How to get your product into health food stores

What a health food buyer is buying

Health food customers read labels, ask staff for advice and come back for what works. So the buyer reads your label first, then decides whether their staff can recommend it with a straight face.

• Ingredients. A short, clean list. Anything that looks out of place will be questioned.
• What it is free from. Gluten, dairy, refined sugar, allergens. Be exact.
• Certifications, such as organic or vegan, if you have them. Have the paperwork ready if asked.
• What it does. Functional products need a clear, honest reason to buy.
• Margin and shelf life, like any store.

Who decides

In an independent health food shop, the owner or manager decides, often with input from staff who do the hand-selling. A bigger store may have a buyer for each section, such as supplements, chilled or grocery. Chains of health stores usually buy through head office.

Many health and supplement stores list a wholesale@ or stockist@ address on their website, and that one is usually read by whoever buys. When we find health food stores for a brand, we look for the owner or buyer by name and skip accounts inboxes.

What they need before saying yes

Have these ready for the reply, not in the first email.

• A full ingredient and nutrition panel, and allergen details.
• Certificates for anything you claim, such as organic.
• Your wholesale price, the retail price and their margin. The wholesale price calculator does the sums.
• Something for the staff to taste, so they can recommend it from experience.
• Small opening orders, a single case or a mixed one.

Look beyond the health shop

Health food shops are not the only stores with health-minded customers. Gyms, pilates and yoga studios, physios and sports clubs sell drinks and snacks to exactly the people who buy functional products, and many have a fridge by the front desk. These places often answer faster than shops do.

Run them as separate campaigns from the health shops, because the pitch is different: a gym owner wants something members will buy after a session, not a shelf line.

The first email

Lead with what the product is and who buys it, in plain words. Mention something real about the store, like a range they carry. Ask them to reply for a sample or the spec sheet. Leave attachments, certificates and price lists for the reply, because they push a first email towards junk.

Send from a separate domain so your main one stays safe. We buy and set up that domain for you, and it redirects to your website. Follow up two or three times. Most replies come on the second or third email, and the sequence stops when they answer.

How health shops order and pay

Independent health food shops usually buy a mix of lines from natural wholesalers and specialty products direct from the brand. A small brand selling direct is normal: a case by email, paid on invoice. If a natural foods wholesaler already carries you, say so in the first email, because it makes the yes easier.

Gyms and studios are simpler again. They buy small amounts, often by the case, and want delivery to the front desk. Many have never stocked a product before, so tell them exactly how it works: what to order, where it goes and how they reorder.

Samples, staff and the reorder

Send samples only to stores that ask, and send enough for the staff to taste. In a health food shop the staff recommendation is the sale. Give them a one-line description they can repeat, and check in after two weeks to ask what customers said.

A store that reorders twice is a stockist you can name in your next email. Flow keeps track of who is due a reorder and who has gone quiet.

Keep an eye on what sells by season too. Immune and warming products move in winter, hydration and protein in summer. A store that knows you will bring the right line at the right time is more likely to give you more shelf.

Start with one city

Pick one city and the health shops and studios that fit your product, and send each type its own email. A health shop owner and a gym manager want different things from you, and one email written for both reads like it was written for neither.

Then widen it. Independent grocery stores with a health aisle, cafés with a wellness crowd and delis often take the same products. In New Zealand, our New Zealand guide covers the local market, and the Australian guide covers the independents there.