Week 4A:  Defining Target Markets

          This analysis of the web sites for Subway Sandwiches and Hungry Bear Deli focuses on target markets.  To a certain extent, they share the same target market, hungry people looking for self-serve fast food for any meal.  They have photos of their food to tempt users if they aren’t already hungry.  Both have three-slide banners on their home pages, although Subway makes you click away an entry screen to access anything on their site. 

          The goal of these sites is to get people to place an online meal order.  There are subtle differences between the two sites and one of the places this is detected is in the ordering schemes.  Subway uses almost all photos for ordering, including when choosing options for a selection ie. what condiments should go on a sandwich.  The user just clicks on the photo of the condiments or other options (type of bread, meat selection, etc.) .

 

          Hungry Bear Deli also sports online ordering with customization of each order,  but their offerings all have thorough descriptions while there are only photos of some items.  Customizations are done using the nouns that name the condiment or selection option.  So more reading is required to order on the Hungry Bear site.

 

          The differences between how one orders food is propagated throughout the site.  All of the top two levels of navigation are primarily photos and large graphics with a minimal word count.  This expands Subway’s market to include those who have lower-level reading skills such as children, tweens, and the sight-impaired.  More people can easily order off of the Subway site compared to the Hungry Bear site.  On the other hand, from a purely subjective point of view, the food images on Hungry Bear are more appealing.  Almost all of the Subway photos are of sub sandwiches where Hungry Bear depicts a wider range of food.

          The two sites are similar in other ways.  Both use large graphics and a simple color scheme on the first level pages of their sites.  Subway’s main color is green, possibly to symbolize healthiness, and it is accented by a bright yellow, an analogous warm color to go with the cooler green color.  Hungry Bear’s main colors are green and red, with red being the complimentary warm color to the cooler green.

          They both use big, bold text with a lot of space around the graphics for easy reading and attention-getting.  Subway’s site requires potential customers  to click through to see anything on the site, already getting the user trained to engage some more.  The ordering pages are nicely laid out, with lots of appropriate negative space to set off the options.

          Subway has a lot more information on its site than Hungry Bear Deli does, but it is all in lower levels that users choose to drill down to.  The further down the tree the user gets, more text and fewer photos are offered up.  Subway really wants people to get to know them if they are so inclined.  They have all of these sections at the bottom of every page:

Our Plan is one of those entries and it includes sustainability policies and their progress on them.  

This is a global company but they want their potential customers to know they are environmentally conscious and respectful.  We should all care about this ,but younger people care more because they are worried about what they will inherit from preceding generations.  This is more targeting aimed at a younger audience.

          This contrasts with the simple banner across the bottom of Hungry Bear’s pages.  It has six social media icons on the left side and Jobs, Contact, and Email Signup on the right side.  This site is significantly simpler than the Subway site and they don’t have places to drill down to.  Their Catering section is simply a form to fill out for inquiry. 

          Both sites are set up for hungry people in a hurry to order a meal, but Subway’s site appeals to a wider audience including really young people and those who don’t see well.  The look and feel of the upper levels of the two sites are strikingly similar and it isn’t until a user hits the lower levels or goes to place an order that the differences show up.  One can almost click away on just photos to order on the Subway site whereas a user has to read the text on the Hungry Bear site in order to place an accurate order.  Unless a user specifically drills down to lower levels on the Subway site, both sites are a quick read for those who like to read everything on a site.