Retailers are reporting a disturbing new trend affecting their bottom line, and they strongly suspect it has something to do with customers using GLP-1 drugs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, businesses are noticing a higher return rate, which is being chalked up to people losing weight and needing to purchase smaller sizes. The number of purchasers sizing down has increased in each of the past three full calendar years, hitting a high of 14.6% in 2025, the outlet noted.
“It’s becoming a real issue,” Farnam Elyasof, owner of the suit retailer FlexSuits, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/americans-on-glp-1s-are-overwhelming-retailers-with-their-nonstop-returns-9c512caf">told</a> the outlet. “It’s a loss for me.” He said he’s noticed an increase in the number of customers who purchase multiple sizes at once and then return most of them, likely due to weight-loss-related size changes.
The outlet noted that between shipping, labor, and warehouse expenses, returns cost retailers a lot of money. There’s also the issue of reselling the item, which often needs to be discounted because it’s out of season. 
Judith Somekh, co-founder of online retailer The Dress Outlet, has resorted to charging customers a 20% restocking fee to help slow the avalanche of returns in the age of Ozempic. 
“We kind of force the customer, unless they have an excess amount of money, to do their research before they buy,” Somekh told the Journal. “Higher returns mean higher costs, and higher costs mean higher end-costs for the consumer. We obviously don’t want that.”
Another online store owner said she’s been stocking smaller sizes because those are now selling better than ever. 
Over the past few years, weight drugs have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/weight-loss-medication-may-have-dangerous-side-effects-i-dont-care">exploded in popularity</a>, with brands such as Ozempic and Wegovy becoming household names as newer versions like Zepbound join the market and makers rush to come out with newer, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/move-over-ozempic-theres-a-new-weight-loss-shot-everyone-is-freaking-out-about">more effective options</a>. 
The surge in prescriptions cannot be overstated. About 18% of American adults <a href="https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/poll-1-in-8-adults-say-they-are-currently-taking-a-glp-1-drug-for-weight-loss-diabetes-or-another-condition-even-as-half-say-the-drugs-are-difficult-to-afford/\">say</a> they have taken a GLP-1 medication at some point, and roughly one in eight (12%) report currently using one. That number is only expected to grow as a pill form hits the market. But even with people being forced to give themselves weekly injections, the popularity of the shots keeps growing as waistlines continue shrinking.
It’s not just clothing retailers feeling the loss. Snack food producers say purchasing is way down as their customers continue to eat less. Interestingly, tobacco and alcohol producers are also reportedly feeling the sting as users become less likely to continue addictive habits.
“This modulation of the brain’s reward system extends beyond food, with early evidence suggesting benefits in reducing alcohol misuse, drug dependence, and even gambling,” Sophie Dix, head of medical affairs at MedExpress, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/26/how-glp-1s-wegovy-zepbound-are-reshaping-the-economy.html">told</a> CNBC of GLP-1s last August.
This has reportedly had an effect on compulsive shopping habits, which means the same customers making all those returns are purchasing fewer items in the first place. It all results in decreased revenues for retailers across the board.

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The Unexpected Victim Of America’s Ozempic Boom