Vitamin Distributor Business Plan, Marketing Plan, How To Guide, and Funding Directory
The Vitamin Distributor Business Plan and Business Development toolkit features 18 different documents that you can use for capital raising or general business planning purposes. Our product line also features comprehensive information regarding to how to start a Vitamin Distributor business. All business planning packages come with easy-to-use instructions so that you can reduce the time needed to create a professional business plan and presentation.
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Vitamins and supplements have become very popular among Americans in order to promote good health. One of the key aspects of the vitamin supplement industry is that it is not currently regulated by the FDA the same way that a pharmaceutical product would be regulated. As such, the barriers to entry for producing a new line of vitamins and supplements is relatively low. The number of companies that produce these types of products has skyrocketed over the past 10 years. There are now more than 2,000 different manufacturers of vitamin supplement products within the United States that concurrently provide their services and products to international markets. Almost all of these companies maintain a proprietary formulation which allows them to retain a competitive advantage when they are selling the products the general public. Most importantly, many of these companies will contract the firm like a vitamin distributor in order to manage the wholesale distribution operations for their products. The barriers to entry for this type of business are significantly higher given that these companies have ongoing relationships with supermarkets, grocery stores, drug stores, as well as online distributors of vitamin products. The demand for these products does not typically wane during times of economic recession.
The start up costs that are associated with a new vitamin distributor typically ranges anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 depending on whether or not the underlying inventory is going to be purchased from the manufacturer or simply brokerage to a retailer. The vitamin distributor is only going to be operating in a brokerage type capacity in the start up costs associated with these businesses is significantly less. Most importantly, when potentially developing a business specific for a vitamin distribution operation a qualified attorney should be hired in order to ensure that the business is able to sell its products while remaining within the letter of the lot all times. While these businesses are not highly regulated, there are still a number of laws and regulations that must be adhered to at all times when selling vitamins to the general public. The gross margins generated from the wholesale distribution of vitamins typically is about 30% to 50% depending on the products acquired.
If vitamin inventories are going to be acquired via a working capital one credit or a business loan, and a vitamin distributor business plan is going to need to be developed. This business plan should feature a three-year profit and loss statement, cash flow analysis, balance sheet, breakeven analysis, and business ratios page. As it relates to industry research, there are more than 1,500 distributors of vitamins and supplements within the United States. Each year, these businesses aggregate we generate about $35 billion revenue and provide jobs to about hundred and 50,000 people. One of the key things that should also be discussed within the business plan, is the number of competitors that the business will face on an ongoing basis. One of the key things to succeeding in this industry is to be able to acquire inventories of vitamins that are in demand among the general public and developing exclusive distribution deals with well-known brands. This is primarily with a large expense comes from as it relates to marketing to these companies in order to develop wholesale distribution relationships.
A vitamin distributor SWOT analysis is typically produced as well in conjunction with business planning and market planning documentation. As it relates to strengths, most vitamin distributors are able to remain profitable and cash flow positive at all times given the fact that these products are considered necessities among their end-users and consumers. The gross margins are moderately high in the barriers to entry are considered to moderate as well. Operating expenses can be very easily controlled given that a large-scale retail space is not typically needed in order to operate these types of businesses.
For weaknesses, this is a highly competitive market and as such the vitamin distributor is going to need to develop an expansive marketing plan that differentiates their business from that of others in the market. Most importantly, one of the other key weaknesses is that regulations could change and would alter the way that a vitamin distributor conducts operations if these supplements are begin to be heavily regulated by both federal and state agencies.
As it relates to opportunities, these businesses can expand by increasing the number of products that they distribute concurrently developing ongoing and exclusive relationships with supermarkets, drugstores, pharmacies, general retailers, as well as other businesses that sell vitamins as part of their overall offering. These businesses can also expand non-organically by acquiring companies operate in a substantially similar or identical capacity.
For threats, the biggest challenge facing these businesses is the potential for regulatory change. As such, and again – it is imperative that the business maintain very close connections with a qualified attorney that is very well-versed on consumable products.
A vitamin distributor marketing plan should also be developed in order to make sure that the business can very quickly develop wholesale relationships with the after mentioned retailers. This includes direct cold calling while also maintaining relationships on major platforms that showcase the inventories of the business. A website should be developed that showcases what vitamin lines are carried, the wholesale cost, hours of operation, contact information, and how to become a wholesale distribution partner with the company. This website should be listed among all major search engines including Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
A presence on social media is not really needed for these businesses given the fact that vitamin distributors do not typically work with the general public. However, if the distributor is going to maintain a moderate amount of online retailing operations than a full-scale marketing campaign taken among the major social media platforms should be included as well. This includes embedding e-commerce functionality into the overall operations of the business in order to ensure that customers can place their orders online. Third-party platforms such as Amazon are often used by these companies to divest excess inventories as well.
Vitamins and supplements will remain one of the key mainstay industries of the consumables market. As the wealth of the US economy has expanded, the demand among people for quality goods as well as goods that are focused on human health have increased substantially. As such, vitamin distributors are in a very good position to be in an industry that is relatively immune from negative changes in the economy while it is also growing substantially. There are probably going to be significant changes as it relates to regulation marketing moving forward, but these regulatory changes should have very little impact on the vitamin distribution business and will be affected more on the manufacturing aspect of operations. These can be highly lucrative enterprises that can be started for a moderate amount of capital. Given the high gross margins as well as the highly predictable streams of revenue generated, these businesses are typically good candidates for working capital lines of credit for private investment among third parties.