Shrinkflation, cheapflation, greedflation… These commercial strategies that deceive consumers

Shrinkflation, cheapflation, greedflation: these Anglicisms are everywhere, but do you really know what they mean? To what extent do these practices, denounced by several consumer associations, impact our shopping? We'll help you understand better.

This is the word we've seen the most in recent months. First of all, the term is a contraction of "shrink," which in English means to shrink, and the word "inflation." But unfortunately, it doesn't mean "shrink inflation," as we all would like to believe. It's actually a marketing practice that consists of reducing the quantity of a product while maintaining the same price, or even increasing it.

This practice is legal, provided that the weight of the food is changed, which is not always the case and therefore misleads the consumer.

These practices have been denounced by the consumer association Foodwatch in several investigations. For example, at the end of 2023, the price of a giant pack of 62 Pampers Baby Dry diapers increased from €12.85 to €16.13, even though the package now contained only 58 diapers, an increase of more than 38%. Another example is the tub of Carte d'Or coffee ice cream, which lost 107 grams but saw its price increase by 28.67% (€11.87 today compared to €9.23).

Alerted, the government has since been working on a draft decree for March "to respond to consumer demand for better information in the event of shrinkflation on certain products."

What is cheapflation?

"Cheapflation" is also a term that comes from English. It is a contraction of the word "cheap," which can be translated as "good value," and the word "inflation."

This practice involves reducing, removing, or replacing ingredients with cheaper substitutes, without lowering the price of the product, or sometimes even increasing it. A practice that, like shrinkflation, is not illegal, but it deceives the consumer.

Recently, the Foodwatch association highlighted six major brand products whose composition has been altered while their prices have increased. These products include Fleury Michon surimi sticks, which contain 11% less fish meat while the price per kilo increased by 40% between 2021 and 2023. Also cited are: Maille mayonnaise (a Unilever brand), Milka chocolate (Mondelez), Bordeaux Chesnel rillettes, After Eight chocolates (Nestlé), and Findus fish (Nomad Foods).

According to the association, manufacturers generally justify these changes by an increase in the price of raw materials during periods of inflation, "but this in no way excuses the opacity surrounding changes in recipes or formats, nor the price increases that are correlated with them," it denounces. It therefore calls for greater transparency.

A slightly less well-known term, the practice of greedflation, from the English "greed" ("greed" in French), consists of a brand taking advantage of inflation to increase its sales prices while production costs have only risen very little, specifies Capital .