- Shrinkflation in UK products
- Consumer group Which? investigates
- Calls for transparent pricing
Which? We urge retailers and manufacturers to be more forthcoming regarding “shrinkflation” and “skimpflation.”
Respondents were overwhelmed with responses when Which? Requested examples of products that were more compact or contained fewer essential ingredients.
Boxes of tea sachets and sausages containing less pork were included.
According to the British Retail Consortium, as production costs escalate, retailers are attempting to restrain price increases.
Which? Selected the following instances of shrinkflation:
- Listerine Fresh Burst mouthwash volume was reduced from 600ml to 500ml. Also, at Tesco, the price increased by 52p.
- PG Tips Savoury Decaf: Some supermarkets reduced the number of bags in pyramid tea packs from 180 to 140.
- Crispy Kettle Chips: Tesco reduced the quantity of Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorn Crisps from 150g to 130g.
- The Lurpak Yeo Valley Organic Salted Spreadable decreased from 500g to 400g at Sainsbury’s and Tesco, while Slightly Salted Butter decreased from 225g to 180g at Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.
It was also discovered that formulas for additional products were modified to incorporate cheaper ingredients:
- The clotted cream in Sainsbury’s “Clotted Cream Rice Pudding” was entirely substituted with whipping cream. Since then, it has been repackaged.
- The Morrisons Avocado in 150 grammes of guacamole was reduced from 80% of the recipe to 77%.
- The beef content of 1.5 kilograms of Tesco Beef Lasagne decreased by 19 per cent. The proportion of chicken in Waitrose Butter Chicken Curry decreased from 47% to 41%.
Which? Recognises that the modifications above have transpired during surging food inflation. Their food inflation tracker indicates that annual price increases crested in April last year at 17%.
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According to the consumer group, the research indicates that consumers frequently pay a premium for less.
For consumers to readily compare prices across brands and pack sizes, supermarkets and manufacturers must be more forthright regarding changes to popular products and unit pricing. This can be achieved by ensuring that pricing information is prominent, legible, and consistent both in-store and online. “Who is the retail editor?” inquired Ele Clark.
According to Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, the majority of the instances cited by Which? were the result of manufacturer decisions rather than retailer ones.
Mr Opie stated that despite this, retailers are solely concerned with balancing rising production costs with price increases for customers, so long as product quality is not compromised, in light of the difficulties households face due to the affordability crunch.
So that customers may make well-informed purchasing judgments, the sizes and prices of every product are explicitly indicated.
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