McDonald’s Dividends Seriously Deliver on Delivery

According to an article in QSR Magazine , McDonald’s quarterly review pointed to some wins and losses for the brand, with the brand’s new delivery partnerships with GrubHub and DoorDash being one of the largest wins overall. By the end of 2019, McDelivery will have expanded to over 10,000 U.S. stores, accounting for approximately 70% of the national market.

This ambitious expansion is anticipated to generate $4 billion in sales. If $4 billion is too big to wrap your head around, chief executive officer Steve Easterbrook put it this way during the brand’s quarterly review as reported by QSR: that’s about 10 orders every second globally.

In terms of the brand’s future in tech, suggestive selling through A.I.-powered ordering is the next frontier. “The beauty of this is there is nothing the customer has to adjust to,” said Easterbrook on the new menu boards that make adjustments toward customers’ preferences that are programmed to become more accurate over time . “[The customer] almost [doesn’t] know that this experience is happening for them.”

Earlier this year, McDonald’s acquired two A.I. and tech-forward businesses, decision logic startup Dynamic Yield and voice technology company Apprente . “Ultimately, Dynamic Yield will facilitate a range of personalization benefits where we can leverage knowledge of the customer and order patterns to provide a tailored experience in restaurants, at the drive-thru and on our app,” said Easterbrook as reported by QSR. On the Apprente purchase, Easterbook went on to say that this acquisition brings a promise of more accurate and advanced voice-ordering to streamline the drive-thru experience.

Curating a seamless customer experience that simultaneously boosts sales appears to be the end goal for the brand, as well as the industry as a whole. It should be noted, however, that while Chick-fil-A’s unique, analog approach to the drive-thru line is the slowest overall, the brand still bests competitors in both order accuracy and customer satisfaction.