Shrinkflation is real, and it’s happening down under! Not only has Australian economy has been shrinking for years, now your food is too. The catch is, you are still paying more, but for less volume. What is it you ask? Shrinkflation is a ‘pretty sneaky’ tactic that means you ‘get less product for the same price’. If you don’t pay attention to net weight, you’re never going to know that you’re getting less for your money.
You. Heard right, situation wherein, although the price of a product remains the same, the size of the product “shrinks” or reduces. When the size of the product reduces and the price remains constant, it means that the price per unit of weight of the product has increased and that the product’s price is inflated. In economics, shrinkflation, also known as the grocery shrink ray or package downsizing, is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity, or even sometimes reformulating or reducing quality, while their prices remain the same or increase.
It is not just foods either, housing shrinkflation has Australians paying more for less. New data on greenfield land sales across Greater Melbourne shows that lot sizes are shrinking and median prices are rising, amid land shortages and rising construction costs. In Melbourne alone, which is our biggest residential land market, lot sales reached 21,000 in 2021. This happened while prices increased 15 per cent as first home buyers and others priced out of the established housing headed to the outer suburbs.
So, buyers beware, those tiny food toys from Coles may be trying to tell us something.
