Shrinkflation New Way To Consumers

Shrinkflation New Way To Fool Customers 

Today I learnt a new word -  shrinkflation, in simple language it can be termed as the grocery shrink ray, deflation, or package downsizing. As inflation is all time high in recent time , more and more companies started adopting this  by shrinking in size or quantity, or even reformulating or reducing quality, while their prices remain the same or a marginal increase.

Edgar Dworsky is a consumer activist here in USA , trying to make people aware of these tricks recently adopted by companies so that people get less for their money.

He rattles off a list of products downsized by the shrinkflation treatment. Over roughly the last six months, Procter & Gamble’s Gain detergent has sold less liquid — 154 ounces, down from 165 ounces — but in the same bottle fetching the same price. 

Well known  toilet paper brand Charmin goes from 650 single-ply sheets on a roll to the equivalent of 90% less,” to under 70 sheets a roll today. Charmin ultra soft “mega” rolls shrank from 264 double-ply sheets a roll to 244 sheets. And “super mega” rolls dropped from 396 sheets to 366 sheets.

Similarly another toilet paper brand Cottonelle also shrank mega rolls from 340 one-ply sheets to 312 sheets. Cottonelle’s soft version dropped from 284 two-ply sheets to 268 sheets. Texas-based Kimberly-Clark, also the maker of the Kleenex and Huggies brands. Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket, started shaving  50 grams (1.76 ounces) off some of its ready meals.

Candy sellers are one of the biggest culprits, Dworsky observed . Food giant Mondelez faced legal action in 2017 over creating more space between peaks of Toblerone chocolate bars, and ended up changing back to the previous shape.

So Shrinkflation is a backdoor price increase and most of the time customer does not know this trick. There are many more examples such as Gatorade beverages, Doritos , Frito Lay and many other products. 

In the inflation time, consumers hit hard and need to be net-weight conscious, not just price conscious. There is a need to raise voice  on various  social media platforms as we will  not get space in newspapers and TV space. I observed that TikTok users have already started posting about the trend, encouraging shoppers to look more closely at the weights of what they buy and make sure they're still getting value for money. Some of these videos are getting hundreds of thousands of views. 

On Yelp I saw that shoppers and diners have started to post reviews referencing smaller portion sizes, too. The site said that hot dogs, burgers, and pizzas were the food categories where reviewers mentioned shrinkflation the most.

As I am not in India at the moment so  currently not aware  how consumer goods manufacturers, restaurants have find ways and means to cover inflated prices without increasing the price . Be vigilant, if you notice such trick raise voice on various platforms.