In supermarkets in Ukraine, a new trick has emerged. Instead of the usual 1 liter of milk, for example, they are packing 900 grams of milk or 875 ml into a container that is typically expected to hold 1 liter. The actual volume is printed in small font and in an unexpected location. Legally, this isn’t considered a trick, but it is a classic example of destructive marketing. unlove “…that is, without understanding the deep interdependence of people on one another. They are not just deceiving customers; ultimately, they are deceiving themselves. Yes, for a while, this trick will work, and people will buy milk supposedly cheaper, but in reality, it will be more expensive. But what will happen over time, and is already happening now? People spend 1 second to grab a product and go, but at least 30, and sometimes even 50 seconds, studying ‘the fine print.’ During this time, the supermarket incurs costs for lighting, heating and cooling, ventilation, and salaries for cashiers and staff. All this time, while the customer diligently searches for the weight of the package, the ‘obvious’ weight differs from the actual one. In general terms, the turnover of working capital slows down, which, for the supermarket, should be as fast as possible (Fast Moving Consumer Goods – remember the industry definition). The supermarket is effectively slowing down turnover by… 30 times! This is a disaster for the supermarket! At the same time, it turns out that the supermarket is not even aware that it is:”
a) accomplice to a crime (even if it is not specified in the Criminal Code) and
b) spends a lot of money implicitly, however. I specifically called the salesperson, then talked to the cashier, and then to the supermarket manager. Everyone, when asked about the capacity of the bag, answered, “probably a liter.”
In other words, the supermarket, by agreeing to purchase such products, doesn’t even realize the expenses it is being pushed into by the cunning and effective marketer from Wimm-Bill-Dann (and it’s not just this one company that is “smart”—there are many). Hysteresis: The most interesting thing is that if companies decide to switch back to honest packaging and labeling, customers will still diligently study each package before making a purchase for a long time. At that point, both the packaging will be honest, and the selling overheads will be high, and all the “savings” that the producers achieved will return to them in the form of even higher payments to the supermarket for selling their products. But by then, the “effective” marketers will have already changed either their company, their position, or their citizenship.
I try not to buy products in “clever,” misleading packaging. Trust comes first. If they are trying to deceive me about the weight, something I can check, then how are they deceiving me in the production process? How much milk is actually in this package, and how much is just palm oil and lime? How can we eliminate this issue? Each of you should spend 5 minutes of your life filing a complaint in the complaint book. It will help.