The satchetization law of the Nigerian economy states that due to the persistent decrease in the GDP Per Capita, decreased consumer spending and hyper-galloping-inflation, every FMCG is going to end up in the satchet business.

On the flip side, Shrinkinflation is an alternative modern economic phenomenon in Nigeria today across all spheres. Take for Instance, in 1995, Gala Satchet was a whole sausage at N10. By year 2005, price doubled but satchet reduced to half-full; while by 2015, price increased to N50 but satchet reduced to 10 per cent of Sausage.

Today, Gala price is N100 per Satchet without Sausage but with two drops of Sausage Sauce. That is ludicrously ridiculous, right? You can ask yourself as much as I’ve asked myself multiple times without getting a response and we might end up buying satchet petrol and satchet gas.

The Per Capita Income of an average citizen of Nigeria can be domesticated and routed through the wire line of the private sector that caused the shrinkinflation to happen every first quarter and the rest of the time till now. The Nigerian economy has crumbled long ago, without checking the possible solutions to revive it as a whole oil producing nation; yet she cannot stand out to curb the hyper-galloping-inflation.

Economists, overtime in Nigeria, have come up with their various timely predictions about how inflationary rate increases and how it will completely damage the Nigerian economy in the long run without a consubstantial solution to revive her.

IMF, World Bank and other international money regulatory body also dole out their own prediction about the Nigerian economy with a shallow solution propounded, a solution that is highly unpractical; that has never, for once, improved the state of the economy yet the Federal Government of Nigeria heed to these solutions, et she crumbles the more.

Shrinkinflation is Macroeconomical because it affects every sector of the economy as a whole and, as a result, deters the economy. No doubt Shrinkinflation and Satchetization are interwoven or intertwined such that can be referred to as bipartition, in comparison and in contrasting.

I only cited Gala as a typical victim of shrinkinflation. What about other products such as Dangote products and many more which have been shrinkinflated from Spaghetti, macaroni, salt and many others of his product and a few other Fast-Moving Consumer Goods firms (FMCG) whose products must be consumed daily, or maybe, after two days. Also, people in a typical Nigerian home have also adapted to this thieving system that has milked out all the fortune of the lower class and middle class of the society out of their pockets because when these economical disaster takes place, only the middle and the lower class of the Nigerian society that suffer it the most.

Shrinkflation is the process of reformulating or decreasing the size or quantity of an item while its price remains the same. The word is the shrink-and-inflation portmanteau.

This strategy allows companies to boost their operating margin and profitability through lower expenses while maintaining sales volumes.

Also, inflation indicators are associated with units of product volumes or weights, so then, shrinkflation may also affect the inflation rate in the Nigerian economy (Ubah Jeremiah Ifeanyi June 24, 2021).

Ubah Jeremiah Ifeanyi went further to argue that The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted Nigeria’s U-shaped recovery from the 2016 recession. As a result, 2021 has only seen jobless growth and high inflation that plunges disposable income.

Hence, it is only formidable thinking for organizations to look for alternative measures in achieving profitability in the world’s poverty capital. Therefore, the rule of the game is simple, innovate or die.

Recently, ‘sachetization’ has been seen as an audacious solution to the case of economic degradation. Sachetization can be seen as a response by entrepreneurs/organizations to a falling aggregate demand primarily caused by a reduction in purchasing power and an increase in economic misery.

It entails the rebranding of products into smaller packages (sachets) with the same quality but at a reduced price. We can see examples in products such as Dettol, Baileys, Fresh Yo and Chivita.

These Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) producing firms are so smart whereby they know 75 per cent of the populace cannot do without the consumption of their products that is why they tend to Hyper-Inflate any time they like, without proper consultations with the consumers to checkmate their income versus how much to spend on consumable products.

Solutionistically, most monopolized firms like Dangote (et al) can have their monopoly licenses withdrawn so that other firms producing similar varieties of products can have an easy flow in the market with more or less competition whereby consumers can purchase for a lower amount with high quality of whatever they want to purchase at any given time.

•Mike-Nifty A.A is an ambassador for Christ, a Public Affairs analyst and a Curator. You can reach him via nifty.mics@yahoo.com

Update news