Okay guys I know these have ALWAYS been asked, but my question is more of a "bulk" pricing question.

I sell regular cupcakes ("simple cc with a swirl and that's it" is how I describe them) for $1.00. Originally my bulk pricing was 6/$5, 12/$8, 24/$15. I thought fine, since the cost of each CC is about $0.30 cents or so. Anyways, the other day I was adding more buttons to our register system and I realized:
buy 6 save $1, buy 12 save $$4, buy 24 save $9

I guess I hand't, well WE hadn't really thought it thru at 1st, but when I was creating the buttons it hit me that it was too low on bluk pricing. I mean, I want people to save and what not, but not only are the costs involved but so is labor, even if it IS a "swirl and that's it".

I brought it up to the BF and HE says he always KNEW it was too low...right, I'm sure. Anyways, then he came up with 6/$5, 12/$10, 24/$20. The problem I see with that is that the customers aren't really saving as they buy more. Buy 2 "pkgs" of 6 for $10, buy a "pkg" of 12 for $10...see what I mean?

THEN, I thought maybe 6/$5, 12/$9, 24/$17. But honestly, I still don't know. We run our own business so we really gotta figure this out. To make matters worse, we had a client come in the other day and ask for pricing and we gave her the original pricing. Which since I wrote it down on our flyer, if she comes in we'll honor those prices, but I'm afraid someone else will come in (we're new) and I still won't have this figured out. so ssssstrrrreeesssiiing...

It is not the least bit important to me that customer's save.
It is important to me that I earn.
I mean $1 each is too low as it is to me.

How about $1.50 each or
6 for $7.50 ($1.25 each)*
12 for $15 ($1.25 each)
24 for $30 ($1.25 each)

Cuppie thoughts for you.


*that's if my six o'clock in the morning math is right.

Thanx for replying!! The $1 is for very simple cuppies...hehehe LOVE that word. Around my way it's not that bad. I'm making more than double the cost, of course for special orders pricng is different.

On some cuppie sites I've seen price A for 1, price B for 6, price C for 12, price D for 24. As you buy more cuppies you're buying them for less each....hmmmm...I don't know if I explained that right.

But yeah, I'm going to calculate it with the formula in your example to see...then I'm gonna run it by my "associate" to see what he thinks...not that he gives opinions really, but out of courtesy. HAHAHAHA

Did you add in the cost for hot water to wach the dishes and the fuel to power the oven and the cost of air conditioning to cool the place back off and for paper towels and your time?

I agree with K8memphis. You are still pricing too low even if they are simple cuppies, but if you are dead set not to raise your base price of $1 each then maybe you could try buy 6 for $5 save $1, buy 12 for $10 you save $2, buy 24 for $21 save $3. The more you buy the more you save, but you are cutting into your profit margin less. And I would not give any further discount than that. If they buy 48 it would still be at the 24 for $21 price.

JMO

yeah I thought those costs got calculated in with the other stuff we have (it's a cybercafe), but mentioning it to bf...oh sorry, my associate (that still kills me lol) he did agree with you guys.

I guess I have to stop thinking like a customer (I spot a sale a mile away and even when we were looking for TVs something I know NOTHING about I was able to tell him which was the better deal)...and start thinking like a business person. At least since we're rather new, we don't get much traffic, except for a couple of regulars which are our neighbors (one is actually the one we have our lease with). I'm really going to have to reconsider all of this. and I kinda don't like increasing prices for these guys but....think business.

thnkx u guys soooo much. btw, K8memphis...LOVED the tiny cake. Confused me there for a sec even WITH the text.

I wouldn't give a discount if all they bought was a lousy 6 cupcakes.

"Volume" means "volume". And I wouldn't consider it volume until they got into the 2 or 3 dozen category.

what i've learned here is not to give discounts for bulk orders especially for cupcakes since you're still gonna be frosting each of them, baking them, etc. they should be priced individually cause it takes as much time and effort to make one. if they order 12 cupcakes you're gonna be baking and decorating 12 not the 10 they "paid" for.

I agree with indydebi - volume is volume. You should not give discounts for anything less than 2 to 3 dozens. If you are dead set on enticing them with some sort of sale maybe you can do a baker's dozen sale on a specific day of the week. Let us know how it all works out.

I sell cupcakes at $1.25 per cupcake with a 3 dozen minimum. That is not unreasonable and makes it worth the work.

If there is any batter left over, I bake them in a 6" pan and save them for wedding cake tastings.

Thank you all sooo much for ur help. So we're changing prices to $1.50. And if THAT wasn't stressing enough my friend came by to visit and tried one out. She loved them. Now she wants me to quote 150 for a birthday party. Lordy lordy lordy....can u tell this is all new to me? hehehehe It's exciting but I guess until I get thru these beginning steps it's just gonna stress me.

I'm with Indy too. They can pay full price for only 6 cupcakes. =o) Let us know what you decide.

Thank u guys soooo much for all ur advice!! I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you guys. Well we''ve decided to get the cupcakes at $1.50 and what I'm working out now is sort of a create-a-cupcake for big orders. Pricing would depend on flavor, amount, decor, etc. For Valentine's we did a couple of baskets and well...Murphy's Law right? I mean, we got them out on time except for our first one which was due at 9am and I was able to finish it at 9:02 which is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE for me. But, it was my first time and I thought I''d had a little more help, so I'm DEFINITELY counting all that work in for big orders. (reminded me of that note to self k8memphis). Thanks again though!!!

EDIT: to add link of why I mentioned Murphy's Law.