Key Takeaways

• McDonald's digital transformation of menu boards and kiosks is a financial success.
• Strategic item placement and credit card usage increase basket value.
• Transformation contributes to McDonald's generating an extra billion dollars annually.

Topics

• Digital Transformation
• Business Strategy
• Sales

Transcript

These screens make McDonald's one billion dollars a year. This thread on X by Alex was a really insightful breakdown of how McDonald's have digitally transformed their menu boards and kiosks using screens over the last few years, and it's been a huge financial success. Now, independently of this, I had already heard that men in particular were more likely to buy a second hamburger on a kiosk than in front of a person because of the social shame of ordering an even bigger meal. Alex does a great job of breaking this down further and seeing how this is really driving up the basket value. They're doing quite clever things, placing expensive items with cheaper items that then see even better value, and of course, right at the end, rounding that up into a meal. Because they're also encouraging people to use credit card, they're more likely to spend more than when they're handing over cash. So overall, it's pretty hard to argue with a billion dollars of extra revenue. My screen score is five out of five, and no judgment on the food. I think this is a sign of genius. Let me know in the comments below.