Years ago we stopped buying fresh orange juice because the packer reduced the containers from 64 ounces to 59 ounces but kept the price the same. When I emailed the packer I received the answer that is what consumers wanted. “Our consumer research shows that most shoppers, when given a choice between a price increase or slightly less contents, prefer to hold the line on prices.”
I wonder if the “consumer research” was focus groups. I don’t trust focus groups ever since I was in one. The moderator kept the session going until we as a group affirmed the client’s choice of brand name, even though few of us liked it.
Today I read Yahoo’s repost of Bloomberg’s “From Chocalate to Beer, Shrinkflation Hits the Supermarket”, Simon Kennedy, Bloomberg, 2014-09-03
Former advisor to George W. Bush, Pippa Malmgren, worries that inflation pressures are rising.
