BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Is ‘shrinkflation’ a sneaky or clever

business strategy?
Find out how they think their decisions might affect
Level: Advanced (C1-C2)
customer satisfaction and retention and their
company’s reputation.
Time: Approximately 90 minutes (plus possible
extra time for research and presentation)
3. Key words
Business topics: inflation, cost-saving
strategies, packaging, service reduction, a.
customer response
Key:
Business language: useful business 1. bottleneck
vocabulary, phrases and expressions, 2. brag
language for explaining and justifying changes 3. sneaky
and customer satisfaction 4. alienate
5. walk-ins
Activities: discussing business strategies, 6. tack on
key words, understanding the text, business 7. retire
language, discussion, research and creating 8. tweak
product timelines
9. capitalize on (Note: in usage, 9 & 10 are
often interchangeable)
Groups: Whole class, one-to-one, small groups
10. exploit
11. wholesome
12. Amenities
Overview: This article discusses how
companies and small businesses are dealing 4. Understanding the article
with the economic effects of the Covid
pandemic. a. Students find key information in the article and
complete the table.

Key.
1. Warmer - Shrinkflation
Reasons for lack of workers, supply chain
inflation and problems, people wanting more
a. Students read the meanings of the two halves
rising costs of certain products and items as
of the portmanteau word and write a definition of
things go back to normal again
shrinkflation on the line.
after the pandemic, Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine causing
b. Then they scan the article to find examples of
problems in the supply of food
packaged product shrinkflation – where a product has
(e.g., oil) and energy (e.g., gas)
become smaller, but the price has remained the same
(or even increased). Types of packed products keeping their
shrinkflation in price but being reduced in
Key: 5 = Doritos, Cottonelle toilet rolls, Dove body packaged food size, e.g., less body wash in a
wash, Cadbury’s Wispa bars, PepsiCo’s Gatrorade and drinks bottle, fewer chips in a packet,
Advanced

and fewer sheets of paper on

2. Lead in - Business dilemma toilet rolls, a reduction in size of
chocolate bars, a reduction in the
a. Put students into pairs or small groups and give them amount of drink in a bottle along
5 minutes only to discuss the dilemma and reach a with a smaller bottle
conclusion before sharing their decision and providing
their justifications.
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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Examples of rooms only being cleaned if 6. Business language – multi-word

shrinkflation in guests request housekeeping expressions
the hotel industry services, no free bottles of
bathroom items, encouraging a. Students find multi-word expressions and phrases
guests to reuse towels in the article that match the meanings. The section
numbers are given to help them.
Examples of putting more sauce and cutting
shrinkflation meat at different angles to
Key:
in restaurants cover the plate at make portions
1. levers in our toolkit
look bigger than they are, using
2. preserve margins
cheaper ingredients, renaming
3. revenue is rebounding
dishes and giving them higher
4. widespread price hikes
prices, reducing the number of
5. digging their way out of a big hole
side vegetables on a meal,
6. opt in
cutting staffing costs by
7. taking a different tack
introducing online ordering and
8. patience is wearing thin
payment
Examples of Walt Disney World no longer b. Then, they use the ones they’d like to learn in
shrinkflation allows certain people to jump to sentences of their own which they should read out to
in the leisure the front of a long line or queue. the other students.
industry Instead people can now pay
extra per ride for quick access 7. Discussion questions
to rides
a. Put the students in pairs or small groups and ask
Justifications They are making their products
them to discuss the questions. When students have
given by easier to hold; they are tackling
covered all the questions, bring the whole class
companies for health problems such as obesity;
back together so that they can share their answers
their shrinkflation they are looking after the
and any interesting information that arose from
actions environment.
their discussions.

8. Wider business theme – 50 years

5. Business language of one product

a.-b. a. Students work through the task as laid out on the

Key:
pricepack architecture = a method of providing
customers with a selection of products that meet their
needs at the price they are willing to pay
penny pinching = the practice of trying to spend as
little money as possible
Advanced
worksheet in groups of 2-3 and share and present
their final work to the rest of the group, talking through
and explaining what they have found out by doing
the task.
The products given in the task instructions are
examples only. Students may choose any similar
product providing it has been around for at least

50 years and changes have been made to it over that

earnings call = a conference call in which a public time period.
company discusses the financial results of a
reporting period
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