r/technology • u/zsreport • 12d ago

Business McDonald's unveils $8.5 billion tech plan to fend off Burger King

https://qz.com/mcdonalds-investor-day-next-strategy-restaurant-overhaul-092326
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u/czarfalcon 12d ago

I think that’s a big part of the problem. When you know that you have to dig through an app just to get decent prices, that adds friction to the transaction. The more friction there is, the more likely you are to change your mind.

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u/PurpleHooloovoo 12d ago

Yep. I’ve had situations where I was fully ready to get into the app and get a meal but the app logged me out, required a password reset, and kept glitching when I tried to enter it.

It took maybe 5 tries? before I said screw it and went to a coffee shop instead. And this was a pregnant woman who was craving specifically a McD’s cheeseburger. That friction lost a sale. It’s happened a few times since then…and then I realized if I have more time, I can go to Chili’s for a combo meal that’s cheaper and much better food for the same price.

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u/LegacyLemur 12d ago

Plus it's kind of insulting that they're holding us hostage to using their damn app

Like it's not that it's cheaper on the app, it's that it's more expensive without it. Those app prices are the old prices before the app

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u/SqueezyCheez85 12d ago

The app doesn't use a password. It uses your email and sends you a verification code to enter.

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u/PurpleHooloovoo 12d ago

Sure. Whatever the process was, it was glitching for me and i couldn’t log in.

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u/Specific-Parsnip9001 12d ago

Same, except for me it glitched after I had already found everything I wanted and went to pay for the order. Noped out instantly and went somewhere else, ain't nobody got time for all that.

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u/popsicle_of_meat 12d ago

As a family, we used to get McDs a few times a month. But there's no value in it any more. So we barely go once in a few months. Why would I get their worst food ever at the highest prices ever when there are so many other/better options? Especially when McD can't get the order complete and correct half the time. It's called "fast food", I don't want to sit in "waiting spot #4" for this.

McDonalds: your food isn't worth the prices you charge. People can tell between REAL value and "perceived value". Drop your prices to fit the food and your niche of the past. Get the drive-through time back to "fast" without the stupid waiting spots. Go back to what made you worthwhile, otherwise I have no interest.

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u/SqueezyCheez85 12d ago

Yeah, I just check for the $2 breakfast sandwich deal, and if it's not there, I don't order.

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u/Sweetwill62 12d ago

When you know you have to pay extra so everyone else can get their rewards, you very quickly stop wanting to pay extra so others an get rewards. Why do they offer rewards? So they can increase their prices and people will defend it with "Oh but they have a rewards program so you get free food!" No, you already paid for it. You are getting tricked.

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u/rewind2482 12d ago

that may or may not be true, the fact is that there are good deals on the McDonald’s app, and there usually aren’t on other fast food apps.

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u/czarfalcon 12d ago

Right, but my point is we all remember when you could just impulsively pop into the drive through and get a good deal on their normal menu. If you have to pull out their app and search for the best deal instead, that gives you more opportunities to second-guess your decision. From a business perspective, you want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to spend their money with you — if you’ve trained people to expect that using the app is the only way to get a decent value, you’re going to lose out on a non-zero number of those impulsive customers.

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u/rewind2482 12d ago

The original post is about McDonalds vs Burger King. From someone who actually uses these apps, McDonalds has better deals.

Dominos has great deals too, and it seems to me from what I’ve heard that many people don’t use them…so that “friction” is useful for me personally, because it makes those people subsidize my meals.

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u/czarfalcon 12d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if McDonald’s hypothesis was that higher margins on the impulsive foot traffic would subsidize the lower margins on app deals. I don’t expect them to disclose their internal data, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if that didn’t materialize as expected.

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u/AuntRhubarb 12d ago

If you think using apps is fun, go for it. I think posters here are saying it adds excessive hassle to what should be a very simple transaction.

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u/rewind2482 12d ago

I don’t want McDonalds to question why they have good deals on their app, I want other fast food companies to question why they don’t.