A less full packet of chips, a smaller can, a tube of the same size but lighter… and prices that don’t drop. Since inflation is galloping, the French have learned to live with shrinkflation a trick deployed by manufacturers to avoid (too much) increasing prices.
What is “shrinkflation”?
There shrinkflationfrom the English verb to shrink – shrink – consists, for manufacturers of consumer products, agro-industrialists or distributors, of reducing the quantities of products sold rather than increasing – too – significantly prices, in a context where food prices have already increased by 20% in two years.
Read also: How to avoid “shrinkflation”? Three tips to avoid getting cheated at the supermarket
The government, which has promised to tackle the phenomenon, will force traders to display the color. From 1er July 2024, supermarkets will have to inform their customers when products on the shelves have seen their quantity drop without their price decreasing, according to a decree published in the Official Journal this Saturday, May 4, 2024.
What message will be displayed?
All supermarkets of more than 400 m² in France will be required to affix a label or a poster “visible” And ” legible “ near, or even directly on the packaging, of all the products affected by the shrinkflationindicates the decree from the Ministry of the Economy, noting the announcements made in mid-April.
Consumers will find the formula enshrined in the text: “For this product, the quantity sold increased from X to Y and its price at (specify the unit of measurement concerned) increased” of such percentage or such amount in euros.
What products are affected?
“A few dozen references” will be concerned, out of the 20 to 25,000 that a supermarket has, indicated yesterday on France InterMinister Olivia Grégoire, for whom “it will be up to manufacturers to do it in 2025”.
Foodstuffs and non-food products marketed in a constant quantity (weight, volume) are covered by the order.
However, bulk or pre-packaged foodstuffs whose quantity may vary during preparation, such as those in the deli section of supermarkets, are excluded.
