Hot cross buns, chips and breakfast cereals are being downsized even as supermarkets retain or lift prices for the shrunken products, new research shows.
The practice, known as “shrinkflation”, reduces costs for producers but leaves consumers paying more for less during a cost-of-living crisis.
Research from consumer advocacy group Choice has called out Woolworths and Coles for reducing the size of some home-brand cereal packs from 560g to 495g but keeping the price at $4.50.
The size reduction is equivalent to a 13% price hike per serve for Coles’ Mighty Grain and Woolworths’ Max Charge.
Coles also lifted the price of its home-brand cornflakes product by 20 cents to $2.10, while cutting the package size from 475g to 440g, amounting to an effective price hike of almost 20%.
Last October, Woolworths reduced its home-brand corn chips packs from 200g to 175g without cutting the price, representing a 14% increase to the cost per serve.
Hot cross buns from Community Co have also shrunk by almost 23%. The IGA in-house brand has hiked prices for traditional and chocolate buns to $4.50, from $4 last year, while servings have reduced from 480g to 450g.
But the supermarket giants said they were victims of shrinkflation just like Australian consumers and any profits from size changes went straight to suppliers.
“There was no financial benefit to Woolworths by changing the size of these products, as the cost from the supplier to us did not decrease,” a spokesperson said.
Woolworths blamed the hidden price hikes on changing manufacturing facilities, shortages of raw materials and increased supplier costs.
Coles similarly said their suppliers had cut pack sizes to “simplify production and supply chain”.
Meanwhile, Community Co said a shift to a different supplier forced the pack size reduction of its hot cross buns, and rising ingredient costs pushed up the retail price.
Other goods found to have shrunk without an equivalent price reduction included Red Rock Deli’s dips range, McVitie’s digestive biscuits and Go Ahead slices.
Jif’s Power & Shine Bathroom cleaner more than doubled in effective price, after shrinking to 500ml from 700ml while selling for $4, up from $2.50.
Obela, which makes Red Rock Deli dips, said the size reduction was a result of rising costs of production.
Deakin University’s Christina Zorbas said the cost-saving tactics were hard to pin down without research.
“We don’t really know what’s happening until you really have a close look at the data because it’s not advertised or flagged to a consumer when shrinkflation is happening,” she said.
Consumer advocates have called for stronger regulation to ensure supermarkets and producers can’t hide the product changes.
“Supermarkets should be required to be upfront with their customers about products that have decreased in size but not in price, so consumers can make informed decisions,” Choice journalist Liam Kennedy said.
The clandestine size cuts are more proof of the need for oversight in the supermarket sector, according to the Greens.
“It’s not just supermarket corporations taking their customers for a ride – it’s their corporate suppliers too,” the party’s economic justice spokesperson, Nick McKim, said.
The Greens are this week introducing a bill to enable Australia’s competition regulator to force the breakup of big supermarket chains.
“We need to break the duopoly’s power and hold them to account,” McKim said.
A string of inquiries into supermarket profits have put pressure on supermarkets. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission encouraged shoppers to share their concerns in a survey for its inquiry into supermarket pricing behaviour.
McVities and Unilever, which manufactures Jif, were contacted for comment.
