Welcome to Nerd Alert, a series of special episodes bridging the gap between marketing academia and practitioners. We’re breaking down highly involved, complex research into plain language and takeaways any marketer can use.

In this episode, Elena and Rob dig into shrinkflation, the quiet price increase that shrinks the product instead of raising the number on the shelf. A decade of retail scanner data shows shoppers shrug off a smaller box, cheer a bigger one, and keep buying either way.

Topics covered:   
[01:40] "Shrinkflation and Consumer Demand" 

[02:20] Shrink the box or raise the price? 

[03:20] Inside four million products and 50,000 stores 

[04:10] Detergent, cereal, and other quiet categories 

[05:30] Shoppers are twice as sensitive to price as size 

[06:40] What marketers should do about it 

 


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Resources: 
Janssen, A., & Kasinger, J. (2026). Shrinkflation and consumer demand. Marketing Science, 45(1), 142–158. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2024.0948 
 

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