Shrinkflation: Product sizes are shrinking in your local shopping aisle

Shrinkflation is happening in your local supermarket aisle.

It's a tactic used by producers where they shrink the proportions of a pre-packaged product, while still charging the same price for it, or sometimes more.

A packet of Sour Patch Kids Lollies is among those to shrink, going down 14 per cent, from 220g to 190g, but consumers still pay $4.

Arnott's Tina Wafers packets dropped from 250g to 200g (down 20 per cent), but the cost remains $3.50.

The 165g 'More' range of chocolate blocks, made by Cadbury Dairy Milk, come in mixed roast nuts, fruit and nut, and nuts and salted toffee flavours, and have been retailing at major supermarkets for $5 - the same price as Cadbury's standard 180g Dairy Milk blocks.

Shrinkflation also occurs in the pet food aisle, with Purina ONE shrinking one of its cat food labels from 1.5kg packages down to 1.4kg. Consumers are not only getting less, they're paying more with the cost at major supermarkets up from $15.45 to $16.50.

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The selling price of a large pack of popular brand cereal at a major supermarket has "increased by 12 per cent, but the contents shrank by five percent, so the price per 100 grams increased by 17 per cent," Queensland Consumer Association reported.

Cadbury owner Mondelez told consumer advocacy group Choice that the More blocks feature a new shape with a "chunkier" eating experience, and contain extra ingredients such as nuts, making them more expensive to produce.

While Purina owner Nestle told Choice it was facing "significant increases" in the cost of raw materials, packaging and transport, which is what has led to the changes in prices and pack sizes.

Data analysis company Frugl tracks price rises and pack sizes from publicly available sources, and its managing director Sean Smith said shrinkflation has been around for years.

It's a tactic used by companies to mitigate rising supply and material costs, but Australian shoppers are noticing it more now than ever.

"Shrinkflation is a testament to the current economic climate we're living in. High fuel, energy, transport and labour costs, as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and extreme weather [that] are all contributing factors for price adjustments we're seeing," he said.

Traditionally, consumers are more focused on the price of products when shopping, and don't pay as much attention to size, Mr Smith said.

"Product retailers are also not obligated to tell consumers that there have been reductions in the size of their products so it can go under the radar," he said.

"Brands are trying to cut costs where they can, however they're doing it at the cost of customer value, which can cause a major backlash for those who are not transparent about it."

Mondelez International - owner of Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone, Sour Patch Kids, The Natural Confectionery Company and Philadelphia cream cheese - has turned to renewables, but product prices for consumers have still increased.

"We always hold prices for as long as can, however, sometimes have to make adjustments to ensure we can continue to manufacture our snacks sustainably and locally in this environment," a Mondelez Australia spokesperson said.

"In 2020 we entered a power purchase agreement to use 100 per cent renewable electricity at our Melbourne factories. The investment in renewables - from the Yaloak South wind farm in Western Victoria - means a more than 60 per cent reduction in carbon emissions and a significant shift in how we source energy to power our Australian business."

Rising energy prices and the cost of raw materials, transport and packaging are behind some of the price rises at Nestle, director of technical and production Michael Kane said.

He declined to confirm which products had increased in price, but said manufacturing and production levels "have been maintained"

"The decision to increase prices is not one we take lightly, but was necessary to ensure we can continue to deliver the same quality products that Aussies know and love," he said.