This is a fantastic tale.
After realizing in 2003 that sales dipped on weekends, Subway franchisee Stuart Frankel came up with a plan to boost business: he would sell every footlong sandwich on the weekend for $5, or about a dollar less than usual.
The end result was a 10+% increase in sales.
Subway’s advertising department saw this response and decided to roll out their $5 footlong offer nationally.
The $5 footlong contributed directly to $3.8 billion in sales for the entire nation. The company’s overall U.S. revenues increased by 17% as a result.
Why?
First, let’s assume that the $5 price tag isn’t just arbitrary.
Second Hypothesis: A single individual can’t eat a footlong sandwich. It encourages you to extend a dinner invitation to your pal. This is like the viral effect, but without the internet.