Amazon began by selling books.
As the fourth company to reach a $1 Trillion market cap, Amazon sells everything, and it is still growing.
If the story of Amazon is one for the books, it will have a chapter on NPI’s Mitch Gould and Jeff Fernandez.
A few years after Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, started selling books, the online retailer branched out by selling music and videos. By the early 2000s, Amazon began selling sports nutrition and health and wellness brands.
This is when Mr. Gould and Mr. Fernandez play an important role in Amazon’s history.
Back then, Fernandez was a retail buyer for Amazon, who helped start its sports nutrition category.
“This was a big move for Amazon, which started selling only books and electronics,” Fernandez said. “I was searching for high-quality nutritional supplements when I met Mitch Gould.”
This is what happened when the buyer met the seller.
“I put together a consortium of more than 200 major sports, health, and wellness brands,” said Gould, who is now the founder and CEO of Nutritional Products International (NPI). “Jeff Fernandez was looking for sports, health, and wellness products, and I had the connections to make the introductions.”
Together the powerhouse duo of Gould and Fernandez kick-started Amazon’s brand-new nutrition categories.
“We helped Amazon generate more than a billion dollars annually from sports nutrition, health, and wellness products,” Gould said.
“Jeff and I have been placing health and wellness brands onto Amazon for 15 years,” Gould said. “Jeff’s knowledge of Amazon and my retail experience gives us an advantage when working with Amazon or any retailer in the country.
Gould eventually hired Fernandez, a former retail buyer for Walmart, who was named NPI’s president earlier last year.
“I had Jeff immediately attend national trade shows around the country to promote our clients’ brands,” Gould said. “Jeff and NPI have been mainstays at national ECRM buyers-sellers events for more than a decade where Jeff introduces our clients’ brands to retail buyers in private one-on-one meetings.”
Gould said Fernandez has worked with buyers from all the major retail chains in the country.
“We know retail sales from both perspectives － the retail buyer and the seller,” Gould said. “It is nice to know we are a part of Amazon history that continues today as we work with new brands to place them online with the online retailer.”
In addition to NPI’s longtime experience with Amazon, NPI’s dominance in the health and wellness industry is also tied to the “Evolution of Distribution” platform that Gould developed a decade ago.
The “Evolution of Distribution” system is a one-stop global brand management system that helps expand retail distribution for its clients’ products. NPI works with international companies to ship their products to America., and meet all U.S. Customs and FDA labeling guidelines. NPI provides product liability insurance, markets the brands to online and brick-and-mortar outlets, and promotes the products through strategic public relations and social media campaigns.
“When you combine our experience with Amazon and my ‘Evolution of Distribution’ system, we become a powerhouse team,” Gould said. “We get these products onto Amazon and picked up by other retailers we have worked with for more than a decade. We are a full-service global brand management firm.”
For more information on NPI and its marketing and distribution services, go to www.nutricompany.com, or call 561-544-0719.
MORE ON NPI AND ITS FOUNDER
Nutritional Products International is a privately-held company specializing in the retail distribution of nutraceuticals, dietary supplements, functional beverages, and skin-care products. NPI offers a unique, proven approach for product manufacturers worldwide seeking to launch or expand the distribution of their products in the U.S. retail market.
Mitch Gould, the founder of NPI, is a third-generation retail distribution and manufacturing professional. Gould developed the “Evolution of Distribution” platform, which provides domestic and international product manufacturers with the sales, marketing, and product distribution expertise required to succeed in the world’s largest market. Gould, known as a global marketing guru, also has represented icons from the sports and entertainment worlds such as Steven Seagal, Hulk Hogan, Ronnie Coleman, Roberto Clemente Jr., Chuck Liddell, and Wayne Gretzky.
