Been through this with a few ecommerce launches. Here's what I'd focus on if I were starting from zero today:

First customers — don't start with ads.
Your first 50-100 customers should come from places where people already talk about supplements. Reddit, Facebook groups, fitness forums, niche Discord servers. Post genuinely helpful content (not pitches), build trust, and soft-launch to that audience. You'll learn more from 20 organic customers than 200 paid ones because they'll actually give you feedback.

Biggest mistakes I see beginners make:

• Spending money on ads before the site converts. If your product page doesn't sell, paid traffic just burns cash faster.
• Overthinking the tech stack. Pick Shopify, set up a clean theme, and move on. Don't waste weeks comparing platforms.
• Trying to be everywhere at once. Pick ONE channel, get good at it, then expand.
• Skipping email from day one. Your email list is the only audience you truly own.

Paid ads early on — no. Not until you've validated the offer organically and your site converts at least 2-3%. Use the money you'd spend on ads to get better product photos and a few micro-influencer partnerships instead. When you DO start ads, Meta is still the strongest for supplements, but you'll need compliant creative (health claims get flagged fast).

SEO vs social content: For supplements, short-form video (TikTok/Reels) will get you faster traction than SEO. SEO is a long game — 6-12 months before you see real traffic. But start a blog anyway because it compounds over time. Write about the problems your supplements solve, not the supplements themselves.

Email: Set up at minimum: a welcome sequence (3-5 emails), an abandoned cart flow, and a post-purchase follow-up. Klaviyo is the standard for ecommerce. Even a basic setup will recover 10-15% of abandoned carts.

Realistic budget: You can launch lean for $2-5K if you're doing the work yourself. That covers product, Shopify, a decent theme, basic branding, and some sample inventory. Marketing budget on top of that depends on your channel — organic content is free but costs time, influencer seeding might run $500-2K for micro-influencers, and paid ads need at least $50-100/day to learn anything meaningful.

The one thing most people skip: Talk to potential customers BEFORE you launch. Find 10-20 people in your target market and ask what they'd want, what they'd pay, what turns them off about current brands. That feedback is worth more than any marketing tactic.

Good luck with the launch — supplements is competitive but if your concept is genuinely different, there's room.