If energy and fuel prices explode, inflation does not spare mass distribution products either.

To limit the bill as much as possible, the French are therefore more than ever playing competition.

But by having our eyes too focused on the price per unit, we can sometimes miss a hidden increase in the cost per kilo.

Do not dissuade the purchase

Very recently, buyers alerted 60 million consumers to the sachets of a brand of cat food reduced from 100 g to only 85 g, while the price had increased.

A harbinger example of well-known practices of the magazine.

“We denounced this type of masked inflation method as early as 2008,” explains Lionel Maugain, a journalist specializing in financial subjects for the magazine.

And to clarify: “We are talking here about all the stratagems used by manufacturers to conceal a rise in the price per unit.

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At the time, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) had recorded record inflation of 2.8% over the year.

However, when the increase in prices is widespread, households are led to prioritize their purchases.

Me Florent Prunet, associate lawyer in consumer law at Jeantet in Paris, analyzes: "This shrinkflation strategy [the Anglo-Saxon equivalent] is based on the idea that the consumer is more sensitive to price than to quantity. of the product.

By reducing the volume in a painless way without affecting the price, the brands therefore avoid discouraging the purchase.

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To each his own technique

Therefore, a packet of biscuits weighing several hundred grams can easily lose thirty without it being obvious, just like a less filled bag of cereals or individual desserts lightened by 10 g by replacing the flat bottom of the pot with a concave bottom.

Lionel Maugain also warns against changing the product recipe: “In this case, the manufacturer will, for example, use less noble and therefore less expensive ingredients.

The transformation of the packaging can also sometimes be a matter of hidden inflation, suggesting that this innovation justifies a price increase, when the latter is in reality more important than the additional cost of the new packaging.

Similarly, 60 million consumers recently denounced promotions accompanied by a change in product format, "which disturbs the benchmarks of buyers", followed by a price increase of 10% on average compared to the price noted. before the operation.

Have the eye and the good

While inflation hit 1.6% in 2021 and promises to be even higher in 2022, specialists expect to see these marketing techniques multiply in the months to come.

However, these modifications are all the more discreet since the formats of consumer products have been free since a European directive of 2007, which came into force in 2009. In addition to the classic butter tablets in 125 or 250 g, we are thus seeing 225 g versions.

The same goes for the 1 liter drink which today coexists with 1.25 l, 1.75 l and 2 l bottles, not to mention the mini formats.

It is therefore difficult to make an informed comparison.

To avoid being taken in, there is only one solution: "You must always rely on the price of the product per kilo or per liter and pay attention to changes in packaging", advises journalist Lionel Maugain.

You should also know that distributors' articles are generally less subject to this hidden inflation, where “premium” brands try more to contain the price on the label.

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At the legal level

If these techniques seem to us more than questionable morally, they are legal.

Indeed, as long as the obligatory mentions on the price and the quantities are respected, the manufacturers can do well what they want.

Thus, the new reduced grammage is specified on one side of the package, while the unchanged price per piece is accompanied by that per kilo or liter.

It is therefore rather the omission of the modification that would be likely to mislead buyers.

Except that "failure to communicate on the format change is not penalized as an unfair practice since not only is the information correct, but also it cannot be proven that if the consumer had been better informed, he would not would not have made this purchase," concludes Me Prunet.

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