MMAnews.com is proud to announce a new partnership with Muscle Geeks, a new online retailer that’s turning the supplement industry upside down. Whatever preconceived notions you had about supplement retailers before, forget them. A new retailer is making a lot of noise in the $22 billion industry, and its first target market: the MMA community.
Muscle Geeks, a supplement retailer ran by a couple of average Joe’s from the Midwest, is doing almost everything backwards when it comes to the supplement business. Not only that, but they’re defying the odds and succeeding. High mark-ups? Forget about it. $1.99 over cost on every product 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Shady, biased advice? Hell no. No bull advice from their team of medical professionals, personal trainers, and MMA fighters. Huge profits? Nope. Every cent is put back into the Muscle Geeks’ community so they can continue to grow. CEOs, CFOs, and owners? Not exactly. More like leaders. We really don’t even know if they fit the true definition of a business. Truthfully, they closer resemble a buying group.
Dr. T.J. Allan, Pharm.D, the founding father of Muscle Geeks, admitted, “We’re really not like any business model out there. We’re actually a mixture of several types of business models: Costco’s membership fees and commitment to low prices, Zappos’ exceptional customer service, and Dana White’s brash, no-bull leadership. In fact, we really consider ourselves a community as opposed to a business. We learn just as much from our members as they do from us. It works out great.”
When asked what separates Muscle Geeks from the other supplement retailers, he quickly points out there’s more differences than similarities. “We’re not in it for the money. As funny as that sounds, it’s true. When every other retailer wants to make between 20-30% on every product sold, we’ve marked every product up $1.99 over our cost. Even as we grow and our volume increases which in turn will result in bigger and bigger discounts from the supplement manufacturers, our prices will continue to be $1.99 over our cost. Our savings are passed directly to our members. Eventually, as we grow, our prices will be ridiculously low. In fact, our goal is to sell BSN’s NO-Xlpode for $26.00 and get our markup down to $0.99 over our cost. And if a member questions our cost, we’ll gladly show them our invoice. We firmly believe honesty and transparency should be top priorities for any business. So maybe you’re right. We probably are more similar to a buying group than an actual business.”
“Price isn’t our only difference. We’re most proud of our commitment to the truth. There’s so much BS regarding supplements that the typical consumer is drowned by it. They don’t know what to believe. Our first article on our blog was dedicated to uncovering the lies surrounding nitric oxide products. Show me another supplement retailer that’s willing to bash its own best seller and in turn hurt its sales. Was it a dumb business move? Probably, but I’d do it again because our members loved it. They deserve to know the truth. Our second blog article was devoted to cutting supplement costs. Will that hurt our annual sales? More than likely because now we won’t be selling those $40-50 products that promise everything and deliver nothing. But it really doesn’t make a difference because we only make $1.99 on every product. So to us, a $40 sale is equivalent to a $10 sale. Do we still carry those $40 products? Of course, we carry almost every product known to man. Some people you just can’t convince they’re wasting their money.”
So why focus on MMA? “Well, for one, we’re huge fans. Our lead sales Geek formerly worked at Matt Hughes’ HIT Squad gym. I’ve written for Fight ! magazine on several occasions, and will be writing for them a lot more in the future. I’ve also been watching the UFC since the old tournament days. So why not target a market we’re already comfortable with. Secondly, and this is purely from a business standpoint, fighters depend on their bodies. Like every other professional athlete out there, some may actually argue even more so, nutrition and supplementation are of paramount importance to a MMA fighter’s success. On top of that, especially among young MMA fighters, there’s not a lot of room to waste money. Pete, our lead sales Geek, has seen it firsthand. During the beginning, a fighter’s lifestyle is not so glamorous. Training two to three times a day, living in a dorm, and paying normal every day bills put a lot of financial and emotional strain on a young guy. So why add an overpriced supplement that may or may not work? I don’t think there’s a better target market out there for us.”
So, if our members need to know just one thing about Muscle Geeks, what would it be? “It’s really simple. We’re pooling our buying power together so we can drive down supplement prices. Every product we sell is always only $1.99 over our cost. Right now, overall, we’re the cheapest supplement retailer on the planet. There are some cases where a supplement may be cheaper here or there, and if that’s the case, great. We’ll buy it from that competitor and ship it to you. However, overall, no one is close to our prices. And a year from now, when we’re at 10,000 members, we’ll be selling NO-Xlpode for $26, a 5 lb container of Syntha6 for $30, and a 5 lb container of Muscle Milk for $39. No one and I repeat no one will be able to compete with us. We promise we will relentlessly pursue the lowest possible prices possible. And all of our savings will be passed directly to our members. We’re already constantly negotiating with manufacturers. The more members we have behind us, the more power we’ll have. For $4 per month, you can’t beat it. And if you can, we’ll refund your money at the end of the year. That’s our Muscle Geek Guarantee. If you’re already buying supplements from another retailer, why not combine our buying power and get ridiculously low prices and save a ton of money?”
For more information on Muscle Geeks, please see our Nutrition and Training Forum, as well as their website www.muscle-geeks.com.
