After moving to a new warehouse and getting the new operation up and running, Naturitas is now looking ahead to further growth and international expansion.
The online retailer specialising in natural products, health and wellbeing now operates in 24 countries. In 2026, it expects turnover to rise well above €100 million and plans to enter six new markets.
We speak to Nicola Lavarino, CEO of Naturitas, about changing consumer habits, the company’s own brands and how artificial intelligence is being used in e-commerce.
How is this year going for Naturitas?
After last year’s warehouse move, it took us longer than expected to get our service back to normal. We thought the transition would be simple, but the start was difficult. The operation has now been stable for several months and we are back to full service. That means we can look ahead again. We want to expand and become a major player in Europe.
Where do you see the greatest potential for growth?
Spain and Portugal are still our main focus, and we believe there is plenty of room to grow there. We also see opportunities in large European markets such as France, Germany and Italy. We still have work to do in these countries, particularly on service and catalogue.
In Germany, for example, our catalogue is not yet well enough adapted to local customers. When they visit the site, they see an international retailer with international and Spanish brands, but not many local ones. We are working to broaden the catalogue and improve the service, both in transport and delivery times.
Your operations are centralised in Castellbisbal, Barcelona.
For now, yes. We serve all 24 countries from Castellbisbal. We are also looking at whether an intermediate or local warehouse could improve service in some markets. It is an option, but we still need to assess whether it would work.
“We want to expand and become a major player in Europe”
Who are your main competitors in Europe?
In Spain, we are by far the largest specialist operator, and we are proud of that. Across Europe, competition is much stronger, especially in France and Germany. Even defining a competitor is not straightforward in our sector. We compete with online pharmacies and parapharmacies, which sell categories we do not, while we have a food range they do not offer.
What do consumers look for when they visit Naturitas?
Some customers choose us because our catalogue is clearly focused on natural and organic products, and we can stand behind that. It also matters that we are not a marketplace. On large marketplaces, the platform often acts as a shop window and the product is sold directly by the manufacturer. We buy the products ourselves, which gives us more control and allows us to guarantee their quality.
What trends are you seeing in the consumption of natural products?
Protein is growing very fast, although I see it as more of a fad than a trend. A trend changes habits and lasts. We should make the most of the interest in protein, but it will come and go. It is part of a wider shift towards “eating better”. People are paying more attention to what they eat: more protein, less sugar… The real change we see is how much more informed consumers are. They are also more curious. They no longer buy something simply because it has been recommended to them. They want to know what it is, where it comes from, why they need it and how it compares with other options.
Do you offer advice to customers?
Yes. Our customer service team can explain the products to people who call us. Many callers ask medical questions, but we are not doctors and cannot give that kind of advice. What we can do, for example, is help someone who wants to take magnesium understand the different types and choose the right product.
How are your own brands performing?
We have around 400 own-brand products, and that number is fairly stable. We discontinue some, while others are updated or improved. Our own brands are doing very well in Spain and other markets. They offer good quality at what we see as a fair price: not necessarily cheaper, but competitive.
Naturitas Essentials covers products people commonly keep at home, such as magnesium or vitamin C. With Essentials Plus, we are now moving into more complex formulations. Zeutics works differently: we develop products with practitioners who take part in formulating them and also help promote them. It is doing very well because the product quality is high.
How are you incorporating artificial intelligence?
AI is still new territory for us. At Naturitas, we are already using it in development, marketing, design and customer service. The idea is to give people tools that help them do their jobs better, not replace them. In customer service, for example, AI helps us assist more people, in more languages, and answer simple questions such as where an order is. For customers, I do not think much has changed yet. We used to search on Google; now we are starting to search with AI tools. You still need to be careful, especially with health information, and not rely on AI alone.
“The idea is to give people tools that help them do their jobs better, not replace them”
How is Naturitas preparing as more searches move to AI?
The website already has a layer designed specifically for AI because more people will use these tools to search and buy. Information has to be organised differently for AI than for a person, so we need to adapt the site to make sure these systems can understand our content and products correctly.
What are your growth and expansion targets for this year?
We are profitable, which is not easy in e-commerce. This year, turnover will again exceed €100 million. We are now in 24 countries and will soon enter six more, including Greece and Lithuania. They are smaller markets, but we see strong potential because natural health is already well established and there is still relatively little competition. We call them “blue oceans”.
Germany, where we also operate, is a “red ocean”, with many companies competing for the same market. The opportunity in these new countries is different: the populations are smaller, but consumers are very open to natural health. Our model relies heavily on the leading brands in each market. We want to work closely with our partners and meet consumer needs as well as we can.
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