With more than 25 years of history, Etnia Barcelona has established itself as a leading independent brand in the optical sector, recognised for its commitment to design, colour, innovation and quality. Present in more than 50 countries, the company continues to evolve to offer the best experience to opticians and consumers, and to keep growing internationally.
As part of this strategy, Etnia Barcelona has taken a new step in its digital transformation with the migration of its ecommerce to Shopify. The project was completed in 45 days and gives the company a more flexible, scalable platform that is ready to support its growth.
Since joining as CEO, Massimo Vian has driven this evolution as part of the brand’s growth and transformation strategy.
The project was led by Nico Nutter, IT Director at Etnia Barcelona, together with the internal team and technology partner Orienteed. The goal from the outset was to carry out a fast, efficient migration while maintaining the site’s identity and improving the platform’s ability to be managed and evolved.
We didn’t want to get into a long redesign process. The goal was to move quickly and have a platform that would let us keep evolving.
One of the main advances has been greater autonomy for teams. More than 30 people across marketing, finance and product now have direct access to Shopify to manage the catalogue, pricing and campaigns, without relying on technical processes for every change.
At the same time, the platform integrates automatically with Etnia Barcelona’s SAP ERP, syncing the catalogue, prices and orders. This makes it easier to manage different markets and lets the team work more nimbly.
For Nico Nutter, this flexibility is one of the new platform’s key strengths:
We now have a much more flexible platform. We can do in minutes things that used to take much longer, and that lets us focus on continuing to improve the digital experience.
The new infrastructure also makes it easier to add tools and new features. For example, the integration with Emarsys, SAP’s marketing platform, was completed quickly thanks to a connector already available in Shopify.
This evolution also reinforces Etnia Barcelona’s international strategy. Shopify Markets makes it easier to manage different markets and provides insights that help identify new growth opportunities and understand where demand for the product is strongest.
The digital channel continues to work in balance with Etnia Barcelona’s network of opticians, which remains a core part of the business. The company maintains a pricing policy aligned with its brand strategy and with the value of its professional partners.
Early results are showing a positive trend. Following the launch of the new platform, digital sales grew 20% year-on-year in June 2026, 70% in July, and 136% in August.
Beyond these figures, the migration represents an important step in Etnia Barcelona’s digital transformation. The company now has a platform ready to support its growth, ease international management, and continue building a digital experience aligned with the quality standards that have defined the brand for more than 25 years.