Currently, one of the most popular products among many people is biologically active additives and vitamins consumed in food supplements. GNC Corporation, the parent of General Nutrition Centers and owned by Ares Management LLC, is a leading specialty retailer of nutritional supplements in the U.S. (Plunkett 86). And also, it is one of the biggest producers of fish oil.
The company's strategy GNC originated in the period when US society beginning to realize that the average age of man is becoming more and more. The population began to think about the aging of the nation and was followed by a logical desire to take care of themselves, their health and future. People began to attract a healthy lifestyle; they began to instill healthy habits in everyday life and in nutrition.
The creators of this company correctly and quickly realized and appreciated the importance of the trend in saving and improving health. GNC is currently the iconic popular brand and occupies the top position in many countries, in several stores and has a truly global reach). The main competitive advantage of this company is that when the company first originated, it had no competitors.
It was one of the first of its kind, but after a while, they began to emerge. However, by that time the company has got a good reputation among customers and has strengthened its position in this market niche.
Thus, in this situation the company acted as a specialized seller of health food products of good quality, and it has become a major competitive advantage.
Currently, in the modern world Internet is very popular. GNC wisely used the opportunity to promote their products via the Internet. So, the first method and channel of distribution of fish oil for this company are selling through the Internet. In this way, the product can be ordered in any part of the world not only to the residents of a particular city/country (if there were only certain points of sale) but throughout the world.
This fact significantly expands the sphere of influence of the GNC and simplifies word of mouth, because people can start their positive opinions about the product (recommendations to friends) adding the link to the website where there is a clear description of fish oil, its properties, and features of this product.
Also, the correct method of distribution of the company's products is GNC analyst. Analytical Department of the company constantly examines the characteristics of sales in different regions of the world, identifying those areas and States where the company's products are particularly popular. At the moment, GNC focuses on expansion in the UK, Scandinavia, and Northern Europe.
It's a great way of expanding the business in the shortest possible time because the field of electronic commerce is really one of the fastest growing sales channels of different dietary supplements.
The growth strategy the company GNC implies an increase and expansion of the company in different countries and cities all around the world because the tendency of a healthy way of life is spreading everywhere nowadays.
Moreover, it becomes fashionable to observe the rules of a healthy way of life, to go to gym or fitness, to eat healthy food full of vitamins and minerals. That’s why another channel of distribution of fish oil is distributing through gyms of different classes. After becoming a popular brand it was easy for GNC to sign contracts with both luxury and normal sports houses and gyms for them to propose the product to their clients.
This way GNC combined selling points with the places that people associate with health, sport and success.
Also, for the clients of the gyms it was pretty easy to work out, and immediately after that to get a jar of a useful product –fish oil. This simplified the sales process because everything that is connected with sports and health people did in one place and didn't need to go to another location or store purposefully to buy fish oil.
Partnerships are also an extremely important channel for the promotion and distribution of products of GNC Company, including fish oil. Partnerships assume mutual promotion (promotion sales) of products of the partner companies. In addition, it is also a good way of strengthening the company in the market, because of the reason that audience coverage can be increased in several times.
Besides, the media were much more likely to endorse such partnerships, engaged in a common cause or different directions’ activity, but in one area (for example, health and sport) than the individual company.
In 2015, American media was organized large-scale advertising of GNC, with whom the company signed a contract on long-term partnerships related to promotion of e-Commerce, healthy living, men's fitness, Fit pregnancy, natural health, muscle and fitness, stretching, and fitness sites.
Another good and remarkable example is the magazine (partner of GNC) that regularly published new proposals for GNC and its wide range of products and various types of fish oil. However, the main condition is that these proposals are not yet available on the official main web-site of the company. This fact allows increasing the popularity of not only GNC but also of this journal because only there you can find brand new suggestions that appear on the website only after some of the time.
It turned out that it is incredibly important to be flexible, even for a company as large as GNC. Some mills have a huge population that represents an incredible array of potential buyers of the company's products. However, before you enter the market of the country, the company must study all its aspects, nuances, and peculiarities. A good example of a new sales channel is China. It is known to all that in this country there are Internet restrictions, because of which many potential buyers are deprived of the opportunity to buy fish oil GNC online. Due to this fact, in 2013, GNC has expanded its retail presence in China, opening its first standalone store GNC in Shanghai. The extension of GNC is one of the most striking examples of competent business. GNC plans to open 25 outlets in China.
Thus, we can conclude that for sales of fish oil of GNC it uses a few basic channels. The most modern and the most significant one is e-Commerce using the Internet: social networks and, of course, the main official website of the company. One of the ways to the success of the company also was the desire to stand out from the crowd. For example, while most of other retailers struggled to retain sales and profits during a lingering recession, GNC expanded its organization (Gant 212). To generate cash for expansion, the company sold its mail-order businesses and spotlighted its retail outlets (Kepos 156).
Via using the website the company informs potential customers about a particular product, about updates in the product line, about specific innovations. In addition, after people got acquainted with the goods on the website, they can order a particular product that will be delivered to his home. This simplifies the buying process to a minimum: there is no need to go somewhere; all you need is an Internet connection.
The second method and channel of distribution are making partnerships with companies from related areas - health and sport, as well as with the media. It helped the company to find much more clients because the partnership companies expanded the sphere in the influence of the GNC Company.
And the last key to the success of GNC is opening points of sales, especially in some places where it is hard or even impossible to sell products via The Internet (as in China).
Works Cited:
Plunkett, Jack W. Plunkett's Retail Industry Almanac 2009: The Only Comprehensive Guide to the Retail Industry. Houston: Plunkett Research Ltd, 2008. Print
Gant, Tina. International Directory of Company Histories. New York: Gale, 1999. Print
Kepos, Paula. International Directory of Company Histories. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Print
