Subway has a clear concept of letting people choose everything about their sandwiches themselves. First person chooses their sandwich, then the main theme of the sandwich meaning the main ingredients. After that person selects the fresh ingredients inside the sandwich and at the end the sauce and other spices.
I hate this selection process. I truly really hate it. I hate it so much, that I only go there if I don't have any other viable choice anywhere near. It always makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't want to choose all the things inside my sandwich, I just want a sandwich.
I'm wondering that am I the only one feeling this way? Subway is such a popular that people must like something about it. This bothers me. I've always thought that limiting choices is the way for better results. There's even many studies to proof for it. Here is for example one of those studies stating that reducing available choices will get people to buy more. For some reason this rule does not seem to apply with Subway.
I do know that people are irrational. Purchase decisions are not made rationally, but more with feelings. Brand building is exactly about feelings. Could the reason then be that Subway have been able to build such a good image to peoples' head about them being the healthy cool choice for a meal, that people go there even they hate the selection process. Or then they don't hate the selection process as much as I do.
It's always hard to accept the facts that are against your own point of view. Subway is one of these good learning lessons for myself. Even though I really hate eating at Subway, it's one of the most popular dining places in the world. They must have figured out the receipt for success. It's better to try to learn from them than to ignore them.
Written by +Henri Hämäläinen
The Paradox of Choice Ted talk by Barry Schwartz http://youtu.be/VO6XEQIsCoM Good talk about the amount of choice people are given on everything.
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