Danone reduces product range as shoppers hesitate at high prices

French food goliath Danone is cutting the variety of the products it sells to retailers to cut costs, meaning in the future, yogurt fans may miss out on the exact flavor or pot size they are used to.

The makers of packaged food and supermarkets are struggling to combat rising prices, with products ranging from paper packaging to crude oil becoming more expensive due to a protracted pandemic-led shipping crunch and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Rising inflation also means shoppers are tightening their purses. On  Friday, supermarket firm Tesco warned Britons are buying less, shopping more often, and switching to cheaper, own-brand products to cope with the cost of living crisis.

Earlier in 2022, some food stores were forced to take products off shelves as they could no longer afford to sell them.

Those factors are prompting Danone to rethink how it sells its best-selling products, which range from Activia yogurt and Evian water.

Danone’s global head of sales, Ayla Ziz, said inflation was an emotional issue, particularly in Europe. Ziz also said the firm was cutting back on so-called “stock-keeping units” (SKUs), meaning that some supermarkets will have fewer variations of its products when it comes to sizes and flavors.

Danone wants to stay competitive. Therefore, it is cutting back on promotions; instead, selling fewer types of products will help it save logistics costs.