It can be said that people’s health care needs are increasingly focused. That is the reason that functional food products and health care products are increasingly interested in, making it a potential market.
In this article, Sapo.vn will share with you the important factors to help you start a functional food business and make the most profit.
1. Conditions for trading functional foods
According to Appendix IV, Investment Law 2020, functional foods are conditional business items. Therefore, in order to do business in this industry, you need to meet the following conditions:
Industry conditions
When an enterprise or business household registers for establishment, it must register the business of functional foods. If an enterprise or business household has been established but has not yet registered its profession, it is necessary to carry out additional procedures in accordance with regulations.
License conditions
To start a dietary supplement business, a business must have:
- Certificate of food safety eligibility (according to Circular 43/2014/TT-BYT)
- Certificate of publication of conformity with food safety regulations
- Necessary documents
In addition to a business registration certificate, a certificate of eligibility for food safety, a certificate of publication of conformity with food safety regulations to start a functional food business, you need to have enough At least 3 types of licenses include:
- Certificate of functional product certification has been announced on the market, the Ministry of Health and distribution units
- Certificate of trademark certification of functional foods has been protected and that the trademark is not duplicated with those registered with the legal authority
- Certificate of functional food warehouse of the enterprise, the company meets the requirements on food hygiene and safety according to regulations
2. Factors to remember for trading functional foods
2.1 Market research
In fact, the functional food business has a lot of potential because the demand is extremely large. This also means that the competition of the market is not small. For the functional food business, the online business market will be more popular than the traditional store business.
There are quite a few traditional stores specializing in selling functional foods, instead, functional foods will be sold in cosmetic stores, drugstores with strict conditions.
Therefore, if you are just starting a functional food business, you can start an online business to optimize costs as well as reach customers in the best way. Of course, ensuring product quality is the most important thing for you to sell, protect your customers’ interests, and grow your business.
See also: 6 market research methods for newbies in business
2.2 Choosing business products
Functional foods have many types, so business owners need to clearly define the items they will trade to ensure the ability to import and consume.
Currently, functional foods will be divided into 7 main groups:
- Vitamin supplement functional food
- Fatty acid supplements
- Mineral supplements
- Functional food supplement with beneficial bacteria
- Protein and amino acid supplements
- Functional foods in the form of extracts
- Functional foods for bodybuilders
Depending on the target audience, source of goods as well as capital, you can choose the right product for your business.
2.3 Have product and health care knowledge
In fact, consumers buy functional foods for many different purposes such as weight loss, beautiful skin, beautiful hair or health care from the inside,… However, not everyone is suitable for them. all kinds of functional foods. Therefore, always improve your knowledge to be able to advise your customers in the most accurate way.
In particular, improving knowledge about functional foods is also the basis for you to provide knowledge to your customers, which not only helps customers understand the product, but also helps to minimize problems. The problem is not worth it because customers misunderstand the benefits and uses of functional foods.
Because in fact, functional foods are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as foods, not drugs and are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure disease.
2.4 Sourcing of quality goods
For the selection of sources when trading in dietary supplements, business owners really need to be careful and choose carefully according to the strictest criteria to ensure product quality as well as their own interests. , client.
A business license and medical certification are required when starting a dietary supplement business. Therefore, make sure that your source of goods is reputable and reliable with all necessary documents, compliance with business conditions and product quality.
Import price is also an important factor, but this does not mean that you should only rely on the price factor that ignores the quality of the product. A thorough supplier assessment also helps you to target the stability, quality and responsiveness of each supplier.
In fact, the source of functional foods is relatively diverse, which can be mentioned as:
- Agency
- Distributors
- Imported from abroad
- Source of portable goods
Of course, no matter what the source of dietary supplements is, you also need to make sure that your source is really of quality and meets all standards, requirements, and laws to ensure the interests of customers and their customers. self.
See more: Conditions for business registration and detailed instructions on how to register an individual household business
2.5 Identify and approach potential customers
Depending on your business orientation, your target audience is different. Especially, at the beginning, you can experiment with a specific group of customers to evaluate and expand your business when there is a clear direction as well as a stable source of goods and capital.
However, no matter what customer file you are targeting, finding and approaching potential customers to introduce products is also extremely important. Try to study the shopping and consumption behavior of each customer to reach them on online and offline channels.
2.6 Identify sales channels
For the business in general and the dietary supplement business in particular, clearly defining the sales channel is extremely important to reach more potential customers and increase effective revenue for your store.
If your target market is online sales channels, then social networks, websites and e-commerce floors are sales channels that you can consider. However, as a specific product, functional foods also have strict requirements when you want to list them on e-commerce platforms such as lazada, tiki. Of course, if you have all the legal documents required by the brokers, this is not a problem.
2.7 Measuring and evaluating business performance
In business, the measurement and detailed evaluation of business activities is extremely important. This is one of the bases for you to better understand your business such as all costs, revenue, profit and loss. From there, make appropriate adjustments and make a more appropriate business plan in the future to increase revenue effectively and maintain your business.
Some sales software, in addition to comprehensive sales and management support, also enables you to monitor and evaluate all business activities at each point in time based on detailed reports. This will help business owners promptly evaluate and adjust to suit each time, each goal, thereby selling more effectively.
Above are the important factors of the functional food business that Sapo would like to share with you. We hope that the above sharing can help you have the best preparation to start a business and sell effectively.
