Drive-Thru's in China

Today I viewed a story talking about McDonald's move into the Chinese market where there is a huge potential for growth. The part of the story that was interesting was that when they first opened drive-thru's people did not know how to use them. I think we forget that most consumers in America are quite advanced in consumerism and product knowledge. Things as simple as drive-thru's are not well known in many countries.

This type of factor must be considered when marketing and selling to specific segments such as a recent immigrant market that may not have as much knowledge about American products and services. Education must be a priority above fancy tag lines and commercials. Part of a company's marketing responsibility is educating certain segments about their offerings and this alone can separate your business from much of the competitors whom already assume this segment has a mature product knowledge. So next time before creating your market campaign remember the level of American consumerism of your segment.