Subway: Marketing and Busy Ants Segment

Introduction Subway is a fast food restaurant that was established in 1956 and is now amongst the top franchise restaurants in the world. The mission of Subway is to delight each customer with their value through the fresh, delicious, made-to-order sandwiches and exceptional experience (Subway, 2010). This essay highlights how Subway positions its product in the market. Market Segmentation Individuals in the market have different behaviours and needs. Therefore, to serve them, there is a need for segmentation (Martin, 2011). Market segmentation is viewing the heterogeneous market as a few smaller homogeneous market to have a much precise knowledge on consumers wants to ensure firm’s offering will be able to match the customer’s requirement (Oestreicher, 2011). Subway’s market segment profiles are as of the follow:
Segmentation Variables Cool Dudes Busy Ants The Suit Golden Oldies

Geographic

Country Age

Malaysia  13-20 years  Pocket money  High school, college Students  Cool  Adventurous  Dynamic  Medium

Malaysia  21-39 years  Low – High  University graduates  Ambitious  Versatile  Quick  Health conscious  Heavy

Malaysia  40-54 years  Medium – High  -

Malaysia  > 55 years  Retirement Fund  Retired  Laid-back  Practical  Health conscious  Medium -

Demographic

Income Education Occupation

Businessmen  Composed  Organised  Dominant  Light

Psychographic Personality

Behavioural

Usage rate

Market Targeting Market targeting is the partitioning of the market in order to select the market segment in which the company can choose to target through development of specific marketing mixes that will be in line with the needs of the specific target market (Restrepo, n.d.). The target market of Subway is the “Busy Ants” segment. This particular segment is targeted as these individuals are extremely health conscious, making the potentially regular customers who are willing to spend on healthier food. Furthermore, individuals in this segment