ASDA pizzas have become the latest victim of shrinkflation after the supermarket sneakily cut the sizes but not the price tags of some of its own brand range.
The tactic is a now-familiar way of what critics describe as ‘back door price rises’ as the cost remains the same or only slightly more in the eyes of shoppers who may not be so quick to notice reduced pack sizes or contents.
Asda shrunk its Deep Pan Meat Feast from 390g to 349g, which makes them more than 10 per cent smaller, while at the same time putting the price up 2p from 93p to 95p.
The net effect, though, is that shoppers will pay around 14 per cent more overall.
Asda’s Deep Pan BBQ Chicken Pizza shrunk by slightly less, from 390g to 352g, while the price remained the same at 95p but that still represents a double-digit price rise in real terms.
The move came as part of a reshuffle among the retailer’s own brand range of the snack with some flavours being dropped altogether and new ones introduced.
It was noticed by analysts Edge by Ascential in The Grocer magazine as they looked at prices this Christmas compared to last.
A spokesman for Asda told The Grocer its aim was “to always offer our customers the best possible price and we have a wide range of great value pizzas available, starting from just 70p.”
Shrinkflation has become a widely used tactic by manufacturers and retailers to introduce price rises without making them seem so obvious.
The list of those who have done this include Tetley Teabag, After Eight mints, Cadbury’s Crunchie and Jaffa Cakes where the weight or number of items in a pack were reduced while the price remained the same.
