How to Balance Consumer Response to “Skimpflation”
Rising costs are an important issue for businesses. Many wonder how they should respond and how customers will react if they say, reduce product quality. Such “skimpflation” can be harder for consumers to detect. However, this Marketing Science Institute (MSI) working paper finds that those who do realize it consider the practice deceptive and unfair. Consumers, it seems, prefer reduced product size (shrinkflation) or increased prices to skimpflation, with price increases the most popular/least unpopular of these options.
