Dear Valerie: I’ve worked on personal care formulas packaged in standard size bottles. Now, I’m being asked to formulate travel-size products. Are there any tricks I should know about? —Does Size Matter 

Dear Does:

When I worked at a salon professional brand, every few years salons wanted bigger bottles. I once saw a can of hairspray on our purchasing manager’s desk that was nearly the size of my femur. The marketing manager lamented the salon wanted “more.”

Just as large and small cell phones cycle in vogue, product sizes do as well. (Does anyone else remember Derek Zoolander’s phone?)

I also remember, on the contrary, a brand called Stowaway that was dedicated to super tiny sizes of products that were reflective of actual consumption. How many tubes of lipstick have you ever finished? Bottles of nail polish from which you lacquered every last drop? This brand made minis of any item that—essentially—you would never use a full retail size of in a product’s life span. The brand inspired me to only buy mascara minis with Sephora Points because a retail tube of mascara always dries up before I can finish it.

When I joined the industry in 2010, there was a retail site called 3floz.com. It only carried premium travel size products. I thought it was a genius idea to sell miniature versions of prestige skincare and haircare that were travel friendly. Unfortunately, this retailer did not last. In my experience, mini sizes are often requested from marketing and sales as a method of introducing a customer to a product, but they always ended up collecting dust in the warehouse. Travel sizes (or minis, whatever you want to call them!) generally don’t have great sell-through unless they’re a product with a distinct sales strategy, like a mini version of a popular or expensive product in the checkout queue at Sephora that generates an impulse response or value to the customer.

Why? Minis are not very cost competitive compared to their retail counterparts. While they might be smaller in size, that doesn’t mean their cost is proportionally lower. A 3 oz tube isn’t much cheaper than a 6 oz tube. While there is much less bulk filled into the component, the brand pays the same set up fees for manufacturing and filling as a full retail size. The cost gets amortized over fewer ounces, leading to a higher cost of goods (COGs). Additionally, with all the legal requirements for packaging, an accordion label or outer unit carton might be needed to fit all of the information, which dramatically increase the COGs. As a result, the brand either needs to take a low profit margin as part of their market and sales strategy, or they price the mini appropriately to cover the increased COGs.

There also is no real formulating strategy for minis, unless you’re formulating from the ground up, and then I would say the strategy is to make the cheapest formula possible. You can’t really dumb down an existing formula in a mini or travel size to save money, because the consumer is expecting the same product and the same experience. Otherwise, you would also dumb down your retail product, if that was an inconsequential choice. If any contract manufacturer or hotel amenity program recommends this strategy to you, politely decline the relationship. Consumers do notice dumbed down formulas and it makes an impression in their loyalty to your product, or willingness to go full size.

There are a few smart choices you can make to lower your COGs, such as packaging or logistics, like tying the manufacturing and filling of minis to an existing retail run to save on batching and setup fees. On the subject of packaging, remember not all packaging can be made available in mini size. This can impact the product use experience (if the packaging has special dispensing) and the consumer’s brand experience. After all, the mini is supposed to be an impetus to go full size, right?

One way to lower the cost per unit price is to run more pieces. This can be more stressful on cash flow and inventory management, but if you have successful sampling, promotional and retail strategies in place, your team should be able to make it work.

Valerie George

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Valerie George is a cosmetic chemist, science communicator, educator, leader, and avid proponent of transparency in the beauty industry. She works on the latest research in hair color and hair care at her company, Simply Formulas, and is the co-host of The Beauty Brains podcast. You can find her on Instagram at @cosmetic_chemist or showcasing her favorite ingredients to small brands and home formulators at simply-ingredients.com