Lastly, Macdonalds also calculates the calories of their products and in the CYT experience. Due to this transparency, customers were more aware of the nutritional value of their food and were more inclined to visit Macdonalds more regularly. Lastly, Macdonalds constantly aims to improve their services and give their customers a better, unique dining experience.

People prefer convenient and quick service and also accessible locations where consumers can have access to easily without having to travel far distances, hence leaning towards fast food restaurants. The affordable price attracts consumers of all ages and it is not much more expensive than hawker food where consumers are willing to pay a little more for McDonald's. Successful and targeted marketing also contributes to why consumers choose McDonald's over restaurants and other fast foods. “(McDonald’s) Happy Meal is one example. The culture already ingrained is that McDonald’s is a part of your life… It’s nostalgic to a lot of Singaporeans growing up,” said F&B consultant and branding specialist Derrick Chew.
McDonald’s marketing strategy follows the 5P’s which are product, place, price, promotion and people. The marketing strategy of McDonald’s is based on uniformity, where the most iconic items will always be on the menu. Since McDonald’s is a dominant player in the industry, there is more capital which can be spent on marketing compared to other smaller brands. Its key competitive advantages have included nutrition, convenience, affordability, innovation, quality, hygiene, and value added services. Although the barriers for entry are low for the fast food industry, it still is not easy for new companies to start up a fast food restaurant as huge financial capital is required, decreasing the new entrants.

Why fast food is so popular among Singaporeans? 

Fast food is popular is because it caters to Singaporean's taste and reference and the fast-paced lifestyle we have. Catering to Singaporeans’ taste buds and preferences help in its preparations for overseas expansion. Being a multi-racial country with a variety of religions, Singapore is a food capital with a diverse range of cuisines available despite its small land mass. this could have caused the changed in Singaporean's taste and preference over the years. Due to Singaporean's fast paced lifestyle, Convenience of fast food is a major attraction for Singapore customers as it fits into their busy lifestyle. Fast food outlets are strategically located to tap on a large catchment of potential customers, and close-to-home proximity is also important for time-strapped consumers.

In your report, do include how Singaporeans taste and preferences have changed over the years in addition to the above on how fast food restaurant such as McDonald took advantage of this to increase demand. 

2. Price Strategy of McDonald's.
The main topic here is the talking about the Pricing Strategy of McDonald's. The main Pricing Strategy of McDonald's that is applicable to Singapore is the Price Bundle Strategy. The Price Bundle Strategy is talking about McDonald's offering meals and other product bundles at a discount price. Often such prices are cheaper than buying the individual items itself. For instance, ordering a Fillet O Fish value meal at around $5 is cheaper than getting the burger, fries and drinks separately. As long as Price Bundles are cheaper than getting the burger, fries and drinks separately, Price Bundles makes McDonald's Price Inelastic. As long as the consumers know that they are saving more money by buying the Bundle, this would encourage them to keep getting the bundle. This gives McDonald's the flexibility to change the price of the Bundle or even the price of the individual items as long as it remains cheaper than to get each item individually.

Q. Specifically, which price elasticity of demand determinant was team looking at to conclude that price bundles would lower the sensitivity of consumers to price changes? 
The price determinant that would lower the sensitivity of consumers to price changes is the Proportion of income and Habit.
Proportion of income will make it price inelastic as it very affordable to middle class and wealthier people, since the portion of their income spent on food is low. However it is price elastic to those of lower income, but the average person is able to afford the bundle meal. Since more people are able to afford the burgers, the price elasticity of demand will be price inelastic in general.
Habit will make it price inelastic as over time, people who buys food from MacDonald will always purchase the bundle meal. The habitually consumed MacDonald bundle meal will make the bundle set price inelastic since people will naturally want to fuel their habits.

Q. Why do you think McDonald need to employ such strategy? This could be part of your discovery of the market structure of the industry. Are other fast food restaurants doing the same?
McDonald needed to employ this strategy in order to gain more customers, by using the attractive pricing and perceived savings to bring more customers in. This is due to the determinant "Availability of Substitutes". Since our team are focusing on the fast food industry that focus on Burger and Fries, the competitors are chains such as Burger King, Mos burger, Carl's Junior and so on. All those brands have their bundle set as well, that offers saving to the consumer. If MacDonald did not have the bundle set, they would lose customers to other chains as MacDonald will start to seem to be the more expensive option. This is so as there is a high Availability of Substitutes, making MacDonald pricing strategy of bundle as price elastic.

3.Why fast food is so popular among Singaporeans?
In the article, it mentioned that based on latest figures from the Department of Statistics (SingStat), fast food outlets in Singapore generated a total of about S$1.1 billion in operating receipts in 2016. Over the same period, sales from fast food outlets grew 29 per cent. In contrast, sales at restaurants declined 20 per cent, while those at other eating places — such as cafes — fell by 13 per cent. Some reasons that caused its popularity are: fast food in Singapore is not much more expensive than local or hawker food, and is convenient to get especially due to most Singaporeans' busy lifestyle. This attracts customers to buy fast food. Furthermore, they cater to Singaporeans' taste buds and preferences. McDonald's is known to be 'aggressive' when it comes to location strategy, helping them attract customers easily as the outlet is nearby. Another reason for McDonald's popularity is that it's culture is part of a lot of Singaporeans growing up period, one eg stated is the happy meal. Therefore, many Singaporeans enjoy eating fast food.

Nice point. Do bring in the real world evidence that you have read to show the rising popularity and to support the change in taste and preferences as the country evolves and adopts a fast-paced lifestyle. This point can be parked together with point 1 above in your report.

4. Cheaper products resulted into more profits
Mcdonald's had the innovation in creating a better business system. With better methods and controls that has managed to put McDonald's number one under the Food Chain. They lower costs and sell their products cheaper to the public.
Which results in growth and being more profitable as more customers approach due to the low price attraction.
This is a demand factor as it illustrates the quantity demanded increase for the price is cheap and affordable. With more customers approaching, McDonald's becomes more competitive as a Food Industry. With it's popularity in having low prices and delicious burgers, the taste and preferences play a big part in the determinants of demand. Consumers are being influenced by the continuous release of unique burgers and side dishes. This will increase the demand for McDonald's burgers and other dishes. However, if McDonald's unemployment rates increases, there will be a decrease in demand as more people buy cheap fast food such as McDonald's.
There is also an increase in the supply factor if new machines were being installed to make burgers faster. The advancement in technology also leads to fewer resources needed for the production of goods thus, leading to lower cost of production.This gives sellers an opportunity to supply more of their burgers and side dishes at the same price. However, if the price of meat increases for production, there will be a decrease in supply.

Q. Is this a supply factor or a demand factor or both? Explain this point from both angles.

5. Why consumers choose McDonald's over restaurants and other fast foods
People prefer convenient and quick service which restaurants are unable to provide and also accessible locations where consumers can have access to easily without having to travel far distances. The affordable price attracts consumers of all ages and it is not much more expensive than hawker food where consumers are willing to pay a little more for McDonald's. Successful and targeted marketing also contributes to why consumers choose McDonald's over restaurants and other fast foods. “(McDonald’s) Happy Meal is one example. The culture already ingrained is that McDonald’s is a part of your life… It’s nostalgic to a lot of Singaporeans growing up,” said F&B consultant and branding specialist Derrick Chew.

This point can also be subsumed under the same, main header in your project as point 1 (sub header shall be the key words from this part). 
Q. Why do you think McDonald is able to spend on marketing? Is McDonald a dominant player in the industry? How dominant with respect to competitors? Is it easy for new entrants to enter this industry? 

Team might want to use the attached slide from “Non-competitive markets” to identify the market structure of fast food restaurants.
 

Basically, the key clues to infer market structure would be: 

(1) Number of providers 

(2) Any dominant provider(s)?  E.g. high market share/high revenue are areas where you can infer dominance

(3) Strategies adopted to differentiate goods from others? 

(4) Barriers to entry (high/low?) 

Please refer to my specific feedback above, for your prelim analysis (highlighted). Please continue to work on your points further, either finding more evidence to support it or new points to be added into your report. 

Just a heads up, in Stage 2, you will move on to look at how the fast food industry impacts the Singapore's economy and how Singapore help this industry to grow.