If you’re familiar with Mark’s columns and teaching on the MiniMBA courses, you will know he has a habit of coining his own marketing words. See: Bothism, Tactification and last month's ‘bull-shittery’ to name a few examples.
So this week, I would like to formally introduce you to the concept of ‘Maximiniflation’. You have to keep reading to find out what that means.
From Tesco’s pricing confusion to OpenAI’s profit (or lack thereof), here’s your bi-weekly, 5-minute read on what Mark’s been up to.
You may have heard of ‘shrinkflation’, when manufacturers reduce product sizes without a corresponding price reduction. Mark’s newly coined ‘maximiniflation’ refers to something he predicts will cause much more consumer anger in 2026.
Maximiniflation is when companies reduce product sizes while quietly raising prices. “It’s a kick in the balls followed by a kick in the face. That double indignity, executed without declaration, is why it’s causing significantly more noise than standard shrinkflation.”
Maximiniflation is happening because the volume of sales is declining and costs are rising, so what should companies do instead? How do marketers avoid becoming the next victim of a social media maximiniflation exposé?
First, learn to price properly. This means giving marketers a seat at the pricing table. Clearly communicate and explain price changes while reminding your customer of the value. “If you must raise prices, be clear, be early, be specific, and connect it back to something customers value.”
Companies should also consider value engineering, reducing package waste or introducing smaller sizes at lower price points for budget-conscious shoppers. As well as portfolio rationalisation, repositioning products with premium pricing or discontinuing when they are no longer sustainable.
“The common theme here is that transparency preserves procedural fairness: “you told me, now I decide”. Even if the outcome is financially identical, shoppers judge upfront communicated price rises as fairer, making them more likely to stay and less likely to go or turn nuclear.”
Brands can avoid stooping to the levels of maximiniflation by taking Module 8 of the MiniMBA in Marketing. Learn how to set prices properly in the first place – and why price framing is sometimes as important as the price itself.
OpenAI recently announced it will test advertising on its free and lower-paying tier. Analysts project this could generate the company $25 billion annually by 2030, but that’s not enough.
“At first sight, OpenAI looks spectacular. Recurring revenue hit $20 billion in 2025, a tenfold increase in two years. ChatGPT has recruited 800 million active users, and more than a million businesses now pay for the service.”
OpenAI’s issue is profitability, with the company estimating it needs to grow last year’s impressive revenues tenfold to turn a profit.
“Amazon proudly, famously, spent five years losing $1 billion before turning a profit. But the scale of OpenAI’s losses make Amazon’s early burn rate look like a rounding error.”
Google on the other hand is OpenAI’s older, wiser relative that has net profit stashed in every draw of the house.
“Its AI investments are layered on top of a cash-generating mountain, not instead of one. Google already has the income that OpenAI is shakily projecting it will one day earn.”
So what levers will OpenAI pull? They could expand into new markets, but the company is already well-penetrated, and new markets increases computing costs.
They could increase pricing, but only 5% of users currently convert into paying customers as it stands. They could diversify, which is what’s happening with Sora and Atlas, but increased R&D costs will shrink their already non-existent profit.
So we land on their recent move to advertising on their products, which is “very much a last resort” according to Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, in 2024.
Artificial Intelligence is unlocking huge potential across the marketing discipline: synthetic research, advanced pricing models and the ability to execute tactics at scale – but OpenAI must remember the marketing fundamentals if they want stable, long-term growth.
Learn the essentials of targeting, pricing strategy, product, advertising effectiveness and more on the MiniMBA in Marketing, which starts on 7 April 2026.
Tesco launched ‘Everyday Low Prices’ last month, not to be confused with Sainsburys’ ‘Low Everyday Prices,’ Asda ‘Rollbacks’ and Morrisons’ ‘Price Match’.
‘Everyday Low Prices’ is a classic example of Everyday Low Pricing (EDLP), the pricing model that Walmart used to dominate the US market. No frills, no discounts, just low prices on customers’ favourite items, every day.
Whilst there is research for EDLP, there is just as much evidence to suggest Hi-Lo Pricing, the discounting villain in the grocery supermarket story, is equally favoured.
Big-basket shoppers prefer EDLP as it reduces decision fatigue and provides the comfort of consistent value. While cherry pickers, those who shop around for the best discounts, love the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of a good deal.
Of course, you can’t get the good without the bad. IRI research found British shoppers are among the least responsive in the world to pricing discounts. Simultaneously, JCPenney’s sales collapsed by 25% in 2012 when they ditched discounting for EDLP.
That's why Tesco isn’t EDLP alone. “It’s doing EDLP and Hi-Lo and loyalty pricing and price matching – all at the same time. Tesco knows pure EDLP won’t work in the UK. The research shows it. So it has built a Frankenstein’s pricing monster, stitched together with a bit of everything, aimed at everyone.”
This can (and is) leading to pricing confusion. A single product, a tin of beans in Mark’s example, has 8 different price points depending on the quantity, date and time of your purchase.
Shoppers often build a perceived “price image” in their head. Waitrose and M&S are ‘expensive’, Aldi and Asda are ‘cheap’. Tesco, although it continues to dominate its market, sits somewhere in the muddy middle.
Mark Ritson talks a lot about the addiction of price promotions. If you’re guilty of running sales or discounts, read his 7 steps to kicking your price-promotion addiction.
Amidst the events unfolding in Minneapolis, Mark did something different last week. He produced two columns with two different standpoints; whether national brands should or should not publicly weigh in on political charged moments like these.
Let’s start with ‘Silence is Strategy’, which suggests large corporations should stay quiet and remain in their commercial lane.
The numbers show the nation is almost split down the middle when it comes to the topic of immigration, so “the activists insisting that silence equals complicity are asking you to bet your company on a position that half your customers oppose. That’s not courage. That’s commercial suicide.”
It's easy to view Patagonia and Ben & Jerrys as success stories when it concerns brand activism, but we forget these brands built their entire identity around it.
Succumbing to this pressure might temporarily do your image (and conscious) some good, but you will likely alienate half your potential customer base, and future revenue, in the process.
Okay, let’s flip the argument on its head.
Yes, immigration is a divisive subject, but the majority of registered voters disapprove of how ICE is handling its job. “When you have two-to-one public sentiment against an agency conducting operations inside your stores and arresting your employees, staying silent doesn’t protect you.”
Second, research shows consumers are increasingly choosing brands based on beliefs, with 63% of Gen Z and 57% of Millenials more likely to purchase from companies that speak out.
Plus, let's not forget your employees, who make up the different cultures and communities spread across the country. “Purpose-driven companies don’t just attract customers. They attract and retain better people.”
“When 700 small businesses can close their doors and stand for something, when 70,000 Minnesotans can march in life-threatening cold, surely the nation’s largest corporations can muster something more than bland HR memos.”
Bud Light’s influencer partnership with Dylan Mulvaney wiped billions from its market value and lost its reign as America’s favourite beer in 2023.
Learn more about purpose, when to exercise it and when to not, in Module 5: Brand Positioning of the MiniMBA in Brand Management.
Images (from top): IbragimovN, Mojahid Mottakin, Jammer Gene, andreykr / Adobe Stock