ROYAL NUMICO - WHO ARE THEY?
This is an excerpt from a report published from Harmon Bay an observer
of the Direct Sales Channel of the Nutraceutical Industry.
“At Harmon Bay, we believe that the advancement of the Nutraceutical Industry
in America is critical for our financial security as a nation. In our opinion,
the rising cost of health care poses more of a threat to our way of life than
does the precarious state of Social Security. Now, enough preaching to the
choir and on to the information you requested....]
In 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Dietary Supplement,
Health and Education Act (DSHEA). In that year America spent 14 cents of every
dollar on health care. Just three short years later, when the law went into
effect, that cost had risen to 17 cents of every dollar! Some very progressive
and courageous companies decided to take this new law by the horns and used it
to actively grow not only their businesses, but also the industry as a whole.
"Nutraceuticals" (also referred to as functional foods, or
more specifically dietary supplements containing specific molecules from
functional foods which have been standardized) were no longer something to be
kept in the closet or to be made fun of by serious health minded professionals
or consumers. The stereotypical "snake oil" (dietary supplement)
salesman associated with the last 40 years of nutritional Direct Sales was
quickly finding himself out of a job as testimonial
driven presentations were replaced with peer reviewed studies. The newfound
freedom of being able to distribute educational materials in conjunction with
the sales of dietary supplements has in effect raised the bar for all of us.
Nutraceutical reps who found themselves in companies without science to
back their products claims found their sales dropping as consumers moved their
attention to the big companies with efficacious products, and the studies to
back their claims.
Those of us who have been fortunate enough to have either started out
in, or to have moved to, companies that were really leading the charge in the
new DSHEA AGE have enjoyed quite heady times with rising sales and a newfound
credibility among consumers and now, even by many in the allopathic community.
However, while we have been floating around on the ceiling huge, multi-billion
dollar companies have been watching the changing climate here in the States.
All of the trends that have made this profession so attractive to so many of us
financially are just as valid for companies from across the pond.
So the stage is set, the American market is ripe, and..... Enter Royal
Numico! Royal who? Royal Numico (and yes they actually are Royal, the
distinction was bestowed on them by the monarchy in the Netherlands when they
turned 100 years old). I was caught completely off guard by who these guys
were, by how huge they were, and by what they are up to. Guess I was too busy
feeling self important on my mission to change health care in America to look
beyond what me and my fellow distributors were doing day to day.
Royal Numico is the largest producer of nutritional supplements and
related products in the world. Last year their sales were over $4 billion
dollars without any retail outlets. Royal Numico is the company that supplies
roughly 3/4 of the Direct Sales companies with the nutritional products they
market. Most stuff on the shelves of retail outlets also comes from Royal
Numico, even people who claim to make their own stuff are often buying their
materials from Numico and either repackaging it or combining it differently.
So, in effect, what has happened with the changing climate towards
dietary supplements since the DSHEA law is that Numico saw an opportunity to
expand their presence even further. They made a decision to also become the
largest retailer of dietary supplements in the world, so they bought GNC last
summer for $2.5 billion. This was not a merger or a loosely held alliance.
Numico bought GNC outright and retired the stock! Numico had even more plans.
They also wanted to become the largest Direct Sales company in the world (more
about this in report #3) so they purchased an existing Direct Sales company
that was doing about $180 million in annual sales when they made their bid. The
associates, who were so focused on opening foreign markets, never new what was
going on behind the scenes.
Again, Royal Numico just moved in, wrote a check for the company &
retired the stock. What is so intriguing is why Numico did this, considering
they were already the largest Nutraceutical company in the world, supplying the
majority of products to the Direct Sales industry.
In the last fifty years or so, Numico has been funding major research
into natural molecules and their effects on the body. You see Numico is the
largest manufacturer of baby formula in the world. Forbes rated Numico as the
number one food company in the world. It is my understanding that they also
have the third best performing stock in the world. When I say they are funding
research I mean they are FUNDING RESEARCH! They spend more each year in
research than most Nutraceutical Direct Sales companies gross! In just one of
their facilities they employ over 300 scientists alone, over 200 of which have
at least one Ph.D. each! They employ over 27,000 people in over 100 locations
around the planet. These folks are nuts for discovering exactly what works out
of the natural resources on our spaceship earth and they have the private
funding to do it.
In the course of their research Numico has made some phenomenal
discoveries that can and will positively effect the quality of life for
millions and millions of people worldwide (literally). What they lacked was a
distribution channel for these discoveries. These products require educated
consumers and they cost more than the run of the mill dietary supplements,
which again means that consumers need to understand why they are being asked to
pay more. You and I both know that the best way to get a new product to market,
that has a story to tell, is through direct person-to-person sales.
It is also particularly advantageous for Numico to market these new
products through a Direct Sales company because almost all of the over 150
compounds they have discovered are not only patented, but they have double
blind clinical trials to support their efficacy. I am not talking about the
pseudo science papers some companies try to pawn off as legitimate peer
reviewed papers that all to often are only based on a handful of participants
or are published in a "puppet journal" of the particular company
selling a specific product. The Royal Numico papers are full blown, verifiable
clinical trials. Numico can do this because they are worth billions (around $44
billion) and, they even own a few hospitals making it even easier to carry out
that level of research. The European market supports these kinds of companies;
with 100+ years of good will and the science to back their claims it is easy to
see why.
- Numico is largest Manufacturer of nutritional supplements with sales in
excess of $4 billion worldwide
- Numico is largest Retailer of nutritional supplements, owners of GNC
- Numico is largest Researcher of nutritional supplements, have a private research campus with over 300 scientists working full time
- Numico plans to be largest Direct Seller of nutritional supplements in the world, has billions of dollars to accomplish this goal ”
In Health & In Wealth
Harmon Bay
Additional Information about Royal Numico is available at their Corporate Website.