Question

4 consumers segments: Teens, Single Young Adults, Busy Families with Young Children, Baby Boomer and Retirees. What might A&W need to do to satisfy these various customer segments. Should it stop focusing on certain segments, and if so why? Can it strategically satisfy all of these segments, and if so, how? Make an argument on which segments to focus on and why to your leadership.

Answer 1

Lets first understand all the entities involved in this case.

A & W.: This is a very popular chain of fast foods in America. They are popular for their Burgers, Root Beer, Cheese curds, Hamburgers and Chicken.

Teens.: Teens are those who age between 13 and 19. This is the period of education, they are mostly under the wings of their parents and their finances and most of the decisions are controlled by the parents.

Single young adults.: The most indepent category of people. They have a job, they have their own apartment, and since they are single will have to do cooking and other household chores by themselves. They are mostly concentrating on their jobs and career. They might not be willing to work at home as they consider their apartment as a haven from the tensed work life so they tend to relax when at home.

Busy families with young children.: They are more conscious about their expenditure because they have started thinking about the upbringing of their children. They are very health conscious as they ahve to inculcate healthy habits in their children and also have to keep up with their good health to balance work as well as children.

Baby boomers and retirees.: Baby boomers are those who were born in between 1946 and 1964. And retirees are those who have completed their worklife successfully. Considering the retirement age as 60 (as in India), this segment is the elderly segment. They need to take special care of their health and since they have lived their life to the fullest, probably fast food is not something they would be interested in.

Yes. They can satisfy all the segments. The preferences of each segment mainly distinguishes at the healthy ingredients point of view. If the ingredients can be altered in a very minor style then it would be possible to cater to all the segments. For example, if we consider a burger, For the teens some exciting goodies along with the burger will attract them, for young single adults the same burger can be offered with a wholesome meal with beverages and french fries or nachos, when it comes to parent with children more of healthy ingredients can be offered like a cholestrol free cheese or baked chips and some toys to attract the kids. a special category of burgers can be tailored for the elderly that should be totally according to their health conditions. Just a few ingredients alternation will cater to each segment.

In all the above segments we cannot rule out any particular segment stating that they wont enjoy fast food but the segment that will most prefer fast food is the Young Single Adults segment. If A & W focusses on this segment it will be profitable for them. People in this segment live alone in their apartments, so cooking for a single person might not be a desirable work to do after a hectic office day. They would prefer a takeaway over cooking by themselves. They do not have kids to worry about schools, studies. so all they earn is for themselves. they tend to spend ore than the other segment.