WALMART shoppers are criticizing the company for drastically reducing the size of its products.
The retail chain significantly reduced the number of paper towel rolls, but the price remained the same.
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Walmart has reduced the number of sheets in its paper towel rolls from 168 to 120, CNBC reported.
A spokeswoman called this reduction an “inflation reduction” because, instead of increasing the price, the store reformulated its products.
The news of this huge contraction did not sit well with Walmart customers.
“First they cut the size, but not the price; so they raise the price,” in the buyer posted on X.
“Everything is getting smaller.”
“Like, what am I supposed to do with two pieces of cheese?!”
One Walmart shopper said he set a limit when the store reduced the amount of cookies in a package.
“My favorite cookies have been reduced from 18 to 14 in a pack. I already turned a blind eye to many things, but now they came for my cookies,” said the customer.
In addition to the retailer’s “reducing inflation,” the store also implemented controversial digital price tags.
Digital price tags allow the store to update product prices in seconds, saving the company the time and labor required to update paper price tags.
Walmart announced that digital price tags will take effect in 2,300 stores by 2026.
A Walmart employee whose store already uses digital pricing said in a press release that it “represents a significant change in the way I and other store associates manage pricing, inventory, order fulfillment and customer interactions, ensuring our customers enjoy an even better shopping experience. ”
Customers were not so pleased.
Some shoppers fear that digital pricing will allow the store to implement dynamic pricing, which will allow the company to adjust rates based on demand.
One customer posted on X: “They will totally raise the price after you pick it up and go to the register.”
Despite speculation, Walmart stands by its claims that it will not use dynamic pricing.
“It will by no means be ‘one minute it’s this price and the next it’s not,’” Greg Cathey, Walmart’s senior vice president of transformation and innovation, said in a statement.
It’s not just Walmart that is trying to make cuts in an effort to keep up with rising inflation.
Fast food chains like Wendy’s have also been experimenting with different strategies to keep pace with the economy.
Wendy’s has toyed with the idea of dynamic pricing, raising prices at busy times and lowering them at slower times.
The chain quickly returned to this idea in a statement similar to Walmart’s.
“We have no plans to do this and would not raise prices when our customers visit us more frequently,” the chain wrote.
“Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant team members.”
What is ‘shrinkage’?
In an effort to combat inflation, Walmart is practicing what a company spokesperson called “inflation curbing.”
Shrinkflation refers to changing the way a product is made or produced without changing the price.
The store primarily practiced shrinkage with its paper towel rolls, when it reduced the number of sheets on a roll from 168 to 120.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
