2023-09-12 09:40:17
Even the name is complicated! “Shrinkflation” or “reduflation” is a marketing concept invented in recent years by manufacturers around the world to “rip off” end consumers. The initial idea behind this unusual name, as hard to read as it is to pronounce, is to reduce the quantities in similar packaging with an identical or, more often, higher selling price.
All consumers have certainly noticed that the quantities of almost all consumer products have fallen for ever-increasing prices. These practices began since the health crisis and continue to this day. These are certainly not just isolated cases! “Shrinkflation” is a technique used by most manufacturers to supposedly reduce inflation, but the reality is quite different.
First of all, a short definition of this marketing and commercial strategy is necessary, even if the origin of the concept is uncertain. The term “shrinkflation” was developed from the English verb “to shrink” which means “to reduce” and the word “inflation”. We also speak in French of “réduflation”.
Until now rather confidential and practiced on the sly, “shrinkflation” or “reduflation” is also a technique considered by some economists to be quite dishonest. She consists of reducing the weight of a product while increasing its price. This is a new marker of the galloping inflation which has taken hold on supermarket shelves.
Inflate industrial margins
For several months now, the price of foodstuffs has increased precipitously, enough to dampen consumer morale. Faced with these practices which make the receipt even heavier, manufacturers have developed a practice, to say the least, Machiavellian, which aims to reduce the weight of an item while increasing its price of sale. That allows food manufacturers to inflate their margins to the detriment of consumers. This technique, generalized to the greatest number of products, was denounced in these times of high inflation.
It should be remembered that according to the latest note published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), for the month of August 2023, consumer prices increased by 0.6% following an increase of 0. 7% last July. This increase is mainly explained by the increase in food and tobacco prices. Over one month, the prices of food products increased by 2.3%, following the increase in the prices of eggs by 11.8%, vegetables by 5.1%, edible oils by 3.8% and fresh fruit by 3.6%.
Furthermore, and over one month, the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco have, in turn, increased by 3% following an increase in tobacco prices of 3.2%.
Still according to the same source, last August, inflation increased to 9.3%, once morest 9.1% a month ago. This increase is due to the acceleration in the rate of increase in prices between August and July of this year, compared to the same period last year, particularly with regard to the “food products” group whose annual slip in prices increases from 14.2% to 15.3%, the “alcoholic beverages and tobacco” group (which increases from 1.8% to 4.6) and the “restaurants and hotels” group (which increases from 11.2% to 11.5%).
It’s called stealing!
This unbearable situation for consumers, which has been going on for several months now, is pushing them to change their behavior and abandon certain products. Thus, and in order to fuel the buying frenzy of citizens, Tunisian and even international manufacturers have implemented “shrinkflation”.
Bottles of juice or soft drink, which contained one liter, now only contain 900 ml without clearly informing the customer, pots of yogurt lose 10 grams and go from 110 grams to 100 grams, packets of vanilla sugar or yeast (previously containing 10 packets) only offer 7 or 5 for sale, the 5 liter bottles of vegetable oil are reduced first to 4 liters then to 3.8 liters… It’s called stealing!
“Manufacturers keep the same package, there is less content, and we sell at the same price, or even at a higher price,” said a mother. She continues: “We should fight once morest these misleading and abusive practices. I will contact the Consumer Defense Organization to force manufacturers to include the change in content when it has fallen and the price remains the same.”
It must be said that the practice is not illegal, as long as the company practicing it informs the customer of the change. But the information is often difficult to read and buyers only notice changes by chance, alone in their kitchens or by word of mouth. This lack of transparency is unacceptable because it misleads consumers regarding both the format and the price of the products they are used to purchasing.
A check since yesterday
In France, for example, and in order to combat shady commercial practices, all manufacturers and distributors who try to to “reduce the quantity of a product for an equivalent or higher price without clearly informing the consumer”.
Moreover, since yesterday, products affected by “shrinkflation” will be indicated by a label in mass distribution stores.
“It’s a practice that is unacceptable when there is hyperinflation, when the French are suffering,” denounced the CEO of a large distribution group on the set of “C dans l’air”. These labels, revealed by the distributor, will display the words: “This product has seen its weight decrease, and the price charged by our supplier increase”, on an orange background. The objective would be to put pressure on manufacturers to negotiate price reductions.
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