Labels will now be displayed, from Monday, July 1, on products that have reduced their quantity without lowering their price, in a mandatory manner in supermarkets of more than 400 square meters. As a result, some French people are planning to change their consumption habits.
From Monday July 1, supermarkets of more than 400 square meters will be obliged to mention on the shelves products that have reduced their quantity without lowering their price, to fight against “shrinkflation”.
The phenomenon concerns many products: sliced bread, laundry detergent, coffee, pasta… Faced with the inflation of food products, producers and distributors prefer to reduce the weight sold instead of significantly increasing the bill for the consumer.
But this phenomenon misleads buyers. To combat this phenomenon, a visible and readable label or sign must now be affixed to or next to the packaging.
Less quantity in a package but sold at the same price as before. This process, Nordine, who is wandering through the aisles of a supermarket in Châtillon in the Paris region, had not yet heard of it:
“First time hearing this. When I buy, I look at the price. I think we’re all being ripped off.”
So these new labels to inform about these price increases on the shelves, starting Monday, are a great service according to him. This is also the case for those who already spend long minutes dissecting each item. “We know what we are going to buy and not buy anymore and maybe change certain habits, maybe turn to other products”, explains Océane who is one of them.
In the parking lot, Antoine loads his shopping into the trunk of his car. For him, “if for the same price, we have less, it’s as if it increases. So inevitably it influences the choice.”
But some are not ready to give up their favorite products. “When you like something, the price doesn’t change much,” argues Edgard, “it’s a question of habit.”
The UFC-Que Chosir doubts the effectiveness of the decree
For Grégoire Caret, guest of the Matinale Week-End this Sunday on RMC, director of the UFC-Que Choisir consumption observatory, this decree will “not be effective”. “First of all, it is not a new practice. It is a practice that dates back to the mid-2000s. In fact, a 2009 law completely liberalized product packaging.”
“It opened the door to all excesses,” he adds.
Then, what about products which will reduce the quantity, but whose price will drop slightly: “Professionals will tell you ‘it’s a different packaging, it’s a new product’, and therefore it will never be reported by the ‘label’ put in place by the decree.
Maryline Ottmann (with TRC)
