Chicago and New York and Tel Aviv — McDonald’s Corporation has reached an agreement to acquire Dynamic Yield Ltd., a leader in personalization and decision logic technology. With this acquisition of Dynamic Yield, based in New York and Tel Aviv, McDonald’s builds on its significant technology investments for growth.
McDonald’s will utilize this decision technology to provide an even more personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital drive-thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items. The decision technology can also instantly suggest and display additional items to a customer’s order based on their current selections.
This will enable McDonald’s to be one of the first companies to integrate decision technology into the customer point-of-sale at a brick-and-mortar location. McDonald’s tested this technology in several U.S. restaurants in 2018. Upon closing of the acquisition, McDonald’s will begin to roll this technology out in the drive-thru at restaurants in the United States in 2019 and then expand the use to other top international markets. McDonald’s will also begin work to integrate the technology into all of its digital customer experience touchpoints, such as self-order kiosks and McDonald’s Global Mobile App.
Dynamic Yield’s ability to meet McDonald’s customer needs, coupled with its commitment to grow capabilities around ever-changing consumer trends and evolving marketing technologies, allows for the continued advancement and elevation of the McDonald’s customer experience with technology and innovation.
“Technology is a critical element of our Velocity Growth Plan, enhancing the experience for our customers by providing greater convenience on their terms,” says Steve Easterbrook, president and chief executive officer, McDonald’s Corporation. “With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalized experiences for our customers.”
Liad Agmon, co-founder and CEO of Dynamic Yield, adds: “We started Dynamic Yield 7 years ago with the premise that customer-centric brands must make personalization a core activity. We’re thrilled to be joining an iconic global brand such as McDonald’s and are excited to innovate in ways that have a real impact on people’s daily lives.”
McDonald’s recent advancements in the tech space — including the development of McDonald’s Global Mobile App, Mobile Order and Pay, indoor and outdoor digital menu boards and self-order kiosks — have transformed customer experiences in and around its restaurants, by giving customers more ways to pay and personalize their orders to meet their needs.
Upon closing, McDonald’s will become sole owner and will continue to invest in Dynamic Yield’s core personalization product and world-class teams. Dynamic Yield will remain a standalone company and employees will continue to operate out of offices around the world. Dynamic Yield will also continue to serve its current, and attract future, clients.
McDonald’s has nearly 38,000 locations in over 100 countries around the world. Over 92% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business men and women.
Headquartered in New York, Dynamic Yield serves more than 300 brands across the world.
SOURCE: McDonald’s Corporation