Diners at 26 McDonald’s restaurants in Columbus, GA, have been ordering their McChicken Sandwiches with a side of mobile technology.
A co-op of 26 McDonald’s franchises tested beacon technology from beacon vendor Piper for four weeks. Consumers who downloaded the Piper app received promotional deals on a McChicken Sandwiches and 10-piece Chicken McNuggets. Those consumers were encouraged to download the offers to Apple’s mobile wallet application called Passbook.
“Everyone is looking at their phones, millennials especially, and that’s where we’ve decided to engage,” says Jack Pezold, an owner and operator of McDonald’s franchises. “We know our customers and Piper’s beacon solution allows us to cater to their tastes, preferences and behaviors, making it easy for them to get more value and enjoyment out of their McDonald’s experience.”
McDonald’s advertised the app on social media, on signs outside, at the drive-through and inside the McDonald’s restaurants themselves, says Robert Hanczor, Piper’s CEO.McDonald’s and Piper found the promotions increased McChicken Sandwich sales 8% and Chicken McNuggets sales 7.5%. More than 18,000 offers were redeemed for the promoted items. McDonald’s and Piper plan to expand the test to 263 new locations using 600 more beacons as part of the next phase of testing.
One of the features available in the app will help franchise owners hire employees by enabling interested applicants to download the app and use it to message a manager directly while they’re standing in that McDonald’s restaurant.
Adam Silverman, a principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc., says the unique aspect about this beacon deployment is the franchise model. The program is designed with the franchise owners in mind rather than coming from the top-down from McDonald’s corporate. “This helps franchise companies succeed,” he says, “rather than targeting McDonald’s themselves.”
Piper also manufactures the beacons themselves. Hanczor says the beacons are waterproof and the batteries last for 18 to 24 months. The beacons sell for about $50 each.
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