Mini products are everywhere—here’s why

Everything is getting smaller—and no, we’re not just talking about shrinkflation.

Mini products are becoming ubiquitous across brand categories. Take the Trader Joe’s mini totes, which are set to come back this fall after repeatedly going viral over the last two years, or L.L.Bean’s mini Boat and Tote bags that it unveiled over the summer. Even Hermés and Fendi have gotten into the micro-handbag trend in recent years.

Beauty brands that perhaps weren’t already tapping into the travel-sized or stocking-stuffer market, like La Mer and Jones Road, have also dipped their toes in the pond in the last year as brands like Ulta and Target have partnered with toymakers like Mini Brands and MGA to create tiny toy replicas of their signature products. Even Frito-Lay has rolled out a line of mini Cheetos, Doritos, and Sun Chips.

Minis, brand marketers told us, allow brands to introduce themselves to new customers, particularly Gen Z and millennials, at a time when budgets are tight and economic concerns are high. Beyond that, minis are generating attention online for simply being adorable.

“There’s definitely more of an opportunity for virality when something is small and cute,” said Alex Kalatzis, director of marketing at beauty brand Tower 28, which sells miniature versions of many of its most popular products.

Try before you buy

Miniature products aren’t exactly new in marketing, as sample sizes have long existed to give customers a taste of a bite-sized snack or a quick spritz of perfume. The difference now is that at a time of price-consciousness, many consumers are interested in buying smaller, more affordable items before committing to more expensive, full-sized purchases. According to data from market research company Circana, unit sales of mini beauty products grew 15% in the first half of 2025—almost four times the rate of other sizes.

Kalatzis said that mini products provide a “low-barrier entry point” to a brand through both intentional and impulse purchases, and the company’s internal data supports the idea that people are looking to minis for trial purposes, particularly for best-selling products like its SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray.

“The mini [spray] is actually our No. 1 client acquisition SKU,” she said. “That, I think, is driven largely by the desire to try it before they commit to the full $28 bottle.”

Tower 28 drops mini sets twice a year, Kalatzis said, once around the holidays and the other during Sephora’s spring Beauty Insider sale as a perhaps somewhat costly new-customer-acquisition strategy.

“The margin on minis often isn’t great, so from a brand perspective, there’s probably some hesitancy to launch,” she said. “But that new-customer acquisition often makes up for it in lifetime value.”

It’s not just beauty brands tapping into the “try before you buy” mentality as a way to move miniature products. Roberto Ramirez Laverde, global senior VP for Patrón and Agaves at Bacardi, told us that Patrón launched its first mini product, the El Alto Mini tequila, earlier this year in response to growing consumer demand among Gen Z and millennials for “little luxuries” at a more affordable price point.

“It’s easier for newcomers to try new products when they are presented in a smaller size,” he said. “It also helps us to reach more consumers on more occasions.”

This correlates with recent findings from marketing agency Day One, which conducted a study on how Gen Z consumers typically spend a gift of $100. Josh Rosenberg, CEO and co-founder of Day One, said the participants in the study were very intentional about how they spent their money and were conscious of economic uncertainty. Mini products, he said, can serve to reach those types of customers because there’s “a clear value…for not a very expensive price tag.”

Tiny product, big following

So how do you get consumers aware of a mini product? Lean into the “cute factor,” Kalatzis advised. “We’ve had mini lip jellies where we’ve shown them on toddlers or little kids, and it’s all driving to that irresistibility of cute.”

Creators like @the_little_beannn and @girlyminis have figured out the allure of cuteness online and built followings in the hundreds of thousands on Instagram and TikTok by posting about mini products from brands like Tower 28, Louis Vuitton, and Coach.

When Patrón developed the rollout plan for the El Alto Mini, Ramirez Laverde said the goal was to make the smaller bottle an accessory to show off online. He noted the “visual appetite” for minis that he and his team had noticed on social media when developing the product, and decided to design custom bootstraps to show them off at Coachella and Stagecoach earlier this year. The result, he said, was a “very strong trend” of people posting the minis on social.

818 Spirits has also recently rolled out its own line of minis, which it rolled out after founder Kendall Jenner showed off her own miniature bottle online and customers expressed a collective “aww,” Kathleen Braine, CMO, told us. The minis have allowed 818 to tap into the idea of affordable luxury , she said, and the promotion online has been a mix of aspirational, lifestyle content and adorability.

“Even if you’re the coldest of hearts, when you see something made smaller,” she said. “There’s a fundamental human reaction to think, ‘Wow, that’s so cute.’”