It’s Shrinking! - Retail Products Continue Their Size Decline
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Many retail foods, from breakfast cereal to juice jugs, are growing smaller by the day, as companies fight to maintain profits without losing customers. With the rise in raw ingredient and fuel prices, though, something’s got to give, and most retailers have decided that a product’s cost to consumers won’t be that something. Therefore, retail products will see a small rise in price and small reduction in size, maximizing profits while keeping consumers in the relative dark.
Marcia Mogelonsky, consumer analyst for Mintel International, explains how companies can get away with such a scheme. “If you’re running through the supermarket, you don’t necessarily notice that your cereal box is an ounce or two smaller. That’s how they’re controlling the prices.” Indeed, few consumers can tell you how many ounces a package holds, though they can almost always tell you how much it’ll cost - that’s why companies have chosen to keep costs a similar as possible.
Most customers are displeased with this tactic, and perceive it as big companies fooling their customers. “It almost feels insulting, like ‘consumers are never going to notice,’” Beth Bastian, mother and bargain shopper, said. Like Bastian, many others have caught on to new packaging though - in a July Consumer Reports survey, 75% of consumers said that they noticed shrinking boxes. 50 percent said they’re rather have their old sizes back, accompanied by a higher price.
This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 am and is filed under Budgets & Money Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
