Consumer protection in France
Supermarket warns customers about “shrinkflation”
September 9, 2023, 8:36 a.m
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Half-empty packages and higher prices: From October, France wants to oblige the industry to point out shrinking contents and rising costs of their products. The supermarket chain Carrefour is already declaring war on “shrinkflation” and will be warning its customers about it with stickers in the future.
The French supermarket chain Carrefour wants to warn of hidden price increases with stickers on a range of food products from Monday. “Shrinkflation, the weight of this product has decreased and our supplier’s price has increased,” says the stickers that Carrefour plans to place on packages of coffee, chips, mayonnaise and iced tea, among other things, as the company announced. The hidden price increases would be between 8 and 40 percent. “We are committed to renegotiating the price,” the sticker continues.
Carrefour is thus anticipating a draft law with which the French government would like to oblige the industry to clearly indicate on products if the contents of the same package are reduced. “Some manufacturers reduce the contents of their products while keeping the packaging the same and sometimes even increase prices. This is scandalous,” said Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. “We will enshrine in law in October the obligation to visibly indicate the reduction in content when the packaging is the same.”
Purchasing power and high prices, especially for food, are currently a concern for the population and politics in France. Minister Le Maire had repeatedly demanded lower prices from food companies and relief for consumers. As the minister announced after consultations with the industry last week, prices for 5,000 food products should remain stable or be reduced.
However, Le Maire also pilloried several large foreign corporations that, in his opinion, did not do enough to ensure acceptable prices. The products named by Carrefour also come from foreign food companies. In Germany, Stiftung Warentest recently warned of “shrinkflation” – i.e. shrunken contents in packaging that has barely been noticeably changed.