A step-by-step guide to building your own supplement business

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According to the Global Wellness Institute(GWI), the health and wellness industry is now well over a $4 trillion market.

This fact alone is enough to make any budding entrepreneur take a closer look at the business. And a company that sells supplements is possibly one of the fastest to build. While there are definitely some technicalities and legal matters to consider, getting isn’t as difficult as you might think.

Step one: Find your product.

The first thing you’ll need to do is find a quality supplement manufacturer. This company should be able to offer you the products you want at wholesale or at a much cheaper price than you can sell them for. Once you’ve found a manufacturer, you’ll need to lock down your niche – do you want to sell weight loss supplements, vitamins, pre-workout supplements, etc.?

Step two: Identify your customer.

Who will you sell your product to? Specifying your target market is one of the key strategies that will help you know how to advertise your business. If you’re selling supplements, chances are you have an interest in them yourself.

In these cases, sometimes the best target market is you. That is, it’s easiest to market to people who are your age and gender and have similar interests. For example, if you’re a 40-year-old woman in an RN-BSN program, you might have developed an interest in supplements that give you energy and keep you healthy. In this case, your target market could similarly be non-traditional students. Or it could be specifically nursing students who need to boost their wellness routine to keep up with their stringent demands.

Step three: Choose your platform.

Next, you’ll need to decide where you’ll offer your product. Will you rent a storefront and sell your products in person. Or will you build a website and sell your products there. There are several platforms you can use if you decide to sell online. Sites like Shopify have ready-made web stores where you can list your products, take payments, and set up shipping. But you can also choose to privately host your own website, even using the same e-commerce platform or setting up your own.

Step four: Market your business.

Marketing a business doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, you can choose to do it completely free with the right tools. Supplement businesses lend themselves well to blogging. With blogging, you can use content to create an SEO strategy to drive customers to your site.

You can also use social media to market your business. This works well with blogging, but you can also use paid marketing if you’d like. Other marketing strategies include word-of-mouth, printables, or face-to-face advertising (such as in vendor markets).

Step five: Sell, sell, sell.

Pricing can be somewhat difficult in the beginning. If you don’t charge enough, you won’t make any money. But if you charge too much, you might not have any customers. Doing a lot of research on prices for similar products will help. Check out your competition regularly to see what they charge. And maybe even check with your supplier to see if they have recommended dealer pricing.

Of course, much of this research should be done in the beginning. But pricing structure can be a bit of a trial-and-error process. You might find that you have to deeply discount some products to start. And then you can gradually raise them as your customer base grows.