*New York (CNN) — It’s not just you. Everything is shrinking. This week, Trader Joe’s restocked the $2.99 mini tote bags that were resold for as much as $500 on eBay earlier this year. Stores prominently display travel-sized haircare, skincare, and makeup products.
TikToks of micro beauty bags being stuffed with micro products are racking up millions of views. Even iced tea brand Snapple has launched an 8-ounce bottle, advertised to fit in a mini bag.
For many people, mini-products may not seem to make much sense. But despite the higher cost per ounce to consumers, increased packaging, and the potential to stoke overconsumption, brands are betting that shrunk-down goods will scratch customers’ itch for nostalgia and provide an affordable entry point into luxury.
Fashion Institute of Technology business management professor Shawn Carter said that, since Covid, stores are giving better shelf real estate to their mini products, a bid to battle high prices and to lure in the store’s youngest customers, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha.
Microfashion items began in the 1960s, Carter said. With the introduction of the mini skirt came the mini clutch bag and then the mini top handle bag.
Like many eras in fashion, minis have made a comeback. “That trend accelerated in 2022, it went on steroids,” Carter said. But “it’s no longer a trend. This is here to stay.”
Take it from Trader Joe’s. Matt Sloan, VP of marketing and host of the chain’s “Inside Trader Joe’s” podcast, said in a March episode the company had “no inkling” the mini tote bags would become such a viral craze.
“We had actually hundreds of thousands of bags come in and go out within a week,” Sloan said.
Finding a niche
Even if you aren’t buying small, you can’t escape the trend on social media.
Jo Barker’s TikTok account The Little Bean has amassed 3.2 million likes on TikTok for her niche of stuffing as many mini products as she can into luxury microbags.
In one of her most popular videos, she stuffs a mini Coach Tabby bag ($195 online) with a mini Charlotte Tilbury lipstick, mini Chanel mascara, mini Tarte Shape Tape concealer, mini Chanel compact powder and a mini Versace perfume — along with other essentials. Other bags are from the likes of Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton.
Barker started her account in 2021 as a creative outlet and to meet other people in the luxury community.
Covid made her realize she didn’t have to carry around as much as she thought she did, so she jumped on the mini bag trend.
“Anytime I’m going out, I usually have a smaller bag with me. I’m not carrying large totes or large bags, because it just doesn’t match my lifestyle,” Barker said.
There are a variety of ways to go mini, Barker said. Barker also makes her mini make-up by putting portions of her full-sized items into tiny bottles.
Sephora and Ulta also offer mini samples with certain purchases, in exchange for reward points or on birthdays.
It ends up being a great incentive for customers to spend at these stores, Barker said, because some of the mini items are only available as perks to frequent shoppers.
Why are people so into minis?
Even people who don’t use mini products are locked into Barker’s content. Watching someone squeeze as many minuscule bottles into a bag is the kind of relaxing, almost mindless, content that fills TikTok feeds. On TikTok, Barker has more than 100,000 followers and on Instagram, 400,000 follow her every post.
“I mean, I think there’s just a cuteness factor to it, right?” Barker said.
Think about the Polly Pockets you might have played with as a child or the kid-sized lunches packed for school. Brands are evoking those memories by tapping into nostalgia.
“Humans have always loved, you know, tiny, tiny objects, and this is just a functional iteration of that,” Anna Keller, a principal analyst at Minter, said.
Some customers also prefer minis because it’s easier to finish the entire product.
And regardless of what is typically higher cost per ounce, mini-sized items cost less than their full-sized counterparts.
Mini-sized beauty and fashion items can often be an entry point into luxury without having to resort to dupes or cheaper duplicates of more expensive brands, Keller said.
“They’re looking for ways to tap into the real luxury product however they can,” Keller said.
Producing minis can be expensive for smaller brands because of extra operational costs and having to work logistics with manufacturers — but the payoff can be worth it for companies since consumers can experiment with their products, especially as minis are already trending.
“It can then be a very valuable marketing tool,” Keller said.
Hopping on any social media fashion and beauty trend bears the risk of increasing plastic waste – there’s more packaging and manufacturing involved in owning a mini bottle on top of full-sized versions.
Companies need to start moving toward reusable, refillable products, Melissa Valliant, communications director at environmental group Beyond Plastic said, so the proliferation of “smaller bottles and smaller products instead of larger or reusable products, it just means more plastic production.”
The Association of Plastic Recyclers recommended purchasing full-size products and using reusable containers when mini products are needed during travel. That’s because packages smaller than 2 inches aren’t able to be recycled in the US system.
And value is subjective to the biggest fans of the trend.
“If I bought a larger version — okay, I’m getting more fabric for the price, but I’m never going to use that large bag because it doesn’t fit my lifestyle,” Barker said. “If you buy something that might cost more, but you’ll use more often, that’s worth the investment.”
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