Is Small the New Large?
With apologies to George Costanza, not all shrinkage, it seems, occurs in the swimming pool.
These days, it’s happening on supermarket shelves. A lot of manufacturers, being pressured to control costs in a soft economy, have decided to “down size” their offerings. Boxes of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, for example, are 2.4 oz. lighter (down from 14.5 oz. to 12.1 oz.). A tub of Country Crock is 6% smaller than it was a year ago. Even boxes of Girl Scout cookies are leaner and meaner this year.
And in a move that is sure to cause math teachers the world over to pull their hair out, a “pint” of Haagen-Dazs is now 14 oz. (not 16 oz.).
“Micro-sizing” products is not on its own a bad idea. If anything, it’s a creative way to avoid raising prices in a market with unstable commodity prices. The problem is that by not being transparent with us and telling us what they’re up to, these companies seem like they’re trying to pull one over on us. I get the sense that once the decision is made to downsize their SKUs, they hold their breath and hope nobody notices. But trust me, someone will notice. And if it happens to stick in their craw, you can bet it’s out there in cyberspace. For proof just go to http://incredibleshrinkinggroceries.com/.
Seeing a web site that points fingers and names names should have all of us asking the question: if we’re going to micro-size our products, or make any other significant changes to our products, would we rather customers hear it from us or from some ticked-off housewife from Poughkeepsie?
By acknowledging that our customers are important stakeholders in any product or marketing decisions we make, it becomes a no-brainer.
Posted by Mickey
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