Toast Box is a company related to Bread Talk which sells Singapore style of breakfast like kaya butter toast and traditional Nanyang coffee. This company was established in December as a food stall unit of Food Republic Wisma Atria in Singapore. After that, Toast Box has fast expanded with more than 30 stores to provide the best service and products to their customers. Now, this Singapore local company has been well received in other places, expanding its foothold in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong and China.
As we known, environment forces can affect companies’ ability to serve its customers. Environment can be divided into two parts: macroenvironment and microenvironment. The two parts have its different effects.
Toast Box, one of the most popular Singapore style breakfast sellers, also affected by macro environment and microenvironment.
As for macro environment, in my opinion, cultural will be the most important part of macro environment to affect Toast Box efficiently.
It is often said that when a place start to have their own breakfast “culture ", there will no longer be a sleazy city. Several years ago, many hainanese worked on British ships as cooking helpers. When they arrived in the British colonies now constituting Singapore and Malaysia, they started selling the foods which they prepared for the British, including coffee and French toast, to the local populations. They replaced the Western jams by the British with native coconut jams. This native coconut jams called kaya and the new style of toast is called kaya butter toast. Kaya toast as a widespread snake is among Singaporeans and Malaysians. Kaya toast with a cup of coffee is the true portraiture of Singaporeans’ breakfast. However, this kind of coffee also has its local characteristics. This coffee is not the traditional sense of coffee, but a type of coffee is called “nanyang kopi” by Singaporeans. Unique toast with unique coffee, it is the embodiment of the Singapore breakfast culture and the charm of this nice country.
Toast Box focuses on this fantastic breakfast cultural to produce this style of breakfast. Traditional breakfast set is their specialty, and its authentic taste and quick service make them expand fast all around the Asia. Although the traditions which can not be changed easily are really classical, Toast Box doesn’t stop at the success from copying the traditions. Kaya butter toast can be the best seller, but company cannot only depend this to develop. So they force engraved in innovation every time. It’s the reason why Toast Box has different types of new toast to meet the needs of various populations.
According to the special cultural, Toast Box was set up and expanded quickly. We can see that cultural as a part of macro environment is able to influence the Toast Box deeply.
Besides of macro environment, micro environment also can provide a big effect on marketing of the Toast Box.
Micro environment can be divided into many different parts. But as for me, competitors are crucial for marketing of the Toast Box.
Singapore as a country which has deep emotions to diet and has the mixture cultures with various local traditions. So there are so many different types of restaurants in Singapore. Singaporeans like delicious food and they try their best to provide better taste food. Therefore, building a restaurant here is not an easy thing to do. All the sellers have their own competitors. As for the Toast Box, it is one of the most popular toast restaurants in Singapore. The biggest competitor is Ya Kun kaya Toast which was set up in 1944. It won Singapore Promising Brand Award
Heritage Award and SIFST Product Award in 2005 and 2007 separately. Because of the long history, it market share and social influence are greater than the Toast Box. Meanwhile, the taste and the high quality of the kaya toast with coffee have never changed since 1944. That wins the praise of customers all around the world.
Although powerful competitors maybe will bring so much pressure to the Toast Box, it can benefit the marketing either. Company must seek to gain strategic advantage against these competitors. They need to create something they own but others don’t have. First of all, make sure the vision is the most important to do to clarify the direction of the development.
The goal of Ya Kun kaya toast coffee stall is to make Ya Kun as a household name in both Singapore and Asia, offering delectable kaya toast and other complementary traditional food and beverages to one and all. Brand influence is foremost for Ya Kun. So they try their best to expand the location and win the significant from consumers. Toast Box focuses on the other part of marketing. Their vision is to infuse passion, fun and vibrancy to create a new lifestyle experience for their customers. Toast Box focuses on change the customers’ old lifestyle. They tend to make their breakfast becoming a part of customers’ life. In order to against the competitors like Yakun, Toast Box never gives up in creating new kinds of toast to meet the developing needs of consumers.
Because of powerful competitors, Toast Box develops towards a much more positive direction. Therefore, competitors as a microenvironment affect marketing of the Toast Box a lot.
Consumer purchases are influenced by strongly by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. For the most part, marketers cannot control such factors, but they need to manage them as much as possible.
Firstly, cultural factors could deeply influence consumer behavior. Cultural is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behaviors. Singaporeans like kaya toast with coffee starting from a long time ago. This kind of breakfast is the culture of Singapore. Toast Box meets the wants of the Singaporeans. So it could develop well in the past few years. Marketers of the Toast Box successfully spot the cultural shifts to create new products that might be wanted. We can easily find that culture deeply affect the customers in Singapore to choose Toast Box.
Secondly, a consumers’ behavior also is influence by social factors. Everyone has their own groups and they cannot get rid of their own groups. In the same groups, the people maybe have similar interests or lifestyles. Social networks become more and more popular these days. It makes the contact between people in the same group or not has become more and more closely than before. This change also changes the ways of marketing. Toast Box has homepage on the Facebook, people can “LIKE” it if they really like it. A large amount of people exchange their mind and information. That makes the influence of Toast Box become bigger and bigger. The power of groups and social networks cannot be ignored.
Thirdly, a buyer’s decisions also are influence by personal factors such as the buyers’ age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life styles, and personality and self-concept. A person’s occupation affects the goods and service they bought. Toast Box sounds like a fast local breakfast seller. Their service is fast and convenient. So it is the best choice to busy office workers. However, as a housewife, Toast Box’s fast and convenience will not suit her. They maybe will choose breakfast that is delicate and attractive. So Toast Box focuses on the population of busy office workers according to their occupation.
Finally, a person’s buying choices are further influence by four major psychological factors: motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. Beliefs come from the level of trust of company. As for Toast Box, it will influence by the quality of food and service. Attitude of customers are difficult to change. So company should usually try to fit its products into existing attitudes rather than attempt to change attitudes. So customers are hard to change their preference to products, Toast Box needs to produce new products really meet the attitude of most customers.
In conclusion, from the overall research of the Toast Box, I can realize the affects of microenvironment and macro environment are important to the development of Toast Box. So in order to promote development of a company, to improve its own microenvironment and the society macro environment is very necessary. And the four factors such as cultural, social, personal, and psychological can influence the consumers’ choice deeply.