KFC in Xuzhou, China
KFC in Shanghai, China

2.3 KFC vs. McDonald's in China

KFC entered China in the late 20th century and McDonald's followed only 3 years later. By 2018, KFC has 5910 outlets[1] in China while McDonald's owns only 2700 operating outlets[2]which is less than half of KFC’s. Based on the data collected for number of outlets they opened in different cities from 1987 to 2007, KFC tends to add 0.39 outlet per year in a city and rate of new open outlet of McDonald's is about half of KFC’s. However, both chains favored big cities and expand rapidly after year of 1999.[3] There have been competitions between KFC and McDonald's since they both entered the market and it usually have a positive impact in the market.[4] The rivals between them not only can expand potential demand for western fast food by getting Chinese customers to try, but also can affect the size of the market where it can be easily enlarged. In general, rival helps fast food chains to make better location choice. However, net growth rate of McDonald's has a negative effect on the enlargement of KFC. McDonald's were smart enough that it prefers to open new locations in the areas based on KFC’s expansion. This impact can be observed more in the big cities than small cities. McDonald's takes advantage of KFC on where to expand the business. KFC benefits from McDonald's by grow customer’s interest on western fast food. [3]

2.1.4 KFC’s Success in China

KFC’s brand identity can be identified as customers different satisfaction on the brand’s property, products, presentations, and publications. By analyzing a questionnaire on basic information of eating at KFC in both United States and China, Chinese consumers generally eat more often at KFC and have a more positive impression on it than American consumers do. Chinese consumers prefer the clean space and wide opening hours of KFC while Americans favor it’s being affordable to be a meal instead of a snack.[5] Besides the satisfaction on brand identity, KFC specifically come up with the unique menu only in China where you can easily get different flavor of rice porridge, deep fried dough sticks, and soy milk in the morning. [6]

  1. ^ “2018 YumChina Annual Report.” YumChina, ir.yumchina.com/static-files/4f1aaebb-c10c-48cf-bb53-256de7d1ac32.
  2. ^ "品牌介绍 | 麦当劳中国". www.mcdonalds.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  3. ^ a b Shen, Qiaowei; Xiao, Ping (2014-03-01). "McDonald's and KFC in China: Competitors or Companions?". Marketing Science. 33 (2): 287–307. doi:10.1287/mksc.2013.0824. ISSN 0732-2399.
  4. ^ "Competitors and Companions: KFC and McDonald's in China". The Global Network for Advanced Management. 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  5. ^ Witkowski, Terrence H.; Ma, Yulong; Zheng, Dan (2003-04-01). "Cross‐cultural influences on brand identity impressions: KFC in China and the United States". Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics. 15 (1/2): 74–88. doi:10.1108/13555850310765088. ISSN 1355-5855.
  6. ^ "Local menu, managers are KFC's secret in China". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-04-02.