Saving money in the supermarket: What is shrinkflation and how can you protect yourself? Tips and information from financial experts.

Saving money in the supermarket: What is shrinkflation and how can you protect yourself? Tips and information from financial experts.

According to a report by www.merkur.de,

If you want to save a euro or two in the supermarket, pay attention to discounts. Instead of a bargain, it's easy to get a deceptive package. What's behind it.

Shrinkflation is probably more commonly known as deceptive packaging. The essence is that the content is reduced, but the price of the product remains the same. This indirect price increase is not directly noticeable to the customer. Another cost-cutting measure taken by companies is so-called skimpflation. The ingredients in the product would be swapped for cheaper ones. The consumer advice center describes the process using the example of apple spritzer, in which the water content can be increased. Customers are being deceived in this way: “Food companies and retail chains are exploiting inflation to increase their profits and deceive consumers,” said Manuel Wiemann from Foodwatch to the Tagesschau.

The effects may be subtle, but they are definitely noticeable to consumers. Through shrinkflation and skimpflation, they get less product for their money, which ultimately leads to an increase in daily spending. Companies thus increase their profits by reducing the quantity of products but keeping the price the same. In the long term, this could lead to an increase in consumer complaints and possibly a change in shopping behavior.

Consumers should pay particular attention to the filling quantities of products such as chips, confectionery, cheese, frozen products, detergent and drugstore products in order to identify possible deceptive packaging. You should also pay attention to packaging that states “new recipe” or “new size”, as these can often be signs of a hidden reduction in quantity. It is also advisable to compare prices in liters or kilos and to find out about known deceptive packages beforehand.