The federal government has vowed to fight shrinkflation in the supermarket and retail industry by strengthening the unit pricing code so customers can make better comparisons. Shrinkflation is where the size of products is being reduced, while prices are staying the same. Andrew Kelly from choice says it would incentivise supermarkets to do the right thing.
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00:00So the unit pricing code is essentially a set of rules that applies to supermarkets
00:07of a certain size that sell a certain variety of products.
00:12So the unit price, you'll be able to see it on the label.
00:17It says essentially how much you're paying for a particular item per unit.
00:23So that might be per 100 grams, per litre, that kind of thing.
00:26So this is the most effective way to make sure that you're getting the best value for
00:32your money by actually looking at and comparing the unit price.
00:35So that can cut through some of these marketing and promotional tactics, like specials and
00:42other phrases, as well as shrinkflation, because you can see exactly what you're paying.
00:47And if you just look at that, ignore everything else, you can be pretty certain that you're
00:51getting the best value for your money.
00:54But to make it even more transparent for consumers, we're calling on the government
00:58to actually introduce shrinkflation notices.
01:02So this would look like a very clear tag or notice on the shelf or online, letting you
01:08know that the product has actually reduced in size, and so effectively you're paying
01:12more for that product.
01:14Consumers are continuing to report that inconsistent units of measurement are being used, which
01:20makes unit pricing useless, unit pricing not being shown when it should be, it being obscured
01:27or being really hard to read.
01:29So these are the kinds of issues that we would be hoping would be resolved by improving the
01:35rules and by applying penalties.
01:39When supermarkets do the wrong thing, this will be a strong incentive for them to actually
01:43do the right thing, because at the moment, that incentive to do the right thing just
01:47isn't there.
01:50For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov