Your Favorite Snacks Are Getting Smaller Thanks to 'Shrinkflation' (2024)

FAQs

Why are snacks getting smaller? ›

Companies choose to shrink their products rather than charge more for a simple reason: Consumers often pay more attention to prices than sizes. When quantity goes down, “people might notice, but often, they don't,” said John Gourville, a professor at Harvard Business School. “You don't get sticker shock.”

As previously mentioned, shrinkflation is caused by companies choosing to reduce the package size of a product while maintaining the current price. It tends to occur during periods of inflation as companies are challenged to maintain operating margins despite rising costs.

This includes making candy bars sold in multipacks smaller than ones being sold individually, or changing the shape of their products so you can barely notice the difference in weight.

Shrinkflation has been a practice since at least the 1950s. Due to widespread issues like back-ups in the supply chain, decreases in the labor force due to demand for higher wages, and the cost of raw materials, companies use shrinkflation to keep their profits up.

While shrinkflation is currently legal, as long as companies are indicating that there has been change in size on their package, something that it seems only eagle-eyed consumers are able to catch. However, this might not be the case for very long, if lawmakers have a say.

Of course, shrinkflation tactics can also backfire badly. Most people won't notice small changes to the size of a product. If they do, it could have a detrimental effect on consumer sentiment toward the perpetrator, leading to a loss of trust and confidence.

According to BLS: “while consumers may notice shrinkflation at the grocery store, it has a very small impact [on] the overall inflation picture they face.”

In economics, shrinkflation, also known as package downsizing or weight-out, is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity while the prices remain the same.

Mars has admitted to shrinking the pack size of Maltesers, M&M's and Minstrels by up to 15% with no intention of reducing the price. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Why are potato chips getting smaller? ›

Rather than putting the prices up again, many retailers are reducing the size of a product while keeping the price the same – and this is known as shrinkflation. Technically, prices are still rising as you're getting less for the same money – but as these changes happen incrementally, you might not always notice.

Pepsico changed the shape of its Gatorade bottle. They said it was to make it easier to grab. But the old bottles held 32 ounces and the new bottles hold 28. And they're the same price.

The Food Institute says that higher costs for basic food items—like wheat, flour, proteins and vegetables—are causing strain for restaurants. Now, with food shortages and the increased cost of ingredients, restaurants need ways to make the experience as cheap as possible.

It's not your stamina for sweets that's changed—it's the candy, which has gotten smaller over the past few years, thanks to a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation.” Toilet paper, cereal boxes and other grocery shelf staples have also fallen victim to manufacturers' sneaky tactic of shrinking the size or weight of a ...

This could be tariffs on Chinese imports put by the Trump administration, the soaring price of shipping during the pandemic supply-chain crisis, higher wages to attract workers or bad harvests of specific ingredients like cocoa. Shrinkflation feels particularly painful at a time of high food prices overall.

Experts say shrinkflation proliferates in times of high inflation as companies grapple with rising costs for ingredients, packaging, and labor. It's the inflation you're not supposed to see. From toilet paper to yogurt and coffee to corn chips, manufacturers are quietly shrinking package sizes without lowering prices.