shrinkflation

English

Etymology

Blend of shrink +‎ inflation. Popularized by economist Pippa Malmgren.

Noun

shrinkflation (uncountable)

1. (economics, informal, neologism) The practice of making products smaller while continuing to market them at the same price.
   • 2016, Andy Dawson, Get in the Sea!: An Apoplectic Guide to Modern Life, page 106:

     Chocolate bars are just the thin end of the wedge, though, and shrinkflation is happening in products right across the board.

   • 2021, Rosalind Masterson, Nichola Phillips, David Pickton, Marketing: An Introduction, page 489:

     According to the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), shrinkflation most commonly affects food, drink and household products such as toilet rolls, nappies, tissues and washing-up liquid.

   • 2022 May 18, Caitlin Cassidy, “Shrinkflation bites: popular food brands quietly downsize while charging same price or more”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Major cereal brand Kelloggs has also been accused of shrinkflation. Since 2019, the company had moved from selling 670 gram Crunchy Nut boxes for $6 to selling 640 gram boxes at $9 a pop, Choice found.

   • 2023 September 14, “Carrefour puts ‘shrinkflation’ price warnings on food to shame brands”, in The Guardian‎^[2], sourced from Reuters, →ISSN:

     Consumer groups say shrinkflation is a widespread practice, which supermarkets like Carrefour are also guilty of in their own-label products.

Related terms

• shitflation
• skimpflation

Translations

Translations

• Azerbaijani: şrinkflyasiya
• Catalan: reduflació (ca) f
• Dutch: krimpflatie (nl) f
• French: réduflation (fr) f, shrinkflation (fr) f (rare)
• Galician: reduflación f
• German: Shrinkflation (de) f, Schrumpflation f
• Hungarian: zsugorfláció
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krympflasjon m

  Nynorsk: krympflasjon m

• Portuguese: reduflação f
• Russian: шринкфля́ция (ru) f (šrinkfljácija)
• Spanish: reduflación f
• Swedish: krympflation (sv) c
• Ukrainian: шрінкфля́ція f (šrinkfljácija)