The nutraceutical industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries today and starting your own company in this industry is lucrative and rewarding. But it takes much more than just a great idea. From product development to sourcing investment, there are many challenges start-up nutraceutical companies face and a lot of strategic thinking and hard work is required to turn an on-paper idea into a viable business.
Selling Nutraceutical Supplements Online
If you want to sell nutraceutical supplements online, then you will have to learn more about how growing an online ecommerce business works. This is not a small task. You will need to conduct thorough research as well as gain a deeper understanding of what the nutraceutical industry is like. To sell nutraceutical supplement online, you will need to take into consideration the marketing procedures, claims, and regulations. Natural supplements and vitamins are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That’s why you will have to make sure that you have complete legal review and proper documentation before you launch online.
Dropship Relationship vs Inventory Investment
When it comes to selling products online, businesses often need to use certain fulfillment models. The two most common are the drop relationship and inventory investment. With the increased growth in ecommerce as well as greater customer expectations of delivery accuracy and speed, nutraceutical retailers are facing new challenges in managing their fulfillment models. Deciding between the two models can be difficult for start-ups as both have their pros and cons. For example, drop relationship requires minimal financial investment and offers inventory-less environment but there is little control of shipping. Inventory investment on the other hand, offers insights into out-of-stock and visibility in supply chain flow but requires more financial investment.
Finding a Nutraceutical Merchant Account
Finding a nutraceutical merchant account is one of the biggest challenges start-up nutraceutical companies face. Selling vitamins and nutraceuticals can be a tricky business when it comes to securing the merchant’s ability to effectively process payments. This is mainly due to the fact that nutraceutical merchant accounts are considered high risk by most payment processors and banks. The reasons behind this range from reputational risk to monetary risk. Considering this, nutraceutical merchant accounts are very difficult to acquire. Getting help when applying for nutraceutical merchant account is a struggle as you need to find a processor that can handle your business type
Building an Ecommerce Website
Building an eCommerce site constitutes lots of moving pieces. So, start-up nutraceutical companies have to consider several factors before jumping in. From site performance to user engagement – designing a simple ecommerce website is one thing but there a lot of challenges when it comes to building a site not just to showcase and inform your brand/products online but also for customers to easily shop. Hence, you need to make sure that your site is intuitive and easy to use to make sales. You will need to hire experienced developers who know the right techniques in order to make sure that your ecommerce website is good enough to boost sales as well as retain more long-term customers than expected.
Amazon Sellers vs PPC Ads
Marketing is the backbone of any online business and start-up nutraceutical companies are no exception. When it comes to marketing, it is all about strategy e.g. making the right decisions, choosing plan of execution, etc. When it comes to marketing an online business, you have affiliate marketing e.g. Amazon sellers and PPC ads. Both have their pros and cons. However, nowadays a lot of nutraceutical companies are leaning toward Amazon affiliate marketing. But that doesn’t mean that PPC ads are useless or you should discard using them. Choosing one over the other can be difficult and that’s why most businesses find a balance between the two. To do that, you have to divide your budget for advertising and improvise your strategies to achieve better results.