Why consumers are grumpy.

Consumers get grumpy when they feel they aren't getting their money's worth. That's something that happens a lot in packaged grocery products, especially when products like ice cream are quietly being downsized in the hope that no one will notice. This month, one of our shoppers told us that "store brands aren't always as good as national brands but they are less deceptive about sizes and contents."

When the supermarket industry looks at its center store problems, they tend to see the eating and lifestyle trends that have nudged consumers into the fresher, and frequently unpackaged, foods that both supermarkets and consumers associate with the faster changing perimeter departments. (There's an analogy to flying over the United States from New York or Washington to San Francisco and Los Angeles and not seeing the changes that are taking place in the middle because it's so big and repetitive.)

Some years ago, supermarkets and the customers made a big deal out of unit pricing which displayed the price per ounce, per pound, per foot, or per sheet on all kinds of packaged goods. Consumers were willing to take the time to compare unit prices--to make decision whether the giant size was enough cheaper for them to justify buying it. For operational and maintenance reasons, accurate and truly comparable unit prices are hard to maintain, and few supermarkets do unit pricing well enough for consumers to really rely on. Calculators have gotten so small and convenient that consumers who really care about unit prices carry a little calculator with them and make the calculations that are important to them.

Most consumers find checking or calculating unit prices too much of a hassle and don't do it with any regularity. Mostly they do rough calculations in their heads and hope not to be misled. But they are misled, and each and every time they discover they have been misled, they feel ripped off and their trust and confidence in brands and stores is eroded a little further.