Are consumers in Belgium getting a fair deal? Whilst no one denies that food suppliers have been enormously strained during the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, and the energy crisis, are we all in the same boat? Has the burden been shared evenly?
If anyone understands the instinct to move towards prices that are reasonable it's supermarkets, whose typical stack it high, sell it cheap strategy appeals jointly to hungry stomachs and budget sensitivity. But whilst we buy into the common aim of decent food at decent prices, our appetite diminishes when we suspect foul play.
For this reason, supermarkets go to lengths to cultivate customer loyalty, with an emphasis on quality and honesty. Whilst supply chains have been tested recently, retailers were eager to maintain a semblance of business as usual. But with production costs rising, efforts to soften the blow for consumers sometimes gave way to deception tactics.
Cue "shrinkflation", where supermarkets would slightly reduce the amount of actual product whilst keeping the packaging the same. Marketers found this psychological trick less likely to put off customers than the alternative of just raising prices to get the same amount.
Whilst this ploy might be justified by a genuine increase in input costs, the "greedflation" that followed is less excusable, as producers attempted to normalise high prices even after their own expenses had come back down. Despite being called out, it took some time for large producers who controlled a large market share to yield to public and political pressure.
Even now we may ask if we're not victim of some sales scheme whenever we do the groceries. But even if producers are earnest in trying to offer the best prices, is this an enviable way to shop? Experts caution against a race to the bottom in which our eye for a bargain overlooks the health cost of poor-quality produce.
Where households a generation ago might often spend almost one-third of disposable income on food, Belgians today spend 16%. Can we afford to pay less?
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