Sep 21, 2023 06:00:00

French supermarkets post labels warning consumers about products that reduce size while maintaining price

In recent years, various companies have decided to raise product prices due to factors such as tax increases, market fluctuations, and rising manufacturing costs, but some companies are using a method called ``

shrinkflation' ' that reduces the content of products instead of raising prices. We are surviving the economic crisis. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that shrinkflation leads to distrust from consumers, and the French supermarket chain Carrefour has put up labels on products that have undergone shrinkflation to inform consumers. Masu.

Carrefour sticks price warnings on food to shame suppliers | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/carrefour-sticks-price-warnings-food-shame-suppliers-2023-09-14/

Carrefour puts 'shrinkflation' price warnings on food to shame brands | Supermarkets | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/14/carrefour-puts-shrinkflation-price-warnings-on-food-to-shame-brands

The following is a label that conveys shrinkflation that Carrefour has posted since September 11, 2023. The label states, 'This product has a reduced volume or weight and a substantial increase in price.' According to Carrefour, this product previously had a capacity of 1.5 liters, but shrinkflation has reduced the capacity to 1.25 liters while keeping the selling price the same. As a result, the price per liter has increased by about 40%.

In addition, Carrefour has announced that the content of infant formula manufactured by Swiss food company

Nestlé has been reduced from 900g to 830g, and that ice cream cakes sold by British consumer goods manufacturer Unilever have been reduced. Consumers are being warned that the amount has been reduced from 350g to 320g.

``The purpose of these labels is to tell food manufacturers to reconsider their pricing policies,'' said Stephen Bonpay, Carrefour's client communications director. In addition, Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard criticized, ``Despite the cost of raw materials being lower than at one time, various food manufacturers are not cooperating with efforts to lower product prices.''

On the other hand, a representative from

Lindt , a Swiss chocolate brand whose products were labeled by Carrefour, said, ``Our company has increased prices by an average of 9.3% across the group to match the cost structure of the local area where we sell. When raising prices, we compensated for the increased costs as much as possible by increasing production efficiency as much as possible, but the costs that we could not cover were still passed on to our customers in the form of price increases.'' This suggests that lowering prices will be difficult.

In addition, a French consumer group criticized that ``supermarkets like Carrefour are also carrying out shrinkflation on their own brand products.''

``These shrinkflation labels are being displayed at all Carrefour stores in France, and we will continue to do so until affected manufacturers and suppliers agree to lower prices,'' Bonpay said.

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• Discord | 'What about products that have the same price but less content?' | GIGAZINE
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