French retailer Carrefour is tugging at the reins of household food giants like Nestle, PepsiCo and Unilever with an unconventional strategy to combat shrinkflation — the phenomenon of dwindling package contents without proportional decrease in price. This week, shoppers at Carrefour supermarkets found themselves greeted by ominous stickers adorning store shelves, prominently warning of unwelcome changes in their favourite products.
Among the items singled out for this public reproach are Lipton Ice Tea, Lindt chocolate and Viennetta ice cream, with consumers being informed of the diminishing sizes or lighter pack contents. Ostensibly, this bold manoeuvre aims to apply pressure on these manufacturers to maintain price stability and thereby uphold consumer value for money considerations.
Elucidating the strategic stance, Stefen Bompais, Director of Client Communications at Carrefour stated, “The ultimate goal here is to instigate a re-evaluation of the manufacturers’ pricing policies by spotlighting these products.”
According to Carrefour, the shrunken roster includes 26 products, whose quantitative decline is not reflected in proportional price adjustments. For instance, Nestle’s Guigoz infant milk formula experienced a drop from 900g to 830g per pack, and a bottle of sugar-free peach-flavoured Lipton Ice Tea, courtesy of PepsiCo, saw a reduction from 1.5 to 1.25 litres. Furthermore, Unilever’s Viennetta suffered a slimming down from 350g to 320g. To further emphasise the issue, Carrefour has punctuated the shelves with signs that read, “This product has seen its volume/weight fall and the effective price charged by the supplier rise.”
Despite Carrefour’s flag-bearing attempts to combat shrinkflation, other establishments, particularly UK supermarkets, are not inclined to follow suit according to retail expert Ged Futter. Futter suggests this confrontational strategy could deteriorate retailer-manufacturer relationships. He articulated, “Such frank tactics can jeopardise commercial competition and potentially strain ties with manufacturers.”
While shrinkflation is a globally prevalent practice, utilised by supermarkets on their own line of products to maintain a specific price point in response to increasing costs, this bold move by Carrefour may risk accusations of hypocrisy given its industry normative nature.
In a related response, Lindt & Sprüngli spokesperson claimed that their prices had risen by about 9.3% due to escalating raw material costs; however, they steadfastly maintained their transparency, continuously complying with labelling laws hence offering consumers comprehensive information to make apt purchase decisions.
While Carrefour may have thrown the proverbial stone in the glass house of retail-manufacturer relations, the resultant ripples are yet to be ascertained in this unfolding story of shrinkflation.