Two questions come up in every first conversation: what is the minimum, and how long will it take. Here are the real answers, in one place, including the parts that are inconvenient. The minimum is 500 units per SKU on every format, which is deliberately low enough to let a new brand test a product before committing stock it cannot sell. What that does not remove is packaging minimums, flavour counts and seasonal timing, and those are usually what decides the size of a first order.
Minimum order quantities by format
One figure, across every format: 500 units per SKU. Tablets and capsules, 500 units. Herbal juices, 500 bottles. Nutrition powders, proteins, meal replacements and health drinks, 500 units. Herbal drops, 500 bottles. Personal care, 500 units. Electrolyte sachets, 500 sachets. There is no format that asks more of you than another.
Flavour counts as a separate SKU on anything flavoured. Three flavours of protein at 500 units each is 1,500 units, not 500, a distinction that surprises people often enough to be worth stating plainly. The same applies to pack sizes: a 60-count and a 90-count of the same tablet are two SKUs.
The figure worth checking separately is packaging. Label print runs and bottle suppliers carry their own minimums, and those are frequently higher than ours, which means packaging, not production, is usually what sets the real size of a first order. Ask any manufacturer for both numbers in writing.
Lead times by format
From confirmed artwork and received advance: tablets and capsules on the ready range, 12 to 18 working days, rising to 14 to 20 for higher-strength or complex compositions. Juices, 10 to 18 working days. Churnas and simple powders, 8 to 14. Drops, 10 to 18. Proteins, meal replacements and health drinks, 18 to 25. Topicals and creams, 14 to 20. Shilajit resin, 18 to 25.
Repeat orders on an unchanged SKU usually run several days quicker, because artwork, stability data and documentation are already in place. Custom formulations add four to ten weeks before the commercial batch even starts.
The seasonal deadlines that actually matter
Several categories here have short, sharp seasons, and missing the order window means selling into the tail rather than the peak. Joint care and respiratory products need stock landed by early October for the winter. Electrolyte and cooling products need to land by late February for the summer. Kidney and stone products want stock by early March. Weight management wants January stock ordered in November. Winter skincare and body lotion need to land by mid-October.
If you come to us inside that window, we will tell you the honest answer rather than taking the order. A brand that sells its joint stock in February at a discount is worse off than a brand that waited and launched properly the following October.
What delays orders, in order of frequency
Artwork, by a wide margin, files that are not print-ready, missing mandatory declarations, or claims that fail compliance review after plates were already planned. Then payment timing, because procurement does not start until the advance clears. Then packaging material lead times on anything non-standard, particularly custom cartons and moulded components.
Manufacturing itself is rarely the bottleneck. If you want a fast launch, the highest-leverage thing you can do is have print-ready, compliance-reviewed artwork ready before you place the order.