This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
This phenomenon is called skimpflation - from the English words skimp (“to save, cut back”) and inflation (“inflation”).
If during shrinkflation you get less product for the same money, then during skimpflation you get about the same amount of product, but its composition or quality becomes worse.
How skimpflation works
Imagine a chocolate cream that used to contain more cocoa and dairy ingredients. Due to rising raw material costs, the manufacturer may change the recipe:
- reduce the share of expensive ingredients;
- replace part of the butter with cheaper vegetable fat;
- use a cheaper grade of raw materials;
- reduce the amount of natural components;
- add more cheap fillers.
At the same time, the packaging may remain the same, the weight - the same, and the price - unchanged.
Formally, you are buying the same amount of product for the same price. But in fact, you are getting a product of different quality.
Shrinkflation and skimpflation - what’s the difference?
These two terms can be easily confused, but the difference is quite simple.
If the packaging remains 500 grams, but the recipe has less butter, chocolate, or another expensive component - this is skimpflation.
Sometimes both processes can occur simultaneously.
Where can you encounter skimpflation?
Skimpflation is not limited to food products.
Food
The recipe of a product can change so that the manufacturer spends less on ingredients.
For example, a product may contain less:
- meat;
- cheese;
- butter;
- cocoa;
- nuts;
- natural fruits.
And the share of cheaper ingredients may increase.
Household goods
Savings can manifest in the use of cheaper materials.
For example, the manufacturer may change the composition of the fabric, plastic, or other material without changing the appearance of the product.
Services
Skimpflation can also relate to services.
For example, a company may reduce the hours of customer support, decrease the number of staff, or remove some service options, keeping the subscription price unchanged.
This means the customer pays the same amount but receives less service.
Why do companies use skimpflation?
The reason is usually the same as in the case of shrinkflation - rising costs.
If raw materials, energy, logistics, or wages become more expensive, the manufacturer tries to maintain their margin.
Raising the price is the most obvious option. But customers may react negatively to price increases.
Therefore, the company may try to reduce production costs in another way: keeping the price but lowering production costs.
Why is skimpflation harder to notice?
With shrinkflation, everything is relatively simple: you can look at the weight of the packaging.
It was 500 g, now it is 450 g - the change is obvious.
With skimpflation, everything is more complicated. To notice changes, sometimes you need to compare:
- the composition of the product;
- the percentage of individual ingredients;
- nutritional value;
- material characteristics;
- service conditions;
- the functionality of the product.
Moreover, the change in the recipe may be so minor that the buyer simply notices: “something is not right”, but does not immediately understand what exactly has changed.
How to notice skimpflation?
The simplest way is to compare the composition and characteristics of the product with the previous version.
If you have an old package, you can compare it with the new one.
Pay attention to:
Composition. Have the first items in the list of ingredients changed?
Percentages. Has the amount of the main or expensive component decreased?
Characteristics. If it is not food - have the materials, power, thickness, or other parameters changed?
Services. Have any functions or parts of the service disappeared?
Price. Even if it remains unchanged, the cost of the product may have decreased due to changes in the recipe.
Is a change in the recipe always skimpflation?
No.
The manufacturer may change the recipe for technological reasons, new legal requirements, availability of raw materials, or the desire to improve the product.
The mere fact of changing the composition does not mean that the company intentionally degraded the product.
The term skimpflation is usually used to describe a situation where a company saves on quality or components of the product to reduce costs, while keeping the price.
Shrinkflation, skimpflation, and regular inflation
To remember, you can use a very simple scheme:
- Inflation - the same product becomes more expensive.
- Shrinkflation - the product becomes smaller for the same price.
- Skimpflation - the product remains approximately the same in quantity but becomes cheaper in composition or quality.
For example, a pack of cookies cost 60 UAH.
If it now costs 70 UAH - that is a regular price increase.
If the price remains 60 UAH, but the weight decreased from 500 to 450 g - shrinkflation.
If the weight remains 500 g, but the manufacturer replaced some expensive ingredients with cheaper ones - skimpflation.
And if both happened, we have a kind of combination of the two phenomena.
Skimpflation is a way to reduce the cost of a product or service without an obvious price increase.
For the buyer, this means that an unchanged price tag does not guarantee an unchanged offer.
Therefore, if a product suddenly seems “not quite right,” it is worth checking not only its price and weight but also the composition, characteristics, and conditions of service.
Sometimes inflation hides not in the price - it hides in what exactly you receive for that money.
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