Selling supplements is one of the most profitable businesses for online retailers, with huge opportunities to scale up on Amazon. Even as many consumers are faced with the rising cost of living, research shows that people still want to invest in healthcare products such as vitamins and supplements.
In fact, one study revealed that 80% of consumers were willing to maintain or increase spend on areas related to health and fitness, despite saying they were financially squeezed. And with the health and wellness market expected to reach $1 trillion in global sales by 2025, there has never been a more critical time to exploit Amazon’s huge customer reach and unmatched brand power.
However, supplements is highly competitive category on the marketplace, and in order to sell supplements on Amazon successfully and maximize your bottom line, the right marketing strategy is paramount.
As one of the UK’s top Amazon agencies for supplement sellers, Seller Presto has years of experience getting products seen. Here we share some of our tips on making your supplement business a success.
Consumers see health and wellness as an essential spend, which means they are less likely to give it up even when money is tight. This is even more true of millennial and Gen Z consumers, who prioritise their own happiness and wellbeing – including both their mental and physical health.
Gen Z, the latest generation of consumers, makes up around a quarter of the global population, and they are extremely comfortable shopping online. So buying supplements from Amazon is the norm, with many of this generation growing up with Amazon as their go-to shopping destination.
Not only are dietary supplements recession-proof and a priority for today’s most important consumers, but they are also highly profitable for a number of reasons:
A vast majority of consumers (89%) are more likely to buy from Amazon than any other e-commerce site, with huge year-on-year growth for supplements. This means there a high level of demand for this product category, and many online shoppers develop trust with brands on Amazon by checking reviews.
This category of products is generally cheap to produce and manufacture, meaning you can get a high mark-up on products sold. As long as you market them in the right way, supplements can provide your business with a healthy product margin.
Once you get a customer, there’s a good chance that they’ll remain a customer for a very long time. Due to the nature of supplement products, they are purchased regularly. If your product meets the needs of your customers and they are happy with your service, you can expect good CLV across your range.
On platforms like Amazon, there’s excellent opportunity to use the Subscribe and Save program too, making it easy for customers to set up automatic repeat orders with you. Building a subscriber list can help with recurring revenue and decrease your customer acquisition cost.
There’s also research to show that today’s health-conscious shoppers are more likely to spend on preventative health measures, meaning they care not only about the physical and mental health problems they are experiencing, but health issues that could occur in the future. This makes it easy for sellers to hop onto wellness trends, providing dietary supplements that support the consumer’s desire for preventative health investment.
When it comes to shopping for our health, we all want products and brands that we trust. If you want to know how to sell supplements on Amazon, this is key. Creating a new offering from scratch can be hard when there is so much competition. But with Amazon, which relies heavily on real customer reviews and experiences, there are opportunities to become a market disruptor based on product quality and outstanding customer service.
These are all great reasons to start selling supplements on Amazon, or to expand your existing online retail business to the marketplace. But while there’s high demand, there is also high competition, with a number of well-established sellers.
Equally, profit margins can also be affected by a number of factors, such as marketing, your pricing strategy, the cost of refunds, and more. So when it comes to selling on Amazon and stamping out competition, sellers must have a strategy in place.
If you want to know how to sell supplements on Amazon successfully, you first have to know how to make your products stand out. While there’s huge demand for vitamins and dietary supplements on the platform, there are also a number of established brands boasting thousands of 5 star reviews.
These well-known brands take up a large share and will have built up large subscribe lists of repeat customers. They have also earned high levels of trust due to being established and due to having such impressive review numbers.
In addition, CPC (Cost Per Click) for advertising can be high, so having someone in your team who knows the ins and outs of Amazon PPC management is critical if you want to lower ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales).
For new sellers in this category, it helps to differentiate in a way that makes your product evergreen, and focus on growing customer reviews. It’s also essential to tailor your messaging, branding, packaging and products to align with your target audience.
Furthermore, to really excel in this market, it’s important to remember that the business model for many supplement sellers is repeat sales, so it’s worth spending considerable time and money in acquiring profitable customers and making them stay.
Another thing that sellers will need to bear in mind is the restrictions around supplements, which can add another layer of complexity. Amazon imposes restrictions in order to ensure product safety for its customers. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect:
Amazon may restrict the sale of certain supplements based on the ingredients they contain. For instance, certain ingredients may be prohibited due to them having potential safety concerns.
The marketplace also carefully monitors any claims made about supplements on seller product listings. So it’s important to be careful about how you talk about your products, and the language you use. Avoid making unsubstantiated health claims, and if any claims are made then you should be able to back it up with scientific data.
Other restrictions may apply depending your marketplace. For example, different governments may have rules and restrictions on labelling and advertising. Depending on your products and ingredients, you may also need to hold certain certification or documentation, such as HaCCP or GFSI.
In order to sell supplements on Amazon without running the risk of being delisted, sellers must act responsibly and abide by the rules of the platform. Here are some ways you can avoid being flagged by Amazon:
Working with reputable suppliers and manufacturers who adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) not only ensures better product quality and safety, but it can help build trust with Amazon and its customers.
Thoroughly research ingredients and familiarise yourself with the regulations. Before listing any products, ensure that all ingredients are permissible and safe.
Be sure to make your product labels as accurate and transparent as possible, and have an honest approach to advertising. Never make any claims that can’t be backed up just to get clicks or sales, and make sure any content you create is informative and helpful.
Product listings need to provide customers with all the information they need to buy supplements confidently. Avoid exaggerated claims and be careful about your choice of language when it comes to talking about health benefits.
Monitor and review Amazon’s guidelines regularly to make sure you are up to date with the latest restrictions.
When it comes to choosing the right supplements to sell, there are some that should be avoided. We’ve been helping supplement sellers since 2019 create differentiation in their brands, so we know which products are not worth the effort.
For instance, breaking into competitive markets such as Vitamin D is not recommended as it is virtually impossible to differentiate your product from other, more established products in the market. With something as saturated as Vitamin D, it’s not easy to compete in price against the big players.
From years of experience, we believe that the best way to penetrate the market is to launch niche supplements, or supplement blends. Many clients have found success by jumping onto emerging wellness trends, where niche ingredients are growing in popularity (often made viral by social media). Some examples of these are:
Supplement blends are another way to have a point of difference in a highly competitive market. Blends create a unique opportunity by making the consumer’s life easier. Instead of taking multiple vitamins and supplements, blends offer convenience and a cost-effective way to manage personal health and wellness.
One example of a trending supplement blend is one that combines multiple ingredients to improve focus and concentration. Many of these blends contain things such as Lion’s Mane or a mushroom complex, together with ingredients such as ashwagandha (known for its memory-boosting properties).
Another example of a specialist blend is creating a protein blend to deliver a comprehensive muscle-building formula. For instance, you can combine fast-acting and slow-release proteins to help the body to continuously repair, grow, and maintain muscle.
By offer supplement blends, you can design effective products that target specific health concerns. These products also have so much potential for viral growth and marketing amongst influencer communities.
After choosing the right supplements to sell, your next step is to optimise your listings so that customers can find your product and gather essential information about your product/brand. Here are some of our top tips for effective optimisation on Amazon:
This is, without a doubt, one of the most important tips we can give you when it comes to selling supplements on Amazon. A lot of supplements look the same, so it’s really important that you differentiate yours in order to get more clicks. If you can present a lot of information on the main image, it will encourage people to go to your listing.
Try to include eye-catching product packaging in the main image – and make the main keyword visible on the packaging too (ensuring it is readable on a mobile device). You’ll also want to include the following information on the packaging if you can:
Whenever adding any information like this to your product packaging, be sure to choose a large enough font so that customers can read it when looking at the main image from any device.
Within the main image, you may also want to add some visual props to support the story of what you’re selling. For instance, if your product contains blueberries, it may be an idea to add an image of blueberries to the main image so it is clear what the ingredients are.
In addition to the main image, you will need to add secondary images to further support the decision-making process. These could be as follows:
You may also want to use infographics to explain the health benefits of the product.
Most customers only read the first two bullet points so make sure these bullets include your most important information. Things such as the key ingredients, the benefits, and how long the supplements will last should be prioritised.
Make sure you repeat the health benefits of taking the supplements, even if these have already been featured in the images. Remember though, don’t make any claims that cannot be backed up!
Premium A+ content, which is an enhanced version of A+ Content, can give you a leg up over the competition. Available to some brand-registered sellers on Amazon, the Premium option will give you as much text as possible and comes with additional features like hotspot modules, image carousels, and larger image capabilities.
Head over to our other blog post to find out how to qualify for this.
With A+ Content, we recommend repeating listing images, including your Subscribe and Save banner, as this will help to promote repeat ordering and the savings that come with subscribing. Other ideas include:
Knowing how to market your supplements matters. As mentioned, you’ll also want to push your subscription option as much as possible. When customers choose this option, they’ll create automatic repeat orders, nurturing your Customer Lifetime Value. So make sure this is visible in your text, images, and A+ content. It’s also worth offering vouchers/coupons as an incentive to any new customers who subscribe.
Additionally, discounts can be a great way of getting your brand noticed. Millennial and Gen Z shoppers are often described as being “fickle” as they like to shop around and are less likely to be brand-loyal. So providing small discounts for multiple purchases can help to sweeten the deal for new customers, while helping to retain existing ones.
When it comes to keyword targeting, we recommend choosing keyword that relate to the ailment or health goal, e.g: “muscle building” as people will be performing general searches on what products can help them achieve their objectives. You can also try to target long tail keywords initially if the category is highly competitive for the main keyword. For instance, instead of just targeting “protein powder”, try “protein powder 1 month supply” and track the performance of that.
You’ll also need to keep in mind that some words are off-limits and should not be used when optimizing your listings. These are as follows:
Unsure about where to start with keyword targeting, or want to know more about how to sell supplements on Amazon? We have years of experience working with supplement sellers, helping them increase their bottom line and develop powerful strategies for growing their brand.
Our expert team can support with Amazon Store Setup, listing creation and Amazon PPC management to complete account management services.
To find out more about how we can help you sell supplements on Amazon successfully, get in touch today.
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