McVitie’s Digestives has become another high-profile casualty of shrinkflation – with some packs of the UK’s biggest selling everyday biscuit now 10% smaller.
Owner Pladis has replaced the 400g pack of plain Digestives with a 360g version – but the majority of shelf prices have stayed the same or risen in supermarkets.
In Morrisons, the shelf price of the smaller Digestives pack is £1.76 – up 11% from £1.59 for the 400g option [Assosia 12 w/e 29 March 2023].
The 360g pack is currently available for £1.60 in Tesco – the same shelf price as the larger pack.
However, the retailer has a 2x360g pack of plain Digestives for £2.30 – 8% lower than the 2x400g pack’s £2.50 tag.
The smaller twin-pack in Sainsbury’s and Asda is £3, the same price as its weightier predecessor.
“The contents of our products are subject to periodic change to reflect consumer preference, customer demand, affordability and the industry-wide inflationary pressures,” a spokeswoman for Pladis told The Grocer.
“Like many businesses, we continue to see an unprecedented rise in input costs.”
The Grocer has approached Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda for comment.
Value sales of plain Digestives grew 12.5% in grocery last year – a gain of £6m [NIQ 52 w/e 31 December 2022].
McVitie’s is not the only top 15 brand in British grocery to have shrunk packs recently. Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons was found earlier this month to have cut its large sharing bag by 23% – from 240g to 184.8g.
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