Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells subs sandwiches and salads. It is a privately held company owned by a group of people called Doctor’s Associates Inc. Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 37,881 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of November 7, 2012.
Subway uses market research to find about the following: * CUSTOMERS – The use of customers helps subway a lot for market research. They could use surveys to see what has been a hit with the new subs or see what they like/dislike about subway. * With this idea, At the bottom of a customer’s Subway receipt, there is a code that can be entered into their website which gives them a free cookie, if they give their feedback. This is a great way to conduct primary research; it adds incentive for the customer to do so. This is a good way of doing it as people would be more drawn in and would be more willing to fill out. * Another method of market research for subway is by looking at the information on the till. This could also be held as market research as it would help subway be able to tell which subs are favourite and which are not. The secondary research could also help for market research by looking at stocks and contrasting two subs, seeing what is most popular and how much more popular they are than the other. * Also, The Subcard is another effective way of primary research; every time the card is scanned into the till, information about what sub they are buying is recorded and this keeps track of what subs are popular. This is another form of primary research that benefits customers as they can save points to get a free sub. * Subway also uses focus groups. A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.