‘Shrinkflation’: Choice Pushes for Supermarkets to Disclose Product Downsizing

Supermarkets should be forced to reveal instances of “shrinkflation” as a warning to consumers, according to advocacy group Choice. Shrinkflation refers to when the size or quantity of a product is reduced while prices remain the same, part of the reason products may “shrink” in size is because rising inflation and costs force businesses to adjust their product offering. Rosie Thomas, director of campaigns at Choice, said that while unit pricing helped with comparing products on shelves, not everything was being read by the public, with the font sometimes too small for the visually impaired. “Unit pricing helps with comparing the products on the shelves, but if you have someone who has always bought the 360-gram box of cereal, and all of a sudden that has become a 300-gram box of cereal, you may not notice because very often the packaging looks the same,” Ms. Thomas told the Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices, in Melbourne on March 13....