; for the reason of profit, there can be more than one KFC outlet in the same district.

-       Price

Price refers the amount of money required to purchase products. The recent pricing strategy of KFC focuses more on all communities; they offer average price in order to penetrate the market deeper. The price policies, however, is often affected by the political and legal forces, specifically by the imposing of taxes. KFC applies both optional pricing and mixed bundling pricing. This means that customers can choose and pay money in the traditional way or through add-ons screen. There are combo offers which include a mix of items, and the firm offers a specific price range.

-       Process

The business process of any KFC outlet starts when the customers visit the restaurant. The process also includes online orders from customers. KFC has been targeted to the easier and more convenient process in order to get greater customer satisfaction.

-       Physical evidence (Ambience)

This element refers to the physical environment of the restaurants where the clients visit.  Interior decorations are designed based on certain standards given by the head company. KFC aims to create positive influence on customer satisfaction, and technology equipment has been used practically in this process.

-       People

There are employees involved in providing services to customers; all of them are trained by the company and are provided with certain guidelines to communicate with clients.

17. Which new services do you see could be interesting to have for your product?

KFC has already provided a wide range of services, as a result, developing a new service, however, seems to be difficult. Instead, KFC can improve the current service. According to some online surveys about KFC, the commonest comment is about the correctness. Employees often arrange incorrect orders and sometimes even miss some orders.  Another complaint relates to the waiting time for order and for taking foods. Although people enjoy the taste of KFC, it is definitely annoyed of waiting for a long time while hungry. These factors can have some certain impact on the quality of service provided by KFC, so if complaints are fixed and improved, customers will be more satisfied.

18. Explain the intangibility, variability, inseparability and perishability of these services and explain which consequences these service characteristics have for the marketing of your product.

-       Intangibility

The definition for this characteristic is based on the fact that services cannot be seen, touched, tasted or smelled. This is tricky for KFC to evaluate the current quality, which may causes difficulties in improving the customer satisfaction. KFC also meets limitation in advertising, displaying as well as setting price since this factors are all influenced by customers and their feedbacks. The answer for this challenge, however, has been made practically in the case of KFC. The solution is to consider quality in terms of research and experience; KFC also improves the communication process by using customer testimonials and referrals and provides service in specific details. This really works well in images and posts in the official website of KFC.

-       Variability

The quality of service can fluctuate by many factors, including where, when and how it provides. For a fast food firm as KFC, this characteristic is even more susceptible. There are always some slight changes in service, although it is not really the fault of the firm itself. A specific example is the number of clients varies in different period time of the day, of the week and between different outlets. Some Friday lunch time will be extremely busy, while on Tuesday, at the same time, the restaurant can be much emptier. Similarly, the number of customers visit the restaurant in holidays is much higher than other time. This leads to dissimilar profits between days, months, and year.

-       Inseparability

This characteristic relates to the relation of production and consumption. In the situation of KFC, the meals are made immediately after customers order and are served within a short time. Usually, because of this characteristic, clients tend to expect strongly in how services will be provided; and this results in dissatisfaction when their expectations are not met.  However, for KFC, the reputation of the firm can partly be the guaranty of quality.

-       Perishability

Services cannot be stored or repeated in the same way. An example relates to KFC is that the restaurant can be full at dinner time one night while the next day, at the same time, it will be half empty. Without flexible staff and plan, expenses are equal for both nights, although the revenue is different. This means that the profit will be influenced.

19. The quality of the service is a key feature of services. Give two examples of how the quality of services for your product could enhance the client/consumer’s quality perception.

Take an example of KFC Vietnam, the firm offer some special discounts or coupons for certain days of group of people. Precisely, KFC provides “The special Tuesday” program, in which customers can buy certain dishes with much lower prices. This program has really impressed the group of students and workers as they do not really have money but still interest in trying quality food like KFC. Besides, KFC also has some special services in the birthday of customers; in that special day of clients, every order of that person will be discounted. Special gifts are also served in certain days. These interesting activities have really improved customer satisfaction in Vietnamese market.

Another example is when KFC opens an outlet in a new market, it will offer some new dishes with new flavours that suit the local taste. For instant, in Vietnam, KFC outlets provide meals with chicken and rice. There are three types of chicken with different flavours to choose, including the traditional flavour and the spicier one with pepper. By trying to adapt the taste of local people, the quality of service o KFC will also be improved.

20. Let’s say that you export your product in a country you never exported to before. What promotional strategies could you follow in relation to the product issues and promotion? (See fig.21.6 p 632) Describe a possible strategy for your product.

For KFC, the possible promotional strategy is to adapt both product and promotion. This strategy is applied when promotional campaign has reached to international market and products are popular but need to meet local customers and demands. To be more precise. KFC spends much of their time, resources and money to adapt the local eating habits. Based on that knowledge, KFC will create and produce the most suitable menu that related to the cultural food and still remain the special of KFC dishes. This can directly bring advantages to customers and helps KFC to improve customer loyalty. Meanwhile, promotion of KFC is also adapted to the local culture and trend, as the interest of target clients vary from one place to other areas. Although this strategy can be the most expensive among all four promotional strategies, it actually works well in the case of KFC so far.