At a news conference, the chairman of KFC boasted that it would open 50 to 60 branches in Hong Kong.
This is not irresponsible remarks. This kind of KFC chicken was first made by Colonel Hollandis in 1939 with a secret recipe containing1kloc-0/herbs and spices. Because of its unique technology and crisp taste, it is deeply loved by consumers all over the world. By the 1970s, KFC had thousands of fast food restaurants all over the world, forming a huge chain of fast food restaurants. Then, it turned its attention to Hong Kong, the "Pearl of the Orient".
In June, 1973, the first hometown chicken opened in Mobil New Village, and other branches will soon open. At 1974, the number has reached 1 1.
In KFC's hometown chicken shop, besides fried chicken, other miscellaneous foods are served, including shredded vegetable salad, potato chips, bread and various drinks. Chicken is 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 15 yuan, 20 yuan. There are also set meals, such as 6.5 yuan's set meal, which includes two pieces of chicken, potato chips and bread.
When KFC's hometown chicken was first introduced to Hong Kong, it cooperated with a massive propaganda offensive. Television advertisements quickly caught the attention of consumers. The theme of TV, newspaper and printed matter adopts the worldwide propaganda slogan of hometown chicken: "It tastes good to lick your fingers".
Huge publicity activities, combined with unique cooking methods and recipes, make customers happy to taste, but before hometown chickens entered Hong Kong, Hong Kong people rarely tasted the so-called American fast food. Although Cafe de coral and Maxim's fast food restaurant opened earlier than hometown chicken, it was small at that time and did not form a chain store, so it was not a competitor of KFC. It seems that KFC has a bright future in Hong Kong.
Second, encounter "Waterloo"
KFC's time in Hong Kong is not long.
1September, 974, KFC suddenly announced the closure of several restaurants, leaving only four restaurants still open. By February, 1975, the first batch of KFC entering Hong Kong was completely annihilated and all closed down. Although the director of Hometown Chicken Company claimed that it closed down due to rent difficulties, its closure was a foregone conclusion. The reason for the failure is also obvious. Not only the rent, but also the problem of not attracting customers.
At that time, the Hong Kong critics discussed this matter, and finally thought that the reason for KFC's complete closure was the chicken taste and publicity service.
In order to adapt to the tastes of Hong Kong people, the fast food restaurants in my hometown adopted local native varieties, but still adopted the previous feeding method, that is, fish feeding. This ruined the unique flavor of China chicken and made Hong Kong people very disappointed.
It is also difficult to be accepted by Hong Kong residents conceptually that hometown chickens use the advertising word "delicious to lick their fingers" in advertisements. Moreover, at that time, Hong Kong people thought that the price of hometown chicken was too high, which suppressed the demand.
In terms of service, hometown chickens adopt American service. Fast food restaurants in Europe and America are generally outside the store. They drove to a fast food restaurant to buy food to eat at home. So there are generally no seats in the store. The situation in Hong Kong is different. People eat where they buy food. Usually a group of people or people buy food in twos and threes, sitting in the shop and talking while eating. The practice of domestic chickens without seats is tantamount to driving away a group of people who have the opportunity to become customers. Therefore, although the advertising scale of hometown chicken is large and attracts many people to try, there are not many repeat customers.
Hometown chickens failed to enter Hong Kong for the first time because they lacked a deep understanding of Hong Kong's environment and culture. As Mr. Steele, a British marketing expert, commented: "Domestic chickens enter the Hong Kong market in the same way as the United States. However, local conditions require it to modify its global strategy to meet local needs. The use and acceptance of products are influenced by local customs, and the choice of catering products also depends on this. At that time, chicken products could not meet the needs of Hong Kong people, and the concept of publicity was not appropriate. "
KFC swaggered into Hong Kong, and then left despondently.
Third, roll it up again
Eight years have passed in a blink of an eye.
From 65438 to 0985, KFC has successfully invested in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. At this time, they are ready to March into Hong Kong again.
This time, the hometown chicken re-entered Hong Kong, and a subsidiary of Swire Group obtained the franchise right in Hong Kong, provided that the contract could not be subcontracted and the 10 contract could be renewed when it expired. Franchise agreements include the purchase of licensed equipment and tableware, as well as the purchase of cooking condiments from licensed hometown chicken suppliers.
The first new generation hometown chicken shop spent 3 million yuan and opened in September, 1985, and the second one opened in Causeway Bay, 1986.
1985 at that time, there were many new changes in the fast food industry in Hong Kong, which could be divided into three categories-hamburgers, accounting for 20% of the whole fast food market. For a long time, the largest market is local food, with a market share close to 70%. Chicken in KFC's hometown is a new breed-"chicken expert".
Therefore, with the increase of competitors, it is more difficult for KFC to regain the market. Before opening, the company's marketing department conducted market research and forecast, and the results showed that the prospects were optimistic.
This time, KFC was more cautious when exploring the market, and made appropriate changes to its marketing strategy according to the situation in Hong Kong.
First of all, the hometown chicken shop has carried out market segmentation and defined the target market. The new hometown chicken shop is different from the old one. Now it is a high-end "canteen" fast food restaurant, between a high-end restaurant covered with white cloth and a self-service fast food restaurant. Customers are between 16-39 years old, mainly young people, including office workers and young administrative staff.
Secondly, in the food project, the hometown chicken shop has made some innovations. Variety, mainly chicken, chicken nuggets, chicken combinations, miscellaneous desserts and drinks. Other foods include French fries, salad and corn. All the chickens are cooked according to Colonel Horandis's recipe, and most of the raw materials and chicken are imported from the United States. The food is freshly cooked. If the fried chicken is not sold for 45 minutes, it will not be sold again to ensure that all the chicken pieces are fresh.
In terms of price, the company sells hometown chickens at a higher bargaining price, while other miscellaneous commodities such as French fries, salads and corn are sold at a lower competitive price. This is because if the price of hometown chicken is too low, Hong Kong people will regard it as a low-grade fast food. Other miscellaneous grains are sold at low prices because there are many fast food restaurants selling similar foods around the hometown chicken branch to compete with them. Reducing the price of miscellaneous grains can gain certain advantages in the competition.
In advertising, hometown chicken changed the advertising slogan of 1973 from "delicious to licking fingers" to "sweet and delicious". You can see new advertising words in subway stations, newspapers and magazines. Obviously, the new advertising words have a strong Hong Kong flavor, so they are easily accepted by Hong Kong people.
When the hometown chicken shop landed in Hong Kong for the second time, the company thought that the main direction was to adjust the market strategy to meet the social psychology and needs of Hong Kong people. So advertising is not the main direction. For example, the Jordan Road branch was quite low-key for a while, only pulling a banner and setting up a billboard outside the store. In terms of publicity, we also adopted a low-key approach, focusing only on the publicity in and around the store, and the advertising stopped after several months of opening.
Fourth, Hong Kong finally accepted it.
A few months after the hometown chicken shop reopened, the company conducted an investigation. Investigators choose people who know KFC's hometown chicken restaurant as the survey object, asking them about their impressions of hometown chicken and how KFC compares with other fast food restaurants. Among the respondents who have eaten hometown chicken, 64% think that the choice of dishes is limited, 2 1% think that the dishes are too expensive, and some people think that the store location is inconvenient. Most of the 92% supplementary tourists know that there was a hometown chicken shop in Hong Kong before. But at the same time, 7 1% people said they would visit their hometown chicken shop again in the future.
The marketing staff of the company concluded that the failure of 1973 in Hong Kong still seriously affected consumers' views on hometown chickens, but with the passage of time and the expansion of the influence of hometown chickens, this impression of consumers will gradually fade.
According to the survey results, some changes have been made in the marketing strategy of hometown chicken chain stores, such as opening new stores in crowded places as far as possible to facilitate customers, expanding business area, changing the state of consumer support and increasing the variety of dishes.
The adjustment of marketing strategy of hometown chicken has achieved good results. Hong Kong has become the market of KFC, and the number of branches accounts for more than110 of KFC's global headquarters. KFC has also become one of the four fast food products in Hong Kong alongside McDonald's, Hamburg and Pizza Hut.
KFC was finally accepted by Hong Kong people.
Comments:
Any multinational group's expansion abroad can not ignore the local cultural background, and should learn from it and combine it. KFC's first attempt failed because it ignored the characteristics of Hong Kong's local culture.
When making marketing decisions, leaders of enterprises should bear in mind that they can only be customer-oriented. Without the support and recognition of customers, any decision can only end in failure. This is the difference between marketing and promotion: the former emphasizes the production of products that can meet the needs of consumers, while the latter only sells its own products.
The case of KFC's "stones from other mountains can attack jade" may give some enlightenment to domestic businesses.