Quote:
Originally Posted by dv8
based on pharma experience in DR:
1. there any so many vitamins and labs available it will be rather difficult to break into the market. some brands/labs sell better than others. at the end of the day it will depend on your location and target customers.
2. normally people buy in farmacias. in santiago/SD they may use GNC stores. richer dominicans may bring things from abroad or buy online. i believe the same will apply to foreigners who frequently travel.
3. swiss brand pharmaton is quite popular. also GNC. centrum vitamins.
4. price depends on the brand and supplement, starting from 10 pesos per pill.
5. there are many companies in DR that import and distribute medicine, supplements included.
i must add that there are also plenty of generic brands used by most dominicans, some of the stuff is produced in latin america.
apparently the market for healthy things is on the rise, especially in SD.
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Thanks dv8 I appreciate your efforts.
They have a better line of products than Centrum but they are manufactured in a Canadian laboratory so the costs are higher and that would make them less competitive. They have high quality standards and I think they're ethical and guarantee the potency of the supplements. They're well respected here in Canada. I don't know about Pharmaton, we don't have them in Canada. But I believe they are manufactured by a Swiss pharmaceutical company that has moved into nutritional supplements, I recognize the name parent company and it's very well respected but I see they only have a few products. If Jamieson vitamins are being sold in PriceSmart they would be coming in from Trinidad as there is no one in the DR who is importing them directly. They might be coming from Haiti.
I don't know enough about the business or the market or the system, so I think it's best to stick to what I do know. Thanks!
