Magnum Classic

Source: Unilever

The 110ml sticks included in its 4x110ml Classic and White multipacks have been swapped for new 100ml sticks

Magnum multipacks have been shrunk by owner Unilever in a bid to mitigate surging costs – but retail prices have risen in some cases.

The 110ml sticks included in its 4x110ml Classic and White multipacks have been swapped for new 100ml sticks, The Grocer can reveal.

At the time of writing, Tesco was selling the new multipacks at £3.25 – up from £3 for the previous size, according to Assosia data [12 w/e 18 July 2022].

In Morrisons, meanwhile, 4x100ml packs were being sold at £3.20 – the same price as they had been in their previous iteration.

A spokeswoman for Unilever said: “We regularly review our product sizes and pricing, and we are committed to ensuring shoppers enjoy great value for money from our brands.”

The fmcg giant was “currently experiencing large increases in the costs of some of our raw materials including some of the high-quality ingredients in Magnum”, she said.

“When this happens, we will always try to absorb as much of the cost pressures ourselves before increasing our prices.

“The retail price of our products is always at the sole discretion of the retailer and we, like all manufacturers, only provide a recommended retail price.”

The Grocer has approached Tesco and Morrisons for comment.

Unilever isn’t the only fmcg manufacturer shrinking its products. As reported by The Grocer, Mars recently shrunk its Twix multipacks in a bid to mitigate the “rising costs of raw materials and operations”. 

In the chillers, meanwhile, The Grocer revealed last week that spreads giant Upfield had shrunk packs of Flora, Bertolli and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, with the company similarly blaming “significant commodity cost increases”.