Your favourite brands are scared of raising prices – but they'll sting you another way

The spiralling cost of living crisis is affecting all aspects of British life, particularly at the supermarket. The average shopper will spend £380 more on groceries this year, according to the market research firm Kantar.

With inflation at a 40-year high of 9.1pc, it may come as a relief to shoppers to find that the prices of some of their favourite products have not changed.

But there is another way that brands are sneaking rising costs onto their customers – by simply reducing the size. This method of “shrinkflation” has become increasingly common, as companies try to pass on the effects of supply chain disruptions and higher raw material costs – without the consumer noticing.

In the United States, consumers have reported that toilet rolls have shrunk, while ice cream – usually purchased by the gallon – has been melted down by several ounces.

In Britain, the food giant Nestlé cut the size of its Nescafé Azera tin of instant coffee 10pc to 90g this year, while the price remained at £5.49 in Tesco. A spokesman for the company said that this was because of higher costs in coffee beans, energy, packing and transportation.

Meanwhile, the maker of Cadbury Dairy Milk has reduced the sharing chocolate bar in size by a tenth to 180g, with the owner Mondelez International also citing “significantly increased production costs”.

A spokesman for Nestlé said: “We know that consumers face these higher costs too, and to avoid increasing recommended retail prices wherever possible, we do on occasions need to make minor adjustments to the weight of our products.” They added that final pricing was the discretion of individual retailers.

Other household goods have been hit by shrinkflation. A box of Kleenex tissues now contains 64 tissues per box, compared with 72 earlier this year, but costs the same.

A spokesman for the company attributed the reduction to rising energy, transportation and raw material costs.

Supermarkets are following suit. The Telegraph found that Tesco has reduced the size of its ready-made meals for one from 450g to 400g this year. A spokesman for the store did not comment.

The consumer group Which? also found that Walkers Classic Variety Crisps fell from 24 bags in a multipack to 22 bags in some supermarkets last year, but have remained the same price. Walkers owner PepsiCo did not respond to requests for a comment.

Sue Davies, of Which?, said that this strategy of shrinkflation ultimately tricked shoppers into paying more for less. 

“Supermarkets and manufacturers must be more upfront about the costs of their products and provide clear unit pricing so consumers can easily compare and choose the best value items,” she said.

“Shoppers are facing enough financial pressure from the rising cost of living without having to carefully check for changing packet sizes when they’re doing the weekly shop.”

Despite rising costs, Which? also found that over the past two years, supermarkets have offered fewer discounts to their customers, and the availability of own-label budget ranges has reduced.

The number of promotional offers has fallen across all 20 of the most popular grocery categories, with bottled water deals falling the most, by 15pc, Which? added. That was followed by vegetables, where promotions have dropped 11pc.

Even the size of savings offered in promotions had fallen by three quarters on average, Which? found.

Rising food bills are adding further pressure on British households. Energy bills are now on track to pass £3,000 for the first time ever, according to predictions from the energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.

It forecast that the price cap on annual bills will hit £2,980 when it is next reset in October, before rising to £3,003.20 in January. This means that heating bills will have more than doubled in less than 18 months. The price cap stood at £1,278 in October 2021, before the outbreak of war in Ukraine sent gas prices soaring.

Households are also facing higher transport costs, with petrol prices reaching a new record high this week. The average cost of petrol rose to 189.33p a litre, pushing the cost of filling an average family car above £104, according to the RAC. Diesel climbed to 197.11p a litre, representing another new high.