What is Shrinkflation?

Shrinkflation is when a product gets smaller, but its price stays the same, or even goes up.

Imagine you have a big bag of candy that costs $2. One day, you buy another bag and notice it's smaller than the first one, but still costs $2. That’s shrinkflation! It feels like you're paying for less candy, even though the price didn’t change.

Companies use shrinkflation to save money. Instead of raising prices, they just make the product smaller or lighter, so it still looks like a good deal, but you get less than before.

Think about your favorite juice box. If it used to be 200 mL and now it’s only 180 mL, but costs the same, that's shrinkflation in action!

Sometimes, they’ll even keep the same size, but use cheaper ingredients or fewer flavors, like going from a big, colorful cereal box to a smaller one with less variety. It might still feel like the same product, but you’re not getting as much value.

So next time you see something that looks familiar, but feels a little bit less, it might be shrinkflation playing tricks on you!