In addition, I would like to thank all my teachers at the College of Management Mahidol University (CMMU) for providing invaluable knowledge and sharing a tremendous experience. These days, the number of households participating in baking at home is increasing because it has a multiple channel that teaches the processes. Therefore, this research aims to answer the question of motivation and factors influencing customers purchasing bakery equipment.
Exploring the factors that influence the purchase of ingredients for household considerations benefits the bake shop that sells both equipment and ingredients. The number of the baking class is also increasing from a professional institution such as Suan Dusit International Culinary School to private baking classes. The number of stores selling baking equipment that mainly serve households is increasing the local store and international store.
This study aimed to investigate the motivation of households that bake at home. As a hobby, baking activities can be a criterion for households that matches people's motivation. The results of the study would benefit the bakery shop to motivate the household to purchase the baking equipment and increase the number of customers.
Furthermore, this research aims to investigate in households when they make a decision to buy baking equipment what kind of factors influence their purchase.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Baking Definitions
- Baking process and Baked Goods Definitions
- Baking Equipment Definitions
- Product Attribute
- Motivation of Household For Baking
- Qualitative Research: Focus group
- Populations and Sample
- Interview Questions
- Data Collection
- Data Analysis
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), purchase decision processes are the basic psychological process that plays an important role when customers make purchase decisions. The evaluation of alternatives, according to Patwardhan, Flora and Gupta (2010) can have two levels at this stage. Kotler and Keller (2012) proposed in the assessment that “consumers form judgments primarily on a conscious and rational basis”.
In many cases, the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product with the highest rating. Kotler and Keller (2012) stated that if the product and service do not meet expectations, the consumer is disappointed, which leads to the private action of abandonment or return. If the products meet the expectations, the customer will buy the product again and speak favorably to others.
The study investigates the product features that influence the purchase decision of customers as they provide them with input in various aspects. According to Xia (2002), beliefs about product attributes can influence a consumer's first response when choosing products. Therefore, this research explored the product to explore the features that customers look for in baking equipment.
According to Xie (2012), he investigated the factors affecting the purchase intention of the electric cooking appliance in Thailand. The purpose of this research is to study factors that influence households when purchasing bakery equipment and how the factors influence the purchase decision. In order to gain insight into the respondents' purchase decision and motivation, eight questions were asked.
Furthermore, to test all the factors influencing the purchase decision according to the product attributes, each respondent was asked to rate the score before the interview on the factor influencing the purchase decision. At the end of the questionnaire, the interviewer was asked to elaborate on how each factor influenced the purchase decision. Store is a major factor influencing the purchase of baking equipment 7. Brand is a major factor influencing the purchase of baking equipment 8.
To test the product features that influence the purchasing decision, interviewees were asked to rate the factors in a simple questionnaire. They have been assessed and analyzed to find the compelling factors that influence households' purchasing decision on bakery equipment and motivation to do their own baking.
RESEARCH FIDINGS
- Motivations of households for baking activity
- Identifing the way to learn baking activity
- Identifing the reason of initiated baking bakery
- Factors Affecting Buying Decision
- Identifying selecting recipes
- Factors Effecting Buying Baking Equipment (Product Attributes) The respondents have been posed the question about the factors that affect
- Quality
- Price
- After sale service
- Sale Promotion
- Product Guarantee
- Store
- Brand
- Product Design
- Advertising
- Packaging
- Getting Answers About Motivations Of Households For Baking Activity
- Factors on Purchasing Bakery Equipment
- Recommendation for Further Study
The interviewees were asked about the selection of recipes as it was the first step in the selection of baking equipment. Limiting ownership of cookware is also important as respondents describe that they would only want to purchase cookware used regularly. Of the interviewees, the personal channel and the public channel played an important role in seeking information for purchasing baking equipment.
They reasoned that the quality of the bakery equipment is important, as it is an important component of the processes. According to the respondents, price is another main factor when they decide to buy baking equipment, as when asked about the factors, price is the main element they mentioned. Respondents indicated that the after-sales service of a bakery equipment store or manufacturer is what they consider when making a purchase decision.
Respondents agreed that sales promotion was the factor that made them buy the baking equipment. In addition, four of the participants mentioned that the specialty store that sells the bakeware and baking equipment is the best option when buying the product, as it was a one-stop shop. For the baking equipment, the respondents have a consensus that design is another factor that attracts them to buy the product.
From the perspective of the respondents, the packaging is just the cover that protected the baking tools or baking equipment. This chapter draws conclusions from the study regarding the motivation and factors influencing the decision to purchase baking equipment to address the research questions. If the baking equipment business can provide the information through these channels, it can increase the opportunities to sell the products.
According to the interviewees, online channel is the most important tool to find the information about the baking equipment. From this study, the baking equipment businesses should invest in improving the compelling factors that influence the customer's decision and serve the group of customers according to the needs. Some of the baking equipment is an electronic item that needs repair and instruction; so after-sales service is the third factor considered by the interviewees.
For the baking equipment business, the author recommended that they should emphasize on the factors that have average scores of four to five (from table 4.1) that most of the respondents said that the factors are quite important and many. For the time limitation of this research, it can explore the qualitative method to investigate the factors that influence the purchase decision about baking equipment.
