How 3M Mexico turned shopper insights into growth

Rather than using Scintilla only as a reporting tool, 3M Mexico integrated the ecosystem into day-to-day planning across its portfolio of brands—turning shopper insights into action across three distinct product stories. By connecting purchasing patterns, category dynamics, and store-level opportunities, the team identified targeted strategies across merchandising, innovation, and pack architecture.

This approach helped create more relevant shopper experiences, strengthen category performance, and uncover new growth opportunities across multiple categories.

The opportunity: Turn shopper complexity into category growth

Walmart Mexico serves dynamic shoppers across four formats: Bodega Aurrera, Walmart Supercenter, Walmart Express, and Sam’s Club. Shoppers can make different category decisions by channel, format, region, and shopping mission—making their behavior complex to understand.

3M Mexico saw an opportunity to use Scintilla to better understand what purchasing patterns were already revealing about its categories and products. Rather than looking only at brand performance, the team wanted to uncover the broader shopping mission behind each category and identify insights that could be turned into action.

The approach: Decode the full shopping mission

The team built a scalable model that turned insights into opportunities for 3M Mexico and Walmart Mexico through a clear, repeatable cycle:

From that scalable model, they shaped three growth opportunities:

1. New product development in Bath Accessories: Shopper Behavior revealed that more than 50% of adults in Mexico use bath sponges, and more than 35% of shoppers purchased two or more per trip. It also showed an average purchase volume of more than 2.5 units per customer, further validating demand for a two-pack. Using these insights, 3M Mexico and their Walmart merchant introduced a new two-pack at Bodega Aurrera and Walmart Supercenters.
2. Cross-category display in School Supplies: Scintilla insights identified an opportunity for 3M Mexico to grow Post-it by partnering with Newell Brands’ Sharpie. While Post-it was losing customers and sales—and private label held 61% of category sales share—Shopper Behavior Basket Analysis showed that Post-it appeared in nearly 10% of Sharpie baskets. That overlap pointed to a shared back-to-school shopping mission. Working with their Walmart merchant and Newell Brands, 3M Mexico translated the insight into “Better Together,” a co-branded Post-it and Sharpie display placed in seasonal back-to-school and stationery aisles running for eight-weeks in 100 stores.
3. Launch distribution strategy in Household Cleaning: With limited recent innovation in the Scouring category, 3M Mexico saw an opportunity to introduce Brite by Scotch-Brite, a Gen Z-focused product platform. Using the Shopper Behavior Performance in Detail report, 3M Mexico identified shoppers who valued quality and purchased more specialized cleaning products. The Where Sold report helped pinpoint stores with higher spend per customer, informing where in-store demonstrations and activation could have the greatest impact.

The results: A repeatable model for shopper-led growth

Across three categories, 3M Mexico used Scintilla to move from shopper understanding to focused action—and from action to measurable growth.

1. Bath Accessories: 3M Mexico successfully introduced a new two-pack at Walmart Supercenter and Bodega Aurrera, addressing an existing need for multi-unit purchases.
2. School Supplies: The “Better Together” display helped Post-it become the category leader. Sales grew more than 26% in display stores, compared with 20% in stores without the display. The display also generated incremental sales, with more than 97.5% coming from new customers.
3. Household Cleaning: 80% of sales from Brite by Scotch-Brite were incremental to the category, with most of that growth coming from new customers.

Together, the three cases show how 3M Mexico used Scintilla insights across their brands to identify shopper needs and act on new growth opportunities. By connecting Scintilla modules, the team turned those insights into more relevant decisions and category growth.