GLP-1 fat jabs are a goldmine for supermarkets and not in the way you might think

GLP-1 must be a term many in the food industry wish they had never heard.

The weight loss drugs wiped £780m from household grocery spend in the year to the end of February 2026, according to new data published today from Worldpanel by Numerator. The proportion of households with at least one user shot from 2.3% in 2024 to 6.3% in 2026, and each of those households is spending £418 less on takehome food and drink.

“These drugs are fundamentally disrupting how people engage with food and drink, with ripple effects already being felt across grocery and lifestyle, forcing brands and businesses to adapt at pace,” says Chantel Kennaugh, Worldpanel head of public sector and nutrition.

But GLP-1s are also a potential goldmine for supermarkets – and not in the way you might think.

Yes, there are the specialist ranges that supermarkets are launching. But an even bigger revenue stream could be the jabs themselves. 

In the Boots results, which were published today the health & beauty retailer said weight loss treatments were proving “especially popular with customers”. That’s shorthand for the so-called ‘skinny jabs’ it’s now selling. The newly filed accounts at Companies House revealed that Boots pharmacy sales rose by 5% in the year to the end of August 2025, as it delivered over 800,000 NHS Pharmacy First consultations in England. Revenue from Boots.com, including Boots Online Doctor, where weight loss treatments can be ordered, shot up by 18.3%. Uptake of weight loss drugs also helped boost like for like store sales by 5.8%.

Boots is leaning further into the trend. The health & beauty retailer launched a high street weight loss jab service in February this year, offering face-to-face consultations and treatments such as Wegovy and Mounjaro. And in May it launched a nutrition-focused GLP-1-friendly food-to-go range, following the lead set by supermarket rivals. 

Superdrug wants more of the action. The retailer this week asked consumers to register for updates “on a new oral weight management service currently in development” as it prepares for growing demand.

But it’s not just pharmacies that are taking advantage. Supermarkets too are taking advantage – to varying degrees. Asda launched its Asda Online Pharmacy in 2024, allowing shoppers to order Wegovy and Mounjaro. Data for The Grocer from Spendmapper, based on the card transactions of 180,000 consumers, shows Asda Online Doctor monthly sales shot up from less than £5m in 2024 to £30m by July 2025. And The Grocer understands the pharmacy hub continues to grow, beating sales targets by as much as £40m, according to a source.  

Morrisons also wants in on the action. It followed Asda’s move by launching its online Morrisons Clinic in January 2025. It also offers treatments such as Wegovy and Mounjaro jabs, in partnership with digital pharmacy platform Phlo. 

Elsewhere, Tesco offers the jabs through its weight loss management service, which was rolled out to all Tesco Pharmacies (over 350 locations) in January this year, but the treatment cannot be ordered online, instead requiring a 30-minute face-to-face consultation with a pharmacist in store. 

The only outlier is Sainsbury’s, which doesn’t offer the treatment at all, having shut its 237 Lloyds Pharmacy outlets in 2023. It means it is missing out on a treatment market for the 1.9 million adults on weight loss medication in 2026, according to Worldpanel’s data.

But the size of the opportunity could also change quickly, should Wegovy weight loss treatment in pill form receive regulatory approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. A consultation is expected to conclude at the end of this year. Such a move could take the number of consumers using weight loss drugs to a new level, while potentially lowering the cost of treatment, and removing the opportunity for retailers to inject squeamish customers on their behalf. An even bigger threat to this new revenue stream is also likely from 2031, when patents expire.   

So now is the time for supermarkets to seize the opportunity these skinny jabs present. Before they shrivel up.