INDIVIUAL ASSIGNMENT

[Consumer Behavior]

Name: Nguyễn Đình Bảo Hiếu

Student Code: HS140453
Class: MKT1407
Room no: BE-218
Subject: MKT201
Lecturer: Tran Dieu Thuy

Analyzing on the Marketing

consumer behavior: Case of KFC
Malaysia
 Table of Contents
1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 2
1.1: The information about KFC: ............................................................................ 2
1.2: Target customer and target market: ................................................................ 2
1.2a: Customer market:........................................................................................... 2
1.2b: Target market: ............................................................................................... 2
2: BODY PART:....................................................................................................... 3
2.1: Definition of culture and related factors: .......................................................... 3
2.2: Definition of consumer behavior: ..................................................................... 3
2.3: Culture of Malaysia: ..........................................................................................3
2.3a: The development of fast food in Malaysia market: .........................................3
2.3b: KFC in Malaysia: ............................................................................................ 4
2.3c: Promotion of KFC in Malaysia market: ...........................................................4
2.4: Consumer behaviour in purchasing KFC in Malaysia market:.......................... 4
2.5: The impact of cultural on consumer behaviour in Malaysia market: .................6
3: Conclusion:.......................................................................................................... 7
4: References:.......................................................................................................... 7

Introduction
1.1. Some information about KFC:

KFC is an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken is a chain of fast food restaurant based in
Louisville Kentucky, in the United Stated and was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952.
Since he was only 9 years old, he discovered his penchant for cooking. Through the years he
grew up to become a personage the world knows as Colonel Sanders, founder of KFC. KFC
mainly sells chicken pieces, wraps, salads and sandwiches. While its main focus is fried chicken,
KFC also offers a line of grilled and roasted chicken
Although Harland Sanders died in 1980, he remains as a important person of the company`s
branding and advertisement, and formerly known as Colonel Sander, is a metonym for the
company itself. In 1991, the company adopted KFC, an abbreviated from of its name but starting
in April 2007, the company began used Kentucky Fried Chicken, its own original name for its
signage, packaging and advertisement.

1.2. Target customer and target market:

1.2a: Customer market:

KFC is an attractive place for everyone. It is a place where people from all age groups want to
go. Whether you are a kid, a young adult or an old person, you can find something attractive on
the menu. KFC is more enjoyable for kids. Several restaurants in developed and developing
markets set their playgrounds or play areas for the kids. This gives parents a huge opportunity to
bring their kids in a good environment where they can play and eat. For young people, KFC is a
favorite. On the other hand, mature people who don’t like noisy places also prefer to choose
KFC. They can have superb fried chicken dishes such as hot wings, hot shots, chicken pieces
and more. Other these things with a big jug of fresh beverages.
For all these age groups, KFC is an affordable place. They can order spicy and healthy foods
in a low budget. The biggest advantage of visiting this restaurant is the availability of attractive
deals. KFC presents a lot of interesting and valuable deals for its customers. Each deal contains
a combination of preferences. For example, if you love to have hot wings with a glass of fresh
Coke then there will be a deal for it. Deals are money-saving for buyers. Customers visiting KFC
to enjoy a family meal can choose deals according to individual taste and choice. On the other
hand, family can choose a big meal including several burgers, dozen of hot wings, chicken
pieces and beverages.

1.2b: Target market:

It varies from country to country. KFC is more famous in developed country. This is a reason
it gets more than 50% of the revenue from these countries. No doubt, there is low acceptance of
fast food companies and services in developed markets but KFC is still getting growth. Health-
conscious is a big factor in developed countries. This is why sales and growth trends in these
countries are unstable. KFC takes a huge interest in standards. It is among the food services
having a low negative profile.

Literature Review & Critical Analysis

2.1. Definition of culture and related factors:

There is no one definition of culture nor there is unanimity among various thinkers. Mr. A.L.
Korelaber and T. Parsons in an article on the Concepts of Culture and of Social Systems
American Sociological Review has defined culture as “a complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and
other meaningful symbols created by a man to shape human behaviour and the anti facts of that
behaviour as they are transmitted from one generation to the next”.

The culture may also be defined as «the largest simple grouping of people sharing a distinctly
unique social heritage». There are many philosophers who feel that culture is such an abstract
and material element and it is difficult to define it. According to some researchers culture is a
challenging concept because «its primary focus is on broadest component of social behaviour in
entire society». In a sense culture is a society’s personality.

As it is not possible to define society’s personality it is difficult to define culture. The problem of
definition becomes all the more difficult for countries like India who has long history, people of
different religions, languages and customs who have settled over centuries from different parts
of the world and different regions of the country.

2.2. Definition of consumer behavior:

“Consumer behavior…… is the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups
select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and
desires.” (Solomon, Bamossy, et al. 2006, p6).
(Schiffman ANDKanuk 2007) take a similar approach in defining consumer behavior: “the
behavior that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing
of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs”

The needs and desires we satisfy range from hunger and thirst to love, status, and even
spiritual fulfillment.

2.3. Culture of Malaysia:

2.3a: The development of fast food in Malaysia market:
Fast food is known to be a frequent selection, convenient for customers, tasty, and have a
reasonable price. In the current era, fast food is well known for its reasonable price, efficiency,
and tastiness. Moreover, advertisers of fast food restaurants usually make the fast food to
appear healthy, which causes the customers to be easily influenced
The fast-food industry in Malaysia is dominated by American brands including A&W, Burger
King, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Marybrown, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and
Subway. These fast-food brands have gained prestigious recognition in the Generation Malaysia
process. Meanwhile, Population Malaysia (2018) asserts that students and teenagers make up
the largest proportion of the entire Malaysian population, including 12.67 million citizens.
students and teenagers have strong purchasing power and they are considered a key market
segment because their lifestyle and eating habits affect their preferences for the fast-food
industry. Furthermore, students and teenagers always go out to eat and buy takeout from a fast
food restaurant; therefore, they are always looking for production facilities that can fulfill their
generation's needs.
The fast-food industry in Malaysia has been expanding over the past decade. Malaysians are
extremely fond of fast food like hamburgers, fried chicken, french fries, and more, even though
3
they know that they are unhealthy junk food high in calories. Similarly, students and teenagers
still like to buy fast food; Therefore, this study aims to identify the main factors influencing
students 'and teenagers' intention to buy fast food. Therefore, current research has explored the
relationship between food quality, service quality, price, and restaurant environment with
purchase intent by students and youth in Malaysia.

2.3b: KFC in Malaysia:

The first KFC restaurant in Malaysia was opened in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1973.
Although Top 10 Malaysia August 2012 edition stated that KFC was probably the oldest fast-
food franchise in Malaysia, it was actually the second oldest after A&W (NST, 2014). There are
currently 561 KFC restaurants operating all over Malaysia. QSR Brands (M) Holdings Sdn Bhd
(formerly known as Triple Platform Sdn Bhd) is the franchisee of KFC Malaysia when it acquired
the businesses of KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd and its parent, QSR Brands Bhd, on 21 January
2013. The company is a subsidiary of Johor Corporation, a public enterprise, and a statutory
body of the Johor State government. It is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and
controls not only KFC Malaysia but also the KFC restaurants in Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia,
and India. QSR Brands guarantees that all the products it manufactures and sells in Malaysia,
including KFC, are Halal. The QSR Brands Shariah Advisory Council stringently oversees the
whole chain of its halal food manufacturing processes to ensure Halal compliance with JAKIM's
Halal Certification requirements.

From the Johor Corporation 2012 Annual Report (JCorp, 2013), in 2012, KFC Malaysia’s
revenue had jumped to RM1,787.0 million, an increase of 8.0% from RM1,655.3 million recorded
in the previous year.

2.3c: Promotion of KFC in Malaysia market:

KFC Malaysia uses the global tagline of ‘So Good’ for its marketing. The traditional and print
media is employed by both KFC Malaysia. in its promotion in the cyber world with the creation of
its KFCKU.com community forum for its customers.
KFC Malaysia also has its own Facebook and Twitter although not updated as frequently and
the feeds cannot be accessed from the KFC Malaysia website. KFC Malaysia recently created
its own YouTube channel and Instagram account although not its own community forum.
KFC Malaysia is active in charity work through the ‘Projek Penyayang’, which means the loving
project. The ‘Projek Penyayang’ created a trust fund that also depended on the donation of its
customers through ‘Tabung Penyayang’, or the loving donation box, that is placed in all its
restaurants near the cash registers. ‘Projek Penyayang’ is more focused on helping orphaned
children and the needy.

In trying to attract more customers to go to KFC, KFC Malaysia offers meal vouchers and gift
certificates for sale. KFC Malaysia also has occasional online discount coupons and offers given
through their Facebook. KFC Malaysia also used to have Snax cards for teenagers that give
discounts to its owners but the card has been discontinued without any explanation

Basically, KFC Malaysia's promotional activities are directed at attracting new and younger
customers as well as budget-conscious customers which may lead to whole family consumption
behavior.

2.4. Consumer behaviour in purchasing KFC in Malaysia market:

Most of the participants were frequenting fast foodon a monthly basis, especially among
4
those aged 24 or younger. And 84%of Malaysian university students consumed fast food.
The prevalence of respondents who consumed fast food at least once a week in Malaysia was
17.4%.
KFC often are places for youth and the rising middle class to hang out. There are many
families casually eating lunch, teenagers using the restaurant as a hangout spot, and a couple
college students working on homework. Most people aren’t waiting in line for the counter. Most of
them are scanning the QR code on the wall and ordering and paying on their phones. QR codes
are ubiquitous in Malaysia

5
2.5. The impact of culture on consumer behaviour in Malaysia:

The increasing demand for healthy foods among Malaysians. The lifestyle changes in
Malaysian have led to this increase in the demand for healthy food in Malaysia (AHK Malaysia,
2013). KFC Malaysia may need to cater to this new customer segment, which is the health-
conscious customer and consider them in the company’s marketing strategy. This could include
introducing new products for the health-conscious customers or promoting the healthy aspects of
their current products or even giving special promotions for them.

As part of KFC’s global marketing strategy, KFC still maintained certain standardization in their
restaurants in Malaysia. For instance, the core

products of KFC the Original Recipe fried chicken, french-fries, soft drink, and desserts are
available in the menu of restaurants in Malaysia. As an Islamic country, the foods served are
also halal food. KFC Malaysia for one has the Halal Malaysia certificate for all its restaurants

Where in Malaysian KFC, the chicken meal is always combined with mashed potato and the
option of potato wedges, plain or cheesy, the chicken. And in Malaysia also serves partnered
with white rice. Rice in their restaurants, is in the form of Chinese-inspired chicken rice.

KFC in Malaysia it is Original Recipe and Hot & Spicy Chicken. This could be the result of
Malaysian preferring a spicier chicken on their plate. KFC Malaysia menu also has 5 varieties of
burgers. The burgers are part of the marketing strategy of KFC Malaysia for the teen product
division.

The menu in Malaysia seemed to be more focused on the combo type of menu. As Malaysian
love having Milo and The Tarik with their breakfast, KFC Malaysia also offered them on the
breakfast menu.

In terms of service, KFC implements self-service concept in all of their restaurants, where
customers order at the counter, pay and carry the foods for dining-in in the restaurants or take
away to eat at home.

The prices of products in Malaysia are quite high. This might be because of the purchasing
power parity high in Malaysia
KFC in Malaysia also utilizes branded core value and branded affordability strategy for their
products, as per the standardization strategy of KFC in general.

Conclusion

This study found that KFC has adopted quite a different approach to its 4P marketing mix for
their outlets in Malaysia. The approaches are fitting the standardization and adaptation aspect of
its global marketing strategy. In general, KFC’s menu tends to have certain standards in all its
products and services, for example, the Original Recipe fried chicken, fries, and Pepsi soft drink
for its main course. However, even for almost similar countries like Malaysia the slight
differences in culture, customs, regulation, and standard of living requires an adaptation
approach of localization.

KFC’s 4P’s in its global marketing strategy implementation is closely related to its customers’
preference fulfilment. In Malaysia, KFC is also successful in identifying and making proper
changes to suit the local customer needs and requirement. In terms of products, KFC Malaysia
still offers buns, mash potato and coleslaw as the main sides. KFC Malaysia also offers rice
although it is in the form of chicken rice and rice meals instead of just white rice. In terms of
pricing strategy, KFC Malaysia did market segmentation. The price in Malaysia is also premium
because of the purchasing power parity.

For the place element, KFC in other place is facing government regulation, issues in its supply
chain, as well as lack of infrastructure in that, impedes their efforts in expansion. KFC Malaysia
however does not face those problems, which would explain why there are more outlets in
Malaysia. KFC Malaysia still prefers traditional and printed media for promotion KFC Malaysia
still use utilises the social network, social media, and the Internet less. Teenager and youth
become the main targeted customers for KFC Malaysia.

References

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mara-
Ridhuan/publication/296674969_Human_rights_disclosure_before_and_after_the_global_financi
al_crisis/links/56d7d19608aee1aa5f75d025/Human-rights-disclosure-before-and-after-the-global-
financial-crisis.pdf#page=282

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/9/1/4/htm
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/kentucky-fried-chicken-holdings-malaysia-berhad-
marketing-essay.php

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82793642.pdf

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/kentucky-fried-chicken-holdings-malaysia-berhad-
marketing-essay.php

-AHK Malaysia (2013). “Market Watch 2012”. The Malaysian Food Industry. Available online at:

http://www.malaysia.ahk.de/fileadmin/ahk_malaysia/Market_reports/The_Malaysian_Food
_Industry.pdf

-KFC Malaysia (2014). About KFC Malaysia. Available online at:

http://kfc.com.my/about-kfcmalaysia.php

-KFC Malaysia (2014). About KFC Malaysia. Available online at:

http://kfc.com.my/about-kfcmalaysia.php