McDonald’s Supersizes Customer Experience with New Digital Team

The new team, a part of the fast-food giant’s strategy to use technology to reach customers and drive sales, will bring together customer, business and tech strategies.

Need to Know 

  • McDonald’s to push digital capabilities with new digital customer engagement team. 
  • Responsible for digital ordering, personalization, payments, loyalty and delivery, the team will be led by the newly announced Chief Digital Engagement Officer. 
  • The announcement is the latest of a string of tech advancements the quick service restaurant (QSR) has made to boost sales and customer engagement. 
  • “Digital is transforming global retail, and it will transform McDonald’s,” said McDonald’s CEO, Chris Kempczinski. 

Analysis


McDonalds’ creation of a customer engagement team strengthens the QSR giant’s positioning as it continues to look for ways to use technology to boost sales. The new team will focus on bringing together customer, business and tech strategies in hopes of a strong return.

As part of their digital push, McDonald’s has been installing digital self-order kiosks in many of its restaurants, expanding food delivery options and making numerous tech-focused investments – including McD Tech Labs, a Silicon Valley-based group that includes tech experts like engineers and data scientists. The chain has also begun testing a delivery only, ghost kitchen in London. 

According to the NDP Group, digital orders are booming. Across the restaurant industry digital orders have grown by 23% over the last four years to reach $26.8 billion in sales. 

“We must accelerate our focus on the digital experience by taking a more holistic approach that drives value from our existing customer-facing digital investments to better engage customers and drive profitable growth,” said Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s CEO, in a letter about the customer engagement team. 

McDonald’s is not alone in its digital push. Chipotle made industry news last year with its massive overhaul of everything from its app, mobile rewards programs, and fast pickup options. Chipotle’s third quarter, digital sales accounted for nearly a fifth of the chain’s total revenue.

McDonald’s plans to announce the engagement teams’ specific projects in April but claims their plans will include “holistic, customer-centered” programs.