WALKERS has made a big change to its multipacks and shoppers will be furious.
The crisp manufacturer is shrinking its large multipacks of crisps from 22 to 20 bags while the price has gone up by 8%.
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Previously the Walkers Classic assortment contained six Cheese and Onion bags, six Ready Salted, five Salt and Vinegar and five Prawn Cocktail, but now there will be five of each flavour.
On Asda’s website this week the 22-packs were listed for £4.50, but are now out of stock.
The new 20-packs cost even more at £4.85 – a rise of 4p per bag.
Walkers’ meaty multipacks have also gone down to 20 bags – from six Smoky Bacon bags, six Roast Chicken, five Prawn Cocktail and five Cheese and Onion – to five of each.
The cost in Asda is also £4.85.
We reached out to Asda but it declined to comment on the change.
Customers fumed at this latest example of “shrinkflation” – where products shrink but the price stays the same or rises.
The phenomenon is currently rife in the food industry due to inflation and soaring production costs.
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One buyer fumed on social media: “Not only is inflation hitting hard, but getting charged for 22 when clearly only 20 in the box. Not happy!”
Another added: “Thanks so much Walkers Crisps for the lack of transparency in this scale down.”
Charles Allen, retail analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, said: “This was the eighth month of increased food prices to producers so it is inevitable that consumer prices will have to go up.
“Food manufacturers and retailers try their best to resist unjustified increases, yet they have to accept certain price rises are necessary due to rising input costs.
“To combat this, manufacturers might reduce crisp packet sizes with the objective of keeping the consumer price.”
In October 2021 The Sun reported how Walkers’ Classic variety packs had shrunk from 24 to 22 bags, but still cost £3.50.
The older version contained six Salt and Vinegar bags, six Cheese and Onion, six Ready Salted and six Prawn Cocktail.
Walkers, owned by US company PepsiCo, said: “We strive to provide high quality, competitively-priced products to our customers.
“Retail prices of our products are at the discretion of retailers.
“Like many businesses, we have changed the size of some of our products due to a number of factors impacting the cost of producing them.
“We always ensure that our products are clearly labelled so consumers know exactly what they are buying.”
