Does anyone give a discount for large volume orders? I had a client ask this. I'm not sure how to respond as I price each cookie individually based on what its worth. I hadn't really thought about this before. How would you discount 500 cookies at $8 each? Should I discount? Any ideas?

Do you buy your ingredients in bulk, so that those savings could be passed onto the client in the way of a discount? If not, I would not offer a discount. Simply because it's a big order doesn't make it any less work for you!

I do purchase ingredients in bulk from sams club. The fondant from gsa. The same ingredients get used for all of my products.

I would only offer "discount" for repetitive orders.. not only one time. Especially if it's the first time!

Like Gemini said, it's not less work!

Maybe you could give them discount in the form of cookies since it would cost you less than $8/cookie. I'm not sure how many would be appropriate but that's a big order!!

I've been asked but never granted a discount, my flour & electricity aren't cheaper because I use more of it and my time isn't worth less because I give more of it. These cookies are luxury items and if you have someone ordering $8. cookies they can afford to pay! If they want a reduction have them choose a simpler design.

Don't be so swift to give a discount for an order that size. How many other orders are you not going to be able to do so you can do that order? If you're having to turn down other jobs to be able to dedicate the time needed for those, and then discount your work on top of that you're taking a double whammy.

Sure, you can get flour in huge sacks and cases of butter, but I haven't been able to find my time in large economy sizes! Those cookies are not about ingredients, rather they're all about skill and your time.

I only offer a minimal discount for large orders. And that is only if I don't have to bag each cookie (which is generally already included in the price). I also work with a caterer who orders a lot of cookies from me (I have 675 of them coming up), and I give him a slight discount as well since he has shown me that he will continuously order from me. Otherwise I suggest a smaller size or simpler design. HTH!

I am a little curious what an $8 cookie looks like.

Thanks for the replies! I don't think I will be discounting first time orders. I may send out a 10% off your next order coupon or do something like that for a holiday order. The reason they are $8 each is because they will be a replica of a few dress designs from the client.

That is awesome! Thanks for the reply

I think your solution is a good one. I have trouble getting people to accept the price of $2 a cookie...I can't imagine what they'd do if I quoted them $8! Good for you for getting paid what the cookie is actually worth.

If anyone can make an $8.00 cookie, then it is you Dreme ! Your work is stunning - I love the wonderful dress cookies on your website...good luck with your order !
Kristy

I agree with the other posters that say no discount. Your costs don't go down because of the volume, and you are having to refuse other orders. What I do (I never discount) is to offer free delivery (within my tri-city area) for large orders. Seems to work, and since my husband does most of my deliveries I have no time loss.

OMG!!! Just checked out your website! Your work is amazing and YES your cookies are worth $8 if not more!! Amazing detail!! WOW!!!

Do you work out of a home oven or a commercial oven?

In my home oven, I can bake 20 cookies at a time, no matter how big the order is. No time (read "Labor") savings there.

But in my comm'l ovens, I could bake 24 cookies to a sheet, 10 cookies in the oven at once = 240 cookies at a time. It would take 2 baking batches for me to bake 500 cookies. Definitely labor (i.e. "cost") savings there.

How are they being packaged? I had Macy's Dept store order some decorated cookies, but they just wantd them bulk-packed, not individually wrapped. THis was a material savings (2 boxes instead of 75 bags-n-ties) and a labor savings.

While the bulk-bought cost of ingredients is a factor, remember that our ingredients are the smallest part of our costing equation and our labor is the highest.

Too many people on here seem to totally disregard that fact when figuring pricing.

Clearly I'm in the minority here, but I offer a 10% discount on orders over 90 cookies. This assumes that all the cookies are identical (same design, same color, etc.). I offer the discount because I actually do think there is some time savings if I am doing the same cookie over and over. I still only have to bake two "extras" on the whole order (in case of breakage, etc.), I only have to mix one huge batch of glace and can tint the frosting in bulk. I only have to set up two bags per color and after the first few cookies, it is a totally automated process. All of this adds up to a savings for me and I am OK passing that along to clients.

I am still a small-time operation out of my home, working when my children are sleeping with a max capacity of 200 cookies per week, so I am offering a discount when I have a single client using almost 1/2 of my total capacity.

FWIW, my cookies start at $4.50 and go up based on complexity.

Just one other perspective Happy Baking!!

Wow! Your cookies are stunning....a real pleasure to look at. I could never bite into one of those beautiful dress cookies!

I agree with most here about not giving discounts. I tell people that each custome cookie is decorated the same way and in the same amount of time. Since it doesn't take less time to decorate more cookies, why give them a discount? What i do for repeat customers is stick in some smaller or plain type cookies in their orders but i won't lower cost.

your not a sams club.... As said a hundred ways... your not doing less work for a simple design..... I wouldnt discount your order.

Well, I'll represent the flip-side of the argument, and maybe a more practical one.

Sure, I wouldn't want to discount cookies when I think I can still get $8 per cookie. The question is really only relevant when you consider that the client could go elsewhere. If they're not, why would you give a discount? It's not a charity!

But in all likelihood, especially when you're in a competitive market and working with clients who are not friends or family etc, the client could go elsewhere. The cost of labor of mixing and baking the cookies, for example, could be 2 hours, whether it's 1 or 50 cookies. Maybe 3 hours if it's upto 100 cookies. Maybe 4 hours if it's upto 200 cookies. Maybe 5 hour upto 300 cookies. There's a curve, where the more cookies there are, the less labor goes into EACH cookie. The same is true for the decorating, as you may only need to mix colors once for each color, regardless if you're making 1 cookie or 500.

Fact is if you don't offer a discount, your competitor, who knows they will still make money on the order, will beat you on the price.

If that's not a concern and you're working from home or it's a hobby etc, then it's no problem. If however making sales is important to pay the rent, and you're not necessarily the one putting in the bulk labor (i.e. you have employees), then you may want to consider discounting.

FYI: 500 cookies easily passes my threshold for discount. Where it starts, I don't know, and depends on my mood and angle of the sun at any given time, but it definitely starts well below 500.

Maybe I would have started at $12 per cookie for upto 24, and ended at $6 for upto 500.