Big-name brands shrinking products, but not prices

MORE big-name brands are shrinking their products by up to a quarter without dropping the price, a study has revealed.

In some cases, they are even increasing the original cost, the research by consumer group Which? discovered.

Among the popular products identified were a pack of Birds Eye beef burgers with four fewer burgers than the original 16, despite the price increasing from £3.98 to £4.29 in Asda, Morrisons and Tesco.

Pledge furniture polish has reduced in size by 17 per cent but the price has stayed the same – or, in some stores, risen.

Bags of confectionary have also shrunk, with Nestle Munchies dropping from 150g to 126g, with a disproportionate price drop from £1.67 to £1.59 in Asda and Sainsbury’s. And a 215g bag of Bassetts liquorice allsorts has dropped 12 per cent in size to 190g, while staying at the same price of £1.48 in some stores and costing £1.70 in others.

The consumer watchdog said manufacturers told how they had chosen to shrink products rather than increase prices to cope with rising costs.

However, a poll of consumers by Which? found almost six in ten – 58 per cent – would prefer prices rose than packs got smaller. Just 3 per cent of people polled across the UK said it was acceptable for the pack size to shrink and not be told about it.

Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director, said: “Shrinking products can be an underhand way of raising prices because pack sizes shrink but the prices don’t. We want simpler pricing so people can easily compare products to see which is the cheapest, and for special offers to be genuine.”

Which? revealed many of the manufacturers it spoke to said retailers ultimately set prices. But the watchdog said that when asked if they reduced the wholesale price or set a lower recommended retail price to match shrinking products, firms either said they did not do this or would not comment.

Which? revealed Nestle said it had dropped the cost price but refused to say if it was proportionate to the amount by which its products shrank. Thorntons said shrinking allowed for better promotions.

Thorntons mini caramel shortcakes increased in cost by 10p in Waitrose despite shrinking from 12 cakes to ten. And a 34.5g bag of Walkers cheese and onion crisps fell in size by 6 per cent to 32.5g – but stayed at the same price. Fry Light extra virgin olive oil spray was found to have reduced in size by 24 per cent, while the cost of the product remained the same.

Other products found to have shrunk were Patak’s tikka masala cooking sauce, down ten per cent from 500g to 450g, and Nestle shredded wheat superfruity blue and black cereal.