Unveiling the Shrinkflation Phenomenon in Supermarkets: Same Price but Shrinking Product Contents

The shrinkflation phenomenon is increasingly felt by consumers, including for everyday necessities such as instant coffee, shampoo, and detergent. This occurs when the size or quantity of products is reduced, but the price remains the same or even rises, causing consumers to unknowingly pay more.

Singapore’s Department of Statistics (Singstat) recorded that from January to December 2025, less than 5% of commonly purchased household goods experienced shrinkflation. Although the figure appears small, some of the most frequently bought products were the most affected.

Based on barcode data analysis from major supermarkets, there are eight fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products that most frequently experience shrinkflation. These include cereals, instant coffee or tea, shampoo, laundry detergent, fruit and vegetable juices, ice cream, powdered milk, and diapers.

Singstat routinely monitors around 3,000 products for compiling the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI). According to Singstat, similar patterns occur in various other countries.

Shrinkflation serves as one strategy for producers to cut production costs without directly raising prices on product labels. As a result, many consumers do not immediately notice this hidden price increase.

One consumer admitted to usually only checking the price listed on the product label while shopping. She gave an example: previously, she regularly bought a certain brand of detergent, but after its price reached 18 Singapore dollars or about Rp230,000 per bottle, she switched to a cheaper alternative brand costing around 5 Singapore dollars or equivalent to Rp67,000.

Nevertheless, for staple needs like extra virgin olive oil and rice bran oil, she stuck with the same brand despite the price increase.

One of the most common forms of shrinkflation is when the price stays the same, but the product size is reduced. For example, a 1-litre bottle of shampoo is sold for 8 Singapore dollars or about Rp105,000.

If the producer reduces the size to 0.8 litres but keeps the price at 8 Singapore dollars, the price per litre rises to 10 Singapore dollars or about Rp135,000 per litre. This means a 25% unit price increase even though the label price has not changed.