McDonald's revealed on Friday that an important sales measurement actually dropped by one percent during the period. Warnings were given that the same thing was expected to happen for the month of April as well.
This has actually signaled the first quarterly decline in a decade in sales at restaurants that were open at least 13 months.
McDonald's has been on the defensive and has been promoting its Dollar Menu as much as possible to keep customers coming back and bring in new ones as well. The problem is that Burger King and Wendy's have also beefed up their promotional efforts, and that has caused McDonald's to use even more money on marketing.
That money is possibly going to dip into profit margins and show another decline for McDonald's.
Executives for the long time burger chain state that the Dollar Menu's fails are not the end of it, and that McDonald's needs to offer cheaper prices in the current economy. It needs to steal customers away from other fast food joints in order to progress.
"That battle for market share has become so critical for the long-term health of business, we're willing to sacrifice that margin," said Peter Bensen, the company's chief financial officer.
All three of the major burger companies are doing everything they can to try and draw in more customers. Lowering prices is just one of those methods, but the Dollar Menu fails of McDonald's is not a good sign.