How NOVOS Scaled Supplement Sales Across Borders

NOVOS sells supplements tied to health claims, so every border meant a different regulator, import limit, and compliance risk. FlavorCloud's compliance engine gave NOVOS one partner to navigate customs rules and build market-specific checkout restrictions, cutting rejected shipments to Canada to nearly zero. The result: expansion from 20 to 30+ countries, a 27% rise in cross-border GMV, and a 30% lift in AOV.

NOVOS is a longevity and nutraceutical company bridging cutting-edge biotech and consumer health, offering supplements, biological age tests, and educational resources built on science.

Every border meant a different regulator, and one wrong step meant a rejected shipment.

Supplements aren't like most products crossing a border. Every country enforces its own import restrictions, quantity limits, and compliance rules, and NOVOS was navigating all of it at once. 

"Supplements are controlled differently from different customs agencies or government agencies. You've got the FDA, Health Canada, MHRA in the UK, and all these other parties involved with a product that's tied to health claims," said Sean Herwaldt, Head of Operations at NOVOS. "The problem for us is how to navigate this opportunity without taking on risk or breaking laws at a high level." 

Without a clear path through that regulatory maze, scaling internationally risked rejected shipments, long delays, and compliance violations NOVOS couldn't afford. 

One partner, one point of contact, for customs, compliance, and logistics. 

FlavorCloud's compliance engine gave NOVOS a single point of contact for the entire cross-border process, backed by guaranteed DDP so shoppers saw their full landed cost upfront. The integration connected directly into NOVOS's existing 3PL setup, so DDP fit into their operations without a rebuild.

Sean Herwaldt

Head of Operations, NOVOS

Beyond the platform, FlavorCloud's team worked directly with NOVOS to optimize shipping routes and structure orders around each market's quantity limits and value thresholds. That hands-on groundwork let NOVOS expand into South Korea and Singapore without the trial and error most brands hit on day one. Canada tested that groundwork the hardest. 

Orders were caught by two separate rules at once: a 90-day supply limit and de minimis value thresholds. "At first, we were getting hit with two major issues, order values exceeding the de minimis thresholds and the 90-day supply rule," Herwaldt said. "Even when we stayed under one limit, we'd get rejected for the other." FlavorCloud built a Canada-specific checkout that automatically adjusted product availability against both rules at once, cutting rejected shipments to nearly zero. 

"The most interesting part? All this international growth happened organically," Herwaldt said. "We didn't even start advertising internationally until this year. FlavorCloud made it easy for us to test new markets and quickly scale." 

Quarterly business reviews and regular strategy sessions gave NOVOS ongoing visibility into market trends, so the team could anticipate challenges before they hit an order, not after. 

The compliance engine is already mapping NOVOS's next market. 

NOVOS is now working with FlavorCloud to forward-stock inventory in the EU, a market with its own layer of complexity: VAT registration, OSS filing, and choosing the right entry points. The same compliance engine that solved Canada is doing the groundwork here before NOVOS ships a single order.

"With FlavorCloud, we have the confidence to go into new territories and markets," Herwaldt said. "There is the knowledge that it won't always be smooth, but we have a partner who will help us understand and take care of our business the way that we would want to take care of it."