I was surfing the Internet and saw this video of an ATM that you can swipe for sprinkles cupcakes instead of cash. (read more: http://wendalicious.com/2012/03/08/cupcakes-at-the-touch-of-a-button-and-a-swipe-of-a-card/) Amazing right? It looks just like a normal ATM for cash but its all painted in bright pink. It is really amazing how the company can manage to sell fresh bakery goods using this kind of channel, ATM, to have 600 pieces of fresh cupcakes stored behind the machine refreshed daily, and ready to be serve through the machine.
I think Sprinkles did a really good job on marketing. It really catches many people’s attentions and received quite a lot of media attention through facebook and twitter. This Cupcake ATM is the world’s first cupcake ATM located in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Sprinkles has a really cool and trendy brand image, and even with this ATM makes the company seems more trendy to the customers. This ATM not just only target children because of its bright look, but also those who want to buy sweets at night. It is a lot more convenience for customers to buy cupcakes at anytime they want using this machine, thus increase higher sales when the store is not opened, provide convenience which in turn increase customer satisfaction.
The machine itself also attracts many people to come try out this new machine of the world. With the screen that customers can select variety of flavor and color of the cupcakes, and the machine webcam that shows on the screen which let them watch mechanical arm moves itself to get the cupcakes they selected. It is a very new and advanced technology for this type of industry, bakery where all the baked goods have to keep fresh.
In terms of price, I think that the brand itself have an image of a cool, trendy and high-end look towards many people which allow them to price their products a bit higher than normal cupcakes. Each cupcakes cost $3.25 in store and $4.00 if buy from the machine. Even though the price of each cupcake can be considered very expensive, their marketing and branding make the company differs to normal cupcakes shops. With unique brand image and good quality of cupcakes allow the company to sell their cupcakes at higher prices without losing their customers. In addition, now they are planning to open the machine at many locations in the world such as New york. This means that their marketing is really growing not just in LA, but elsewhere in the world.
This is the link to the youtube that shows how the cupcakes are dispensed from the machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jlLQbL2Rv2I#!
(Somehow i can’t link the video on my blog, please check on youtube instead)