Every seller on a marketplace eventually has to promote their products. Competition is high, and Ozon gives sellers internal advertising tools to stand out and lift a product in search results. Here are three practical secrets for using them well.
The advantage of Ozon's internal advertising is its flexibility: you can target by keywords or by a range of criteria to reach your audience precisely. You can also track performance and adjust settings to improve efficiency.
Ozon has two types of ad campaigns: product ads and media (display) ads.
Secret 1. Product ads
Product ads let you lift product cards in search and use "templates".
Search lift is an inexpensive service that raises your product card above others in search results. Without this promotion, a video cover will not be shown (it is available only for promoted products); otherwise the video is visible only inside the card.
When a product is lifted in search, it appears in the "Recommended for you", "Bought together" and "Customers also buy" blocks. Whether a product appears in a specific shopper's search depends on their previous actions and queries on the marketplace. The key advantage: the seller pays only when a shopper places an order.
Templates are a tool for automatic configuration of product ads on Ozon. They help improve ranking while widening reach to your target audience. Template-based ad results are shown among promo selections, in categories and on offer pages for a query.
Ads are shown above search results starting from the third page of results. Products are also visible in recommendation slots (in the cart, in product cards, in completed orders). In the app, products appear in the "Reviews and questions" and "You may like" sections.
With templates, a video cover (if available) is shown on the card's title page. That draws more attention from potential buyers than a regular photo.
Secret 2. Media ads
Media ads are meant to build brand awareness, which strongly influences sales growth.
Where they appear:
- Banner and video banner on the Ozon home page. Useful for launching special offers and new products.
- Poster on the "Order completed" tab. Seen by shoppers who are completing real purchases, so it makes sense to place your best-selling and most popular products there.
- "Curtain". In the mobile app, an image pops up and dims the main marketplace interface. A huge share of shoppers use the app, so this placement is very valuable.
The downside of Ozon's media tools is their cost. Not everyone can buy them: the service is sold as an auction, so larger businesses with bigger budgets tend to win.
Secret 3. Taking part in promo campaigns
A free way to advertise is to join promo campaigns run by the marketplace. It is only relatively free, since the seller bears the cost by discounting the product.
It is important to join campaigns with a clear understanding of why you are discounting your product and how it affects your net profit. This tool makes sense when your average search position is improving, when card impressions in search are growing, when your spend on marketplace commissions is falling, and so on.
In other words, weigh many factors and keep the risks in mind. The point is to get a result that meets your goal; if it does not, use other tools instead.
Structure your ad management
The best approach is to split your store by brands. Within each brand, filter products by category and run internal advertising separately for each category.
I also recommend creating a separate group of your current best sellers and advertising those. If you do this properly, track performance by segment, compare revenue with costs and adjust campaigns at the right time, you can achieve strong results.
