Amazon is truly the world’s marketplace at the moment. It should come as no surprise that new supplement brands are growing rapidly using Amazon. Even established brands that people have been buying off the shelves at major retailers for decades are seeing a significant portion of their sales pivoting to Amazon. How should brands in the supplement space approach the idea of selling their products on Amazon? Making products available on Amazon is one of the best ways to expand exposure and capture loyal customers. These tips for selling supplements on Amazon can make the world’s marketplace your launching ground for a great brand!
Tips on Making the Most of Selling Supplements on Amazon
A goal of making as much money as possible selling supplements on Amazon isn’t actually a business plan. In fact, it’s not uncommon for brands to invest money in products that don’t move because they focused on making a “quick buck” by cashing in on a trend instead of steadily building a business based on quality. These four tips will ensure that you’re making the most of the opportunity to get a product listed on Amazon.
Tip #1: Find Your Niche
If you’re still in the development phase of bringing a supplement to the market, it’s important to carefully identify your niche before you sell supplements on Amazon. In order to do this, you have to know your audience, your competition, and what’s permitted. Narrow down your niche by deciding on “the need” your brand wants to fulfil. Are you helping people to make up for nutritional gaps with dietary supplements? Are you helping people to find natural ways to enhance energy for workouts? Are you focusing on mood and overall wellness? Your niche will help to drive your marketing approach, your formulation choices, and your price point.
A niche should be looked at as a category within a category that can help your product rise to the top of Amazon’s search feature. For example, you may be looking for a way to get into the omega-3 supplement space without directly competing with the brands that are already dominating the sales charts. In this case, a good niche strategy might be to focus on plant-based oils that can be found when people following vegetarian or vegan lifestyles search for supplements on Amazon.
Tip #2: Research Regulations
Unlike the pharmaceutical industry, the supplement industry isn’t tightly regulated by the federal government. However, many people who want to sell supplements on Amazon incorrectly assume this means that there’s zero regulation. In reality, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actually does regulate the manufacturing and sale of supplements. In fact, the stakes can be higher in some ways in the “Wild West” of the supplement industry due to the fact that the responsibility for ensuring safety and efficacy rests solely on the seller instead of a governmental agency that provides guardrails. Rest assured that the FDA has the authority to come down harshly on brands or sellers that make inaccurate or misleading claims about products. This is where it becomes important to know what you can or can’t say when labeling and marketing your products. For example, it’s important to avoid claiming that a product “cures” disease. However, pointing out that a supplement can help to boost energy or mood can be acceptable.
Of course, the most important aspect of keeping up with supplement regulations is ensuring that your products are safe. For the average aspiring brand owner, the idea of formulating and testing supplements on an in-house basis is simply too big of an undertaking. That’s where third-party supplement manufacturers come into the picture. Most major brands, new brands, and celebrity-endorsed supplement and wellness brands utilize third-party labs that handle all aspects of formulation and quality control.
The good news for brands that might be concerned that achieving compliance will take extra resources is that what makes government agencies happy is also typically what makes customers happy. By offering honesty and transparency regarding what’s in products, brands build customer trust. One way to create a premium product that will leave you with peace of mind is to utilize a lab based in the United States that operates in accordance with the strictest federal and international regulations. New Jersey-based NutraPak USA proudly handles all formulation, testing, quality control, and manufacturing at our state-of-the-art American facilities on the East Coast.
Tip #3: Select the Right Price Point
In a highly competitive industry like the supplement world, the way you position your products really counts. Pricing is one of the ways that brands can differentiate their products. Some brands actually price their products higher in order to feed into a desire for exclusivity and prestige. Others take advantage of the fact that some customers search for products online by sorting prices from low to high. The choice you make comes down to your brand goals. However, the bottom line is that you can’t charge less per unit than it costs to produce that unit.
One way to minimize cost per unit without sacrificing product quality or integrity is to use white labeling. By having your supplement made by a trusted third-party manufacturer with high-volume capabilities in a state-of-the-art facility, you’re able to bring the same level of quality that’s offered by leading supplement brands to your own products. When you choose NutraPak USA, your products will be made alongside some of the top-selling supplements in the industry.
Tip #4: Be Sure to Give Amazon What It Wants
It’s important to remember that rising to the top on Amazon isn’t just about giving customers what they want. You also have to know how to give Amazon what it wants in order to keep your products from being booted. There’s a very specific checklist needed before you can start selling supplements on Amazon. Complying with Amazon’s listing requirements will help you to get your products up as quickly as possible. It can also shield you from customer complaints or reviews that cause your products to be taken down from the platform. Here’s what to focus on:
- An Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) to track every product you sell.
- Detailed product listings that include ingredients.
- Supplement facts panel.
- A list of any certifications or distinctions regarding your product, brand, or specific product ingredients.
- Distributor address.
- Content for a purchase page with details about your product.
- Quality-testing information.
- Serving size.
- Number of servings in container.
- Amount of active nutrients or ingredients per serving.
Amazon will also require that your supplement has a label that is written in English. From the angle of quality control, the responsibility falls on the seller to ensure that every unit is sealed in new and original packaging. In addition, packaging should contain serial numbers and other relevant codes that can be used for tracking product origins. Many people who go to sell products on Amazon for the first time are surprised to discover that packaging and distribution/fulfillment require nearly as much effort as product formulation. This is why most brands simply choose to utilize packaging and distribution services offered by their private-label manufacturers instead of collecting formulations in their own warehouses for further processing.
Start Selling Supplements on Amazon Quickly by Pairing With the Right Manufacturer
If you’re ready to sell supplements on Amazon, NutraPak USA offers full-service supplement creation. Brands can customize their production channels by selecting private labeling, contract manufacturing and packaging, turnkey brand marketing solutions, and order fulfillment and warehousing services that are all supported by a state-of-the-art production facility with a top-notch research and development team. We even have a program for helping brands to learn how to use Amazon’s warehousing and customer fulfillment service (FBA) that will get you on the fast track to selling supplements on Amazon! Contact NutraPak USA if you’re ready to sell supplements on Amazon under your own brand.