Navigating shrinkflation in the snack aisle (Mok Jee Chuang/EyeEm/Getty Images)
Navigating shrinkflation in the snack aisle (Mok Jee Chuang/EyeEm/Getty Images)
Hey Snackers,
It must run in the family: a year after the container ship Ever Given got itself wedged in the Suez Canal, its sister ship, Ever Forward, is now stuck in the Chesapeake Bay. Tune in to the sequel in the same place you watched the original: IsTheShipStillStuck.com.
Stocks fell for a third day as investors digested March consumer price data that showed the hottest inflation since 1981. About that…
It’s not easy being cheesy… especially when inflation is Flamin’ Hot. Thanks to rising prices, your next bag of Cheetos may be less satisfying: food giants are shrinking their snacks to mask price hikes, just one way companies are trying to manage costs that keep going up. Last month, consumer prices rose 8.5% from last year for the biggest spike in four decades. Driving the increase: skyrocketing energy and food prices.
#Flation takes many forms… and some are easier to spot than others. Snack companies can cut costs just by changing packaging: shrinking it, rebranding it as “limited edition,” or both (“Birthday Edition” Oreos = smaller and pricier). And the “creativity” isn’t confined to the supermarket:
Shrinkflation could outlast inflation… Even if fuel costs return to normal this year, you might still be a few Doritos short of a full bag. Inflation’s expected to slow in the coming months as Fed rate hikes kick into gear. But just because prices cool doesn’t mean #flation strategies will disappear: experts say companies are unlikely to bring back larger sizes or free perks and services once they’ve trained consumers to expect something less.
Bowser goes bowling... From the Game Boy to the Wii, Nintendo popularized video games as a family-friendly activity. Now the 133-year-old Japanese gaming icon is bringing together two of its most popular products. This month Nintendo will release “Nintendo Switch Sports,” a Switch adaptation of “Wii Sports,” the top-selling Wii game that sold 83M copies.
Nostalgia crossing... Despite pesky supply shortages, Nintendo boosted its sales and profit outlook for the year. Its greatest strength lies in its iconic franchises, from Mario and Pokémon to the Wii series and Switch console — and leveraging them into new but familiar products. “Switch Sports” could gain hit status by merging two best-sellers:
Nintendo doesn’t need to go meta… Its Wii (and now Switch) games are kind of like a mini-metaverse where you interact with friends, minus the heavy and disorienting headsets. That’s why Nintendo says it’s not interested in getting into the metaverse right now. Products with low barriers to entry from consumer faves like Nintendo could be a threat to the more immersive meta vision that Meta’s banking on.
There are 170K ways to customize a Starbucks drink order
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Apple, GM, CVS, and Starbucks
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