A dietary supplement is intended to provide nutrients that may otherwise not be consumed in sufficient quantities.
Supplements as generally understood include vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, among other substances. U.S. authorities define dietary supplements as foods, while elsewhere they may be classified as drugs or other products.
There are more than 50,000 dietary supplements available. More than half of the U.S. adult population (53% - 55%) consume dietary supplements with most common ones being multivitamins.
These products are not intended to prevent or treat any disease and in some circumstances are dangerous, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. For those who fail to consume a balanced diet, the agency says that certain supplements "may have value.
Dietary supplement sales exceeded $26 billion in 2009, according to the "Nutrition Business Journal." Concerns about health care and aging have led to increased sales in nutritional supplements, making it a viable business to start. Starting a dietary supplement company requires planning every aspect of your business from the types of supplements you want to sell to the market you want to sell them to.
Things You'll Need
- Website Shopping cart application for all but the third option for sales
Types of dietary supplements:
There are many types of dietary supplements-
Vitamins
Vitamin is an organic compound required by an organism as a vital nutrient in limited amounts. An organic chemical compound (or related set of compounds) is called a vitamin when it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet. Thus, the term is conditional both on the circumstances and on the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a vitamin for humans, but not for most other animals. Supplementation is important for the treatment of certain health problems but there is little evidence of benefit when used by those who are otherwise healthy.
Dietary element
Dietary elements, commonly called "dietary minerals" or "minerals", are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen,nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. The term "dietary mineral" is archaic, as the substances it refers are chemical elements rather than actual minerals.
Herbal medicine
Herbal medicine is the use of plants for medicinal purposes. Plants have been the basis for medical treatments through much of human history, and such traditional medicine is still widely practiced today. Modern medicine recognizes herbalism as a form of alternative medicine, as the practice of herbalism is not strictly based on evidence gathered using the scientific method. Modern medicine, does, however, make use of many plant-derived compounds as the basis for evidence-tested pharmaceutical drugs, and phytotherapy works to apply modern standards of effectiveness testing to herbs and medicines that are derived from natural sources. The scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.
Amino acids and proteins
Amino acids are biologically important organic compounds composed of amine (-NH2) and carboxylic acid (-COOH) functional groups, along with a side-chain specific to each amino acid. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, though other elements are found in the side-chains of certain amino acids.
Amino acids can be divided into three categories: essential amino acids, non-essential amino acids, and conditional amino acids. Essential amino acids cannot be made by the body, and must be supplied by food. Non-essential amino acids are made by the body from essential amino acids or in the normal breakdown of proteins. Conditional amino acids are usually not essential, except in times of illness, stress, or for someone challenged with a lifelong medical condition.
Essential fatty acids
Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires them for good health but cannot synthesize them. The term "essential fatty acid" refers to fatty acids required for biological processes but does not include the fats that only act as fuel.
Bodybuilding supplement
Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding and athletics. Bodybuilding supplements may be used to replace meals, enhance weight gain, promote weight loss or improve athletic performance. Among the most widely used are vitamin supplements, protein, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA),glutamine, essential fatty acids, meal replacement products, creatine, weight loss products and testosterone boosters. Supplements are sold either as single ingredient preparations or in the form of "stacks" - proprietary blends of various supplements marketed as offering synergistic advantages. While many bodybuilding supplements are also consumed by the general public their salience and frequency of use may differ when used specifically by bodybuilders.
Instructions:
How To Get Started With Your Own Dietary Supplement Company
- Write a business plan. The plan needs to outline all aspects of your dietary supplement company. Describe the uniqueness of your diet supplements and business strategy. Outline how you'll finance your supplement business as well as income projections.
- Gather funding. You can fund your business start-up using money you already have or use your business plan to apply for a business loan through your local bank. Other potential sources of start-up funding include loans through your state or local small business development office or from dietary and nutritional industry associations.
- Obtain needed permits and licenses. Contact your city or county business office to apply for a business license. Submit a doing-business-as statement with the county clerk's office if your dietary supplement company name is different from your given name. If your state charges sales tax, apply for a sales tax permit from your state's taxation or comptroller's office.
- Apply for a merchant account with your local bank or a merchant account company so you can accept credit and debit card payments.
- Decide if you want to supply products that are hand selected by you, inventory them yourself, have them drop-shipped by another company, or simply list affiliate links to products. Each of these methods has their own pros and cons.
- Decide what types of dietary supplements you want to sell. Options include vitamins, diet and weight loss supplements and life-enhancing supplements such as those that help mental acuity, improve mood or prevent joint problems. Also decide if you want to sell pills, liquid or bar supplements and if you want them to be herbal or organic.
- Decide where you will store inventory. If you only have a few dietary supplement products in your online store, you can store them in your home. Keep them in a dry, climate controlled area. The temperature you normally keep your house at is fine for most supplements. Do not store them in a garage or shed that does not have proper air temperature control and may be subject to condensation.
- Find and contract with a supplement manufacturer or wholesale supplier. You can find companies through resources such as the ThomasNet or National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.
- A popular method of retailing online is making use of the various drop-shipping companies available to re-sellers. Choose a company that has a variety of dietary supplement products available and sign up with them as a seller. Develop a webpage listing all the products as if you had them on hand yourself. You are responsible for the sales and receipt of money from your customers, not the drop shipper, so make sure your shopping cart area is as secure as it would be for individual inventory and sales. When your customer orders a product and pays you for it, you pay the drop shipper, who sends out the product as if it came from you. This saves you on storage and shipping costs because you do not have to pay to have items shipped to you and then ship them out to the customer too.
- The last form of online sales site for dietary supplement is an affiliate sales site. There are a variety of affiliate "warehouse" sites that host many products from a variety of companies, or you can choose individual products and see if the company that sells them offers affiliate profits. Select products from one or a variety of affiliate companies and place product descriptions and links to the affiliate on your own site. That is all you have to do. You are not responsible for keeping a shopping cart working, as visitors to your site will be taken to the affiliate page to make their purchase. You get a predetermined portion of the sales made from links on your site. This form of sales pays the least of the three options because there is little work on your part and no responsibility to the consumer beyond providing the link to click and marketing your website.Get traffic to your website by marketing and advertising through banner ads, forum and email links, articles and blog posts that you create with links to your sales page and any other method you find to effectively advertise your products. Regardless of which of the above methods you decide to employ for your product sales, if you do not have the customers coming to your website you won't make money. So the most important aspect of your dietary supplement company will be how effectively you market your website.
- Establish your sales and distribution model. Viable options for dietary supplement sales and distribution include mail-order, e-commerce, direct sales, storefront or a combination of any of the above. Storefronts require renting space and equipment, which is more expensive than mail-order and e-commerce methods. If you choose mail-order or e-commerce, purchase packaging and labels to ship the supplements to customers.
Tips and Warnings:
Check your state and federal regulations regarding dietary supplement sales to insure you're complying with the laws.
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