Would you pay Dh20 for a cupcake?

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Would you pay Dh20 for a cupcake?

In my case - the Case of Buying a Dh20 Cupcake - the atmospherics were not consciously planned.

by

Sushmita Bose

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Published: Fri 4 Mar 2016, 4:10 PM

Well, I did. Pay Dh20 for a cupcake. Not a pre-determined purchase; rather, it was the classic case of an impulse purchase. Marketing guru Dr Philip Kotler (my father is a huge fan of his, and had made me read many of his tomes when I was in school - hoping that maybe I'd be tempted to consider a career in marketing management) had once remarked that "conscious planning of atmospherics" contribute to a consumer's buying propensity, thereby triggering the phenomenon known as impulse purchase.
In my case - the Case of Buying a Dh20 Cupcake - the atmospherics were not consciously planned. The incident unfolded in a mall, so there was obviously an overriding element of the generic: all-in-one shopping and all that. I was waiting for my turn to get a SIM card-related problem fixed; my token number was 48, the counter was serving number 22. Since there was a lot of time to kill, I wandered out and soon found myself in front of a cupcake (and other treats) bakery.
Cupcakes, I thought to myself excitedly. Must buy.
The cupcakes, smallish ones, about half the size of a tennis ball, started from Dh18. The ones I gravitated towards (same size) were for Dh20. Lovely chocolatey sprinkles and the promise of a heart of molten chocolate. I ordered two. To go. Impulse purchase. I briefly remembered Dr Kotler.
Something (which I ignored) did go off in my head while I was paying the bill, but it was only later in the evening, when I was at Spinneys buying Newby Darjeeling teabags, that I realised why something had gone off. The Spinneys bakery gives you a dozen mini-cupcakes (half the size of the ones I'd bought earlier in the day) for far less than Dh20. And they're pretty darned good. Alright, not as good as the Dh20 ones (one of which I'd already devoured. the second I was looking forward to devouring once I returned home post grocery shopping) but, really, nothing to complain about.
Now, I had no regrets about my purchase of the two cupcakes. I'll probably do it again because they were rather delectable. I wouldn't even need atmospherics to convince me what I am about to buy is justified. What bothered me was WHY someone - like me - would spend multiple times more for a cupcake. It's just a little cupcake, one that doesn't last too long, goes in a jiffy whether you stuff it in your mouth (like I did) or delicately fork into it (like the fine ladies who drink afternoon tea with their pinky up do).
I asked a few folks for their opinion on this matter. "Because you are worth it," someone sweetly chimed in. "At times, you need to tell yourself how precious you are."
"And this is how I do it?" I asked. "Buy myself one Dh20 cupcake instead of going for a spa treatment?"
"I tried to be of help," she shrugged, before scampering off.
"It's the branding, of course!" another person boomed in. "You happily pay more - at times 100 times more - for something that's designer."
"Come on, this wasn't designer," I snapped. "This was not a Christian Dior Cupcake, it was just a regular cupcake, at a fairly regular bakery - not even some fancy schmancy seven-star bakery."
"Okay, the experience then," he continued. "You pay a premium for that."
"I had to stand in line, contend with a couple of gentlemen in front of me who changed their minds six times about what they wanted to order, and then had to wait an extra 10 minutes for my takeaway because the server was held up in the kitchen - how's that a good experience?" I wanted to know. "Plus, I didn't even use their tissues or cutlery - or ask for ketchup."
"Why would you have wanted ketchup with those two expensive cupcakes?" the same person was looking at me strangely now.
"Ufff, that's just a point of reference," I burst out laughing.
"Know what, you really have me here," he finally conceded. "I have no idea why anyone would do what you did, unless they were incredibly, unabashedly stupid."
Thank you very much.
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com


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