Regardless of who or what is to blame, Canadians are feeling 'worn down' when it comes to covering costs for essentials
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
There are a lot of angry shoppers wandering the aisles of Canada’s grocery stores, turned off by shrinkflation and brands that they think are unfairly using inflation to justify price increases, according to a new survey by marketing company UAB Omnisend.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Omnisend said 72 per cent of respondents said shrinkflation — the practice of reducing the size of a product but charging the same price — was especially evident in groceries, while 92 per cent said they had noticed instances of shrinkflation.
“Consumers understand that costs change, but they want those changes to make sense,” Marty Bauer, an e-commerce expert at Omnisend, said in the report. “Shrinkflation creates the opposite impression: that a company is hoping customers will pay the same and notice less. In many cases, it can definitely feel like an insult.”
By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.
The next issue of FP West: Energy Insider will soon be in your inbox.
We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again
Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.
Almost 90 per cent of respondents said they think brands are using inflation as a crutch to “unnecessarily” hike prices, changing how they view products they used to trust and causing around a third to stop buying go-to names.
Shrinkflation reared its head during the worst of the recent inflation crisis when Canada’s consumer price index accelerated to 8.1 per cent in mid-2022, forcing the Bank of Canada to hike interest rates.
Retail analyst Bruce Winder said consumer packaged goods companies used shrinkflation to try to protect margins and price points for their products.