Marketplace commissions have grown, logistics costs more, and the rules keep tightening. It is objectively harder to run a product business on Ozon today than it was two or three years ago. Many sellers conclude that there is no money left on the platform. We see it differently: marketplaces are not going anywhere, and the sellers who stay and adapt can come out stronger. Here is the strategy we are running in 2026.
The market is being rebuilt, not closed
Ozon and Wildberries will remain. Someone will keep sourcing goods, managing assortment, logistics and advertising, and earning on it. Ozon does not have an endless budget to buy out the whole market and fill every category with its own stock. Carrying that much assortment, holding it in warehouses and managing every category is extremely capital and resource intensive. The platform still needs strong sellers who own specific niches.
At the same time, the number of active sellers is shrinking. On Wildberries the drop in sellers who actually sell, rather than just sit in the database, is already visible in open statistics. We do not have the same open data for Ozon, but our own observations and tests show a very similar picture: the number of active sellers is declining.
What this means for the economics
- Shelf space is freeing up. Some sellers leave, categories thin out, and competition gradually eases.
- Acquisition costs start to fall. With fewer bidders, the cost of attracting a customer through ads, auctions and organic search tends to decline over time.
We have already seen this in several niches over recent months: customer acquisition cost in advertising is slowly falling while margin on those items is rising. We spend less on ads and earn more per customer.
Our hypothesis: in the first and second quarters of 2026 the number of active sellers on Ozon and Wildberries will drop further. In a number of categories promotion will get easier simply because there are fewer participants in the auction, fewer sellers pouring budgets into ads without a plan, and less dumping and panic bidding.
The result: with a competent approach, profitability for the sellers who remain can start to grow. Not because commissions fell, but because part of the competition has dropped out.
On commissions we are cautious. We do not expect a meaningful cut within the next year or two. It is possible that once the market overheats, commissions will be adjusted gently downward, or at least the constant growth will stop. That is a hypothesis, not a forecast.
Our strategy: stay and consolidate
We are not leaving the platform and we are not treating this as the end of the business. We treat it as a market restructuring. Our strategy has two pillars.
1. Lock in our categories
Our goal for partner stores is to enter the top 3 to top 5 in key categories, and to earn from that position over the coming months and years.
2. Focus on net profit, not turnover for its own sake
For some partners we do have an aggressive growth target on turnover. But for most stores the priority is different: not to push revenue at any cost, but to hold and where possible increase net profit. That means careful pricing, advertising optimization, rebuilding logistics, cleaning up the assortment and cutting unnecessary costs. In short, count the money instead of chasing nice screenshots.
Why Ozon is making life harder for sellers
Our read is that the marketplace is deliberately reducing the number of small sellers in favor of larger and mid-sized ones that deliver stable turnover.
Imagine you run a service business with a thousand small clients. You could replace them with a hundred larger clients who bring the same money. Who would be easier to work with? Clearly the hundred larger ones: less load on support, fewer tickets and chats, less paperwork, fewer logistics and infrastructure problems.
In our view Ozon is moving in exactly this direction: fewer sellers, but with larger turnover, more stable supply and clearer economics. Our job, if we want to keep earning on Ozon, is to fit that shift. Not to be the small seller turning over a modest amount each month and worrying about every shipment, but a player who works steadily in a category, holds turnover and margin, and looks like a reliable partner to the platform.
That is why our target is the top 3 to top 5 in our categories. Once we are established there, the new reality of the marketplace becomes much easier to live in.
Own sales channels alongside the marketplace
We also work on a second layer: sales channels outside the marketplaces. For some partners we develop our own websites, our own advertising and our own touchpoint chains. Depending on a single platform is not healthy.
That said, our main focus stays on Ozon. The traffic is already there, the customer is already there, and the infrastructure for logistics and payments is ready. It is still possible to earn there if you understand what is happening on the platform and adapt your strategy to it.
The bottom line
Building a business on Ozon in 2026 is realistic, but there is a fork in the road:
- either you grow, get stronger and larger, consolidate in a specific category, enter the top 3 to top 5 and play the long game;
- or you keep running small turnover just to be present on the marketplace, which no longer makes much sense.
The platform appears to be pushing out a large number of small sellers and keeping those ready to build a systematic business rather than play the lottery. We have already passed that fork: we stay, keep developing on Ozon, keep optimizing costs, keep working with categories and build our own sales channels in parallel.
If this view resonates and you want to build a sustainable business on the marketplaces rather than just get by, reach out to our team. We will discuss your situation, your numbers and your niche, and see whether and how we can be useful to each other.
