McDonald's, as an international catering giant, was founded in the United States in the mid-1951s. At that time, the founder seized the opportunity that the working class in the fast-growing American economy needed convenient and fast food in time, and aimed at the demand characteristics of market segments, and accurately positioned the products and succeeded in one fell swoop. Today, McDonald's has grown into the largest catering group in the world, with 25,111 chain stores in 119 countries and an annual turnover of more than $3.4 billion. Case Analysis of Market Segmentation After reviewing the development process of McDonald's company, it is found that McDonald's has always attached great importance to the importance of market segmentation, which has made it a great success that the world admires. Market segmentation is a new concept first put forward by Wendell Smith, an American marketing scientist, in 1956. It refers to the market segmentation process of dividing the whole market into different consumer groups according to the different needs of consumers. Every consumer group is a market segment, and every market segment is made up of consumer groups with the same needs and desires. Market segmentation is mainly to divide the target market according to geographical segmentation, population segmentation and psychological segmentation, in order to achieve the marketing objectives of enterprises. The success of McDonald's is precisely in these three elements of division. It accurately segmented the market according to geographical, demographic and psychological factors, and implemented corresponding strategies respectively, thus achieving the marketing objectives of the enterprise. First, McDonald's subdivides the market according to geographical factors. McDonald's has domestic and international markets in the United States, and both at home and abroad have different eating habits and cultural backgrounds. McDonald's carries on the geographical subdivision, mainly analyzes the regional differences. For example, people in the east and west of the United States drink coffee with different tastes. By subdividing the market into different geographical units for business activities, we can adapt to local conditions. Every year, McDonald's spends a lot of money to conduct serious and rigorous market research, study the crowd combination and cultural customs in various places, and then write a detailed breakdown report, so that every country and even every region has a marketing strategy suitable for the local lifestyle. For example, when McDonald's first entered the China market, it spread a lot of American culture and life ideas, and conquered China people with American-style beef burgers. However, China people love to eat chicken. Compared with other foreign fast food, chicken products are more in line with the tastes of China people and are more easily accepted by China people. In view of this situation, McDonald's changed its original strategy and introduced chicken products. McDonald's, which has never only sold beef products in the world, has also started to sell chickens. This change is aimed at geographical factors, and it also accelerates the development of McDonald's in China market. Second, McDonald's subdivides the market according to the demographic factors. Usually, the population subdivision market divides the market into several whole parts mainly according to relevant variables such as age, gender, family population, life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, nationality, etc. However, McDonald's subdivides the population elements mainly from the age and life cycle stage, in which, the young people under the age of driving are defined as the youth market, the young people between the ages of 21 and 41 are defined as the youth market, and the old market is also defined. After defining the population market, we should analyze the characteristics and positioning of different markets. For example, McDonald's takes children as the center, regards children as the main consumers, and attaches great importance to cultivating their consumption loyalty. Children who eat in restaurants often get small gifts such as balloons and origami printed with McDonald's logo. In China, there is also the Uncle Club of McDonald's, which is attended by children aged 3-12, and regularly carries out activities to make children love McDonald's more. This is a very successful population segmentation, which captures the characteristics and positioning of this market. Third, McDonald's market segmentation is based on psychological factors. According to people's lifestyles, the fast food industry usually has two potential market segments: convenience and leisure. In both respects, McDonald's has done a good job. For example, for the convenience market, McDonald's proposed "59-second fast service", that is, the standard time from the time when customers start ordering food to leaving the counter with food is 59 seconds, which should not exceed one minute. For the leisure market, McDonald's is very particular about the layout of restaurants and stores, and tries to make customers feel comfortable and free. McDonald's strives to make customers regard McDonald's as a good place for leisure with unique culture, so as to attract consumers in the leisure market. Case summary of market segmentation Through case analysis, McDonald's market segmentation of geographical, demographic and psychological factors is quite successful, which not only accumulates rich experience in this respect, but also injects many innovations of its own, thus continuing to maintain its position as the dominant restaurant. Of course, if we continue to work hard on the three elements, we can maintain our core competitiveness in the future market. First, in the market segmentation of geographical elements, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of applying the studied market strategy to practice. In fact, McDonald's conducts market research on specific geographical units every year, but its application efficiency is not satisfactory for various reasons. For example, the performance of McDonald's in the China market has actually lost to KFC, which is far behind it in the global market. This is a big problem in itself. McDonald's actually lost to the local KFC. This should have been studied at the beginning of opening up the market, but McDonald's mainly promoted beef burgers when it came up, and did not pay attention to the breakdown report of market research at all. It is a negative countermeasure to passively change the strategy and launch chicken products until later, which seriously affects its own development pace. Therefore, in view of the geographical market segmentation, we must first do a good job in market research, and explore the market according to the segmentation report. It is extremely important to pay attention to strengths and avoid weaknesses. Second, in the market segment of population factors, McDonald's should expand the division criteria. It should not be limited to the general age and life cycle stage. We can increase the research on other related variables, broaden the "diversified" composition of consumer groups, and cooperate with geographical market segments to conduct more effective management. For example, McDonald's can consider holding family gatherings for the family population to create a happy atmosphere for the whole family to eat together. Company parties are also markets that can be considered. Third, for the psychological market segment, there is a prominent problem, that is, the healthy market segment has surfaced. This is a great test for McDonald's. If we stick to the existing raw materials and formulas and continue to make high-calorie and high-fat foods, it is intolerable for consumers who care about health. First of all, we should still focus on the convenient and leisure markets and actively serve these two types of consumers. At the same time, develop new healthy green food for healthy consumers. This must be fast and accurate. In short, we will not let go of any type of consumer group. Secondly, the author thinks that there are experiential consumers besides convenience, leisure and health consumers. McDonald's can serve as a stage, take commodities as props, surround consumers, and create feelings worthy of consumers' memories. For example, pay attention to sensory experience, emotional experience or simulated experience in restaurant interior design. Digging deep into the experiential consumer group should be a direction in the future.