New Clothes, Better Food, Less Weight Watching, More Health

Consumer spending is by far the biggest driver of U.S. economic growth. So you can be sure that businesses are paying close attention to the disruption in longstanding consumer behavior patterns that GLP-1 medicines are bringing. People are buying new clothes, better food, spending less on weight watching, and more on health.

Make no mistake. Obesity medicines are sparking changes in consumer behavior and it is unsettling to the businesses that depend on consumers to snap up their goods and services.

Disruptive to the Food Industry

Simon Somogyi is a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. More specifically, he studies consumer food behavior and tells the Washington Post that consumer behavior is shifting profoundly as people adopt GLP-1 medicines to bring obesity under control.

These shifts are very disruptive to a food industry accustomed to selling a lot of cheap, but not especially healthy food with small profits per unit. As growing numbers of people take these medicines, they are switching to healthier items and buying fewer units with higher profits per unit. Somogyi says:

“It sounds odd because it’s a good thing that people are buying more healthy food, but it’s not typically in line with retailers’ strategy.”

A business model that relies on impulse purchases of junk food flying off grocery shelves is looking iffy for the future.

New Clothes

Likewise, retail analysts for the clothing industry are seeing shifts in consumer behavior. Smaller sizes are trending up, while plus sizes are trending down. Again, this is unsettling. Will size inclusivity in fashion fade away? Or will consumers find more options that fit them? After a lifetime of struggles with weight and fashion, Kait Handler describes the new experience that better weight control has brought her:

“This has been both an uncomfortable and sensational experience for me. What do you mean I can walk into a store and buy an article of clothing? Emergency dress? No problem.”

Less Weight Watching

Sixty years ago, Weight Watchers got its start in a world that told people to get a grip and lose their excess weight through diet, exercise, and self-discipline. As changes in that world prompted changes in our bodies, it became obvious that the growing prevalence of obesity had its root in biology as much or more than behavior.

So Weight Watchers is seeing a rapid decline in its relevance and its stock price. People are paying more attention to their health, enduring less blame for their weight, enjoying better food and new clothes. Weight watching is not what it used to be.

As with any consumer trend, these observations come from a great diversity of human experiences. They are a sample of experiences that emerge from better options for dealing with obesity.

Click here for more from the Washington Post about shifts in consumer behavior. For a glimpse of the impact on the snack food industry, click here.

The Hat Shop, painting by August Macke / WikiArt

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September 10, 2024