A funny thing happened on the way to the checkout the other day. My go-to Naan Bread shrunk – and transformed dramatically from the local, ethnically authentic brand I’ve always favoured to a supermarket house brand…
PC Naan (left) is now $1.49 per 100 g. – Suraj Naan (right) is still $0.60 per 100 g.
But it’s always ‘out of stock’ these days…
A blatant example of shrinkflation
I just loved the Suraj brand Naans that Loblaw’s carried. Ten loaves to a 1 kg bag, at a reasonable price. Even in these days of price inflation and dirty supermarket tricks.
But then, about two weeks ago, I noticed that ‘Suraj’ was gone and Loblaw’s ‘President’s Choice’ (PC) brand was there on the shelf in its place. But it wasn’t really the same product at all. For a start, the package contained only 6 loaves – a 40 percent reduction over the Suraj product. The PC Naans were the same size as their predecessors, but the full package weighed only 600 g.
And the price was higher.
It was a major disappointment. And a classic, brazen example of supermarket shrinkflation. But this particular example involved a more complex marketing dance step, which I’m calling the ‘shrinkflation shimmy’. It’s like a marketing version of the old Shell Game…
Then something happened…
Just in the past few days, the PC brand Naans have ballooned in size. They’re still 6 to a bag, but the package weighs 750 g. That’s a 25 percent increase in size. But still 25 percent less than the old Suraj package.
Amazing as it seems – the price was the same! But that’s entirely contrary to the prevailing ‘laws of shrinkflation’.
The product upgrade is more than welcome. But I can’t help wondering why we got it…
Then something else happened…
Sister Erin was out early this morning, at the supermarket door when it opened at 7 o’clock. She likes to get in and out before the after-breakfast crowds. And there on the shelf were not one but several versions of PC Naans – an array of sizes, from dippers to the big ‘beavertail’ versions she’d been getting recently. But no size equivalent to the old Surajones I loved. *SIGH*
Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see how the supermarket has reacted to what I suspect was an eye-opening experience involving Naan Bread.
It’s one of the foundation tenets of grocery retailing: If you see a demand, fill it. Before the competition does. But they more than simply filled the demand…
My take
I’ll bet some folks who were big fans of the former, authentic Naan bread complained that they were being ripped off by the original PC version. And they were. They were paying the same price for 40 percent less product!
Increasing the size of the big Naans by 25 percent cost Loblaw’s maybe 50 to 60 cents per package. But their profit on bread is high enough that they’ll still make good money on it. To a grocer, bread products are as profitable as fries, coffee and fountain-poured soft drinks are to a Fast Food purveyor. They call them ‘major profit centres’.
The real, sneaky tactic…
But the real, sneaky ‘supermarket dirty trick’ Loblaw’s has pulled is, they’ve flooded the bakery department with a bewildering array of new PC Naan products. There’s not only an array of sizes, but a garlic version and crisps. Not to mention whole wheat and organic variants. And if you browse the Loblaw’s online store, you’ll fine more than three dozen Naan products, from at least half a dozen brands.
They can’t logistically accommodate upwards of 36 sizes and brands of Naan in the retail space available for the product. But my Loblaw’s displays a subset of the online array heavily focused on its own PC brand. Token appearances only, by competing brands.
It looks to me like Loblaw’s is trying to fog shoppers’ minds with frustration when they confront the Naan shelf. And discourage folks from making price comparisons. Too much trouble. Too confusing.
But the bottom line for me is…
I’m now getting ‘only 25 percent less’ Naan per package than I was before the switch to PC branding. Rather than 40 percent less. So it’s still shrinkflation. But it’s 25 percent less hurtful than the original shrinkflated substitution. Nevertheless, the unit price for the new PC Naans is $1.49 per 100g. While the Suraj brand Naans are just $0.60 per 100 g. The PC product is more than twice the price!
But hey… They still list my old fave Suraj Naans online. And they are still listed at $6. for 10 pieces, for the same 100 g ‘slabs’. Alas – They’re always out of stock, these days. It seems as though Loblaw’s is trying to habituate shoppers to just grab their brand, even if it’s significantly costlier. And stop even looking for their old go-to brand. They’ve done that before, with other products.
I mourn the old days when grocers were open and honest about pricing and packaging. When a mere human being could hope to be able to calculate the value they were getting for their food dollar!
~ Maggie J.