Twinlab Consolidated Holdings Stock

Twinlab Consolidated Holdings, Inc. operates as a marketer, distributor, and direct-to-consumer retailer of branded nutritional supplements and other natural products sold to and through domestic health and natural food stores, mass market retailers, specialty store retailers, on-line retailers, and websites. Internationally, the company markets and distributes branded nutritional supplements and other natural products to and through health and natural product distributors and retailers.

The company, through NutraScience Labs, Inc., provides services between private label distributors and contract manufacturers. The company’s services business involves the facilitation of manufacture of custom products to the specifications of a customer who requires finished products under the customer’s own brand name.

Business Strategy

The company targets consumers searching for high quality nutritional supplements and other natural products.

The primary channel that offers this type of support to consumers in the United States has been the Specialty and Health and Natural Food channel (HNF). The company’s primary focus and strength has been, and remains on, this channel. This strategy has enabled the company to benefit from the growth of the HNF channel. The HNF channel consists of approximately 35,500 retailers, including independent health and natural food stores, health and natural food stores affiliated with local, regional and national health and natural food chains (including health and natural food store chains, such as Whole Foods Market, and vitamin store chains, such as The Vitamin Shoppe and Vitamin World) and GNC stores. The HNF channel principally caters to the company’s primary target consumers: those who desire product education, service and high-quality nutritional supplements and other natural products.

The company develops, markets and distributes its branded products, particularly the Twinlab, Reserveage, ResVitale, Alvita and Metabolife brands. The company markets its branded products through a combination of its own sales force and independent brokers. The company continues to seek out partners that have strong customer relationships, reach into its target channels and have acted to realign its independent broker network to gain market share.

An integral part of the company’s business strategy has been to acquire, integrate and operate businesses in the natural products industry that manufacture, market and distribute branded nutritional supplements.

The company’s near-term focus is on harnessing the respective strengths of its existing businesses, while continuing to seek longer-term opportunities that will either strengthen its product offering, and/or expand its distribution and geographic reach.

Products

The company formulates and markets nutritional supplements. Its products include vitamins, minerals, resveratrol, collagen, keratin, skincare and sports nutrition products primarily under the Twinlab, Reserveage and ResVitale brands. The company also markets and sells diet and energy products under the Metabolife brand and a full line of herbal teas under the Alvita brand. To accommodate consumer preferences, the company’s products come in various formulations and delivery forms, including capsules, tablets, softgels, chewables, stick packs, liquids, and powders.

The company markets its products through a multiple brand strategy to offer more customer choice and to encourage retailers to allocate additional shelf space to its brands.

Sales, Marketing and Promotion

The company’s marketing and sales efforts are directed to promote demand for its products by educating retailers, who in turn educate their customers, on the quality and attributes of its natural nutritional supplements and other products. The company’s branded products are sold globally, and its primary market is the United States where its key sales channel is HNF. The company has developed numerous Internet sites (including www.alvita.com, www.metabolife.com, www.reserveage.com, www.resvitale.com, and www.twinlab.com) that provide information about its branded lines and the various products within each brand.

Sales

The company employs a sales force dedicated to each of the individual sales channels in which it sells its products. The dynamics and buying patterns of the various channels require strategic initiatives and tactics. The company’s sales strategy includes several models that are applied to best serve the respective channels where its products are sold:

Direct sales representatives regularly meet with their assigned customers in their respective areas to assist in the procurement of orders for products, provide related product sales assistance and introduce new products to buyers.

The company also engages an independent broker network, where it leverages their particular expertise and relationships with customers.

Additionally, the company’s products are sold through the sales force of distributors who carry select product lines.

Marketing and Promotion

Twinlab Consolidated Corporation (TCC) markets to consumers shopping through numerous sales channels and online e-tailers. Each channel demands a different approach that meets its distinctive needs. The following is a brief overview of the channels in which it markets its varied brands:

Specialty: Retailers who specialize in supplements (i.e., The Vitamin Shoppe, Vitamin World and GNC).

Health and Natural Foods: Health and Natural Food retailers, such as Whole Foods and Sprouts to small health food stores and their associated online platforms.

Food, Drug and Mass Market: Health and Natural Food retailers, such as Whole Foods and Sprouts to small health food stores and their associated online platforms.

Direct to Consumer: The company owned and operated websites.

eTailers: Online e-tailers ranging from Amazon to Vitacost, whose primary store is digital.

International: Distributors found in the countries in which the company does business.

Government Regulation

The formulation, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, advertising, distribution and sale of the company’s products are subject to regulation by a number of the United States federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA), Department of Homeland Security Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP), Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by various governmental agencies for the states and localities in which its products are sold, and by governmental agencies in countries outside the United States in which its products are sold.

Some of the company’s products are also regulated as conventional foods under the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA).

In the case of Canada, TCC complies with Health Canada’s Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) with ‘site licensing’ of the TCC manufacturing plant and registration of products.

Intellectual Property

The company owns numerous trademarks that have been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and have filed applications to register additional trademarks. In addition, the company claims domestic trademark and service mark rights in numerous additional marks that it uses. The company owns a number of trademark registrations in countries outside the United States.

Competition

Health and Natural Foods: The company’s principal competitors in the Vitamin, Minerals, and Supplements Market (the VMS Market) that sell to the health and natural foods channel include a number of large, nationally-known brands (such as Bluebonnet, Country Life, Enzymatic Therapy, Garden of Life, Jarrow Formulas, Natural Factors, Nature's Plus, Nature's Way, Nordic Naturals, Now Foods, New Chapter and Solgar).

History

Twinlab Consolidated Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2013.