On Monday, McDonald’s (MCD) announced that it will be the first fast food chain to have mobile ordering at all U.S. restaurants by the end of the year. Many competitors are also on the move with their own systems, but will be behind schedule. The drive to improve speedy service may ultimately translate to an increase in same store sales.
Mobile Ordering
Just when it seemed like McDonald’s was suffering in sales at its fast-food locations, things might start to pick up. That is because the company announced that it would have mobile ordering and pay systems at all 14,000 U.S. locationwould have mobile ordering and pay systems at all 14,000 U.S. location by the fourth quarter of 2017.
The good part about announcing this is that McDonald’s will be the first out of all the fast chains to have this task completed. That creates a first mover advantage in an industry that has been constantly evolving. Customers will be able to place orders and pay from their smartphone.
That avoids two big issues that many of these fast food chains have to deal with. That is having to deal with very long lines at busy times, and having to wait to order at the in-store kiosks.
Why is a first mover advantage a good thing for McDonald’s? That is because, according to BI Intelligence Report, mobile ordering is expected to become a $38 billion industry in terms of fast-food sales by 2020. That would account for 10% of the total amount of sales during the year for all fast food chains.
Lagging Behind
McDonald’s has a huge opportunity to take the lead with respect to the mobile ordering system. That is because a lot of the would have mobile ordering and pay systems at all 14,000 U.S. location. The only fast-food chain that comes close to McDonald’s in terms of mobile ordering is Wendy’s. But not even Wendy’s is close enough.
That is because Wendy’s will only expect to have 50% of it stores enabled with mobile ordering by the fourth quarter of 2017. That is a huge difference with McDonald’s having 100% equipped to handle mobile ordering.
