Aligning pack sizes with customer needs to drive category growth
How NatureSweet used consumer insights to fill a gap in the market
“The data is smiling at us. But we need to understand why it’s smiling.”
Scintilla insights helped NatureSweet capitalize on a strategic opportunity to better meet consumer demand by introducing a larger pack size in the Medley Snacking Tomato segment. Consumer research revealed that shoppers favored the expanded format, citing benefits such as fewer shopping trips, suitability for larger households, and greater versatility in cooking applications.
This consumer-driven insight underscored the importance of aligning product pack sizes with evolving lifestyles and use cases, reinforcing NatureSweet’s commitment to convenience, value, and innovation in fresh produce.
The opportunity: Filling a snacking assortment gap
When reviewing their lineup, NatureSweet found that their 10-ounce tomato snack pack might represent an assortment gap—competitors offered a similar but slightly larger 12-ounce option that could have been more appealing to shoppers.
However, simply matching competitors with a 12-ounce pack might not have been enough to meet shopper expectations either. They decided to try a more drastic change, using Scintilla to validate their results.
The approach: Test alternative pack sizes
Rather than slightly increase the 10-ounce pack, NatureSweet hypothesized that introducing a new 16.5-ounce pack could satisfy an even more diverse set of customer needs and use cases. They replaced the 10-ounce pack with a 16.5-ounce pack in select locations to test their theory.
Results from Channel Performance showed that shoppers preferred the new 16.5-ounce size—unit sales grew 8% and dollar sales grew 46% over the 10-ounce pack.
Building a deeper understanding of customer preferences
NatureSweet turned to Scintilla Customer Perception to better understand this shift. They surveyed 300 Medley Snacking Tomato shoppers about their preferred tomato pack size; 61% of respondents selected the 16.5-ounce option over the 10-to-12-ounce or 24-ounce options.
Of the customers who preferred the 16.5-ounce pack, 64% said they did so because it offered better value for their money. And 57% said the extra size better suited their households’ needs, while 25% said their choice was influenced by the need to make fewer return trips to the store.
Insights in hand, NatureSweet decided to expand on the success of their test with a full rollout of the 16.5-ounce pack.
The results: The ideal pack size fueled growth and connected with customer needs
While the test rollout had been successful, results from the full release were even stronger: unit sales grew by 56% over the 10-ounce pack, and dollar sales grew by 80%.
Shopper Behavior insights demonstrated that the new size appealed to a wide range of new and existing shoppers. 23.3% of sales came from existing NatureSweet customers who adopted the new size, while 37.4% came from customers who switched from another brand to NatureSweet when the 16.5-ounce pack was released. The remaining 39.3% of sales—the largest portion—came from incremental customers, bringing in new shoppers and contributing to category growth.
