Beckie Bakes

clydebank based cake Baker! message me for any orders or questions

[beckiebakes]

How do differences in perception influence consumer behaviour?

Typically when it comes to consumers perspectives on my baking business I try to make my business appear to be a mixture of professional and home made.

What I mean by this is, my approach to customers is friendly and "homey" as I want people to not only enjoy my cakes, but to also want to enjoy talking to me and find me approachable.

The professional side of things is how I want my cakes to look. The high level of quality and professional looking finish combined with the reasonable prices I charge give me a competitive edge on the other local bakers in my area and my consistency adds to the loyalty of my customers.

An example of such Loyalty is a customer called Laura. She has 3 daughters and has consistently purchased birthday cakes for all three of them for the past 2 years. As well as this she has also been a vocal supporter, advocating my business on social media which in turn affects the perception of the business to other customers and potential customers.

[beckiebakes]

My level of involvement as a consumer

When it comes to buying equipment for my baking business I tend to be highly involved.

If applying Solomon, (2018) and his description of different types of percieved risks, and applying them to my purchases, I arrive at the following decisions:

Buying larger more expensive items such as stand mixers, cake decorating tools, etc, carry monetary risks as it's a big investment for the business.

In addition to this they carry functional risks, as they have to work consistently over multiple uses, which in turn, ties in with the monetary risk, as if a product is expensive, I would expect it to last longer than a cheaper and poorly made alternative.

As well as these risks certain products I use which cannot be easily recycled are disposable piping bags. I use these because they save me time in the long run as they can just be disposed of once they're finished being used, compared to the reusable ones which need to be washed and dried after each use, and are very difficult to get 100% dry.

Looking at this it is fair to say this purchase carries social and psychological risks to a certain degree. Customers might not be thrilled about the piping bags and their environmental impact, in addition to this it can lead to concerns over how the business will be viewed by consumers, who carry ethical and environmental decisions in high regards.

In terms of the Ladder of Loyalty (Egan 2011, cited in Aka et al., 2016).

I would class the majority of my purchases for supplies for my cake business as repeat purchases, in addition to being an advocate for my local bakers supply centre. This is because of the level of exceptional customer service that I have received in the past from them. As well as the quality and reasonable price of supplies.

references

Solomon, M.R. (2018) Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, 12th edn, Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.

Aka, D. O., Kehinde, O. J., and Ogunnaike, O. O. (2016) ‘Relationship marketing and customer satisfaction: a conceptual perspective’, Binus Business Review, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 185–190 [Online]. DOI: 10.21512/bbr.v7i2.1502 (Accessed 10 December 2021).

[beckiebakes]

What role does ethical/ green attributes play in my purchasing decisions

Typically in my purchasing decisions for my business, I tend to stick to what I know works for my cake recipes.

Therefore I would say as much as I have concern for the environment and ethical considerations when it comes to my purchases, I am more focused on tried and tested products that I know work well and keep my cakes at a standard of quality that I'm happy with and that my customers expect from me.

An example of a specific cognitive decision is when it came to choosing which Vanilla extract to use for my cakes. I chose to go with an organic and fair-trade brand, that was not only ethically sourced but also had a superior flavour when compared to the supermarket's own-brand extract, which is neither organic or fair-trade, but is cheaper.

TI would class this as a cognitive decision as I am aware that my customers want great tasting cakes, and because I cater for vegan customers too I want to try and keep the quality and flavours consistent across dietary requirements.

Despite the extract being more expensive, in the long run it makes more sense as not only is the flavour more potent and less can be used and still achieve a high level of flavour, there fore meaning less package waste and by extension less impact on the environment.