How To Start a Medical Supply Business - Spark Shipping

COVID-19 showed the world just how important medical supplies are—and how urgent things can get if providers can't access them.

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In the post-pandemic economy, everyday consumers and healthcare providers buy medical supplies like gloves, masks, mobility aids, blood pressure cuffs, and more.

It’s a niche space, but medical supply businesses fill a crucial need in the market for reliable goods at competitive prices that are, in some cases, truly life-saving.

There’s no need to rent a physical storefront, either. With the right strategies, you can set up an online store selling medical supplies in just a few hours.

Setting up an eCommerce site is pretty simple. Still, since you’re selling in the healthcare industry, there are additional steps you need to take, including consulting a lawyer and becoming compliant, before creating your medical supply company.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to set up an online medical supply business, from overcoming common challenges to a step-by-step guide to making your dream a reality. 

Common Barriers To Starting a Medical Supply Business

A medical supply business is a lucrative niche for eCommerce, but it’s not without its challenges. As a prospective entrepreneur, you have to navigate hurdles that could affect your ability to make a living.

These aren’t insurmountable problems, but you need to be aware of them before joining the medical supply industry. 

Regulatory Requirements and Insurance

You can’t just sell just any medical devices or items online. In most areas, you need licensing and permits to sell these kinds of items. As we saw during the pandemic, bootlegged hand sanitizer and alcohol were big problems, so industry regulators take licensing and safety very seriously.

The license you need depends on what you plan on selling and who you want to sell it to. For example, if you operate as a durable medical equipment (DME) wholesaler, you’ll sell medical supplies to pharmacies, hospitals, and other providers.

In turn, these organizations resell medical supplies to the consumers. Depending on your business model, if you choose to sell directly to consumers as a DME retailer, you may need to secure a separate license in each state where you operate.

You also need to look into insurance. Coverage not only protects your medical supply business from general liability but also covers claims for:

• Equipment failure
• Delivery mishaps
• Operational hazards

You may need more robust coverage for this type of business than a different type of eCommerce store. Make sure you have comprehensive coverage to not only comply with regulations but also to preserve your livelihood. 

Healthcare Regulations

There are, understandably, a lot of regulations in the healthcare industry. You have to follow all regulations and meet strict safety standards to sell in the United States.

For example, you may need to comply with HIPAA patient privacy laws or FDA regulations for certain medical devices.

Medical and healthcare stores are more regulated, and falling out of compliance could have disastrous consequences. Before opening your medical supply business, it’s best to work with an auditor or lawyer to get your ducks in a row. 

Supply Chain Management and Quality Assurance

Every eCommerce store has to deal with supply chain challenges, but healthcare products aren’t easy to manage. For one, you have to worry about potentially bootlegged products.

Quality concerns, especially when working with a new vendor, are also common. 

Implement rigorous testing procedures, regularly audit your vendors, and collect feedback from the healthcare professionals you sell to.

It’s more work, but effective quality assurance protects your reputation and fosters trust with the healthcare facilities that rely on you.

Competition

Every eCommerce store deals with competition of some kind, and medical supply stores are no different. The medical supply industry is very competitive, with players ranging from small, niche companies to large medical supply companies. 

You’ll deal with competition in any industry, so it’s critical to understand the current landscape and set your medical supply business apart from the rest. Conduct a thorough competitive analysis to understand what competitors offer in terms of product features and pricing.

From there, leverage your unique selling points to attract a competition-proof customer base. For example, maybe you sell similar products to the competition but offer amazing returns policies or 24/7 customer service. In many cases, that could be enough to net you more sales than established players.

7 Steps To Set up a Medical Supply Business

Creating a medical supply business requires careful planning. The medical supply industry is competitive, but the right strategy will set you up for long-term success.

Follow these tips to build a solid foundation for your online medical supply store. 

1. Choose a Business Model

First things first, decide what kind of medical supply business you want to run. In this case, you’ll need to decide between a B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer) business model.

B2B

With this model, you sell directly to other businesses like hospitals, insurance companies, and independent medical practices. It involves larger orders and potentially long-term contracts, providing a more stable stream of income.

However, the sales cycle can be lengthy and complex, requiring extensive negotiations and careful compliance with industry regulations. 

B2C

With B2C, you sell directly to the public, usually through an online eCommerce site. It allows for quicker sales cycles and direct feedback from these shoppers.

However, B2C is pretty competitive, and you’ll need to spend more time and effort on marketing to build consumer trust and brand recognition.

The purchase amounts are generally much lower than B2B, too, so you’ll need to attract a higher volume of customers to stay profitable. 

Neither business model is better than the other; it just comes down to the products you want to sell (more on that in a moment) and how you envision the company running. 

Once you’ve decided on a general model, identify your target market.

Are you focusing on large healthcare institutions like hospitals, or are you catering to smaller practices such as medical spas, urgent care clinics, or home healthcare providers?

Each segment has different needs and purchasing behaviors.

For example, large institutions might prioritize reliability and cost-effectiveness due to their size, while smaller practices might value personalized service and quick delivery.

If you aren’t sure what you want to do, draft a detailed business plan. This should outline your:

• Business model
• Financial projections
• Marketing strategies
• Operational structure

This is a great way to flesh out what you want the business to look like. Plus, having a business plan could help you get funding from financial institutions or investors down the line.

2. Pick Your Niche and Products

The medical industry is pretty niche already, but you can niche down even more by focusing on a small product category. 

The medical industry has many niches that cater to different healthcare market segments. 

Here are just a few options to consider:

• Disposable medical supplies: Items like gloves, masks, and syringes will always be popular. These products have steady demand because they’re single-use, making them a consistent best-seller.
• Durable medical equipment: This category includes products like wheelchairs, hospital beds, and oxygen concentrators. These items are necessary for patient care, and insurance usually pays for them, which could help you get steady sales.
• Aesthetic products: Higher-margin items like cosmetic enhancements cater to medical spas and cosmetic surgeons. This is still part of the medical supply industry, but often has fewer regulatory hurdles compared to other products. 
• Diagnostic tools: This includes products like blood pressure monitors, stethoscopes, thermometers, and glucose meters. These products diagnose health issues and are essential in pretty much every healthcare setting, giving you a wide audience of potential buyers.
• Lab supplies: These products are used in medical labs for testing and research, usually for diagnosing diseases. It includes products like Petri dishes, microscopes, pipettes, and test tubes.

Of course, not every niche or product is a winner. Carefully consider the products you want to sell by weighing these criteria.

Market Demand

Opt for products with established demand within your target market. Research what healthcare providers or consumers frequently need and value.

Regulations

If you want to launch quickly, avoid products that require FDA approval, which is long and expensive. Sell proven products with an established need over new products that require research and development (R&D).

Profit

What do the profit margins look like? Disposable items often have lower margins but higher turnover rates, while durable equipment and aesthetic products usually offer higher margins but require more of an upfront investment.

Competition

How many other medical supply companies sell these products? The less competition there is, the easier it is for you to establish yourself in the space more quickly. If the niche is already saturated, consider something else.

For example, maybe the disposable glove market is already established, but you could make a name for yourself by selling high-quality hearing aids. 

3. Build a Brand

Selling medical supplies online comes with its own set of concerns, but you’re still creating a company! Don’t overlook the essential step of building a trustworthy brand. Reputation is everything in healthcare, so build a brand primed to earn the trust of healthcare providers from the start. 

Brand your medical supply business by:

• Determining your USP: Your unique selling proposition is what separates you from all the other sellers in the medical supply industry. If you can’t differentiate yourself with unique products, consider other differentiators like fast shipping, a better user experience, or convenient online shopping.
• Choosing a business name: Avoid future legal troubles by checking if a business name is already taken in your state. Now isn’t the time to be cute or punny—select a descriptive, professional medical supply business name that spells out exactly what you offer.
• Creating a logo: Ideally, you should work with a professional graphic designer to create a descriptive, professional logo.
• Outlining a style guide: This document tells employees and contractors your business’s vibe. It should include voice and tone guidelines for written communication, approved logos, and color palettes.

4. Cover the Legalities

A typical eCommerce store wouldn’t need to worry about regulations as much, but a medical supply business needs to sort out the legalities before selling a single product.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so your best bet is to hire a lawyer with healthcare industry experience. Your business setup, products, and location will dictate what you need to do, but you’ll likely need:

• Business permits: You’ll need the typical permits for any retail business, which includes a resale permit, sales and use tax permit, and a “doing business as” (DBA) certificate. Don’t forget to set reminders to pay your monthly sales tax!
• Incorporation: This is optional, but setting your store up as a Limited Liability Company (LLC) could limit your liability in case of a lawsuit or bankruptcy. This does have implications for the legal and tax structure of your medical supply business, though, so work with an attorney to decide on the best structure.
• EIN: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can issue you an employer identification number (EIN), which you’ll need if you plan to hire employees. Having an EIN is also a good idea, as you don’t have to share your social security number on business documents.
• Medical licensing: Certain medical devices, like insulin pumps, are federally regulated. You may need to go through additional compliance checks if you sell these.
• Insurance: Every business should have insurance, but it’s extra important when you sell medical supplies. Get coverage for general liability, employee-related risks, and property damage at a minimum. You may want to buy up on umbrella coverage depending on your personal risk tolerance.

5. Find Reliable Suppliers

With a dropshipping setup, you rely on suppliers to source, store, and ship products for you.

This is a smart way to reduce startup costs and the liability of holding onto lots of inventory, but it means you need solid suppliers.

Dependable suppliers ensure that you have a steady flow of high-quality products to meet the demands of your customers, which is critical for maintaining your reputation and boosting operational efficiency. 

We recommend working with more than one supplier on the off chance that one runs out of products. The downside is that it can get complicated working with multiple suppliers. 

That’s why so many medical supply businesses rely on Spark Shipping’s automation tool. We integrate with major suppliers like McKesson and Medline to streamline medical supply dropshipping. Manage inventory, automate pricing updates, fulfill orders, and send customers tracking updates from the same platform, hands-free.

6. Streamline for Efficiency

Starting an eCommerce website in the healthcare industry takes time. You need to focus on serving customers and staying compliant—not copy-pasting data from your suppliers’ spreadsheets.

Build a scalable medical supply business from the start by embracing automation. Spark Shipping client Bisco Health went from managing their store manually to saving hours every day with automatic order fulfillment and intelligent order routing.

Their inventory is always up-to-date, and the system always buys from the cheapest provider, ensuring both customer satisfaction and the best possible margins. It’s a win-win!

Automation solutions are the smartest way to run a scalable eCommerce shop, so don’t be afraid to automate the more time-consuming aspects of running your store. 

7. Market Yourself and Find Customers

After setting up your medical supply business and online store, it’s time to attract shoppers! Marketing this type of business requires a blend of traditional and modern approaches. 

Relationship Marketing

The healthcare industry is suspicious of newcomers, so the best way to get in with buyers is to forge trusting relationships with medical professionals. Attend industry events, like medical trade shows or health fairs, to network in person.

This allows you to directly interact with potential clients and understand their needs, which could lead to more long-term business relationships. You won't find new customers overnight, so plan to spend at least a few months rubbing elbows with providers to boost your reputation.

Incentivize Purchases

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Incentives like free shipping, exclusive deals on new products, and competitive pricing for bulk purchases give shoppers a tangible reason to choose you over everyone else in the space. Loyalty programs are also a great way to reward repeat customers while encouraging consistent orders. 

Multichannel Marketing

With your store on autopilot, you’re free to spend the bulk of your energy marketing your medical supply business.

Traditional marketing techniques like flyers, print coupons, and local sponsorships can help you snag a few orders, but digital marketing is the best way to scale up your store on a budget.

Search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) help you reach your target audience by driving traffic to your website. 

SEO and social media are basically free and just require time and consistency, while you’ll need a budget for PPC. 

Boost Your Medical Supply Business With Automation

Starting a successful medical supply business involves careful planning and understanding the complexities of the healthcare industry. Market research, legal compliance, and automation are the secret ingredients in this profitable space, so do your homework to emerge as the top dog in the medical supply space.

For more Surgical Products Wholesaleinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

You don’t need to find piecemeal automation, either. Spark Shipping combines price automation, vendor mapping, order fulfillment, and much more in one platform.

How can you sell more medical devices, more of the time? Specifically, how solid is your marketing strategy in driving sales?

It’s a question that needs answering if you want to maintain a competitive advantage. The medical device market, valued at $457 billion in and projected to reach nearly $604 billion by , is full of serious players looking to grow their share of the market. 

Fortunately, you can do this by leveraging today’s digital tools. It’s not just about having a website. It’s about using smart marketing and lead generation techniques on the internet to drive doctors and other buyers towards your sales funnel. 

Whether you’re a maker of durable medical equipment (DME), diagnostic devices, or treatment and life support equipment, these online marketing strategies are certain to empower your sales reps, move more product, and boost your bottom line.

1. Use Advanced Keyword Research to Find “Hidden Gem” Search Queries

To be found online, it’s key to create content around keywords that your prospects use in search engines.

Up to 64% of marketers are actively investing time in search engine optimization (SEO). In the medical device field, more and more manufacturers are seeing its benefits in sales. It’s simple: if you leverage keyword-optimized content properly, you will drive ready-to-buy organic traffic to your website. 

Now that many brands have caught on, you’ll need to know a few tricks to successfully use SEO as a medical device marketing strategy.

Look Up Q&A Sites and Forums Your Prospects Frequent

On Quora and other websites, some of your ideal customers are likely asking questions about relevant medical devices or treatments. Your reps can and should be there to share helpful insights. 

Not only can you answer those questions meaningfully and establish thought-leadership, you can gain inspiration for more SEO content creation. 

Optimized blog posts and articles that enter the conversation in your prospects’ heads are most likely to gain traffic and win prime search real estate…and you can learn what to write about by surveying the market and listening to their questions.

Do Competitor Research

Study the content other medical device and equipment makers are ranking for in search. Type in words and phrases that relate to your products, and see what content is earning the highest spots in Google.

BuzzSumo is often a good outlet for finding widely-shared content you can model your own after. You might also look at LinkedIn or Medium articles put out by other manufacturers.

See any opportunities they’re not taking advantage of, or instances where you can create better content than they have? Jump on them.

Focus on High-Commercial Intent and Solution-Oriented Keyphrases

Doctors may search online for specific medical equipment. Patients, on the other hand, are searching for info on health conditions. 

The best approach? Appeal to both types of prospect. 

To reach patients, create content around words and phrases related to the medical equipment you make. To reach physicians, use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and the Google Ads Keyword Planner Tool to search conditions and procedures associated with your devices. 

For example, let’s look at a durable medical equipment marketing situation. If you’re a maker of CPAP devices for patients with sleep apnea and you want to reach doctors who treat this condition, you might create SEO content around the keyphrase “wholesale CPAP equipment.” 

For patients, you might also write articles around the phrases “how to treat sleep apnea” and “how to use a CPAP machine.”

Make sure you have enough authoritative SEO content to appeal to every audience you sell to, and you’ll find more of the right prospects landing on your site.

2. Use Google Search Ads to Target High-Value Keywords

For medical equipment marketing, a perfect complement to SEO is Google Search Ads. Google estimates that for every $1 spent on Search Ads, businesses earn back $8 in revenue from both Ads and Search. 

As part of search engine marketing (SEM), Search Ads are great for creating a more immediate impact on your lead generation and sales. These are the text ads you see at the top of the Google search results, and they’re easily identifiable by the word “Ad” next to the listing. 

Use them to make your offer the first thing customers see when they’re searching Google for a particular device.

To win with Search Ads, you’ll want to target high-value keywords and phrases that your prospects will use when searching online. Once you identify relevant long-tail keywords with a high search volume, create ads that highlight those terms to start gaining high-quality traffic. 

Just like with SEO content, you’ll want to use a mix of keywords to appeal to different buyer personas. Commercial intent keyphrases focused on a particular product might include:

• LASIK surgical machines
• Blood glucometer
• Infusion pumps

Why these keywords? They relate particularly to B2B users of medical devices who are ready to make a purchase, such as physicians, clinics, and hospitals. 

If you’re trying to attract consumers, you might also write some ads around solution-based keyphrases, like:

• LASIK procedures
• Diabetes home management 
• IV fluid therapy

With this kind of high-intent language in your ads, you’ll attract exactly those prospects who are looking to buy your products.

3. Use a Store Locator That’s Easy to Navigate and Generates Leads

Your online assets, like your website and Google Search Ads, should be working for you 24/7. Another digital asset that should never sleep? Your locator page. 

Your locator, which shows doctors, patients, clinics, and other prospects where to obtain your products, can do more than just list retailers and distributors. As part of a solid medical equipment marketing strategy, it should actually generate leads for you.

More specifically, your locator should encourage prospects to submit inquiries while leaving their name, number, and address with you. Not every locator software enables this, but the Bullseye Locator Software does.

Bullseye will help you gather qualified leads and directly support increased sales. It achieves this because:

• It’s built with lead generation in mind, enabling you to follow up with prospects via .
• It lets you see which retail locations are driving the most device sales, enabling you to give those locations more upfront visibility, as well as display specific promotions and special offers.
• It integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other leading customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, allowing you to use sales software you already have to pursue promising leads.

For more medical equipment and device sales, Bullseye is an effective tool. When your web visitors want to know where to buy your products, a Bullseye-powered locator is a sure way to capture them as leads and ensure they’re on a path towards a purchase.

4. Use a Locator to Intercept Patient Demand

Locators have yet another important application for manufacturers. You can use them to direct patients who need your products to doctors who provide them. 

That is, it’s possible to intercept patient demand with a locator that specifically shows providers you’ve partnered with. At the same time, you can provide patients with content to share with doctors, building advocacy for your products. 

This closes the sales loop and is a powerful way to match your network of providers with ideal patients. As you bring clinicians more business, you’re creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that will boost your market share and bottom line.

How might this strategy look? Let’s go back to the sleep apnea example. 

Imagine that a patient types the words “how to treat sleep apnea” into Google. As a manufacturer of CPAP machines, you happen to have some SEO content ranking highly for that keyphrase. 

The patient clicks on it, reads your helpful article, and clicks on a link you have at the end (perhaps with optimized anchor text, like “sleep apnea treatments near me”) leading to your provider locator. In the locator, they’ll find local doctors who only use your CPAP products. 

GeneSight, which makes tests that assess genetic compatibility with specific medications, uses this exact method effectively. 

Patients might discover the GeneSight website by searching certain terms in Google, and landing on optimized content. That content ties into the benefits of GeneSight’s tests, and contains a link to their provider locator. Once there, users will see a popup requiring personal contact info in order to continue.

Users can then find the closest doctor who specifically uses the GeneSight test.

GeneSight even has other content on their website that enables patients to advocate for the benefits of a GeneSight test, such as a doctor’s discussion guide.

This whole setup not only generates quality patient leads, but also makes for a great user experience. Web users who personally need a GeneSight test waste no time here with a more generalized provider locator. They’ll find the right local doctors, right away

Capturing patient demand like this pulls together a great web user experience, smart SEO, and a powerful locator into a full “stack” that opens up a stream of sales.

5. Use Video Marketing to Demonstrate Medical Device Benefits

Video is one of the most compelling online marketing and sales tools for any business. According to Wyzowl, 93% of marketers in said that video is an important part of their marketing strategy, a percentage that’s been growing significantly year over year. 

Video is especially key for bustling B2B industries, and it’s a very smart medical device marketing strategy. It makes a powerful, memorable impact that often speaks much louder than written words. 

If doctors and other healthcare professionals can see your product’s value through videos showing features, clinical applications, and benefits, you’re likely to boost sales. 

Create videos that provide helpful info, show how to use your products, and discuss important news in your industry. These can position your organization as a thought leader, increasing trust and sales as a result. It’s good to have other types of high-value videos as well, including webinars, PowerPoint presentations, animated explainer videos, and customer testimonials. 

Feature them in various places on the web, such as:

• Your website
• Organic social media posts, such as on LinkedIn and Facebook 
• Paid social media advertising
• Video websites, such as YouTube and Vimeo

The higher-quality the production, the better. Invest in videos that show off your brand promise, while moving customers at every step of the buyer journey closer to the sale. 

With an organized video marketing plan and enough patience, you’ll soon see the returns, and gain an advantage over competitors who are slacking off in their online approach.

6. Bring Doctors Back to Your Website with Remarketing

Doctors who visit your site are likely to be interested in buying your products — but once they leave, you’ve lost them forever. 

How can you get them back? Remarketing. That is, the simple process of reaching prospects who have seen your ads in the past. This tactic can drive up to a 50% increase in conversions, while a single-touch search campaign converts as little as 2%.

This happens because prospects often need to be exposed to a brand’s messaging repeatedly before they make a purchase. In particular, doctors and clinic managers are busy, and might need to see your ad several times to realize the benefits and buy.

Here are four very effective remarketing methods for medical device and equipment sales:

The Google Display Network

By defining conversion events in the Google Ads dashboard, you can let Google know what kind of website action is important to you, whether it’s signing up for a webinar or a free demo. Then, you can create image-based ads that reach website visitors who left your site without converting. 

These ads will “follow” users around the web, reminding them of your offers. Be sure to test different ads over a period of time (several weeks to a few months) to determine a “winning” ad that effectively brings doctors back to make purchases.

Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs)

With Google Search Ads, you can use predefined audience lists to show ads to prospects. Remarketing lists, in particular, are specific audiences you define — in this case, past visitors of your site. 

Once you’ve defined such a list within your Google Ads dashboard, you can create a series of text-based ads designed to regain those prospects’ attention.

Facebook Custom Audiences

The Facebook Ads platform boasts a powerful feature: Custom Audiences. You can define audiences from those who have interacted and engaged with your ads, liked your page, or completed any number of other actions within your Facebook presence or website. 

Try designing ads that call out those who are familiar with your previous messages, and watch as your conversions rise.

Retargeting

Don’t miss out on the power of remarketing via lead nurturing. 

Through audience segmentation, you can create a special list of prospects who might have visited your website and indicated an interest in your products, but never took the next step towards making a purchase. 

Following up with them via , with specific reminders and helpful information, is a powerful way to increase sales. 

Note: The Bullseye platform, through its robust API, integrates seamlessly with leading marketing software and makes this process easy.

Use These Marketing Methods to Power Your Medical Equipment and Device Sales

For diagnostic, surgical, and durable medical equipment marketing — not to mention other types of medical devices — modern solutions are needed. 

That means leveraging the best practices for reaching out to prospects online. Medical device marketing strategies that work include a mix of remarketing, search ads, smart SEO content, and quality video content. Don’t use just one of these techniques. Use all of them to make your brand stand out.

The key ingredient that pulls it all together? A great locator. The best software possible for creating locators is Bullseye.

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