In recent years, if anyone wanted to point to an oversaturated niche on Amazon, they joked about selling "phone accessories and cases." Now, when it comes to selling supplements on Amazon, COVID may have changed things.
A phenomenon that occurs in times of recession or economic turmoil is the increase in sales of relatively inexpensive "luxury" items such as beauty products, vitamins and health products. That's because they're becoming a way for consumers to treat themselves in the midst of tough times.
Amazon's personal care and health product category ranges from essential oils to medical supplies. While only a small percentage of that $400 billion, the vitamins and supplements portion of this industry generates over $30 billion in revenue in 2020.
In this post, we are going to focus on what is widely known as the “supplement market”, which includes niche supplements, herbal supplements and supplements for athletes.
Interested in selling supplements on Amazon? Keep reading.
What does Amazon consider a dietary supplement?
Amazon says: "Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals, herbs or other substances (such as amino acids or fatty acids) taken to supplement the diet. They are usually available in pills, capsules, softgels, gelcaps, powders and liquids."
There are several reasons why nutritional supplements are becoming more and more popular on e-commerce channels.
First, over the past decade, consumers have become more focused on their health and well-being. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has acted as a multiplier, dramatically increasing consumer awareness of their health.
Ecommerce growth + COVID = huge potential benefits
Over the last few years, we've learned a lot that overall well-being is a good indicator of how sick a person is likely to be after contracting COVID. For this reason, consumers are looking to Amazon for ways to supplement their diet with healthy supplements.
As the percentage of active seniors increases, they are determined to do whatever they can to continue the active lifestyles they have become accustomed to.
Finally, with the number of people on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook and our (mostly healthy) obsession with exercise, influencers are filling their (virtual) shopping carts with supplements to differentiate themselves.
A conversation with an Amazon Supplements seller
Mina Elias is a 7-figure Amazon seller who specializes in selling supplements on Amazon and using PPC to compete with big brands in the health and fitness niche. Mina has released over a dozen successful supplements on Amazon and owns several supplement brands, including MMA Nutrition's Hydrolyte pictured above. He is also a collaboratorAuthor of Helium 10. He was kind enough to answer a few questions we had for him.
What is the biggest challenge when selling supplements on Amazon?
Elias-My:Differentiate yourself in a way that makes your product perennial and difficult to use.
What surprised you most about selling supplements on Amazon?
Elias-My:How easy it is to make money. There are so many inferior supplements out there that make an absolute killing.
Are there any products that you would advise a new seller to avoid entirely?
Elias-My:Testosterone boosters, diet pills, and anything that disrupts your hormones.
Is FBA the best way to start selling supplements on Amazon?
Elias-My:Absolutely. FBA is the easiest way to sell anything right now and I think Amazon is only going to become more dominant in the dietary supplement world.
What's the best way to build a brand?
Elias-My:Start with an avatar and audience in mind, then adapt your message, branding, packaging and products as you engage and constantly engage your audience.
What is the biggest mistake sellers make when selling supplements on Amazon?
Elias-My:Not differentiating enough and not getting enough reviews. It's a competitive market. It's kill or be killed.
Was it significantly easier to acquire repeat buyers?
Elias-My:Subscribing and saving on Amazon has made things a little easier, but the supplements niche in most sub-niches is still a happy place to shop. It's like not wanting to eat twice at the same restaurant.
Now it's time to find a product to sell.
Find the right supplements to sell on Amazon
If you already have experience with vitamins, sports nutrition or herbal medicines, the decision will be easier for you. But if you're starting from scratch, here are some of the best ways to research products for sale.
The Helium 10 has revolutionized the way Amazon sellers can search for products.
See how you can use Helium 10 tools as part of a two-tier product research unit.
First, you can use Helium 10black boxto find your best deals from a database of over 2 billion products. Use smart filters to discover compelling product ideas based on your exact needs, niche, and preferences.
Or, on the Amazon website, puthelium 10 x-ray machineto work. Part of Helium 10free chrome extensionand allows you to validate potential product opportunities. All the information you need to make the right choice is here: revenue estimates, pricing, sales trends, and Sponsored Ads analysis.
Or, if you see a supplement niche you want to compete with, use the Helium 10 Reverse ASIN Lookup Tool,Brainto find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for and to optimize your listing.
Make your brand stand out with a great product listing
To sell a product on Amazon, you must first create an attractive product listing.
This is more important than ever when you are competing in a competitive niche like dietary supplements.
Helium 10's powerful list optimization tools Frankenstein and Scribbles help you create a highly optimized professional list quickly and easily.
- Frankensteinhelps you clean up huge keyword lists and turn them into traffic generators
- Listing Parserensures your listing is optimized for maximum visibility and sales
Amazon Selling Tools to Help Sell Supplements on Amazon
Amazon A+ Contentallows you to use a total of 15 different content modules that help brand owners create sophisticated offers and promote their products with detailed descriptions, graphics, high-quality images and brand-oriented sales text.
To be eligible to use A+ Content, you must have a trademark registration. You can learn more about it.Here.
Amazon-Shopsis a free self-service tool available to trademark sellers, helping them to fully immerse shoppers in their brand. Stores are Amazon's version of the do-it-yourself website builder. It is a Self-service tool that allows sellers to create their own branded storefronts to showcase their product portfolio across multiple pages using simple blocks and movable blocks.
Subscribe and save on Amazon It allows consumers to set up regular scheduled deliveries of products they use all the time and then save on Amazon. Shoppers can unlock additional savings on qualifying subscriptions when they receive five or more products in an automated delivery to one address. By partnering with this program, Amazon sellers can make buybacks even easier.
Subscribe and save is HUGE for Amazon's supplements niche. Many supplement sellers lose money on PPC on initial orders from new customers. However, if they can get a customer to sign up and save, they will become much more profitable over time. Since they no longer have to spend money or effort on advertising, the customer automatically buys from them every month or two.
This is the big league of Amazon sales
Selling supplements on Amazon is not for the faint of heart.
That's not to say there aren't plenty of opportunities for qualified Amazon sellers. Still, selling supplements on Amazon might not be the perfect first choice for a new seller for several important reasons.
Firstly, the plugin category on Amazon is known for its tags. Sounds good, right? But along with those profit margins come highly competitive Amazon veteran sellers with huge chests of pay-per-click (PPC) war money.
Is easy; To sell anything on Amazon, buyers need to see your product. To do this, you need to place your products on the front page.
Amazon PPC Advertising for Supplement Sellers
Every day the importance of PPC grows. Due to the ongoing pandemic, a huge influx of new Amazon sellers have found eCommerce to be a great way to stay safe and replace lost revenue.
Because Amazon PPC sales have a direct impact on a product's organic ranking, they are an important part of any supplement seller's plan. Additionally, PPC allows you to compete for keywords that would otherwise be too competitive to rank organically.
Of course, you'll be fighting dollars for those keywords. Helium 10 has a largeFree PPC Audit ToolThis allows you to closely monitor your PPC to keep these expenses as low as possible.
See in detail the debut of Helium 10Amazon PPC Advertising Platform, adatomic!
Follow Amazon's Rules
Amazon is the world's largest online retailer and generated sales of US$280.5 billion in 2019. Last year alone, over a million new sellers started their careers in e-commerce sales.
That's a lot of beginners. Given the large number of inexperienced sellers, it's no surprise that there are a lot of rules when it comes to selling on Amazon.
These are the main rules to remember when thinking about selling supplements on Amazon. (The complete list isHere)
- Packaging
Amazon supplements must be sealed in the original manufacturer's packaging and be new and unused. Inserts must clearly show any identification codes, such as matrix codes, lot numbers or serial numbers placed on the package by the manufacturer or distributor.
- labeled
Dietary supplements must be labeled in English with the name of the dietary supplement, the total amount or quantity of the dietary supplement (for example, the address of the manufacturer, packer or distributor.
Dietary supplement labels must not claim that the products cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease in humans unless the FDA approves that claim.
- Detailseite
Detail pages should contain the name of the dietary supplement and the list of ingredients, including an image of the ingredient list on the product label. Detail pages cannot claim that products will cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease in humans unless the FDA approves that claim. Detail pages must not state that dietary supplements are "FDA approved".
- products and ingredients
Dietary supplements must not be listed on an FDA safety notice or recall, or contain ingredients prohibited by the FDA. Dietary supplements cannot be labeled as adulterated or mislabeled in an FDA warning letter. Dietary supplements must be safe to use and not a product that the FDA has determined poses an unreasonable risk of injury or illness. Dietary supplements must not contain controlled substances such as cannabidiol (CBD).
For e-commerce sellers, change can be a good thing
We all know that eCommerce and selling on Amazon is rapidly changing the way we live. COVID is still here, and along with all the fear and anguish, it has also propelled online sales in entirely new directions.
If you have an idea for a good food supplement, now might be the time to try Amazon water.
In these difficult times, Amazon and all other online marketplaces will continue to grow. Traditional business methods may be enough to keep your business thriving, but it requires the ability to adapt and change over time to truly destroy it!
helicopter 10is here to help you every step of the way.
Try Hélio 10 for free!
common questions
Is it worth selling supplements on Amazon?
Selling vitamins and supplements in general can be very profitable if you can manufacture and market a compelling product. Amazon makes your job a little easier by providing an eCommerce platform with over 300 million active users!
Is it legal to sell vitamins online?
Yes, it is legal to sell vitamins and supplements online as long as you follow FDA regulations for selling supplements.
How much does it cost to sell supplements on Amazon?
Amazon has two sales plans, the individual plan and the professional plan. For the individual plan, you pay $0.99 for each item sold. For the Professional plan, you pay a monthly fee of $39.99 and you can sell as many items as you can. For each sale, regardless of the plan, Amazon still charges a referral fee that varies depending on the product category and the final sale price.