McDonald’s Corp. is looking for one or two mainland markets to continue testing McDeals, a loyalty program that’s been testing in Hawaii since October.
The program gives diners offers for food and other goodies based on their purchase history-much like Checkout Coupon triggers offers in supermarkets. Checkout parent Catalina Marketing Corp., St. Petersburg, FL, runs McDeals.
“The general principle is to add value with offers that are likely to be of interest to customers, based on what they purchased,” McDonald’s VP-U.S. Marketing Neil Golden said. “We serve so many customers each day, our restaurants can become a marketing medium to reach them.”
It’s been difficult to measure the results of McDeals in Hawaii (March 11, 2003, Xtra), where fluctuations in tourism affect business more than in other markets. Testing on the mainland will let McDonald’s “look for shifts in performance in McDeals-only markets to see how much McDeals contributes” separate from other initiatives, including service upgrades and a new Dollar Menu, Golden said.
Oak Brook, IL-based McDonald’s developed the idea with Catalina and first tested McDeals in a few restaurants in Asheville, NC. One version, McBingo, sent diners online to redeem points collected in-store.
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