The supplement industry is booming, with industry reports suggesting the market is currently growing at a CAGR of 9.1%. But thriving in this market is far from easy. If you want to earn sales, separate yourself from the competition and earn loyal customers, you need more than just great products. You need an optimized supplement fulfilment strategy.
Mastering everything from inventory management for supplements, to ensuring products reach your customers in time (and in great condition), can be complicated. You’ll need to navigate strict regulatory requirements, use the right strategies to get the most out of products with limited shelf lives, and overcome common delivery hurdles.
Getting fulfillment right isn’t just a logistic hurdle, it’s the key to maintaining product integrity, staying compliant with local and federal regulations, and earning customer trust.
The good news? There are ways to boost your chances of success. Here, we’ll introduce you to the most common supplement fulfillment challenges you might encounter as you grow your business, and the strategies you can use to overcome them.
Challenge 1: Inventory Management
Handling inventory management for supplements is complicated for a few reasons. Get your inventory strategy right, and your business can run like a well-oiled machine, with minimal waste, and better efficiency all around. Get it wrong, and you risk wasting money on overstocking processes, and missing opportunities with stock outs.
Overstocking ties up crucial cash flow, takes up precious warehouse space, and increases your chances of ending up with expired products sitting on warehouse shelves. Understocking means you risk losing sales and frustrating your customers.
To make matters worse, lack of proper planning could mean you miss out on crucial opportunities. When demand for your products spikes at specific times of the year (think around New Year’s when people are setting resolutions, or in the summer when people want to get beach ready), you need to be prepared to accommodate higher sales numbers.
The Solution:
The first step in overcoming inventory issues, and managing seasonal demand for supplements, is gaining more visibility into your products. You need to go beyond simply knowing what’s on your shelves with a strategy that gives you real-time visibility into your stock.
Taking advantage of inventory tracking technology can be extremely helpful here. A fulfillment partner like Relentless Fulfillment can give you a comprehensive insight into your products, and stock levels in real-time. You can track products that are set to expire soonest, monitor which items are earning the most sales (so you know what to stock up on), and more.
Our technology doesn’t just help supplement brands keep track of their inventory, it ensures they can optimize their stock strategy. Through advanced forecasting tools, like aging reports and order volume reports specific to each SKU, we give you the data you need to predict demand and make smarter stocking decisions.
With our systems, you can stay on top of trends, adjust for seasonal fluctuations, and even plan for peak times like New Year’s fitness resolutions or Black Friday sales. This data-driven approach will help you make the most out of your inventory, increase sales, and reduce waste.
Challenge 2: Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance in the supplement industry can be something of a minefield to navigate. The industry is tightly regulated, and failing to comply with even the smallest detail can have devastating consequences. As a supplement brand, you need to go beyond simply using safe products in your formula. You’ll need to ensure you’re implementing quality control in supplement logistics, labelling products correctly, and managing expiration dates.
The FDA, FTC, and other regulatory bodies have strict guidelines that must be adhered to, and non-compliance can lead to fines, recalls, and ongoing damage to your brand’s reputation. Something as simple as making a mistake on a label, or allowing expired goods to slip through the cracks can quickly derail your business.
That’s why you need to ensure you’re following end-to-end supplement fulfillment best practices that help to keep you compliant with industry standards.
The Solutions
Adhering to compliance standards in the supplement industry requires a multi-faceted and holistic approach. Fortunately, working with the right fulfillment partner can make all the difference. At Relentless Fulfillment, we prioritize quality control in supplement logistics, implementing strict processes to help you stay one step ahead of the curve.
From lot tracking tools to insights that help you to monitor which products might be approaching their expiration dates, we help you ensure your products meet regulatory guidelines every step of the way. We can even help you implement bundling and kitting strategies that help to get products out of warehouses faster, reducing the risk of waste due to expiration.
Beyond working with the right fulfillment provider, there are other steps you can take to minimize your risk of compliance issues. For instance, making sure all of your products are properly labelled (according to regulatory requirements), with ingredient lists, and nutrition facts are crucial.
Ensuring you have the right processes in place to minimize the handling of products, and track expiration dates as they emerge is essential too. With an end-to-end strategy for keeping track of your products effectively, and a partner that can help you avoid compliance mistakes, you can avoid costly fines, and protect your brand’s reputation.
Challenge 3: Maintaining Product Integrity and Safety
Maintaining product integrity in supplement fulfillment processes is crucial, but complicated. Many supplements, including probiotics and vitamins, are temperature-sensitive, and fragile. They can lose their potency or efficacy if they’re exposed to the wrong conditions, like excessive heat or humidity.
Some products, like soft gels or glass containers, can also break or degrade during transit and storage when they’re not handled with care and precision. As a supplement brand, you can’t rely on the same strategies other companies use to manage storing and shipping.
You need a comprehensive strategy that leverages specialized temperature-sensitive supplement shipping solutions, and tailor-made storage conditions. Without the right strategy, the quality of your products, and your brand’s reputation could be irreparably damaged.
The Solutions:
Ensuring product integrity in supplement fulfillment relies heavily on finding the right partners to work with. Companies that specialize in third-party logistics for supplements brands can give you the critical storage solutions, packaging systems, and resources you need to protect your products.
At Relentless Fulfillment, for instance, we treat every product as though it’s our own, using state-of-the-art climate controlled storage facilities to ensure that temperature-sensitive items are defended from temperature fluctuations. Whether you’re selling heat-sensitive vitamins, or probiotics that depend on cold storage, we can help.
When it comes to packaging your products, we don’t just pack items into a box at random. We offer custom packaging solutions designed to safeguard product quality. This means giving you access to insulated packaging for temperature-sensitive items and cushioning for fragile products.
Plus, we provide expedited shipping options, to help ensure your products arrive at their destination quickly, before they have a chance to deteriorate in transit. Working with a professional fulfillment partner with years of experience dealing with sensitive products like supplements ensures you can guarantee all of your products will be handled with care.
From storage to shipping, the right partner will guarantee that your products stay protected, and in peak condition, defending your assets, reputation, and relationship with customers.
Challenge 4: Fast and Reliable Shipping
Today’s customers have a serious need for speed. When they buy products from your company, they expect to receive them quickly, when they want it most. This makes fast shipping for supplement brands essential. If you’re not delivering items to customers quickly, they’ll find an alternative provider who can serve their needs sooner.
Unfortunately, there are a number of issues that can get in the way of quick delivery times. Not only do you have to deal with overcoming supplement supply chain issues, but you need to navigate various logistical issues and regulatory requirements.
Prioritizing speed, while still ensuring that products are protected, packaged correctly, and handled with care at every stage of the logistical process requires a strategic approach.
The Solutions:
Again, the answer to this supplement fulfillment issue is: find the right partner. The easiest way to make sure your products consistently reach your customers as quickly as possible, without compromising on package protection, is to work with the right fulfillment providers.
Focus on finding companies that offer fulfillment centers located close to key market points. For instance, Relentless Fulfillment delivers rapid shipping throughout the entire West Coast. More than 99.9% of the products we deliver reach their destination on time, and we can offer 2-day shipping for priority orders, helping you to keep your customers happy.
By optimizing warehouse locations, we not only ensure that your products get closer to the end customer faster, but we can also help you minimize shipping expenses. Relentless Fulfillment offers a wide range of flexible shipping options, from standard to expedited options, so you can cater to different customer preferences and needs.
Working with a fulfillment partner that understands the critical importance of timely, reliable shipping means you can meet customer expectations every time. It’s the key to driving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business at scale.
Overcoming Supplement Fulfillment Challenges
Managing supplement fulfillment can be complex. There are a lot of unique challenges that supplement brands need to overcome to ensure that they can delight their customers, adhere to regulatory standards, and keep costs low.
Ultimately, the best way to make sure you can achieve sustainable growth, and minimize risks, is to find a partner that can streamline your fulfillment journey. Partnering with a specialist like Relentless Fulfillment gives you more than just logistics support.
It ensures you can access everything from climate-controlled storage to unique packaging options, real-time inventory insights, and rapid shipping solutions. We offer the tools, experience, and solutions supplement brands need to stay one step ahead in a competitive market. Discover how partnering with Relentless Fulfillment can help you overcome the challenges of shipping, compliance, and inventory management for supplements, and accomplish more in this growing industry.
Contact Relentless Fulfillment today, and set your business up for success.
