CPG Companies Start to Shrink Packages
Experts predict “shrinkflation” will become more prevalent in the coming months.
June 03, 2021
BOSTON To combat higher labor costs and materials, CPG companies are downsizing packaging, the Washington Post reports. Economists and consumer analysts predict more companies will turn to “shrinkflation” in the coming months, churning out smaller packages of toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and potato chips. Similar cutbacks happened during the Great Recession in 2008.
“Consumers check the price every time they buy, but they don’t check the net weight,” said Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who has kept an eye on product sizes for more than three decades. “When the price of raw materials, like coffee beans or paper pulp goes up, manufacturers are faced with a choice: Do we raise the price knowing consumers will see it and grumble about it? Or do we give them a little bit less and accomplish the same thing? Often it’s easier
Consumers are absorbing higher labor and materials costs in the form of thinner rolls, smaller cans and lighter bags, and experts say such “shrinkflation" will ramp up in the months to come.
Consumers are absorbing higher labor and materials costs in the form of thinner rolls, smaller cans and lighter bags, and experts say such “shrinkflation" will ramp up in the months to come.