Supplement idea: manufacturers cannot produce it - what to do now?

[Taktik]

Hello,

I need some help. In the last couple of weeks I worked on a concept for a supplement, that I wanted to bring on the market.

I had the idea, because I always had some problems with many supplements, so there was a need, at least for me. After finishing the concept, I started to look for manufacturers (I found more than 70).
I contacted about 15 manufacturers from that list, that looked promising and could probably fulfill my demands.
Five out of these 15 responded, but they cannot make the products I want.

So now I don't know, what to do. I can get the manufacturers to produce similar products to the ones I want, but then these products would not have the most important USP, that I wanted them to have. I don't know, if this is a good idea. The concept without the USP is not as good as I wanted it to be.
(I also haven't tested the idea, so I don't know, if people would buy the products in the first place. I wanted to do some tests after I have all the numbers and know, if it would work or not.)

Should I try to find another manufacturer, that can fulfil my needs (maybe), or should I move on and try to find another idea?

What do you think?

Thanks.

 

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[EarlOfChina]

Hello,

I need some help. In the last couple of weeks I worked on a concept for a supplement, that I wanted to bring on the market.

I had the idea, because I always had some problems with many supplements, so there was a need, at least for me. After finishing the concept, I started to look for manufacturers (I found more than 70).
I contacted about 15 manufacturers from that list, that looked promising and could probably fulfill my demands.
Five out of these 15 responded, but they cannot make the products I want.

So now I don't know, what to do. I can get the manufacturers to produce similar products to the ones I want, but then these products would not have the most important USP, that I wanted them to have. I don't know, if this is a good idea. The concept without the USP is not as good as I wanted it to be.
(I also haven't tested the idea, so I don't know, if people would buy the products in the first place. I wanted to do some tests after I have all the numbers and know, if it would work or not.)

Should I try to find another manufacturer, that can fulfil my needs (maybe), or should I move on and try to find another idea?

What do you think?

Thanks.

There are PLENTY of supplement manufacturers, if you feel that your idea is so good, keep trying and pushing the doors. When you get some positive news on the manufacturing, do some market testing to see if there is an appetite for the product.

 

[rwhyan]

5 manufacturers giving you a "No" is way too small a number for you to give up on this idea.

Keep pushing away.

Only once you have 200+ manufacturers tell you they can't make your supplement, then you can consider your other options.

This is unrelated to manufacturing, but I recently had to message over 2000 people PERSONALLY (not just a copy-paste thing) to get 50 responses back, half of which were "No."

To an even more extreme degree, 458's team cold called over 115,000 numbers to get 114 sales.
(see: Cold Calling Realities)

I hope my point has been made clear

 

[biophase]

What was the reason they could not make it?

 

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[Taktik]

What was the reason they could not make it?

Sorry for not answering sooner.
They cannot produce the supplements without processing aids, which I do not want to have in the products.

 

[Valhalla]

Sorry for not answering sooner.
They cannot produce the supplements without processing aids, which I do not want to have in the products.

So it's impossible to produce them without the additives? Or is it a commercial preference of theirs?

 

[Bekit]

Sorry for not answering sooner.
They cannot produce the supplements without processing aids, which I do not want to have in the products.

This doesn't sound like a definitive impossibility - YET.

Is there a creative "back door access" approach that you can take to market this? For instance...

• Can YOU make the supplement without processing aids? If you can but they can't, then it's not that they CAN'T. It's that they're unwilling to.
• If that's the case, find out why they're unwilling to. Is it a regulation? More hassle and manpower required to do it that way? (e.g. the machinery gets gummed up and requires more frequent cleaning?) More risk that the product would be bad? What's the reason?
• Once you know the reason, can you creatively approach them with a counter-reason to their objection? For instance, if the manufacturing process is going to be more expensive, then the product is going to be more expensive. Can you supply them with a proof of concept that the end user is willing to pay high enough prices for the product that it will justify the the extra expense?
• If they still won't budge, can you still make it anyway, even in small batch quantities?
• Can you innovate some other way?
• Is there anyone else doing something similar?
• Is there a public outcry against the processing aids which you could leverage in your favor?
• Could you create/stir up a public outcry of this sort in order to accomplish your ends?
• Could someone in another country manufacture it?

Without further information, it's hard to say what you can/can't do, but hopefully this gives you some food for thought.

 

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[MHP368]

They cannot produce the supplements without processing aids, which I do not want to have in the products.

So maybe you need to be reaching out to more specialty manufacturers?

for instance an israeli firm markets "vayarin / lipirenin" which is phosphatidylserine attached to omega-3 , well outside the capabilities of most manufacturers (or at least they don't want to deal with the headache as I know a doctor who wanted it done and couldn't find anyone) , so whoever makes that probably has some specialty equipment.

I presume you've already talked to manufacturers about the possibility of simply cleaning the stuff up after and removing the unwanted processing aids?

maybe focus down on the gmo / organic sort of manufacturers? they would presumably already have built into the process and pricing the means to make the supplement without the extras.

maybe a good first step would be to just have a chemical engineer look over the formula or the blend you want and give you an honest second opinion about feasibility? , a consultant like this could be found on upwork for example

 

[Taktik]

Can YOU make the supplement without processing aids? If you can but they can't, then it's not that they CAN'T. It's that they're unwilling to.

One supplement without any processing aids (that I want to produce in a similar fashion with some additional value skews) is already on the market.
So it is possible, but I am not sure, if the producers I contacted are unwilling to produce them. Maybe they just don`t have the machines to do it; at least it sounded like that to me, but I did not investigate that further, because I thought, that I could find another manufacturer, that is able to do it. But I haven`t found one so far.

 

[Valhalla]

One supplement without any processing aids (that I want to produce in a similar fashion with some additional value skews) is already on the market.
So it is possible, but I am not sure, if the producers I contacted are unwilling to produce them. Maybe they just don`t have the machines to do it; at least it sounded like that to me, but I did not investigate that further, because I thought, that I could find another manufacturer, that is able to do it. But I haven`t found one so far.

I'd like to hear how this ends up. Seems like this production barrier could give you a competitive advantage. Also, I've taken supplements for years and never knew about the processing aids. I'm now aware and I can't be the only one who will now think about it the next time I go to buy supplements.

 

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