Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Advertising

Eat Fresh

Subway’s slogan is perfect.

Subway uses the advertising slogan "Eat Fresh", and focuses on how their sandwiches are made from freshly baked bread and fresh ingredients, in front of customers to their exact specifications, by employees whom Subway calls "Subway Sandwich Artists".
How much more simple could they make their slogan to imply so much? Does any other national

food chain come close to competing? You can see your food being made with tons of leafy greens piled high right before your eyes.

Sales Promotions 

One of the biggest reasons I personally love going to Subway is for the food and how it is the same sandwich yet it is just a little bit different every time. I can order the same Roasted Chicken Breast sandwich from 5 different Subway Restaurants and they will be just a little bit different each time. Not to mention a few extra or fewer veggies or sauces adds an element of satisfaction you are looking for at that moment. Having the ability to add or take away as you see fit is a nice and welcomed change from the other fast food joints.


 

$5 Footlong

A Subway franchise owner by the name of Frankel started something huge. He was looking for a way to increase slumping weekend sales at his restaurant, and that triggered the idea of selling Footlong subs for just $5.
“There are only a few times when a chain has been able to scramble up the whole industry, and this is one of them,” says Jeffrey T. Davis, the president of restaurant consultancy Sandelman & Associates. “It’s huge.” Just take a look at what the competition has done since the $5 Footlong introduction. In fact, the $3.8 billion in sales generated nationwide by the $5 footlong alone placed it among the top 10 fast-food brands in the U.S. for the year ending in August, according to NPD Group.

Sub club

 

In early June 2005, Subway announced its customer reward program would be phased out due to counterfeiting. The "Sub Club" program was discontinued in the US.
All stores in the US in the Subcard system, offering customers points with each purchase at a Subway store, which are redeemable for subs and snacks. Participating Subway restaurants in the U.S offer a "Subway Card" to customers, which functions as a stored-value cash card. In some states and provinces, the card also functions as a "Subway Rewards Card", allowing customers to earn points for free food and sandwiches. Unlike in the "Sub Club" program, no other purchase is needed when redeeming points, and registered cards can be replaced if lost or stolen. Subway runs periodic promotions in which it gives away free subs to customers who preload a Subway Card with certain dollar amounts.

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

 

Retail Format : Franchise Model

Definition of Retailing mix :

Retailers combine the elements of the retailing mix to come up with a single retailing method to attract the target market.

Subway's Target Market : Young, Urban, Health Conscious

Product :

SUBWAY menu offerd a wide variety including salads, pasta, dinners, soups and desserts. They offer wider menu and better quality fresh products. They constantly offered wider menu and better quality fresh products from 1996 to 2005. Subway prides them on always having the freshest ingredients available for sub, and they hide nothing from the customer. All their products are made on the spot while the customer chooses what toppings thay want on the sub.

Price :

Price is a potent element of the retailing mix because of its retailings' goal is to sell products to consumers, and the right price is critical in ensuring sales. SUBWAY use upscale pricing little higher than normal subs in the market. They offer differential pricing starategy
with value pricing. But create value products by service in terms of quality. Above of all, Subway is not dealing with the junk food like Mc Donald's and Subway refer to the quaility food and healthy food but in affordable prices.

Place :

To sale products, arranging Place to open a outlet becomes very important. Place determines where a product is distributed to the customers. As SUBWAY do have many Outlets on and near Oxford Street but the research shows that the outlets near to subways or public places can make the huge differences as far as the sale in concern. But, sometime people get irritated to see the too many Outlets within a small area like SUBWAY do have many branches on Oxford Street so some time can be negative point.

Promotion :

The majority of the advertising is done via national TV during prime time, sports and late programming on major broadcast networks and cable networks. Additional advertising is done via local markets on TV, radio and in print. SUBWAY restaurants also promote advertising messages and specials in-store with point of purchase material such as posters, menu translates.

Presentation :
Customers can see what is being made and can also customize their subs. And, the layout allows a sequential flow from ordering, making of the sub to billing. There are one non-veg and the other veg with billing counter in the center.

 

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

 Need Recognition

Subway chain provide diverse sandwiches with low-fat. Nowadays, people tend to consider their health benefit and value even when they want to eat foods in a short time. So, they ready to select the fast foodstores such as Subway restaurant.

Need recognition is the first stage of consumer decision making process and it can be explained as result of an imbalance between actual and desired needs. Interestingly, need recognition may relate to actual need of a perspective customer to a specific product or service, as well as, ‘perceived’ customer need imposed by businesses through effective marketing communication strategies.
Specifically, the emergence of the latter form of customer need plays an integral role in customer impulse shopping, and accordingly retailers attempt to create a ‘need’ in customer’s mind for the products and services they are offering. For instance, ‘imposed’ needs in retail environment may include ‘need’ to be refreshed and energised by consuming a range of soft drinks and energy drinks sold by retailers, as well as, ‘need’ to follow fashion trends by purchasing specific items sold by retailers.

Information Search

When people decide to eat sadwiches in Subway, they search to get information about Subway using the Internet, TV, and other media.

The second stage of consumer decision making process relates to information search. Once a need is recognised by a perspective customer, he would seek for information about the available ways to satisfy the need. It is important to stress that “the extent to which the consumer needs to search for information depends on his current information levels and the perceived value of the additional information” (Pradhan, 2009, p.123).
Customers are greatly influenced by marketing strategies of retailers during this stage of the decision – making process as well. Namely, retailers communicate information about the brand through various communication channels that might include any combination of advertising, direct marketing, public relations and publicity, personal selling, events and experiences and sales promotion (Kotler and Keller, 2009).

Evaluation of Alternatives

Sometimes, people consider 'Is Subway really eating fresh?', 'Is Subway healthy?', or 'Is Subway healthier than other fastfood stores like the McDonalds?'. Likewise, many customers evaluate the Subway before they eat in the store.

During the third stage of consumer decision making process perspective customers are engaged in evaluation of alternatives. In other words, during this stage “consumers consider the relative importance of each attribute of the product-service mix” (Reid and Bojanic, 2009, p.39).
Influencing customer behaviour at this stage of decision making process is critical for retailers in terms of improving their levels of customer attraction and retention. Accordingly, retailers attempt to attract customers with their competitive edges that are usually based in one or more elements of marketing mix.
It worth to be noted that “the marketing mix principles are controllable variables which have to be carefully managed and must meet the needs of the defined target group” (Kumar, 2010, p.45).  Depending on the nature of their chosen strategy retailers might decide to base their competitive advantages on product (Marks and Spencer, Waitrose), price (Lidl, Netto), promotion (Tesco, Siansbury’s), and/or place (Tesco, Siansbury’s).

 

Purchase

If customers do not have a new idea, they can purchase Subway sandwich easily because there are about 20,000 stores in the world.

Making the purchase corresponds to the fourth stage of customer decision making process. Factors playing significant role on the choice of retailer to make a purchase from at this stage include the level of satisfaction from past shopping experiences, product return policy, store atmosphere and the intensity of time pressure associated with the purchase.
Moreover, it has to be stated that “if the need isn’t great and the solutions the consumer finds aren’t desirable enough to motivate a purchase, the consumer may postpone the purchase until a satisfactory opportunity presents itself” (Lake, 2009, p.29)

Post – Purchase Behaviour

Subway customers accurately convey the tastes, textures, smells, presentation and enjoyability of food eaten at the Subway restaurant. They not only comment on the sandwich but also on the atmosphere, staff knowledge and attentiveness, the way the staff treats you and respects the other customers, the speed of service, the general impression of the restaurant.

The last stage of customer decision making process involves post- purchase behaviour of customers. It goes without saying that “the post-purchase phase of the decision-making process is essential for marketers to ensure that consumers are satisfied after the purchase” (Ramesh, 2008, p.3). The level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction associated with specific shopping experience customer value brand perceptions and the nature of their repeat – purchase behaviour.
Accordingly, a range of retailers invest in post-purchase communications among customers that can be done through follow-up calls or e-mails from salespeople. However, such type of practices are usually exercised in relation to high value items and it is not very popular among the majority of retailers

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Subway's chainwide growth figures are extraordinary, with the opening of about 48 units per week around the world. This translates to about seven new Subway restaurants opening per day, or one every three and a half hours.

 

 

With vision, an global entrepreneurial spirit and a unique business philosophy, Fred DeLuca and the sandwich empire that he created have become icons, inspiring thousands around the world to take their careers into their own hands and to become their own boss.

Acknowledging his contributions to the industry, Fred DeLuca was personally honoured recently with the International Franchise Association's highest accolade when he was inducted into the IFA Hall of Fame.

In 2002, the Subway chain surpassed McDonald's in number of locations in the United States, Canada and more recently, in Australia. Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, the chain has regional offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami and Singapore.

An impressive 70 per cent of the franchises sold by the Subway chain are purchased by individuals already in the Subway system. To many, this not only illustrates a level of success that Subway franchises have achieved, but it also serves as an indicator of satisfaction. So it should be no surprise that the Subway chain was named the 'number one' franchise opportunity for 2005 by Entrepreneur magazine in their annual 'Franchise 500' rankings. For those of you who are keeping score, this is the 13th time in 17 years that the chain has achieved this honour.

Director of Development Don Fertman says: "We couldn't have achieved such success without the hard work and dedication of our franchisees in the world."

23,500 reasons to open a SUBWAY® restaurant

• Over 23,500 restaurants in 82 countries - more than any other franchise in the US and many other countries

• Global brand recognition, the household sandwich name

• 40 years experience, with a dedicated support structure

• Low initial investment and simple operations

• 70% of new franchises purchased by current owners