In economics, shrinkflation is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity, or even sometimes reformulating or reducing quality while their prices remain the same or increase. The word is a portmanteau of the words shrink and inflation.
Shrinkflation allows companies to increase their operating margin and profitability by reducing costs whilst maintaining sales volume, and is often used as an alternative to raising prices in line with inflation. Consumer protection groups are critical of the practice because it has the effect of reducing product value by ‘stealth.’ The reduction in pack size is sufficiently small as not to be immediately obvious to regular consumers.
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The Daily Omnivore 