Customer Questions #1

Over the course of the last ten years I have been asked many questions. The most asked question by far is: Why don't I carry product certain products? The main reason for not carrying a certain product is that there is not enough people asking for it. There are other reason for not carrying certain products. These reasons range from not doing business with the company that makes the product to I am not happy with the company's quality or safety record.

Lets take a look at the category of multivitamins. In my 2006 industry source book, there are 96 companies listed that manufacture multivitamins. Many of these companies make multiple versions of the same product . The different versions may be iron-free or contain extra calcium or may contain herbs and other phytonutritents. Some companies make as many as twenty different types of multivitamins. This means that there is a at least 1920 different multivitamins available from these companies. This does not include the private label brands of vitamins that are only sold in a particular store or region.

As I looked again through my source book I find that there are 295 different nutritional supplements that are currently being manufactured. In each of these categories, there is an average of about 50 different companies manufacturing each of these supplements. As I hope you can now see, there is an overwhelming number of products to choose from. So how do I select the products that I carry in my store? That is a subject for another time. :)

Thanks for spending a little of your time here with me,

James