Quantitative Analysis for Marketing Management

Introduction

The purpose of this memo is to analyse the situation facing Wendy’s as regards to its current advertising challenges as regards to ineffective marketing campaigns. The recommendations from the analysis of the current situation of Wendy’s are aimed at assisting Wendy’s management to make strategic decisions to improve the company’s standing in the eyes of its customers. For those needing guidance on similar issues, marketing dissertation help can provide valuable insights into effective strategies.

Situation Assessment

Wendy’s is facing threats to profitability from its competitors because of the lack of effective marketing strategies. Furthermore, the company’s market share is declining. Therefore, there is the need to ensure that Wendy’s maintains or improves its current position in the competitive market. According to (Barney and Hesterly, 2006), focusing attention on the areas which provide a realised absolute competitive advantage is the best way through which a company can maintain or improve its position in a competitive market. Focusing attention on the right population as regards to demographics and psychographics is also crucial to realising a strong competitive advantage (Scase, 2007). Also, there is the need to address the constant changes in the market for a company to be relevant, particularly in this digital age where technology is shaping the activities of the most business (Mcclurg, 2013). Therefore, Wendy’s need to identify the areas which can provide it a strong competitive advantage.

Recommendations

The recommendations for use by Wendy’s top management are as follows;

The general findings of the study are that most of the people who visit Wendy’s more often are the millennials aged 18-34 years (See Appendix 1 Figure 5). These are mainly the young and those who are in their early days of marriage. Thus, Wendy’s should focus more on targeting the millennial generation. Therefore, digital marketing through the social media and other online platforms, as well as channels mostly used by the said generation, will yield positive results for Wendy's. This is because most of the millennial generation spend their time online (American Press Institute, 2015).

The study also found out that most of those individuals visiting Wendy’s more often are mainly earning an income of between $50,000 and $75,000 (See Appendix 1 Figure 2). These are also mostly college graduates (See Appendix 1 Figure 3). This is another focus area for Wendy’s to increase its market share. This will enable the company to capture its market before they all shift to the competitors.

The study also found out that most of the factors adversely affecting the consumption of fast foods are the perceptions by consumers of the nutritional value of fast foods, the concentration of fats in the foods, and nutritional information provided by labels on the said foods. Therefore, Wendy's should focus on always providing the consumers with current nutritional information and how they are offering better nutritional value to them than the competition. In particular, Wendy’s should focus on;

Providing the best nutritional value to consumers.

Improving its nutritional labels to have clarity and be truthful as regards to the nutritional value of their foods. Customers are more concerned about healthier fast foods now more than ever.

Addressing the clients’ concerns about their perceptions of high-fat content in the fast foods. Wendy’s should strive to prove that their foods are healthier than the competition’s and have low-fat content.

The recommendations provided above address the current situation of Wendy's in a clear manner through providing information on what matters most to consumers today. This shows which areas will have a greater impact on the company’s advertising and marketing campaigns. That is, instead of focusing on quality and price (which are obsolete), the recommendations advocate for healthier foods. Therefore, through influencing Wendy’s marketing strategy, the recommendations will enable the company to maintain or rather improve its current position in the competitive market. Furthermore, the areas of focus are also adversely affecting Wendy’s competitors like McDonald’s and others thus where Wendy’s addresses them better than the competition implies greater success.

Rationale for Recommendations

Description of the Respondents

The customer who frequently visits Wendy’s is young (aged 18-34), a college graduate, and from a family earning an income of about $50,000 to $75,000 (See Appendix 1 Figure2, 3, and 5). These are the major characteristics that distinguish Wendy's customers from those of its competitors. Despite the characteristics above, most of the customers visiting Wendy’s more than often have no other major differences as regards to demographics and psychographics (See Appendix 1 Figure 1 and 4). That is, the number of customers visiting Wendy's and McDonald's for example, regarding usage of fast foods, household income, level of education, region, and age, is the same (See Appendix 1 Figure 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). That is, differentiating customers by their demographics and psychographics is difficult for the fast food restaurants, except for the few cases identified in the introduction of this section. For example, most of the customers visiting Wendy's and McDonald's are mainly from the South, aged 18-34 years, the learned (at some or have completed college), and are heavy users of fast foods (See Appendix 1 Figure 1, 3, 4, and 5).

The Model for Predicting the Consumption of Burgers (CB)

Wendy’s CB = 1.821 + 0.014q13 – 0.037q14_1 + 0.061q14_2 – 0.022q14_4 – 0.018q14_5 – 0.007q14_6 + 0.18q14_7

McDonald’s CB = 1.809 + 0.025q13 + 0.001q14_1 + 0.015q14_2 – 0.059q14_4 + 0.022q14_5 – 0.044q14_6 + 0.126q14_7

Where (the independent factors affecting the consumption of burgers at Wendy’s and McDonald’s);

q13: Consumer decision-making regarding which fast food restaurant to go

q14_1: Current nutritional information sought by the consumer

q14_2: Nutritional labels

q14_4: Amount of fats in foods

q14_5: Amount of fat’s the consumer’s kids eat from the restaurant’s fast foods

q14_6: The nutrition value provided by the food

q14_7: Consumer’s concerns for high-fat content in the fast foods

The regression results for Wendy’s model were insignificant at [F(7, 583)=.689, p=.681], Adjusted R-Square = -.004 (See Appendix 2 Figure 6 for Wendy’s Model Summary, and ANOVA). On the contrary, the regression results for McDonald’s model were significant at [F(7, 701)=3.217, p=.002], Adjusted R-Square = .021 (See Appendix 2 Figure 7 for McDonald's Model Summary and ANOVA). The results imply that only 0.4% and 2.1% of the variations in the consumption of burgers at Wendy's and McDonald's were explained by the variations in the independent variables respectively.

Despite the above, it is clear that current nutrition information, amount of fats in foods, and nutrition value adversely affect consumption at Wendy’s (Figure 6-Coefficients). For McDonald’s the amount of fats in food and nutritional value factors adversely affect consumption (Figure 7-Coefficients). It is also important to note that consumers’ concerns for high-fat content in foods and their nutritional labels have a larger positive influence to consumption at Wendy's (Figure 6-Coefficients) as compared to McDonald's (Figure 7-Coefficients).

Based on the models above, by using the signs of the coefficients, it is logical to say that Wendy's can gain a considerable competitive advantage over McDonald's by improving its consumers' perceptions of their foods as having fewer fats, greater nutritional value, and providing them with current nutrition information. Also, by Wendy’s capitalising on improving their nutritional labels to provide better nutritional value to consumers by addressing their concerns for high-fat content in fast foods will put McDonald’s at a competitive disadvantage.

References

American Press Institute, 2015. How Millennials use and control social media. [Online] Available

[Accessed 18 November 2017].

Barney, J. B. & Hesterly, W. S., 2006. Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Mcclurg, R., 2013. Digital Marketing is Key to Practice Growth: Making sense of SEO, PPC, DIY, DID, and social networking. Family Advocate, 35(3), pp. 28-30.

Scase, R., 2007. Global remix: the fight for competitive advantage. London: Kogan Page.

Usage of fast foods

Household Income

Education

Region

Age

Wendy’s Regression Analysis Results

McDonald’s Regression Analysis Results

b. Predictors: (Constant), I am eating at fast food restaurants less often out of concern for the high fat content in the foods at fast food restaurants, Which of the following statements best describes the extent to which you find it difficult to make up your mind about which fast food restaurant to go to? , I read nutritional labels on most products I buy, I consider the amount of fat in the foods my kids eat at fast food restaurants, I try to stay current on the latest health and nutrition information, I have been making an effort to look for fast food choices that have better nutritional value than the foods I have chosen in the past, I consider the amount of fat in the foods I eat at fast food restaurants