Illustration: Emma Roulette
‘Upflation’ Is the New Retail Trend Driving Up Prices for US Consumers
First there was ‘shrinkflation.’ Now, consumers are confronting ‘upflation’ as companies seek to turn around the $100 billion personal care and beauty market.
Procter & Gamble Co. is charging $14 for all-over body deodorant — double the cost of a standard stick. Gillette sells a $15 intimate razor specifically for “tricky areas” for $5 more than the regular Venus. And Carefree’s newest pads are meant to catch all sorts of leaks. Those cost more than the old version, too.
The spate of new uses for old products is a somewhat awkward attempt by some of the world’s biggest packaged goods-makers, including P&G, Unilever Plc and Edgewell Personal Care Co. to claw back sales in the US’s more than $100 billion personal care and beauty market. In the high-inflation, post-pandemic years, cost- and waste-conscious consumers have cut back on what were once essential items. P&G, Unilever, Edgewell and most every other packaged good company has posted multiple quarters of slow or declining sales volumes.