Shoppers have accused major brand Lurpak of making a ‘stealth’ reduction in the size of its packs of butter - with many supermarket chains not passing on the reduction in terms of bringing down the price. People buying their favourite brands of butter noticed that the size of Lurpak and Anchor had mysteriously been reduced from 250g to 200g.
But the change which has just happened also seemed to confuse supermarkets, which had the new packs in some cases priced the same or with no price at all. Shoppers said they were concerned at the cut in size and worried they were being asked to pay more for less.
Lurpak and Anchor's owner Arla Foods told NottinghamshireLive the aim was to make the 'price points more accessible for shoppers' and that they were 'working closely' with retailers for this to happen.
Bini Patel-Watkins said: “Oh @asda Hinckley, this is disappointing to see, 200g packets of @Lurpak on the shelves but prices displayed for 250g. I wonder what the customer pays at the till? I won’t be buying this brand, that’s for sure.”
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And she then added: “And now @sainsburys getting in on the act with #buttergate not knowing how to price the new 200g packs of @Lurpak. Not helping their sales!”
lporter said: “This is always happening at ours too! I’ve often wondered how many people are being fooled, you shouldn’t have to be Columbo just to do your weekly shop!” Robert Allen said: “Spot the difference? Lurpak has sneaked 50g off blocks of butter - without shaving the price per gram. We’re all paying more for less.”
Gshaw added: “This is a real stealth reduction in size - and it seems to have caught the supermarkets out too.”
JimGilroy was not happy and explained: “Was just updating my mums’s @sainsburys grocery order whereby a 250g block of lurpak butter has been out of stock for weeks. And I’ve just noticed they’re selling a new shrinkflated size of 200g. And it may look cheaper, but by the kg it’s similar.
“We cancelled our Sainsbury’s shop this week and ordered from Waitrose instead. They still have the original size on offer for £2.40.”
A survey of supermarkets has many displaying the Lurpak 200g ‘on offer’ with the ‘full price’ being the original £2.70. Iceland and Asda have it on offer at £1.90 ‘reduced’ from £2.70. Tesco and Sainsbury's is pricing it at £2.15.
Danny Micklethwaite, VP marketing at Arla Foods which owns the Lurpak and Anchor brands said: “From 17 April 2023, shoppers will begin to see a pack reduction across some of our block butter packs of Lurpak and Anchor.
“We’re aware that the cost-of-living crisis has put pressure on shoppers’ available spend, and we want to make our price points more accessible for shoppers, which we believe can be achieved, by reducing our pack sizes.
“There are many different factors that affect the price consumers pay in store. These are set by the retailers themselves, but we work extremely closely with our retail partners to ensure we deliver tasty, quality dairy at the best possible price for both shoppers and our farmer owners.”
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