Fast-food chain McDonald’s has revealed it is planning to launch a major loyalty scheme, which could be in place later this year as the firm attempts to get closer to its burger-loving customers.
Speaking at the UBS Global Consumer Conference this week, McDonald’s US president Mike Andres said that the scheme could be a big sales driver for the company.
Andres said: “We’re working on a customer-designed loyalty program that we think will be as good as there is out there in the marketplace.”
It is understood that the loyalty programme will be added to McDonald’s app released last year, which in many markets has a beverage loyalty offer that gives customers a free McCafé beverage onc they have purchased five. The app has been downloaded 7.5 million times, Andres said, exceeding the company’s expectations.
However, he claimed that McDonald’s new loyalty programme would be “more robust,” and would be linked to consumer purchases, based perhaps on the number of visits customers make to the chain’s restaurants every month. Customers would likely have a limited time to take advantage of whatever deals the company offers through the scheme.
The move is part of the chain’s strategy to beef up its use of technology to communicate more directly with customers.
Andres noted, for instance, that a loyalty app could entice lapsed customers to come back. “If we see a thawing off, we can entice them with their favorite products to come to the restaurant,” he said. “That’s the future of customer relationship management. We think it can be a significant sales layer for us.”