How upflation is driving up prices for oddball products like all-body deodorant, pubic hair razors

Consumer goods manufacturers are slapping exorbitant prices on oddball personal care products such as total body deodorant and razors to remove pubic hair — a new, unwelcome trend in retail known as “upflation.”Unlike “shrinkflation,” in which companies reduce the size and quantity of items in packages while keeping the prices more or less the same, “upflation” describes how shoppers.are being charged for everyday products that are being marketed for uses that are beyond their initial scope.Gillette is marketing a “Venus” razor that is used for “pubic hair and skin” which is “specifically designed to help protect” women’s bikini lines from irritation.

Each pack can cost up to $15 for a pack of four razors — up from $10 for a traditional razor.The brand’s parent company Proctor & Gamble, which sells Secret, Old Spice and Dove products, is also charging $14 apiece for total body deodorant — which is about twice the cost of a regular stick of underarm deodorant.Companies like P&G, Unilever and Edgewell Personal Care are marketing these items in hopes of making up for the lost revenue as shoppers — fed up with surging prices for basics — have cut back on spending for items such as razor blades, shampoo, laundry detergent and deodorants, according to Bloomberg News.The news site cited data from market researcher Circana which found that retailers sold 20% fewer razor blades last year compared to 2019.During that same period, sales of deodorant fell 6.5%.P&G is also marketing complementary items such as “pubic hair and skin smoothing exfoliant” and “2-in-1 cleanser and shave gel” — charging as much as $13 for a six-ounce tube.Manscaped has been marketing special grooming equipment for men, including personal groin trimmers that it has compared to toothbrushes — noting that “everyone needs it, no one wants to share it.”Experts interviewed by Bloomberg News say only the first half of that marketing pitch is ...