Exploring the World of Package Sizes and Price-Pack Architecture in Grocery Stores

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Package sizes in grocery stores fluctuate yearly, with some getting smaller while others grow bigger. Companies use industry experts to determine optimal package sizes and pricing to maximize profits. This strategy, known as price-pack architecture, involves offering products in various sizes to entice consumers to purchase more and pay higher prices. This practice has become a lucrative trend across different product categories, such as chips, soda, laundry detergent, and toilet paper, leading to a significant evolution in how companies market and sell their products.

There's a behind the scenes industry that helps big brands decide questions like: How big should a bag of chips be? What's the right size for a bottle of shampoo? And yes, also: When should a company do a little shrinkflation?

From Cookie Monster to President Biden, everybody is complaining about shrinkflation these days. But when we asked the packaging and pricing experts, they told us that shrinkflation is just one move in a much larger, much weirder 4-D chess game.

The name of that game is "price pack architecture." This is the idea that you shouldn't just sell your product in one or two sizes. You should sell your product in a whole range of different sizes, at a whole range of different price points. Over the past 15 years, price pack architecture has completely changed how products are marketed and sold in the United States.

Today, we are going on a shopping cart ride-along with one of those price pack architects. She's going to pull back the curtain and show us why some products are getting larger while others are getting smaller, and tell us about the adorable little soda can that started it all.

By the end of the episode, you'll never look at a grocery store the same way again.

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