On May 2022, McDonald’s Chinese restaurants and online ordering channels opened “night mode” – “Mai Mai Night Market” officially launched. It is understood that “Mai Mai Night Market” is a new menu period launched by McDonald’s China after the main meal and breakfast. The “night mode” is now accessible through McDonald’s app and the brand’s WeChat mini program.
The late-hour special menu consists of new localised offers including a small lotus burger and seasoned chicken ribs, as well as its existing star dish of green peppercorn chicken, which can be added to its traditional meal sets for a price between 18 to 59 RMB ($2.68 and $8.78). The addition of a Chinese-style night market menu shows the deepening of McDonald’s localization ambitions in China. In the eyes of industry insiders, words such as localization are being mentioned more by McDonald’s China in an attempt to capture the hearts of Chinese consumers in terms of channels, marketing, and products.
While night specials can be ordered from 2.30 PM, full contactless services including in-store pick-up and delivery are available from 5 PM every day, when offline shops and designated online market pages will also be switched to night mode, creating an immersive user experience for night-hour foodies. The chain will also hold many night market-themed activities to engage more consumers, the company said.
Xu Cong, chief marketing officer of McDonald’s China, said, “We hope to bring more creative gourmet that integrates styles from both Western and Chinese cuisines, to meet consumers’ demand for better taste and social sharing.”
“Under the new normal, McDonald’s actively responded to the government’s call to promote consumption, increased its efforts in the ‘night economy’, created a new platform to expand dining time and scenes, and used new consumption patterns to help consumption recover” as said Xu Cong.
In recent years, China’s “Night Economy” has grown into a driver of catering sector growth. According to iimedia, nighttime sales exceeded 30 trillion yuan ($4.41 trillion) last year and are estimated to surpass 40 trillion yuan by this year-end, if the COVID-19 situation is mitigated and normality returns.
On Meituan, a delivery platform, between 2017 and 2019, the proportion of transactions generated from night markets rose from 31% to 36% of the total catering sector’s business. Young consumers aged between 25 and 35 contribute the most－61%－to nighttime dining consumption.
The launch of the night market would naturally help McDonald’s to unleash that possibility and expand its foothold in China through its innovations, pleasing local’s taste buds.
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