Italy: Ecor-NaturaSì Group’s sales rose to €205m in 2012

In line with the trend in sales of organic products in mainstream supermarkets (+ 5,9% in the first 10 months of 2012, source: Ismea) , Verona-based Ecor-NaturaSì, the Italian leader in the distribution of organic and biodynamic products, closed the year 2012 with growth in sales of 6.5% compared with 2011. The figure for 2012 was approximately €205m (consolidated turnover of Ecor-NaturaSì wholesale activities, retail activities of NaturaSì organic supermarkets and Baule Volante’s wholesale business). The Bologna-based company Baule Volante (merged in 2008, with a sales network of about 3,500 customers), has grown by more than 14%, while the network of the 100 NaturaSì supermarkets has a rise in turnover of 7%.
 

While for conventional food Federalimentare (the national association of the food industry) reports a 2.8% loss in 2012, the credit crunch did not stop the inclination of Italians to buy organic food nor did it affect in general their feeling for the “green” world. This also applies to Ecor NaturaSì. In addition to the increased attention on nutrition and personal care, another factor has played an important role in the increase in consumption of organics: Roberto Zanoni (picture), the managing director, says that the prices of conventional food have seen an inflation rate of 4.3 % compared with 2% on their shopping cart. A contribution has come, then, from the initiatives Salva Spesa (Save on shopping bills) and Spesa Amica (Friendly shopping), in which they included about 60 basic products at very competitive prices and distributed across the NaturaSì and Cuorebio network. Cuorebio is a marketing project promoted by the group and involving about 300 independent shops running under the same name, with a magazine and common advertising and promotional campaigns.

Ecor-NaturaSì has also increased the area of its headquarters in Conegliano Veneto, where the main warehouse is located, with a new storehouse of 8,000 m², so that the total area now measures 20,000 m², 5,000 m² of which are coldstores. All this is in order to meet the growth in the consumption of fresh products (fruit & vegetables, dairy, meat etc.) towards which the company will directs its efforts in 2013.

2013 will also see the impact of extending two new projects. The first one is Terre di Ecor (Ecor’s land) and will see a tight synergy between the group and both its companies (for example, Fattoria Di Vaira, a 530 hectares biodynamic farm in the southern region of Molise and some smaller businesses in Northern Italy) and some partners over a long period, in order to develop and follow products from farm to table, exploiting the farmers’ life stories and work and grouping them under the same recognizable brand. The second project will be Alimenti Ritrovati (Rediscovered Food), the objective of which is maintaining biodiversity and safeguarding some traditionally common foods that have gradually disappeared from the table, such as certain varieties of cereals (some wheats and einkorn), beans like “roveja” (Pisum arvense, (an ancient pea plant native to the Mediterranean region) and grass pea, an important crop in the past but a tradition that has been lost by farming today.

Innovation also affects the product range: "Almost all sectors are covered," said Zanoni. "In particular, we have expanded the range of products for people with celiac disease and food intolerances." In Italy, this is a growing segment. The company pays particular attention to quality management, with this department employing no fewer than 15 people.