After the temporary closure of its physical store during the pandemic, Don Ibérico, a centuries-old Iberian ham company based in Guijuelo (Salamanca), faced a drop in customers that never fully recovered. “We realized that, if we wanted to survive, we had to sell online,” says Álex Fernández, fifth-generation owner.
Until then, the company sold only in its factory shop and in gourmet shops, avoiding large chains. To reach a broader and younger audience, it launched the brand Monjamón and joined Temu in 2025. Orders soon started arriving from different parts of Spain and there was growing interest in countries like Germany or Sweden.
Temu Local Sellers Program
The Temu Local Sellers Program, launched in Spain in 2024, lets companies sell and ship locally while gaining access to customers across Europe. In Spain, the platform has 12.6 million monthly active users.
Don Ibérico’s case reflects a gradual shift among Spanish producers. While small and medium-sized enterprises account for 99.8% of the business fabric and employ more than two-thirds of the workforce, only 29% sell online. Yet, more and more companies are discovering that marketplaces enable them to reach Europe without large upfront investments.
Fernández emphasizes that digitalization has not altered the essence of the business: “We don’t produce at industrial scale. We work with local farmers and control every step of the process. We want consumers to notice that difference.”
From a Niche to the Mainstream
Gimme Sabor, a Murcia-based startup specializing in vegetable seasonings founded in 2022, faced a similar challenge: to grow beyond vegan and healthy-eating stores. Its products, developed with the National Center for Technology and Safety and produced in a certified and allergen-free facility, had difficulty reaching a broad audience.
“We needed to broaden our audience without losing our essence,” explains CEO Víctor García Montero. The company joined Temu in early 2025 and, within a few weeks, sales rose by more than 50%. Many new customers were not specifically seeking vegan products; they discovered the brand through reviews and recommendations on the platform.
In Spain, about 3.8 million people follow vegetarian or largely vegetarian diets, but plant-based brands are usually confined to niche channels. “We wanted to offer plant-based alternatives for everyone, not just vegans. Temu helped us move from niche to mainstream,” says García Montero.
In Guijuelo, Álex Fernández agrees that onboarding to the platform has broadened horizons without changing the essence of the business: maintaining traditional methods and artisanal quality, now available to more consumers.
