Shorter flaps, thinner boxes, less color: Inflation is changing how products are packaged

If you’ve noticed that products you’ve recently purchased are coming in boxes, cartons and other packaging that appear smaller, lighter in weight and decorated with less flashy colors, it’s because they actually are.What gives? Just as To be sure, consumers have already been spotting examples of “downsized” items on their grocery shelves — slimmed down toilet paper, fewer chips in a bag or less dish soap in a plastic bottle.Responding to inflationary pressures, shoppers, “might see brown or gray going forward as brands embrace lower cost and more sustainable options, like recycled paper,” Pruett said.Pruett also pointed to a large medical device maker that has switched to a paper sleeve insert instead of a plastic one to hold the product, which is both cheaper and more environmentally friendly. She declined to name the brand, citing confidentiality agreements.Then there are some subtler packaging tweaks rolling out into grocery stores that will likely fly under the radar.”Flaps on the top of boxes are getting shorter, or the box itself is thinner,” said Pruett. “Two years ago these changes may have been minor. Now they are increasingly impactful to companies.”