That's according to The Hartman Group . In an April 26, 2006, article, author and Ph.D. James Richardson says, “we’ve noticed that manufacturers, especially in highly perishable packaged foods, have caught on to the fact that consumers increasingly seem willing to spend more per volume in order to get multipacks of single-serve sizes. And they may even avoid existing multiserving packages that generally offer an even lower price-per-unit volume.
“The biggest thing we’re noticing in America’s pantries,” he continues, “is that there doesn’t seem to be a target demographic for single-serve packaging. Everyone is using them to some degree—empty nesters, single adults, and even families, the supposed [I]raison d’etre[n] for large-sized, multi-serve package designs.” He adds, “Single-serve packaging is fulfilling an unmet need to manage waste and to acknowledge our increasingly individualistic eating patterns in a highly fragmented, fickle culture of eaters who think that every day is a good day to try something new in the world of food.”
Richardson offered the following suggestions for manufacturers of single-serve foods:
• Be more aggressive in marketing single-serve formats.
• Single-serve makes a product portable, as long as the pack is designed for easy opening, carrying, storing, and so on.
• Single-serve packaging mitigates regret of spoiled food, enhancing a shopper’s sense of well-being.
• When single-serve packs are marketed and designed well, they can overtake multiserve packaging in most categories where the latter exists.
“Consumers will pay more for the cascading series of benefits that result, if cleverly brought to their awareness,” Richardson points out.
