Why Mrs. Meyers Lost This Customer and What Variety Packs Get Wrong

When club retailers open the door for a variety pack, choose your lineup wisely, as one polarizing flavor can kill the entire basket. In this episode of Shopping with Christy, we break down why one off-putting scent can tank a great product lineup.

Description

Variety packs are designed to increase basket size and encourage trial. In theory, they’re smart brand innovation and packaging plays especially in high-traffic environments like Costco, where multi-packs feel natural.

But one polarizing choice can undo the entire strategy.

In this case, the four-pack format makes the purchase decision all-or-nothing. If even one scent feels out of category or unexpected, it creates friction strong enough to stop the sale. That’s the risk with Costco’s packaging design in particular. Shoppers aren’t buying one unit to test. They’re committing to four. Every option has to feel safe enough to justify that commitment.

This is where brands sometimes drift into what feel like minor rebranding failures, not because the product is bad, but because the assortment logic ignores shopper psychology. The unexpected can be interesting. It can also be disqualifying.

In multi-packs, the bar is different. You don’t get the luxury of one outlier. If one scent repels, the entire pack repels.

Video Transcript

00:00:00 Tomato vine. Yuck. I don't want tomato
00:00:02 vine. Why would I want to put tomato
00:00:04 vine on my hands?
00:00:07 Hey guys, it's Shopping with Christie.
00:00:09 I'm at Costco and I saw something, so I
00:00:11 wanted to share it with you. What we're
00:00:13 looking at today is Mrs. Meyer soap, but
00:00:15 the topic is actually variety packs.
00:00:18 Variety packs can be a wonderful way to
00:00:21 expand your market basket, get people to
00:00:23 buy multiples, get them to try a variety
00:00:25 of flavors, and just sort of overall
00:00:27 expand your share of wallet with a
00:00:29 consumer. But you've got to do it right.
00:00:31 So, let me walk you through my little
00:00:33 shopping journey right now as I was
00:00:34 looking at Mrs. Myers. So, this is a
00:00:37 multiack, a fourack of Mrs. Myers clean
00:00:39 day handel variety pack. Love that. And
00:00:41 I thought to myself, do I have room and
00:00:44 sort of need for four? Yes, I do. Great.
00:00:46 Well, what are the flavors or
00:00:49 fragrances, right? Am I going to like
00:00:50 them? Like, they're for am I sure? And I
00:00:53 took a look and I kind of saw these
00:00:54 colors, but then my eye went here cuz it
00:00:57 was a little easier to read, honestly.
00:00:59 And I started reading across and I was
00:01:01 like, oh, blueberry. Good. Fresh cut
00:01:05 grass. I don't know. Dandelion. Okay.
00:01:09 Tomato vine. Tomato vine. Why do I want
00:01:13 tomato vine soap? Like hand soap. Oh, I
00:01:16 guess they have scratch and sniff there.
00:01:18 That's interesting. Does it work? Yes,
00:01:20 it does. It actually smells a little
00:01:21 better than I thought. However, I
00:01:23 immediately I didn't even see those
00:01:25 before. I would have just walked right
00:01:26 past. So, basically, this is my journey.
00:01:28 I'm walking. I'm walking. I'm walking.
00:01:30 I'm walking. Ooh, Mrs. Myers. Ooh,
00:01:33 fourpack. Do I want those? What are the
00:01:35 fragrance? What are the scents? Tomato
00:01:37 vine. Yuck. I don't want tomato vine.
00:01:40 Why would I want to put tomato vine on
00:01:42 my hands? Not going to buy it. and I
00:01:44 continued walking on my shopping
00:01:46 journey. Ultimately, just to say, when
00:01:48 you are doing a variety pack like this,
00:01:50 please make sure you don't have a highly
00:01:52 polarizing flavor. It's not a good idea.
00:01:54 If you get just one wrong, going to get
00:01:56 massive attrition, and you're going to
00:01:58 get a drop off in your sales, just one
00:02:01 wrong scent, one wrong flavor, and
00:02:04 you're going to lose a sale. My advice,
00:02:09 even if strategically as a brand you're
00:02:11 about variety of scent, still really be
00:02:14 careful with what you're picking. Don't
00:02:16 pick something incredibly unexpected and
00:02:19 not within the category standard. So,
00:02:21 there you go. My little tutorial on
00:02:23 variety packs here using Mrs. Meyers
00:02:26 Costco multiack as an example and why
00:02:30 they just lost me as a customer for this
00:02:33 particular item. All right, everybody.

Christy Lebor Partner & Head of Brand Development, SmashBrand

20 Articles

Christy Lebor is a Partner and Head of Brand Development at SmashBrand, a premier brand development agency championing the FMCG space. With two decades of Fortune 500 CPG experience, Christy harnesses her background from industry titans to infuse brands with a growth trajectory that transitions them from category disruptors to legacy brands.

Her portfolio includes:

Brand management roles at global giants: Kraft, PepsiCo, and Unilever.
Launching pivotal products: Axe Body Wash in the US and the original Dove Campaign for Real Beauty at Unilever.
Steering innovative product lines at PepsiCo: Gatorade chews, protein bars, Mio Fit, and Amino Energy.
Pioneering breakfast innovations at KraftHeinz: Just Crack an Egg
Leading the branded business segment and global innovation at JBS, the world's largest meat company in the world.

Prior to her tenure at SmashBrand, Christy's track record spans various senior management and development roles. Each role has honed her expertise in the intricacies of FMCG, enabling her to cultivate category advantages for brands. From SKU rationalization to directing pivotal innovation stage gates, Christy's acute expertise in FMCG has consistently placed her at the forefront of the industry. Her ability to make incisive, strategically sound decisions has been key in propelling brands to market leadership.

Her philosophy pivots on the principle that timely, relevant data, integrated with brand strategy, is the linchpin for brands aspiring to scale and establish market dominance. At SmashBrand, Christy intricately weaves this philosophy, ensuring brands are not just strategically poised but holistically developed.

Educationally, Christy is equipped with a BBA from The University of Michigan Business School, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, and additional prowess in Private Equity and Venture Capital from Harvard Business School.

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