Mass distribution brands are obliged, from July 1, to place products on the shelves that have reduced their quantity without lowering their price.
From Monday July 1, all products whose quantity is decreasing and whose price per kilogram increases, a practice known as “shrinkflation”, will be notified to consumers in supermarkets by a sign installed on the shelves.
It was the government that imposed it last April and the Minister Delegate for Business, Tourism and Consumer Affairs, Olivia Grégoire, promised to allow consumers to do so. “an informed choice”.
The following notice will be included on the poster, which must be displayed in large areas of more than 400 m2: “For this product, the quantity sold increased from x to y and its price per kilo, gram or liter increased by x% or x euros.”
Initially, there was talk of a display duration, but it should be revised to one month. A poster which will only be applied to products “whose drop in quantity is not linked to a change in composition or to an innovation”, specifies the ministry.
Make way for “stretchflation”
It will also be possible to make reports from the SignalConso application or website. In addition, administrative checks may be carried out. According to the managers of major brands, this should only concern a very small proportion of items.
“There will be less than ten”, assures a spokesperson for Système U, cited by Le Parisien. No cases were detected at Carrefour thanks to a price correction procedure taken in advance with suppliers, while the brand had already carried out a display experiment last September.
Another technique now
But no sooner has the government cracked down on “shrinkflation” than it will now be necessary to look at another technique: “stretchflation”. This time manufacturers have increased the quantity of a product as well as the price, but sometimes in an exaggerated manner.
An example: a price increase of 35% for an increase in quantity of 15%, a trick that is not easy to spot.
