Price takes a back seat to safety…
As the media continues to highlight cautionary findings related to dietary supplements, consumers are focusing on quality and safety like never before.
This trend was confirmed in a recent survey completed by Chicago based Colman Brohan Davis, Inc.
Results of the survey showed that consumers ranked Safety as the Number One criteria in purchasing dietary supplements. Moreover, the majority of those surveyed acknowledged having some concerns about taking dietary supplements.
Equally as telling was the fact that those surveyed ranked Price as the Last Consideration when purchasing dietary supplements.
There are a few nuggets we can extract from these consumer trends. First, safety and quality really are a competitive advantage. Next, consumers appear to be willing to pay for it. If safety is the #1 consideration, this is an opportunity to differentiate your brand AND increase your margins at the same time.
Consumers no longer view vitamins and supplements as “automatically good”. The trend is to question everything. Again, the good news is they are willing to vote for quality products with their dollars!
This, combined with the current economic climate that is forcing more consumers to take control of their own health has created a great opportunity for the nutraceutical industry.
How can you take advantage of this? There are a number of ways, however we’ll distill it down to three action items…
- Start with Quality – Clearly, a quality product begins with quality ingredients. Testing for heavy metals is something many manufacturers do as a result of California’s Prop 65 – however, making it the backbone of your brand can produce very positive results. After all, consumers are making it the #1 driver in their decision to purchase a particular product.
- Validate your Quality – Using a third party to validate the quality of your products is one of the most cost effective ways to build consumer confidence (check out our Gold Certification Program).
- Differentiate with Quality – Communicate your commitment to quality. Again, letting consumers know that you deliver safe, clean and quality products addresses their #1 concern.
If item #2 sounds like a shameless plug, perhaps it is. However, having a good testing program in place is no longer a good idea, its table stakes to a thriving brand. We understand this and are work very hard to track the trends and industry regulations and to put our clients in a leading position.
