The health and wellness market is predicted to be the next trillion-dollar industry and will continue to grow as consumers lead more health-conscious lives.
One very popular health and wellness niche in 2019 is vitamins and supplements. This niche is growing 40% more than it did last year.
So, we’ve put together a guide to selling vitamins and supplements online. Take a look and start building your successful online business now.
The Difference Between Vitamins and Supplements
First, what are vitamins and supplements? Is there a difference between the two? Well, yes and no. Both of these products fall under the health and wellness category. Amway Connections states, “a vitamin is a type of chemical compound that is a vital nutrient for an organism,” while a supplement “can contain a combination of vitamins, minerals, and/or phytonutrients.”
Simply put, a vitamin is a type of supplement. A supplement is a manufactured product that supplements your diet, usually a vitamin, fiber, or amino acids. Supplements can come as a tablet, capsule, powder, drink, or energy bar.
Quick Guide to Selling Vitamins & Supplements
Vitamins and supplements are a great niche to sell in, but it does have its caveats. If you aren’t an expert in the field, expect to do quite a bit of research. There are numerous guidelines, product lines, and regulations.
Research Industry Trends for Product Ideas
You must become an expert in the vitamins and supplements. Read new scientific studies and medical advice, look for reviews of various product lines, and use Google Trends to search for your niche market. To choose a well-rounded product range, follow related ecommerce trend publications and blogs for new updates and advice.
Easy Options to Source Vitamins & Supplements
Source: www.nia.nih.gov
Rather than investing time and money formulating your own line of vitamins and supplements, opt to buy from a wholesale supplier like Vitalabs. Another great option is to sign up for an affiliate program, like The Vitamin Shoppe’s. With either of these options, you’ll market and sell the product online but won’t have to store them.
Since you are attaching your business to another brand, it’s important to like the products and support the wholesaler or affiliate company’s values. Once you’ve built a successful business and can take the time to create products, look into a private label option.
Follow Government Guidelines
Each country has a specific department that regulates vitamins and supplements. To avoid legal trouble in each county, make sure you meet all requirements set forth by the specific government entity.
For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all production and sale of vitamins and supplements in the United States of America. When labeling your products in the United States, all ingredients must be listed, as well as the manufacturer, packaging site, product description, and the word “supplement”. While you’re allowed to display fact sheets from National Institutes of Health and certifications from FDA-approved organizations, you cannot make claims that a product will treat conditions or provide medicinal benefits. Any claims you do make must be accompanied by the following FDA disclaimer: “This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
A great example of a vitamin label following FDA guidelines. Source: www.kexconsulting.com
Start selling in one country and do your research. Once you’ve met all the requirements and built a strong market in your first country, expand and build a new product line that meets the new country’s guidelines.
Properly Store Inventory
The way you store vitamins and supplements impact their shelf life and potency. For example, high levels of heat and humidity will degrade the quality of these products. Many people falsely assume the kitchen, or a bathroom, is the best place to store these products, but due to the fluctuating temperature and humidity levels, the vitamins and supplements degrade quickly.
The best place to keep your stock of vitamins and supplements is in a cool, dry, dark part of a warehouse. See if your warehouse or 3PL offers climate-control storage options. If not, you may need to look for an alternative.
Effectively Market and Brand Your Business
Choosing a target audience, with specific demands and wants, is an important part of your business strategy. It affects how you market products and build a brand. Since vitamins and supplements can have multiple uses, the target audience will determine which benefits to emphasize in your marketing message.
Source: www.swansonvitamins.com
The same is true with packaging design and other branding materials. If you sell natural vitamins and supplements, use a green bottle and outdoor graphics to convey the natural theme. Customizing the brand and marketing to your audience will pay off in the long run.
If you’re passionate about the health and wellness industry or thinking of taking your pharmacy online, vitamins and supplements can be a profitable niche. It’s a great way to target a wide audience and make a profit in the health and wellness market.
Do you have any tips for selling vitamins and supplements? Have any experience selling them? We want to know what you think, so share your thoughts below in the comments section now.
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Interested in selling vitamins and supplements.
Hi Aundre! Vitamins and supplements are a great product for selling online. As a niche product, you may find this article helpful.
You do realize the supplement industry is the toughest and most competitive market to be in behind only the online sex market. I don’t see how anyone would urge others to get into the most glutted market there is. It is easier to sell water in the ocean than it is to launch a new supplement business these days!
Hi Collin, you’re correct. There are a number of sellers in the vitamin and supplement market since the industry has grown 40% year over year. For those who choose to enter this market, we hope this article gives them a great starting point.
Hey Collin, have to agree, I’ve set up a Supplement business here in the UK 2 months ago, have 13 products, own website, on ebay, amazon, onbuy, etsy, and even on shelves in a shop in the city, and so far I haven’t sold a single item online, not one, and my prices are so competitive too, way cheaper than store prices.
Yes, I only went live on May 1st, but I can’t help but feel a little down, I’ve invested 7k into it thus far, and have tons of stock and everythng set up.
I’ve just managed to get verified for Google My Business and yesterday started putting posts up through that, as well as a facebook page. I have 11k followers on Twitter on my personnal account, and have just started posting products on that.
But, if only I could start selling. In the shop in the city, a barber shop, I have sold about £100 worth of products, that’s it, nothing more anywhere.
I have have more bulk loose supplements arriving this week, 15 different products to add to my 13, but these will be in labelled foil ziplock packaging instead of bottles or containers, and I hope to run these as a value range at much cheaper prices.
The quality is still high, but not as high as my premium brand, and of course all regulations are maintained.
I promised myself I would give it 12 months before expecting the business to start moving, but it’s 6 weeks since launch and I can’t help but feel a little concerned.
Fingers crossed and more hard work I guess.
Steve
You’re in for a rough road if trying to start or run a successful supplement company these days. Not only is the competition fierce, but I fear the regulatory agencies are going to start getting even tougher on these products. As someone with decades of experience in the field, I can tell you it is almost impossible to be successful these days. Each new company is just another drop of water in the ocean of already existing company’s doing the same. Even if your ads get seen, you are still just another one in the eyes of the consumer. Trust me, it is a difficult road to travel being in this business. Far too many fall for the lure of what they think will be a lucrative business, when in reality, it is almost entirely the big, well-established companies that are almost exclusively the one’s who make money. Most of the rest just dwindle away and eventually fail.
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One supplement can be sold to different audiences – for example, a fish oil supplement can be marketed to athletes or older people, so there’s really endless ways to sell them. Definitely one of my favorite niches!
Thanks for the tip, Lindsay! If you’re looking for more niche products, you should check out our post, Top Ecommerce Niches of 2019. Good luck and happy selling!
i am from new york. and i want to khow what do i have to do to make my product legal like i have my herbal product o ready-made in their bottle and label . can i just start selling them or what can i do.
Hi Victor,
Herbal products and supplements are regulated differently than food and drugs by the FDA. Check out this article, where the FDA goes into how herbal supplemets are regulated, and how they need to be labelled.
Good luck!
Nice Blog!! The content you have shared is very elaborative and informative. Thanks a lot for sharing such a great piece of knowledge with us.
Thanks Jai, we’re glad you found it helpful. We’ve got tons of tips for ecommerce businesses, so be sure to subscribe to our blog!
Hi,
I have my own vitamins and supplements brand, but I’m struggling to find advertising channels to promote my business, the logical go-to for me is Google Shopping (Expensive Competition) and Facebook (doesn’t let vitamins and supplements brands to promote on their platform)
Hi Esteban,
Finding the right marketplace or sales channel to promote your products can be an overwhelming task – there are so many to choose from! Check out our blog: Best Marketplaces to Sell Online. This article will definitely help you navigate through the options.
Good luck and happy selling!
Hi, Esteban
I’m interested in building my own vitamins and supplement brand as well. I think getting co-workers, friends, and family to review and post about it on social media — while having your own pages, profiles on your brand that can be Instagram or Twitter for example.
I’m interested in finding where to start in the legality aspect of things. I already have the blend of supplements I’d like to make, how I would blend and package the supplements but I need to make sure that the business is legit and up to par with federal laws.
A very useful guide to selling vitamins ans supplements online. I have been distributing our products the traditional way and are just considering to go the online route. Your article is very helpful.
We’re glad you liked it, Enrique! If you are moving from traditional selling to selling online, you will love our eBook: Launching An Online Store From Your Retail Store
I really appreciate this post. I’ve been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on this blog. You have made my day! I think this is an engaging and eye-opening material. Thank you so much for caring about your content and your readers.
We’re glad you enjoyed the article! If you’re interested in other product sourcing material, check out these posts:
Ecommerce Product Sourcing Checklist for Every Business Model
The Best Subscription Box Product Sourcing Strategies
The Best Ecommerce Product Sourcing Strategies for Artisans
The way you store vitamins and supplements impact their shelf life and potency. For example, high levels of heat and humidity will degrade the quality of these products. Many people falsely assume the kitchen, or a bathroom, is the best place to store these products, but due to the fluctuating temperature and humidity levels, the vitamins and supplements degrade quickly.
Hey Donald,
Thank you for clearing that up. I am going to move my vitamins from the bathroom right after this message. Where can people store their vitamins to make sure they keep their quality? Are there any other tips you have for people selling supplements online?
Thanks!
Tyler
Excellent way to present! I really like this post and got a helpful inf to sell vitamin and supplements online.
Hey Shane,
We’re glad you found this article useful. If you’re looking for more beginner guides, ecommerce tips and tricks, or other resources, check out our blog catalog. Let us know what you think!
Happy Selling,
Tyler
You have done a great job dear! eCommerce page is superb and amazing information and tips.
Thanks for sharing
It’s our pleasure, Jones! We want every merchant to have success no matter what they sell online. You’ll find tons of useful articles that will help you list, market, and sell anything from vitamins to handmade goods.
Thanks!
Hi Tyler
This a great article.
I have just setup an online store selling vitamins and supplements on Shopify but now I have been informed due to vitamins falling under the category of ‘Pseudo Pharmaceuticals’ shopify will not allow me to use the Shopify Payments Gateway to sell my products.
Do you or anyone else on here know if I can use another Payment Gateway on my Shopify store or will I have to deactivate my Shopify store and setup another store with a different selling platform that allows the sale of Vitamins through their Payment Gateway?
Best Regards,
Conor
Hey Conor,
Thanks for the feedback! We’ve seen this issue happen to online sellers in the past. After some initial research, it looks like you won’t have to deactivate your store. There is a list of third-party payment options that you can use. Try contacting or applying to these options to see if they accept your business.
Good Luck!
Tyler
Really helpful guide. I really like this post and got a helpful inf to sell vitamin and supplements online.
Hey Sandy,
Thank you so much for the feedback! We’re glad you found this article useful. What kind of topics do you want to hear more of? Let us know!
Thanks
Not only for beginners, as per my point of view, experienced professionals will also pick some. Interesting. Thank you and appreciate your effort for letting us know about this.
Hey Anu,
Thanks for your feedback! We’re glad you found this article useful. Are there any other topics you think we should cover in the future?
Happy Selling!
I want to sell vitamin capsules how to start and what’s the procedure from India to international
Hey Kevin,
It’s great that you want to expand your business! Every country is different when it comes to selling internationally. It’s important to check the standards and guidelines that India requires before taking the next few steps. After you’re ready to list and sell your products, check out this guide on international shipping. Good luck with your ecommerce store and feel free to visit our blog for more international selling tips.
Happy Selling!
This is an amazing guide. Would you if to share your writing skills online feel free to check our site.
Hey Sam,
Thanks for your feedback! We’re glad you found this article useful.