Selective Distribution Criteria
Pharma Nord UK is a leading developer and manufacturer of dietary supplements and natural medicines, with an emphasis on bioavailability, safety and documentation.
We supply pharmaceutical quality vitamins and dietary supplements. All of our products comply with extensive demands as to quality, safety and documentation, based on scientific insights harvested from more than 9,000 scientific research articles, including over 200 Pharma Nord product specific published trials. This is all part of a significant investment in research and development to ensure our products are the highest quality and compliant with regulatory requirements.
We together are involved in a very important industry. The forecast of sales of food supplements in the UK might reach £500 million by 2022.
To help our valued customers and to preserve the value of the Pharma Nord brand, we have decided to review our Selective Distribution System. A Selective Distribution System means that all our customers will sell only to end consumers, or to other partners who meet all the criteria below.
Please take the time to review the Selective Distribution Criteria, and if you agree to it, please complete the text fields below and click 'Submit'.
Selective Distribution Criteria For Distributors and Retailers of Pharma Nord UK's Products
1. General Criteria For Partners
- Pharma Nord products, as food supplements, are regulated and must therefore be sold by resellers who observe all current EFSA and MHRA guidelines. It is vital that all staff are provided with all the necessary information and training to enable them to demonstrate a high degree of expertise and knowledge in all Pharma Nord products and are able to answer detailed technical customer enquiries regarding contents and correct use.
- Every partner has at least one physical point of sale which is open and manned during standard business hours. Partners may need to provide proof of how the products are displayed.
- Pharma Nord may offer CPD training and information courses. Partners will be informed of these when they become available. Partners will be tested on their product knowledge to ensure that they understand how the products should and should not be used.
- All partners, resellers and retailers are required to be authorised members of Pharma Nord's Selective Distribution Network. Any Partner wanting to resell Pharma Nord products to a reseller or retailer who is not already a member of the Pharma Nord Selective Distribution Network must nominate such retailer or reseller to Pharma Nord.
- Pharma Nord will work to ensure all partners are fully supported with up to date marketing information and new products as well as taking appropriate action against anyone who offers products for sale without its consent and outside the Selective Distribution System this will include, but not limited to, IP infringements and grey imports.
- Those Partners who are active only at the wholesale level and have no retail activities may sell only to certain categories of end-users as reasonably and objectively agreed in advance with Pharma Nord.
- In order to prevent sales to unauthorised dealers, Partners may not sell more than 5 units of any one Pharma Nord product to an individual end-user.
- A Partner may not advertise, promote, discount, display and/or sell Pharma Nord products in a way which:
- is deemed incompatible with, or materially to devalue, the Pharma Nord brand or reputation, or consumers trust in its brand or reputation; or
- undermines the integrity, value or perceived quality of Pharma Nord's products; or
- a reasonable customer would regard as aggressive or alienating, including, without limitation, via third party online-only internet search engines, platforms or auction sites.
2. Specific Criteria For Online Sales
- When selling Pharma Nord products online via its own website, our Partners must ensure that the website complies with the following requirements:
- A link to the exact location of the physical point of sale and a customer service telephone number must be clearly displayed and clearly identifiable to ensure customers can contact the store and obtain information and guidance on the use of the product.
- Pharma Nord can allow pure online retailer Partners without a physical store into its Selective Distribution Network, provided that the online Partner complies with the general rationale of the Selective Distribution Criteria. This does not excuse the online retailer from having to comply with all the other General Criteria which must be complied with in full. Company information including the main business address of our Partner must be clearly displayed together with an email address and customer service telephone number with the dates and times (which should be no less than standard business hours) to enable customers to contact and obtain information and guidance on the use of the product.
- The Website must be of a very high standard with excellent design, usability and search features. The website must be optimised and tested for all browsers. Pharma Nord considers Google's quality guidelines as a benchmark in relation to marketing techniques to which Partner websites must conform. Marketing techniques such as the use of black hat link building, spam, reciprocal linking and misleading advertising would be considered by Pharma Nord as a sufficient reason to exclude the Partner from the Selective Distribution Network
- All product images and information must be up to date and of a very high quality. Pharma Nord will be able to supply such images and information as required. In addition, Partners must display an Approved Authorised Pharma Nord Partner logo on the home page which links to the Pharma Nord products and will confirm the authenticity of the Pharma Nord product being sold by that site. This logo will be provided upon acceptance into the Selective Distribution Network.
Any Partner found in breach of the Pharma Nord Selective Distribution Criteria will be suspended from the Network and notified in writing. The Partner must rectify this breach within 10 working days. Failure to rectify these issues will be considered as sufficient reason to permanently exclude the Partner from the Selective Distribution Network.
Please retain this document for future reference.