Introduction
Subway Company is an American based restaurant franchise, which carries out the business of selling sandwiches and salads. The company is owned and controlled by Doctors Associates, Inc. (DAI). It is the biggest restaurant chain in the entire world, which deals with a single brand. Its headquarters are located in Milford, Connecticut, and it has five major regional centers, which support its international operations across the globe. Its major regional centers are located in Amsterdam, Brisbane, Beirut, Lebanon, Singapore as well as Miami in Florida. It was established by Fred Deluca and Peter Buch in 1966. Its first restaurant was opened in New York in the same year. Since then, the company continued expanding and by 2009 it had around 30,000 franchise centers in 90 countries across the globe.
Market segmentation
Market segmentation involves dividing the market into groups that have similar needs. This helps in identifying the target market (Kotler 127-129). Subway Company is influenced by different attributes and factors in order to identify the right target market. Customer consideration is one of the factors that influence the subway in identifying the target market. Subway Company mostly targets customers who are between the age of 18 and 39 years.
The company offers various products, which are consumed by different age groups. It targets various groups with advertising such as children, as well as African American youth and Hispanic youth. For instance, the company targets children in its marketing strategy this is because most of the fast-food advertising appeals to children. In terms of geographical segmentation, the company sells different products in different regions. The company sells different products in various markets such as Asian, European as well as the United States of America.
Customer needs satisfaction
The company’s marketing strategy aims at meeting customer needs with its breakfast menu. Unlike its competitors, its franchisees use the freshest ingredients from the domestic market, which satisfies the customer need. It produces nutritious sandwiches, which are fresh and this helps in meeting the customer satisfaction (Armstrong 224-227). The company also allows the customer to select what he wants from various products such as sauces, toppings, and bread. It offers low price fast-food sandwiches, which provide value to customers hence attaining customer satisfaction. It produces different sandwiches to different customers by considering customer specifications in the product menu.
Competitors
The company has various competitors such as Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC, Hardees among others. Most of these competitors produce sandwiches, which greatly compete with that of the subway. Other competing products include pizzas, burgers as well as cookies.
Company’s current marketing mix
Products
The company produces various products ranging from a sandwich, cheese, burger meat as well as vegetables. The main product is the submarine sandwich. It also produces breakfast sandwiches as well as pizzas. The subway company provides competitive products such as nutritious sandwiches which are fresh. Its products have different sizes depending on customer requirements. This gives the company a competitive edge as compared to its competitors (Armstrong 124-126).
Pricing
The company adopts the psychological pricing strategy in its marketing strategy. This involves creating positive thinking in the customer’s mind regarding its product (Kotler 134-136). For instance, the company sells its product at €1.99 instead of €2. This has had a lot of impact on customer perception. This strategy gave subway a competitive advantage in the market. This made its competitors restructure their pricing strategies. It also helped the customer to improve its customer repetition.
Place
The company has various centers in different regions across the world. It provides products to customers in the Asian market as well as in Europe and the United States of America (Blythe 223-226). Its customers are divided into various groups, which have similar needs. The company is found in more than 90 countries worldwide with about 33,000 stores. It is the largest chain restaurant across the globe, and this gives it a competitive edge over its competitors.
Promotion
This involves communicating about the product to customers and potential customers. The company has a successful brand promotion strategy as compared to its competitors. The company uses several modes of advertising to communicate about the products to its target customers. It uses fun messages, meals promotions as well as the licensed characters to attract its customers. The company also uses T.V as well as internet advertising.
Company’s successful marketing strategy
The company has expanded its presence in many countries, and this has enabled it to increase its customer base. It is the largest chain restaurant in the world, and it covers 90 countries. The company also provides a variety of quality products to its customers. It has over two million sandwich varieties, which are found in different countries. The company provides nutrition food, and it allows customers to choose their preferred products from a variety of products (Brassington 715-718). It offers fresh sandwich and breads in its menu. Its pricing strategy has attracted many customers as it meets customer expectations through charging low price (Blythe 253-257).
Conclusion and recommendation
Subway Company has an effective segmentation strategy which has helped in identifying the right target market. This has enabled the customer to meet customer expectations leading to customer satisfaction. The company has used demographic segmentation, which divides the customers on the basis of age group. It provides nutritious food and customers are able to select their own ingredients from the variety. However, the company provides quality training to its employees in order to gain competitive advantage. It should also maintain a low cost strategy through market differentiation (Petit 532-535). The company should also open more franchises across the globe. It should also improve on its promotion strategy through campaigning.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Gary. Marketing.An introduction. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008.Print.
Blythe, Jim. Principles & practice of marketing. Chicago: Cengage Learning, 2009.Print.
Brassington, Frances. Principles of marketing. New York: Prentice Hall, 2002.Print.
Kotler, Philip. Principles of marketing. New Jersey : Prentice Hall, 1998.Print.
Petit, Stephen. Principles of marketing. New York: Wiley, 2006.Print.