The point is protection, not logistics savings
The main value of micro-supplies on Ozon is not cheaper logistics. It is protection against losing your whole warehouse stock. We keep 7 to 10 days of cover on FBO instead of the month or six weeks we used to hold. Batches are smaller but more frequent. If something happens to a warehouse, you lose a couple of days of volume, not a month of inventory.
Why we rebuilt our supply pattern
We used to keep a month to six weeks of stock in the warehouses. It is cheaper on logistics and feels calmer in the moment. After drone attacks on marketplace warehouses, we changed that.
The logic is simple: a force majeure event at a warehouse should not turn into the loss of your entire stock. Micro-supplies are exactly about that - splitting batches so you do not put all your eggs in one basket.
The most radical option is moving to FBS. But we have been on the platform a long time and we know FBO will always have its advantages. Losing rankings and sales over risks that have not even materialised yet is not appealing. The task is not to panic but to price the risks in advance.
Free storage does not remove the risks
Ozon announced a promotion: for shipments between 22 September and 31 December, placement is free for 344 days instead of the usual 99. For flammable goods it is also 344 days instead of 39. For oversized goods it is 19 days instead of 0.
The temptation is obvious: load six months to a year of stock at once and forget about the warehouse. I do not recommend it.
There are two reasons.
First, the drone risk has not gone away. We keep it in our own planning as it is. It is too early to relax. We have roughly until the end of the year to see where the escalation goes: toward a flare-up or toward a de-escalation.
Second, the risk of losing goods. Previously an insurer on Ozon calculated payouts from the volume of stock in the warehouses, but that programme has ended. There is no insurance now, so it is not worth piling up stock. Keep a small reserve and spread it across different warehouses and clusters so you do not lose everything at once.
We face this task daily, so we automated it in-house: our tool warns you in advance where a product will run out before you can restock, taking cluster-level balances into account. That makes it easier to keep a small reserve and distribute it across warehouses.
What this means in practice
Keep one to two weeks of cover, no more. Even when the platform offers a year of free storage. The promotion is good, but I would not take the bait right now - better to wait a couple of months and see where things go.
Micro-supplies are not about shipping less product. They are about shipping it more often and in smaller batches. Logistics cost more, but losing a warehouse stops being a catastrophe for the business.
What to do
- Recalculate your current warehouse stock: if it covers more than two weeks of sales, split it.
- Move to batches of 7 to 10 days instead of a month or six weeks.
- Assess the risk of losing goods and do not keep all your stock in one warehouse; diversify across clusters.
- Do not load six months of stock ahead, even under a free storage promotion.
- Give it a couple of months of observation before you switch the strategy back.
