NaturaSi and Ki Group – two success stories from Italy

On 26 October 2012, NaturaSì cut the ribbon of its hundredth store. However, it’s not possible to say which store it was, since the Italian organic supermarket chain opened two stores on the same day. One is located in Milan at Corso Indipendenza and is the eighth in the city, and the other can be found in Lecce, Via San Cesario, in the southern region of Apulia. Ki Group

NaturaSì’s success story began in 1992 when it was launched as the only national organic supermarket chain in Italy. In 2005, NaturaSì and the main Italian organic wholesaler Ecor exchanged shares, and in 2009 the two companies merged to form the new Ecor NaturaSì company. The Bologna-based Baule Volante, that specializes in high-profile and traditional recipes from all Italian regions, has been part of the group since 2008. Di Vaira Farm, with 500 hectares in central Italy, also belongs to the company’s network so that it can control the whole supply chain and experiment with biodynamic and organic techniques of farming. Ecor NaturaSì also runs a butcher’s shop in Verona, Italy, and two supermarkets in Madrid in Spain. NaturaSì publishes a 48-page bimonthly magazine InformarSì and runs a fidelity card programme with about 70,000 cardholders. (Picture: Presentation of fruit at NaturaSì)

In spite of the recession and the fact that the conventional retail trade has achieved low rates of growth or none at all, NaturaSì has been able to report high growth rates in the past years. In 2008, net sales of NaturaSì were €78m. They rose to €93m in 2009 (+ 27%), and in 2010 net sales amounted to €112m – a plus of 19.8 % on the previous year. Sales in 2011 (NaturaSì stores only) amounted to over €128.5m. Sales up to 30 September 2012 rose by 4.8 %.
 

This year has already seen ten new openings by NaturaSì (including the two openings in Milan and Lecce), among which was the launch of a new concept store in Vicenza in January (we reported earlier). The new stores in Milan and Lecce offer a sales area of about 250 square meters each. The assortment of the new NaturaSì stores consists of about 4,000 items, 400 of which are their private label products. All of their food is EU-certified organic, and cosmetics are certified according to private standards. (Pictures: the new store in Milan)

In the design and construction of the two new supermarkets particular attention has been given to sustainability, as was the case in the stores that were opened earlier. The furniture is made of natural beech wood that has been treated with natural waxes, for the walls and ceiling they have used natural paints, energy-saving lamps provide the general lighting and baskets are made from recycled PET. As in the whole NaturaSì network, shopping bags in organic and fair trade cotton are available for customers, and food bags in the produce department are made from Biocartene – a 100% compostable and biodegradable material that is produced from potato starch and replaces the polythene bags used in the past. The staff wear uniforms made of organic cotton.

Ki Group is a 40-year- old wholesale company with a network of 4,500 customers (organic, herbalist and chemist shops), which also runs the “Grandi marche bio” (organic brands) marketing project, involving about 307 independent organic shops all over Italy. Established in the early 1970s and a pioneer in Italian organics, Ki Group is today a leader in the nationwide distribution of organic and natural products in the specialist retail trade in the country. Ki Group's turnover was about €40m in 2011. In the first 6 months of 2012 it registered 7.4% growth and was the fastest growing organic company in the country. (Picture: Ki Group headquarters in Torino)

Its warehouses cover an area of 10,000 m², 3,000 m² of which are refrigerating rooms. Even its logistics is at controlled temperature. Ki Group employs more than 150 people and maintains close commercial partnerships with around 150 companies, both Italian and foreign. It also controls 100% of La Fonte della Vita, a leading Italian producer of tofu and seitan. 

Their product range consists of about 2,500 items of the main international and national organic brands – for example, Rapunzel, Provamel, Lima, Logona and Priméal. The company offers fresh and processed organic products plus organic fruit and vegetables, as well as natural products, natural cosmetics and hygiene articles, and also detergents. It partners with Brio, the largest Italian organic farmers' trading company. (Picture: Ki Group at the international exhibition Sana in Bologna)
 

The company is part of Bioera group, which has recently purchased shares of Essere Benessere (Being-Wellbeing), a network of chemist shops, health and beauty stores and pharmacies. Bioera Group initially had a share of Essere Benessere of €1m and has just now increased this to €3.8m (7.7% of the whole equity capital). Bioera Group will designate a member of Essere Benessere’s board too.

According to an agreement, Ki Group will be the supplier of organic foods to about one hundred “City Stores” - a new concept launched by Essere Benessere last spring. They are shops with a sales area between 250 and 350 square meters, open 24/7. Ki Group will also supply a selection of organic products to the network Quid Novi Pharma, a subsidiary of Essere Benessere, with daily deliveries to 9,000 pharmacies in Italy. In addition, from 2013 Ki Group will exclusively distribute some lines of Essere Benessere’s supplements to natural food stores. The agreements are initially planned for three years, in order to verify that the operations and collaboration are to their mutual satisfaction. (Picture: Dino Poggio, general manager of Ki Group)