The health and wellness industry reportedly rakes in over four trillion dollars a year worldwide. This includes businesses in personal care, fitness, weight loss, preventative medicine, and many more. And what this means for emerging entrepreneurs is that it’s an industry ripe for new business. People are searching for ways to get healthy and stay fit. If you have a passion for this type of business, it could be the perfect time to start one. Following are just a few tips to help you out.
Find your niche
Because there are so many possible niches within the health and wellness industry, it’s important you find yours and narrow your focus. A big reason that many businesses fail is that they try to be all things to all people. Perhaps they feel they’ll have a bigger customer base if they offer more services and more products. But the truth is you need to establish yourself as an expert in your field to gain trust and get business. And the best way to do this is by picking a niche.
Choose your business model
You’ll need to decide what type of business you’ll have. Will you have a brick and mortar store where you offer health and wellness products? Will you have an online market where your customers can order what they need? Or will your business be a combination of both? Along with this, comes the decision of whether you’ll have physical products, offer services, or both.
These choices require some thought and research as you’ll have many logistical decisions to make. If you will be storing a large inventory of physical product, you’ll have to find a facility to store it in. And many health products can require storage at specific temperatures. So not only will you need a space, but you’ll need one that meets your criteria. You’ll also need to consider how you will get your product there. With large shipments often comes the need for special equipment. You might have to hire a material handling equipment company in New Jersey, for example, to handle your merchandise.
Source your products
Once you’ve decided on the products you’ll be selling, you’ll have to find a place to get them. Finding wholesalers is sometimes a bit of a process because they don’t always market themselves aggressively. But a good place to start is the source of the products you already use and like. For example, you can search the website of your favorite vitamin manufacturer for any contact information they offer. Then, you can call them directly and simply ask how to become a wholesaler. They’ll probably have certain requirements, such as having your own federal ID number. And they might ask for proof that you’ve been in business for a while. In these cases, you might have to start with other manufacturers or products to establish yourself before you approach them again.
Choose your platform
There are many ways you can market your product, but social media is the best place to start. In the US alone, 79 percent of the population has at least one social media profile. And that’s an audience too big to ignore. But the question is, which one should you use? After all, if you try to be present everywhere, you’ll spread yourself too thin and likely not be effective on any of them.
Start by doing a little research on the demographics of each platform. Hopefully, you already have a good idea of who your target market is and, in turn, you can narrow down your search. But even if you’re not completely sure, Facebook is always a safe bet. Since 62 percent of the entire adult American population uses it, chances are that you’ll reach a lot of your ideal audience there.
