Last week, a tweet pointing out some painful truths about convenience store foods went viral on Japanese Twitter.
In it, Twitter user @tomoya_yue joked that, while it might have been an efficient way of storage, “it’s also revealing a lot of things…” Users in the replies shared stories of how stores have changed recently, particularly with serving sizes.
Potato chips, drinks, snacks, and even combini bento have all experienced what is known as “Shrinkflation”, or ステルス値上げ in Japanese. Counter to inflation where prices of products rise, Shrinkflation instead reduces the total amount inside of each product while keeping the price the same. This allows companies to hide the fact that they’re effectively raising prices.
Shrinking for More than a Decade
This isn’t a recent development, either. For years, Shrinkflation has been a long-standing meme on Japanese internet forums. Calbi’s potato chips went from 90g per bag originally to just 60g, at the same price point. Country Ma’am, a popular cookie brand, went from 30 cookies per bag in 2005 to just 20 in 2016.
Those are just simple serving changes. Others, like this drink with fake strawberry swirls printed on the container, have brought into question the legality of such practices. Many name-brand stores caught flak last year after people found out that they had been raising the bottoms of bento trays.
Seven-Eleven, in particular, seems to be a repeat offender. Just look at this tweet about the store’s sandwiches from last year.
Why Are They Shrinking Products?
These companies have stated that they are “shifting demographics towards old people and single-person households.” The idea is that they would appreciate smaller serving sizes that they can finish themselves. Internet consensus, however, says that they are simply cutting corners to make a profit.
The other reason is economic. Many of these changes occurred alongside financial crises and increases in petroleum prices, like the one in 2008. In the case of the UK, Shrinkflation coincided with Brexit and the fear of increasing manufacturing prices, same as Japan.
However, it falls flat when you consider the fact that, while the economy has been recovering, the products have stayed the same. Instead, we see that convenience stores have been consistently investing in opening new stores. The Japan Franchise Association reports that the total number of convenience stores in Japan have increased every year for the past decade. That’s over 10 years of uninterrupted growth.
Major Brands in Japan Losing Trust
Public opinion highlights a major issue: many are feeling less trusting towards major brands.
It doesn’t help that convenience stores have also been guilty of overworking their employees. Long term readers may remember our post back in 2019 about the Seven-Eleven franchisee who was threatened with a penalty for not keeping his store open 24/7. (Issues with the rollout of mobile app payment services haven’t helped, either.) This, coupled with rooting out other local businesses through sheer regional dominance, has soured public perception of these franchises.
At some point in the past, convenience stores may have been places that you could rely on. Especially as a foreigner living in Japan, combini food can be a lifesaver when you’re unaccustomed to the local supermarkets. It can even be a cheap alternative if you’re struggling financially or don’t have time to make food yourself.
But convenience at a national scale comes at a cost. That cost seems to be a marked drop in both quality and quantity. While I doubt that this will be the deathblow to the combini model, it does seem like something will have to change sooner than later.
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