Do you remember the story of American Airlines removing one olive from their salads saving the company over $500,000 per year? A story that has gone down in history as simple yet incredibly effective. This is a classic example of shrinkflation and its happening EVERYWHERE.
Shrinkflation is the cheeky process of items shrinking in size or quantity while their prices remain the same.
When it’s a habitual common purchase, do we really take much notice of it and will it make us stop consuming that product or do we just accept the change.
The answer is we will probably still have that Cadbury’s chocolate bar that’s down from 220g to 200g because we want chocolate and having 200g of chocolate is better than having none. But is it fair that the price hasn’t changed.
The question is, why do they do it? Well with increasing competition in the marketplace especially from Lindt in the chocolate market, brands are having to think of alternative ways to cut costs and stay competitive without affecting the quality of the product and their value.
But are these brands guilty of misleading us? Technically, no, fair trading emphasises that a big box is not deemed as misleading if the correct servings, volume or weight that is stated on the front matches what is in the packaging. Also, this stresses how a reasonable amount of empty space is permitted by law. For example 25% for cereals and 40% for delicate snack foods is considered reasonable empty space. So next time you open a bag of chips and you think to yourself you aren’t getting value for your money as it only seems to be just over half full, then technically that brand isn’t ripping you off.
So in a world where quantities are getting smaller but prices are static we need to ensure that our budget is flexible with the changing marketplace. Will brands reduce their products so much that we will have to buy two of everything? Who knows! When competition is high and quality can’t be sacrificed anything is possible. Prepare for the unexpected.
If you want to know how brands reduce the volume but not the packaging take a look at the infinite chocolate trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmBsPgPu0Wc