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Plot spoiler: customers notice!

Two months ago my lunch sushi came with a tiny bottle of soy sauce, a sachet of wasabi and another of ginger.

Then those extras were dropped. No sauce, wasabi or ginger. But no reduction in price.

I was getting less but still paying the same.

Wasabi and ginger both found themselves added to the supermarket shopping list.

Today my lunch sushi arrived at a third of its usual size. Whereas six pieces previously filled the container, there was room for two more. And one piece now equals one mouthful.

Again, no change in price.

When the accompaniments first disappeared, I thought it was simple carelessness on the part of the worker assembling the boxes.

I quickly realised I was wrong. It was about providing a lesser product for the same money.

I expect it is the same with this latest reduction. But I will give it one more try, after which if the size remains super-small I will simply stop buying it. After all, there are plenty of other lunch options I could choose from.

Customers and clients always have a choice. And they vote with their feet. While losing one customer will be unlikely to make a difference to the sushi company, it will if 100 or 1000 customers stop buying their product. And those customers will replace it with a different option, unlikely to return.

Business owners need to remember this when playing an underhand game. It’s easy to lose the trust of those who shell out their hard-earned money and very hard to win it back again.