Commentary

How McDonald's Acquisition Of Dynamic Yield Changes Recommendations

Fast-food junkies are very familiar with McDonald's, but probably not Dynamic Yield, the Tel Aviv-based startup that the company acquired this week. 

Dynamic Yield, which uses personalization, provides retailers with algorithmic-driven technology -- the technology that prompts a list of recommended products other customers have bought when something is added to an online shopping cart.

The technology will run in McDonald’s outdoor digital drive-through menu displays, as well as other digital customer experience touchpoints, such as self-order kiosks and the McDonald’s Global Mobile App, Liad Agmon, Dynamic Yield CEO, wrote on a blog post.

The technology will be used in about 37,000 restaurants in more than 120 markets worldwide.

Dynamic Yield was founded by Agmon and the company’s CTO Omri Mendellevich about seven years ago.

McDonald’s is committing financial resources to digital and technology, “personalizing the experience for customers.”

Kevin Ozan, McDonald’s EVP and CFO, told attendees of the JPMorgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant & Leisure Forum, earlier this month that the company needs to “modernize” its restaurants with technology.

The company has shifted “more than $500 million," he said, adding: "We've saved more than $500 million and have reinvested those additional savings into technology,” which provides less maintenance to run the business.

“McDonald’s innovative use of recommendations raises the bar for other retailers,” wrote Dan McCormick, COO and co-founder at Constuctor.io, in an email to Search Insider. “Customers currently take simple recommendation systems for granted.”

For example, he wrote, using additional attributes like the time of day, weather, and trending items will make users expect similar advanced features in online recommendation systems.

McDonald’s could see benefits in tying those recommendations on their physical electronic order menu board to search ad copy and results in that specific area for results on desktop, but especially on mobile.

"With McDonald’s recommendation technology, customers will begin to expect more relevant, personalized experiences online,” McCormick wrote. “The promise of machine learning and artificial intelligence has long been discussed, but the reality still rarely lives up to the promise. As more retailers adopt cutting-edge AI systems like this, consumers will gravitate to online experiences that are clearly tailored to their own behavior and interests."

1 comment about "How McDonald's Acquisition Of Dynamic Yield Changes Recommendations".
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  1. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, March 28, 2019 at 3:56 p.m.

    Expect to read "You want fries with that?"

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