Customers want something new and different, which would require the business re-invent itself.
Over time a re-invention gap is created between the customer and the company. Yet, most leaders keep right on trying to defend & extend the old business by investing in these sustaining measures, even as returns keep falling. These sustaining innovations, as Clayton Christensen of Harvard calls them, have "diminishing marginal returns." That's an academic's fancy way of saying that you have to spend ever greater amounts to create the variations, but their benefits keep having less and less impact on growing, or even maintaining, sales. At that time, offering new products - like a Big Mac - that are variations on the theme that is riding the trend is a good way to expand sales.īut over time trends change, and adding new features has less and less impact. Like McDonald's was in the 1960s and 1970s, offering quality food, fast and at a consistent price nationwide at a time when customers could not count on those factors across independent cafes. When a business, brand or product line is growing it is on a trend. It is an incremental effort to make a small change when competitors are offering substantially different products and experiences. Due to the dramatic reconfiguration, only about 500 stores will be changed - roughly 3.5% of the 14,500 McDonald's. Similarly, McDonald's CEO's effort to revitalize the brand by adding ordering kiosks and table service in stores, in a new format labeled the "Experience of the Future," will not make much difference. While a version two of the Big Mac might have driven incremental sales in 1977, in 2017 the product has grown tired and out of step with too many people and there are too many alternative choices. Customers are looking for a very different dining experience, and different food. Many new competitors have emerged, and people are eating at Panera, Panda Express, Zaxby's, Five Guys and even beleaguered Chipotle. Fewer people are going to McDonald's, and fewer are eating Big Macs. Get the best stories about the things you love most curated by us and delivered to your inbox every day.After 50 years, times and trends have changed. Kolo Black said: "How can it be sold out when you just use two chicken McSandwich fillets instead." Graham Canny said: "How can you sell out when you use the same ingredients for a big mac and the same burger from a Chicken sandwich."Ĭlaire Pettigrew wrote: "Its gone i liked it should be round permanently." Sorcha Alice McKay said: "How can it be sold out if you can make a big Mac or a chicken mcsandwich you can make a chicken big Mac." Mum's fury at McDonald's 'revenge' burgersįans struggled to see why it had gone when the fast food chain was still selling the ordinary, single chicken sandwich.We tried the vegan McDonald's burger and were really surprised."It was all too much for Jamie Smith who wrote: "Still not over the devastating loss of the breakfast wrap. We can’t wait to bring it back for even more customers to enjoy." Thank you to everyone who has made this our most popular launch ever. "We’ll keep customers informed about its return through the usual channels. "As such we’ve made the decision to pause the promotion, let our restaurant teams and suppliers restock and get ready for its return in a few weeks. The demand has been incredible and we simply cannot keep up. A spokesperson from McDonald’s UK&I, told the Manchester Evening N ews : "We have been delighted by our customers’ reaction to the limited-edition Chicken Big Mac.