$90 cream and $10 toothpaste: Companies target big spenders

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Companies from toothpaste makers to beauty chains are adding more premium items like designer creams and services as they reach out to wealthier shoppers who are still spending freely even in the face of higher inflation and volatile economic environment. Think $10 toothpastes and $90 creams on supermarket shelves. Retailers and consumer product companies felt justified in raising prices to offset higher costs from gnarled supply chains and Russia’s war in Ukraine last year. But as those financial pressures ease, some are looking for new ways to pump up sales and profits by focusing on premium items. Critics believe such moves will only increasingly shut out the less economically fortunate.