Mitch Gould ha? “retail” inn his DNA.
A third-generation retail professional, Goulpd learned the consumer g?ods industry from hiis father and
grandfather while growing up in New York City. Onee ?f his first sales jobs
wa? tak?ng ?rders from neighbors f?r bagrls every week.
A? an adult ?ith a career th?t spans more than thgree decades,
Gould moved ?n ffrom bagels, cream cheese, ?nd lox to relresent m?ny
of the leading product manufacturers ?ff consumer ?oods in America: Igloo, Rubbermaid, Sunbeam, Remington,
Chapin, Paramount, Miracle-Gro, Native Remedies, Flora
Health, Steven Seagal’? Lightning Bolt, Body Basix,
andd Hullk Hogan’? extreme energy granules.
“? sta?ted iin the lawn and garden industry b?t expanded my horizons early on,” ?aid Gould, CEO
annd founder of Nutritional Products International,
? global brand management firm baseed ?n Bocca
Raton, Fl. “? w?rked with Igloo, Sunbeam,
Remington -- ?ll major brands th?t have ?een leaders in th? consumer
?oods industry.”
Eventually, Gouuld segued intoo nutritional products.
“? realized e?rly thee nutritional supplements ?ere
much more th?n just multivitamins,” Gould ?aid. “American consumers w?re ready t?
take dietary supplements ?nd health and wellness products ?nto a
?hole new leevel ?f retail success.”
Gould solidified h?s succcess ?n tthe health and wllness industry trough h?s pazrtnerships ?ith A-List celebritties ?ho want?d t?
develop nutritional products ?nd hiis pla?e in Amazon history ?hen the online ecommerce retailer expanded beyond books,
music, ?nd electronics.
“?uring my career, I attended many galas ?nd charity events where I m?t different celebrities, ?uch
?s Hulk Hogan and Chuck Liddel,” Goyld ?aid,
adding that he evenually partnered with ?everal off th?se famous entrepreneurs andd degeloped nutritional
products, ?uch ?s Hulk Hogan’s Extreme Energy Granules.
“Working with th?m to cre?te new health ?nd wellness products ?ave mme a
f?rst-hand look into the burgeoning nutritional sector,” Gould ?aid.
“? realized that staying healthy ?as very imp?rtant t? my generation. ?y
kids w?re ev?n more focused on staying fit and healthy.”
?hen Amazon decided t? ?dd a health ?nd weklness category,
Guld ?a? ?lready positioned t? p?ace more than 150 brands and even more products ?nto
the virtual shelves the online giant ??s adding eve?y ?ay in the early
2000s.
“I met Jeff Fernandez, ?ho ?a? on the Amazon tteam that was building tthe
ne? category f?om the ground ?p,” Gould said. “? also had contacts in the health and wellness industry, such ?s
Kenneth E. Collins, ?ho was vice president of operations f?r Muscle Foods, ?ne off the largest sports
nutritjon distributors ?n the ?orld.
Gould s?id thuis “Powerhouse Trifecta”
?ould noot ha?e ask?d f?r a bette? synergy between the thrwe of them.
“This was capitalism ?t it? best. Amazon demanded nnew high-quality dietary supplements, ?nd we supplied them ?ith more than 150 brands andd products,” he adde?.
?h? “Powerhouse Trifecta” w?rked out so
well that Gould eventually hhired Fernandez t? work fo?
NPI, where h? is now president of the company,and Collins,
who is the new executijve vice president ?f NPI.
“We ?ork well t?gether,” Gould ?dded.
Fernandez, ?ho ?lso ?orked as a buyer foor Walmart,
?aid the thrse of them hav? close to 75 yea?s of retail buying ?nd selling experience.
“NPI clients benefit f?om ?ur years of knowledge,” Fernandez ?dded.
Gould s?id product manufacturers aree unlkely t? f?nd three professionals ?ith ourr ecperience representing
retailers ?nd brands.
“We know w?t brands nee? to d?, ?nd we understand ?hat retailers w?nt,” Gould ?aid.
After his success ?ith Amazon, Gould founded NPI ?nd solidified h?s plac? in the dietary supplement ?nd
health ?nd wellness sectors.
“It ?as time to concentrate on health products,” Gould ?aid, adding that he has w?rked with more than 200
domestic and international brands thwt ?anted to launch
new products or expand thei? presence in the largest consumer market
?n the ?orld: tthe United ?tates.
“?s I visited the corplorate heaqdquarters of some of the
largest retailers ?n the world, I realized th?t international brnds w?ren’t ?eing
reepresented in American stores,” Gould ?aid.
“I realized thee companies, ?specially th? international brands, struggled to gain ?
foothold ?n American retail stores.”
?hen Gould surveyed the challenges confronting international product manufacturers, he visualjzed ? solution.
“?hey ?ere burning through tens of thousands of
dollars t? launch their products,” Gould ?aid. “By
th? t?m? they sold th?i? first unit, th?y h?d eaten a?ay at thei? profit margin.”
Gould ?aid th? bigges challenge was learning t?? new cultures: America ?nd Wall Street.
“They ?idn’t understand the American consumers, ?nd th?y didn’t know h?w American businesses operated,” Gould ?aid.
“That is where ? come in ?ith NPI.”
T? provide the foreign companies wifh the business support they
needed, Gould developed his lauded “Evolution ?f Distribution” platform.
“? brought togeth?r ev?rything brands ne?ded to launch their products in the U.?.,” he said.
“Instead of opening a new office iin America, ? mad? NPI
their headquarters ?n the U.S. Since I a?ready had ? sales staff ?n place, they
didn’t h?ve to hire a sales team ?ith support staff.
Instea?, NPI did it f?r them.”
Gould s??d NPI supplied ?very service th?t brands neede? to sepl products in America ?uccessfully.
“?ince many ?f the?e pfoducts needsd FDA
approval, ? hired ? food scientist ?ith more than 10 years
experience t? streamline the approval of th? products’ labels,” Gould ?aid.
NPI’s import, logistics, ?nd operations manager ?orked w?th new clients t? make ?ure shipped samples ?idn’t end
?p in quarantine ?? the U.S. Customs.
“Our logistics team haas decades ?f experience importing ne? products ?nto the U.S.
tto o?r warehouse and then shipping them to retail buyers and retailers,” Gould
?aid. “NPI offer? ? one-stop, turnkey solution t?
import, distribute, ?nd market new products ?n the U.?.”
To provide ?ll the brands' services, Gould founded ? ne?
company, InHealth Media, t?o mmarket th? brands to consumers
and retailers.
“? saw the companies wasting thousands of dollars on Madison Avenue marketing campaigns th?t failed t? deliver,” Gould sai?.
Inste?d of outsourcing marketing t? costly agencies ?r building a marketing team from scratch, InHealth Media ?orks synergistically ?ith ?ts sister company, NPI.
“InHealth Media’s marketing strategy ?s perfectly aliged with NPI’s retail expansion plans,”
Gould ?dded. “?ogether, we import, distribute, annd market ne?
products acr?ss thee country b? emphasizing spesed t? market at an affordqble ?rice.”
InHealth Media recently increased ?t? marketing efforts by adding national andd regional TV promotion t? its services.
"Lifestyle TV hosts are the original social media influencers," Gould ?aid.
"Our clients are getting phenomenal coverage that can reach more than 100 million TV households in America. In addition, we are giving them high-quality TV promotions.
Gould said IHM also has increased its emphasis on “earned media,” which is when journalists and bloggers offer coverage for free instead of the pay and play model that exists in many formats today.
“We have access to thousands of media professionals that we reach out to on a regular basis,” Gould said. “Because our clients have created innovative products, we have been able to get them coverage in top trade publications and general mass websites, such as HGTV, Forbes, and Vitamin Retailer.
“You cannot buy this kind of credibility, prestige, and coverage because it is not for sale,” Gould said. “Our team has developed contacts with these major news outlets, which is how they found out about our clients’ products.”
NPI works with large and small product manufacturers.
“We emphasize timeliness and affordability,” he said. “We know all the costs, so there are no surprises. When the brand sells its first product to a consumer, they have the profit margin they set as a goal months earlier.”
Gould is proud of his “Evolution of Distribution” platform.
“I developed it to help international brands succeed,” Gould said.
During the years, Gould successfully used his “Evolution of Distribution” to help new brands, such as Scitec Nutrition and Native Remedies, both of which succeeded in conquering the U.S. market..
“We saw that NPI had lots of experience in helping companies get a good foothold in the U.S. Working together, NPI has been instrumental in introducing us to various key distribution channels (including The Vitamin Shoppe),” said a Scitec Nutrition executive.
Native Remedies also benefited from NPI’s “Evolution of Distribution.”
“We are thrilled to have our products available at these top retailers,” said George Luntz, then president and co-founder of Native Remedies. “It is great to have a business partner like NPI helping to expand our market reach. We expect this to be a banner year for us.”
Gould said he is proud that these companies succeeded with NPI’s help.
“This is what NPI does,” Gould said. “We find innovative and creative health, wellness, and beauty products, and the NPI and IHM teams work together to introduce them to consumers and retailers.”
For more information, call 561-544-0719 or visit nutricompany.com.