Gaviscon, chocolate and coffee among worst-hit ‘shrinkflation’ items | Personal Finance | Finance

Britain is facing an economic crisis, with the Cost of Living and Winter Fuel prices bleeding into working families’ fears ahead of the Christmas period. With many Brits facing strict household budgets this season, consumer groups suggest the issue of ‘shrinkflation’ to be an additional cause to dwindling accounts on UK high streets.

Shrinkflation is a term coined to refer to the reduction of a product’s size or quantity, despite maintaining its original price, therefore cheating the consumer due to the increase of its cost per unit, a fraction higher and therefore less for your money. This brand manoeuvre is said to respond to the expense of production rising — relevant in today’s climate where stores struggle to maintain on high streets. However, sustaining these profit margins could risk a product’s consumer base, which Which? now states is an issue for Brits bill accounts.

Consumer data group Which? has shared research on such examples of ‘shrinkflation’, finding that certain grocery and household products are caving under pressure to reduce quantites of products. They found thay items like toothpaste, coffee and Gaviscon were all guilty of doing so. By surveying shoppers on recent encounters with terrible signs of ‘shrinkflation’ on today’s high street, many shared that, within supermarkets, many products’ ingredients are being replaced with cheaper substitutes, as well as becoming smaller as a whole.

Aquafresh Complete Care Original Toothpaste, a staple in UK homes, was reported to have increased in price from £1.30 for 100ml to £2 for 75ml at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado. This reflects a 105% rise per 100ml, and 25ml less of product for 70p more. Similarly, Gaviscon Heartburn and Indigestion Liquid has now descreased by 100ml in size. And whilst the price remains the same at £14 in Sainsbury’s, the product now reflects a 20% rise per 100ml.

Additionally, Sainbury’s saw its own Scottish Oats to have reduced drastically 1kg to 500g, with its price jumping from £1.25 to £2.10 — an extortionate rise of 236% rise per 100g. And to coffe lovers’ despair, Nescafe Original Instant Coffee has reduced by 10g, going to 190g per jar in Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, increasing the cost of 100g of its product by 5%.

PA Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Josie Clarke, reports that this brand trend does not stop at household staples, but has filtered into our confectionary too. Which? research saw British favourite, KitKat’s multipack of the Two-Finger Milk Chocolate Bar drop substantially from 21 bars to 18, whilst the Ocado price for the product climbing from £3.60 to £5.50, a shocking 53%. Watchdog adds that Christmas shoppers may become aware of lighter shopping bags and chocolate collections this season.

Quality Street tubs have also reduced by 50g, despite the £1 increase for its smaller collection in Morrisons in 2025. Cadbury’s iconic Freddo and Fudge bar multipacks have both depeleted to four bars from five in Morrisons, Tesco and Ocado too, even though the £1.40 charge stayed the same. Terry’s Chocolate Orange Toffee Crunch is still £2, but now 145g instead of the original 152g at Tesco, presenting a 5% increase.

Which? states that household fabourites are now also missing key ingredients as a manufacturing method to further cut costs. The consumer researcher claimed a reduction of cocoa butter, now less than 20%, in White KitKats, therefore no longer classifying them as white chocolate. McVitie’s ingredients for Penguin and Club bars now convey more palm oil and shea oil than cocoa, thus meaning they no longer legally qualify as a chocolate biscuit. Further still, the brands White Digestive now contain 0% of cocoa butter, marketed they are no longer even a white chocolate biscuit.

Which? Retail editor Reena Sewraz said: “Households are already under immense financial pressure with food bills inching up and the expense of Christmas looming on the horizon, so it can feel especially sneaky when manufacturers quietly reduce pack sizes or downgrade key ingredients”.

“Supermarkets must be more upfront about their prices so that it’s easy to see what the best value is. This includes ensuring that their unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent in-store and online to help customers easily compare costs across different brands and sizes of packaging – that way shoppers can be more confident they’re getting the best value”.

A spokesperson for Mondelez International, a Cadbury producer, shared: “We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and any changes to our product sizes is a last resort for our business. However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously”.

Interestingly, they added that, “meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high. As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Fudge and Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect,” explained Mondelez International.

Nestle commented: “We have seen significant increases in the cost of coffee, making it much more expensive to manufacture our products. To maintain the same high quality and delicious taste that consumers know and love, it has sometimes been necessary to make adjustments to the weight or size of some of our products,” defending that “retail pricing is always at the discretion of individual retailers”.

Responding to the White KitKat changes, they said: “Like every manufacturer, we’ve seen significant increases in the cost of cocoa over the past years making it much more expensive to manufacture”. In support, the Food and Drink Federation added: “Cocoa prices rose sharply last year, reaching a 45-year high. Manufacturers are paying nearly 40% more for ingredients and energy than they were in January 2020”.