Branches of NaturaSi in Spain

There have been NaturaSi stores in Madrid for six years now. However, they are not yet really flourishing as they should, the reason being the poor demand for organics in the Spanish capital. Most of the five stores were operated as franchises, and two have become independent. Although the stores are well presented and well organised, the number of regular customers has remained rather low. There is no comparison with Barcelona, where well managed organic supermarkets are catering for really high demand.

Picture: Natura Si in Madrid

“In Spain people often still associate organic foods with illness,” is how A. Alonso Sanchez explains the situation. He has established the NaturaSi stores in Spain with a great deal of effort. He is married to an Italian and, after involvement with the NaturaSi headquarters in Italy, he was given the task of developing stores in Spain. “In contrast with Italy, no help comes from the government in Spain, and there is no commitment to organics from any political direction,” he says with deep disappointment. “It’s a hard slog for us here and we operate like an NGO.” First, the market has to be made ready for organics, which has meant heavy financial losses for NaturaSi. Mr Sanchez gave up his job from 1.1.2008, and he is now working again in his former profession of marine architect.

The reasons for the situation in which NaturaSi finds itself are neither the location nor the presentation of the organic supermarkets, as can be seen if you visit the newest of the stores at 31 Calle Montessa, that was opened on 5.10.2007. Although the store with 350 m² of retail space is in a side street, it is nevertheless in a good residential area and not far from the historic centre of Madrid. The organic supermarket is easily recognised (see picture) and on the shop front are the words “El Supermercado Natural”. It has the same design as the roughly 50 stores in Italy. There is a picture of a country house in front of a field of potatoes and wheat that could equally be in Spain. What you are looking at is an organic farm. Inside the store, the dominant colour of the walls, beams and shelves is green.

The product range consists of a convincing supply of fruit and vegetables that is positioned near the entrance and can also be seen from the street. 80 % of fresh green food comes from Andalusia, 10 % from Barcelona and 10 % from abroad. NaturaSi’s full range of about 4000 items covers a whole array of products from wine (picture), beer, spirits, juices, frozen foods, vacuum-packed sausage and sausage products, milk and soya products, cosmetics and body care to household products and cleaning materials. Fresh produce accounts for about 50 % of turnover.

Their marketing is impressive too: five times a year, leaflets are distributed (a print run of 100,000). Mr Sanchez says that regrettably the response is very limited. He thinks back to when they first started in Spain and distributed, on one occasion, 300,000 leaflets to households – and it made no difference at all. Now, they put more emphasis on bill boards and posters. In the underground station Plaza Manuel Becerra two minutes walk away, a showcase is still advertising the opening of the NaturaSi store (picture).

As in other big cities, rents in Madrid are high, and it is not easy to find suitable premises. A price for retail space of 15-30 Euros per square metre and month is acceptable. The two other stores sailing under the NaturaSi flag have 265 m² and 270 m². They opened in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

The opening times of the three stores in Madrid are 10.00 – 20.30. A customer card had been introduced to increase customer loyalty (see picture). With the card, customers benefit from special offers with discounts up to 20 %. The loyalty card also gives customers access to things like special information on nutrition, natural remedies and cookery.

On the whole, prices in specialist wholefood shops and organic supermarkets in Spain are normally fairly high. But there are also discount actions. An example in January 2008 can be seen on the website. A litre of fresh milk on special offer costs € 2.07 instead of € 2.30; 250 g of organic butter from Öma-Beer costs € 3.85 instead of  € 4.28. A bar of Rapunzel almond chocolate costs € 2.52 instead of € 2.80. In the conventional retail trade, fresh milk at El Corte Ingles costs € 1.19 a litre, which is much cheaper than in the specialist shops. (Price examples from October 2007).

In spite of the difficult conditions, organic turnover is going up all the time. The NaturaSi store that opened in 2002 recorded last year a turnover of about 1 million Euros, a pleasing rise of between 5 % and 10 %.

Tip:
http://www.naturasi.es/venta.html