Consumer Behavior In The Fast Food Industry

Over the last decade, fast food industry has been growing globally as the number of fast food outlets increasing rapidly. To survive in a highly competitive market, fast food operators need to study consumer behaviour where it is defined as the study of how consumers obtain, buy, consume, evaluate and dispose goods and services to satisfy their wants and needs (Friesner, 2014). It involves the cycle which begins from searching of goods and services and ends on divestment of goods and services. First of all, obtaining refers to how consumers make their buying decision upon spending their valuable resources such as time, money and effort on products. It includes how consumers select and consider products by searching for useful information and

Another importance of understanding consumer behaviour is to ascertain the economic health of everyone. It helps fast food operators to develop products that can address obesity and other health problems. Moreover, understanding consumer behaviour helps to formulate public policy. Fast food operators must acknowledge consumers’ issues and develop effective ways to educate them. For instance, MacDonald can reduce food waste by educating consumers not to leave the food uneaten. By studying consumer behavior, Subway is able to develop and implement pricing, distribution and promotional strategies.

For fast food industry, consumer behaviour has a strong impact on the development of marketing strategies formulation, economic health and government policies. Concepts of consumer behaviour are applied by Subway to develop unique marketing strategies to boost sales growth. Due to the fast changing of consumers’ taste and preferences, Subway has created a right marketing mix consists of product, price, place and promotion to influence demand of their products. In term of product, Subway has been offering good quality products consist of sandwiches, wraps, salads, cookies, soups and desserts. They always serve sandwiches with the

One of the methods is qualitative research which helps Subway to discover what customers think and feel about their products offered. Qualitative research includes observation, one to one interviews and focus groups are essential when Subway are testing new products or designing new marketing campaigns (Markowitz, 2010). By observing directly the customers’ behaviour, Subway can gain valuable insight into customers’ behavior and in-depth feedback. Next, face to face interviews can be conducted by Subway which enables the participants to talk openly and give comments on the products offered. For example, allow the participants to try new product and request them to give feedback and suggestion. Besides, hosting a focus group allows Subway to interact and build good relationships with their customers. For example, Subway can conduct meetings with different kinds of costumers to discuss a certain product. Focus groups that comprise ten to twenty participants can watch a commercial and share their ideas about its effectiveness. Furthermore, quantitative research which includes questionnaires and customer satisfaction survey can be used for collecting and analyzing data from a random sample of target market. Structured questionnaire must be designed so that it is able to determine how the customers behave toward the products offered