How to Sell Health Supplements Online [Hastags, Instagram Bio]

According to reports, sale of vitamins and supplements is expected to clock US$20,727.00m, as more people look to make health-conscious decisions. A staggering 77% of adults in the US note that they are “actively trying to improve their health in some way”.

In the United States, there is an enormous and growing market for vitamins and food supplements. Note that this drive in growth is gingered by a growing middle class worldwide. It’s mainly seen in Asia and South America along with the traditional, established markets in North America and Europe.

Have it in mind that they have more disposable income, a growing awareness of the benefits of these products, and an encouraging access to information regarding product efficacy via the internet. Places like YouTube, government websites, and social media have helped to spread this information.

Indeed, selling vitamin and food supplements can be a very lucrative income stream. The key is to walk on the right side of the law in terms of product description, claims, and product standard. Also note that selling supplements online comes with many challenges in terms of what you can claim the product can do.

If you are selling 3^rd party products then there shouldn’t be an issue as you would expect them to furnish you with information regarding claims and efficacy, not to mention the correct legal terms you can use in different countries. In the USA many products or components of products are expected to meet Novel Food Status or Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) standards to be able to claim that a product has ‘X’ effect.

Note that this involves expensive rigorous testing. Meanwhile, in the EU, there are stringent regulations when claiming what a product can do. Most times, they are so strict that you can’t veer from the wording allowed by the regulations without landing yourself in hot water.

In addition, there are very serious sanctions for breaching claims or making false/misleading statements about product effect or efficacy. You can’t simply say that a product will ‘make you live forever’, ‘make you more attractive’ or ‘cure a common cold’ unless there is pre-approved wording noting extensively what you can say and how you can say it.

Speak to the supplier of the goods or components of the finished products you are selling to ensure you are claiming only what is allowed by law in the relevant territory, state, or country.

Sales Strategies to Sell Health Supplements Online

There are various ways to sell supplements online. Firstly, you can simply buy the products wholesale, marking up the prices in order to make a profit, and sell the supplements on your own self-made website. Another option is to become a distributor for a direct-marketing supplements company that will establish a site especially for you.

Another popular option for supplements providers is an affiliate program, where you become an affiliate of a larger nutritional supplement company and then sell their products, earning a commission. You could also run your own affiliate program, teaming up with doctors, gyms, and weight-loss clinics to direct people to your website. However, to boost sales and grow your business exposure, here are strategies to consider;

1. Organize Logistics

One logistical issue that online retailers often face is storage space. Where can you store all your stock? A simple way to avoid wasting money by renting storage space is using a fulfillment service, whereby you can ship stock to a partner-managed warehouse.

Note that you can easily integrate your product catalog with your fulfillment partners to ensure a seamless delivery procedure. You may also choose to use drop shipping, where you partner with a wholesale supplier that stocks its own inventory.

When a customer places an order, you transfer this information to them, and they ship the goods directly to the customer.

2. Create A Referral Program

Nothing can compete with the power of word of mouth advertising. Always remember that one of the best ways to harness this power is through referrals. Provide your customers’ discounts, free samples, or even branded merchandise for referrals.

You can offer referrals through online shares or direct recommendations. Either way, your happy customers will love to share your brand if they have an incentive.

3. Choose Your Marketing Strategy

When dealing with sports and fitness supplements, retailers are expected to be very careful with their marketing strategy so as not to cause offense. Protein World made this mistake in the summer of 2015, when they chose the tagline #AreYouBeachBodyReady, pasted it next to a picture of a toned woman in a bikini.

People took offense to this and claimed that this advert suggested that everyone who did not resemble the model was not beach appropriate. They deemed the advert to be body-shaming and the advert was subsequently banned in the UK. So you don’t make a similar mistake, make sure your marketing is based on health benefits, rather than pure aesthetics.

4. Choose A Target Audience

Retailers tend to forget the first rule of selling a product: choosing a target audience. Focusing on the general market is not a good idea, and is a strategy normally reserved for commerce giants, who already dominate the market. If you target the market as a whole, note that you risk wasting time, effort, and money, as the majority of the public will be uninterested in your product.

Having a clearly defined target audience is much easier for merchants to prepare and execute a marketing campaign specific to the customer, which will increase the chance of making sales whilst simultaneously decreasing marketing overheads.

This combination will lead to bigger returns on investment. Note that your target audience can be based on age, gender, or even country.

5. Offer Coupons Or Free Trials

People are often wary of nutritional supplements because they aren’t sure they work or if they are right for them. Offering first-time customers a chance to “try before they buy” can create an incentive to check out your products. You can make these offers on social media, your website, and as fliers.

Best Hastags to Sell Health Supplements Online

Have it in mind that businesses get really witty with Instagram captions and hashtags, so it is necessary that you put in a lot of thought and effort into researching and writing great content. Think of your hashtags like keywords that are critical to your business.

There are many hashtag tools available (hashtag generators, hashtag creators, hashtag analytics) online which can help you find the most popular hashtags and also create unique ones for your business.

Remember that using the right hashtags can increase the visibility and reach of your posts and stories, thus potentially improving engagement. Nonetheless, the best supplements hashtags popular on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr include:

• #supplements
• #fitness
• #bodybuilding
• #nutrition
• #health
• #gym
• #workout
• #protein
• #healthylifestyle
• #vitamins

Instagram Bio to Sell Health Supplements Online

An Instagram bio is a small summary, seen underneath your username, about yourself or your business. In your Instagram bio, you can include a short description, contact information, emojis, and more, provided you keep it under 150 characters.

Since you only have a limited number of characters at your disposal, there are a handful of objectives you need to prioritize in your bio before you start optimizing the rest of your profile.

• Tell profile visitors who you are and why they should care
• Use clickable tags to promote branded hashtags and sister accounts
• Include a call to action
• Make the most of your bio link
• Adding “Action Buttons” to help users reach you
• Enable Shopping on Instagram to showcase your products
• Curate Highlights for your profile
• Share a “social media only” promo code
• Leverage IGTV

Conclusion

Food supplements come in a variety of forms, from bodybuilding/sports nutrition products to dietary aids. Also, there are many guides on how to sell online, do your research, and make sure you have plenty of enticing content and a nice clean professional looking website/page that makes customers not just buy – but come back again and again.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can You Make Money Selling Supplements?

Sure, you can make money selling supplements. As a matter of fact, it can be extremely profitable. Top-selling supplements on Amazon are making as much as $100K a month! But you don’t have to stop there. Besides, Amazon is just only one platform to sell your supplement.

2. How Do You Make Money Selling Vitamins And Supplements?

You can make money selling vitamins and supplements by selling directly to your potential customers, selling via multilevel marketing, and also drop shipping is a cheaper alternative to sell vitamins and supplements. All you need to do is to simply arrange a drop-ship agreement with one or more companies that produce vitamin supplements.

3. Can You Make Money Selling Supplements Online?

Yes, your own supplements – vitamins, minerals, probiotics, etc. online is profitable.

4. How Much Profit Can A Supplement Store Make?

The average supplement store can make $100,000 per year in income. The industry’s average profit margin is around 38 percent. Maintain a consistent profit margin, as source product costs can easily cut into your store’s profits.

5. How Do You Get A License To Sell Supplements?

In the first place, manufacturers and distributors do not need FDA approval to sell their dietary supplements. This means that FDA does not keep a list of manufacturers, distributors, or the dietary supplement products they sell. The name and address of the manufacturer or distributor can be found on the label of the dietary supplement.

So also, you do not require any license to sell supplements online. The United States Food and Drug Administration or FDA has regulations for selling dietary supplement products under the Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

6. How Much Does It Cost To Start a Supplement Manufacturing Company?

A supplement business can be started for about $5,000, although business owners will have a much easier time if they have $10,000 available to invest. With $5,000, business owners can usually get 150 bottles of a supplement product. Professionally designed labels.

7. Where Can You Sell Supplements Online?

You can leverage the e-commerce boom – to sell your supplements on online retailing sites like Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Wix, BigCommerce, WordPress, SquareSpace, Weebly, and many more. You can also engage in direct marketing of your supplements by creating your own eCommerce site specifically for your products.

8. Can You Make And Sell Your Own Supplements?

Yes, but please note that the United States Food and Drug Administration or FDA has regulations for selling dietary supplement products under the Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. If you want to create your nutritional formulas and manufacture the supplements on your own, you need to obtain a certificate and additional insurance.

9. How Can I Find Out If My Medicine Is Approved By FDA?

To find out if your drug has been approved by FDA, use Drugs@FDA, a catalog of FDA-approved drug products, as well as drug labeling. Drugs@FDA contains most of the drug products approved since 1939.

10. How Profitable Is A Supplement Business?

A supplement business is very profitable and as a matter of fact, the average supplement store can make $100,000 per year in income. The industry’s average profit margin is around 38 percent. Maintain a consistent profit margin, as source product costs can easily cut into your store’s profits.

11. Is It Legal To Sell Vitamins?

Yes, it is legal to sell vitamins in the United States and in most countries of the world.

12. Do You Need A License To Sell Health Supplements?

You do not require any license to sell supplements online. The United States Food and Drug Administration or FDA has regulations for selling dietary supplement products under the Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.

13. What Are The Costs Involved In Opening A Supplement Business?

• The cost of securing your business license and permits
• The cost of registering the business
• The cost of purchasing insurance
• The cost of renting and furnishing a shop or production facility
• The of buying supplies to stock your shop with (different supplements and vitamins)
• The cost of paying your employees
• The cost of installing signpost and promoting the business
• The cost required to take care of miscellaneous et al

14. Is There Money In Selling Vitamins?

There is a huge and growing worldwide market for vitamin and food supplements. Selling vitamin and food supplements can be a very lucrative income stream. The key is to walk on the right side of legal in terms of product descriptions, claims, and product standards.

15. What Is The Growth Potential For A Supplement Business?

The growth potential for a supplement business is positive and available statistics show that the global dietary supplements market size was valued at USD 140.3 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% from 2022 to 2028. The U.S. emerged as a leading market in the North American region in 2020 owing to the higher spending capacity of the consumers.

16. What Are The Ongoing Expenses For A Supplement Business?

The ongoing expenses for a supplement business include the cost of stocking new products, advertising expenses, and paying insurance premiums any employees’ salaries.

17. What Are The Regulations For Supplements?

FDA regulates both finished dietary supplement products and dietary ingredients. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA): Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded.

18. Can You Sell Vitamins On Shopify?

Generally, no. Shopify Payments prohibits many common nutritional supplements as a violation of their ban on “pseudo pharmaceuticals.” The good news, though, is that you can sell supplements on Shopify. You’ll just need to set up your Shopify store correctly and integrate high-risk payment processing.

19. Can I Mix My Own Supplements And Sell Them?

Adulterated or misbranded dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from being marketed. The responsibility for evaluating the safety and labeling of the products before marketing lies solely with the firm manufacturing the supplements.

20. Is Selling Supplements On Amazon Profitable?

Yes, selling supplements on Amazon is highly profitable, but you would have to compete with many players on the platform.

21. How Do I Start An Amazon Supplement Business?

Here are the steps you can follow to start an Amazon supplement business:

• Amazon Seller Central Account
• Select The Supplement Products to Sell
• Finding A Supplement Supplier
• Branding And Private Labeling Supplements
• Your Supplement Product Launch
• Link with Fulfillment by Amazon FBA

22. How Do I Get FDA Approval For Supplements?

To get FDA approval, drug manufacturers must conduct lab, animal, and human clinical testing and submit their data to FDA. FDA will then review the data and may approve the drug if the agency determines that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks for the intended use.

23. How Do You Know If A Supplement Is a Good Quality?

You should look for the USP or ConsumerLab label. “A USP-verified product means it contains the listed ingredients at the strength indicated — and is not contaminated with any other substances, such as heavy metals or microbes

24. Can You Make Your Own Supplements?

Yes, and as a matter of fact, virtually anyone with zero qualifications in nutrition can create their own protein powder or multivitamin pill. You can take a supplement all the way to market with no registration documents, no safety license, and no third party analysis to verify the ingredients you are using in your product.

25. How Do I Sell My Health Products On Amazon?

You need general documents to sell products on Amazon. Like GST NO., Pan card, Address proof, and bank account details. And to list health and personal care products you will need to have first the category approval for this. For category approval, you need to share the invoices of the product with the amazon team.

26. What Is The Difference Between Nutraceuticals And Dietary Supplements?

Dietary supplements look like drugs and are made from food, isolated nutrients, or food-like substances to augment health. Nutraceuticals are a sector of dietary supplements made only from whole foods to augment health.

27. What Is The Best Supplement Manufacturer?

Here are some of the best supplement brands;

• Pure Encapsulations
• Biotics Research
• Douglas Laboratories
• Metagenics
• Vital Nutrients
• Designs for Health
• Klaire Labs
• Thorne Research

28. What Does It Mean When It Says Dietary Supplement?

The law defines dietary supplements in part as products taken by mouth that contain a “dietary ingredient.” Dietary ingredients include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and herbs or botanicals, as well as other substances that can be used to supplement the diet.

29. What Are Considered Nutraceuticals?

Nutraceuticals are products, which other than nutrition are also used as medicine. A nutraceutical product may be defined as a substance, which has a physiological benefit or provides protection against chronic disease.

30. How Are You Going To Drive People To Buy From Your Page Instead Of A Competitor?

In order to attract people to buy from your page instead of a competitor; you must make sure your page is attractive and user friendly, your product is superior, you have incentives and you leverage on the right online marketing tools to push your products in the eyes of your target market.

31. What Is The Highest Rated Supplement In The World?

Top vitamins and supplements in 2020 are;

• Vitamin D.
• Magnesium
• Fish oil
• CoQ10
• Multivitamin
• Probiotics
• Curcumin/turmeric
• Vitamin C

32. How Much Does It Cost To Open Supplement Store In India?

The cost required to open a supplement store in India would be approximately Rs 20 lakh per store, where it will sell supplement products of around 25 brands, including international ones.

33. How Much Money Can You Make Selling Supplements?

How much a supplement business makes per product sold depends on how the product is sold. Businesses that sell directly to consumers should aim for a 10 to 40 percent profit margin. Those that sell through distributors frequently see a 5 to 15 percent margin.

34. Why Doesn’t The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Regulate The Safety And Sale Of Nutritional Supplements?

The reason why the FDA doesn’t regulate the sale of nutritional supplements is that they are classified as food products, not medicines, so they aren’t regulated by the strict standards governing the sale of prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

35. How Do You Start A Private Label Supplement Business?

• Conduct your feasibility studies
• Learn Everything you need to learn about the private label supplement business
• Choose a name and register the business
• Draft a detailed Business Plan
• Secure the needed licenses and permits
• Apply for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) / Federal Tax ID Number.
• Open a corporate bank account
• Lease your production facility
• Source for ingredients, supplies, and packaging materials
• Hire employees
• Market and promote your supplements