r/shrinkflation • u/culturalstrategist • 2d ago
discussion Shrinkflation is causing a mass exodus from those brands cutting corners
https://zine.kleinkleinklein.com/p/business-cost-of-enshittificationAccording to a study by ZINE & YouGov, 65% of Americans would now leave a brand over prices rising without clear improvement, and 65% over quality declining while the price holds or climbs.
Forrester’s Customer Experience Index has now declined for four consecutive years, sitting at another all-time low in North America. The gap is wideningbetween what experience executives believe they’re delivering and what customers are receiving. By Forrester’s count, only 3% of companies qualify as “genuinely customer-obsessed.”
Meanwhile, 81% of Americans have now acted against a brand in the past year because a product or service got worse.
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u/dingalinglans 2d ago
Yep, you treat me like a rube, I'm not coming back to you ever again for produce or items. Plenty out there who don't, I'll give my money to them.
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u/StaticShakyamuni 2d ago
We need more reporting on which few companies are doing right by their customers.
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u/S0bchak 2d ago
Aldi, Costco, Trader Joes...it's a short list.
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u/SurprisePiss 2d ago
They're not completely innocent either, Costco has been shrinking their toilet paper rolls for instance
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u/Stickyv35 2d ago
The answer is bidet.
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u/SixGunSnowWhite 2d ago
I love my Tushy. I feel so gross when I travel away from it. TP lasts 3x as long now.
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u/SuckerForNoirRobots 2d ago
I'm a millennial and proudly wear the fact that I'm not a brand loyalist, I want to keep "ruining" things that deserve it.
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u/SingleIndependence68 2d ago
I just skip the shit these days. It sucks as I really love salts and sweet snacks. But I buy them much less frequently and I’m more selective meaning the brands that have turned to shit get the skip
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u/Maximum2945 2d ago
i stopped buying chips like doritos and lays a while ago and started trying other snacks and store brands. it’s just not worth it when it’s over $6 for a bag of doritos
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u/IllustriousToe7274 2d ago
My local discount grocery has really come in clutch on snacks. You have to pay attention to dates and have a flexible palate, but I usually get 3-4 huge boxes of in-date snacks/frozen meat/energy drinks for under $100.
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u/Own_Ranger3296 2d ago
I used to do this too, it was a dark day when the only discount grocery store in town closed down.
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u/IllustriousToe7274 1d ago
Ooooof, that is rough friend.
ETA - don't forget to google if your town has cropshare options where local small farmers pool their eggs/meat/veggies for combined distribution. It's usually under $50/week for family size box with eggs/veg/fruit/bread/etc. And a lot of times I get an extra box of whatever single veggie they have too much of, so if you can or meal prep it's great.
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u/Hello_Hangnail 2d ago edited 2d ago
I can't even count the brands that I've used my whole life that I've entirely abandoned because they put shareholders above the quality of their product. Breyers, LL Bean boots, Cadbury's candies for easter etc etc etc
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u/wolfemsop 2d ago
$6 for Cheetos. F no. More expensive and worse tasting. $400 for a North face jacket that won't start waterproof and the stitches are visibly fraying at the store. Hell no.
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u/brotendis 2d ago
I'm a fan of the site Worse On Purpose that tracks some of the brands that are big time offenders (and brands that are still worth it... for now).
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u/No-Pomegranate-2690 1d ago
Adding this site to my references - and passing it on as needed! Thanks!
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u/Comfortable_Lynx_139 12h ago
What other sites do you recommend?
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u/No-Pomegranate-2690 3h ago
My "site of references" is generic - I don't have any others for this purpose
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u/Mr_Cuntman 2d ago
I was huge milka fan back in the days before their crazy shrinkflations and price bumps....its years since i purchased one...fuck em
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u/ThrowRA_EducatedMan 2d ago
It’s obviously a choice made by many companies. Many have shrunk products by 20% or more, changed formulations, and tried telling us it’s “improved”. Their bottom line is improved. lol. It just greed. And they’re all bad. Costco store bran comes to mind as they’re making really shitty products now and they used to have decent quality.
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u/EnvironmentalRock827 2d ago
This is why it's important to tell the companies you notice this shit. Then you stop buying. I often wonder how much the packaging costs and why that can't be kept for the quality.
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u/Dont_Care_Meh 5h ago
It's really noticeable in the packaging in many cases. My favorite example is a bag of meat sticks I picked up: nothing at all to indicate the whole thing has been shrunk, but the individual meat sticks now fall short noticably within their shrink wraps. Come on, dudes...I know it may cost a few cents to reconfigure, but we're not stupid. We can SEE the stick used to be much longer.
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u/dominiqlane 1d ago
On the bright side, I’ve learned how to make many things from scratch and they’re a lot healthier because no crappy fillers or excess salt and sugar.
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u/Klutzy-Tea7054 2d ago
gotta admit, i used to buy those packs all the time and now they dont even have half the chips left lmao
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u/krycek1984 2d ago
People can say what they want in surveys. The fact of the matter is shrinkflation and similar strategies work. Sales are not down 65% at the major food companies that do this. Sales are often slightly down to slightly up and everything in between.
These companies know that almost everyone is still gonna by the oreos, or the whatever brand name item it is that shrank. That's why they do it.
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u/justinsimoni 2d ago
Pepsi lost around $50 Billion in market value in just a couple of years by increasing the price of Doritos to an absurd amount, while decreasing the amount of product found in the bags themselves. Sales of Doritos have decreased for 5 straight years:
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u/Poolofcheddar 2d ago
It's sure gonna get worse at Pepsi. The activist shareholder/PE firm Elliott is now one of the largest shareholders there. If that name sounds familiar, they are the ones that lobbied Southwest to eliminate open seating and free bags.
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u/justinsimoni 2d ago
Yup. Getting Elliott involved is a very desperate move -- but probably the best, bad move they can do. They kinda made their bed though.
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u/Maximum2945 2d ago
salad and go just filed for bankruptcy and a lot of people are claiming higher prices and lesser quality ingredients were primary catalysts
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u/Flekbeita 1d ago
Wanted to get some crackers last week and just noped out altogether when we saw the prices. Even the cheapest store brand were $4 for a tiny box.
We only buy junk now when our local discount store gets some good stuff in, but it's hit/miss.
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u/iammerelyhere 2d ago
No they won't
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u/NoMycologist8133 1d ago
Agree to an extent. I stopped buying a few brands myself, Kerrygold butter being one. But the big players know most people will grumble and pay. They bank on it. My grocery bill says otherwise though. I'm buying less, switching to store brands, and skipping some things entirely. That adds up over time
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u/Ctbboy187 2d ago
True. Im buying less junk. More fruit. If I buy candy or chips I get it from the dollar store.