Brand strategy on marketplaces

Why formatting product cards is not a strategy

In most articles about branding on marketplaces, the same things are discussed: name, logo, packaging, tone of communication, working with reviews. These are important tactical elements — on Wildberries and Ozon there are indeed more than 10 points of contact with the buyer, from the first product photo (critical for mobile display, where the decision is made in seconds) to QR-code attachments inside the package. But all these tools work only when there is an answer to higher-level questions: where to sell, why, and what happens to the brand when the platform changes the rules of the game. And the rules change constantly — for example, from October 2023 year, on Yandex Market, several offers from different sellers appear in the search results for a query, not just one best one, which overturns the logic of competition for the product card.

Which marketplaces to enter: Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex Market or all at once

There is no universal answer, but there is logic in the choice. Wildberries made 618 million orders in the first quarter of 2023 year against 179 million at Ozon — this is huge traffic, but also extreme competition for attention. The key difference with Wildberries is different: the platform has given up its own private labels and positions itself as a 'clean marketplace' with a program supporting local brands (the 'Platform for Growth' program). This reduces the conflict of interest between seller and platform.

Ozon and Yandex Market play differently. Ozon is developing STMs — Hartens, Ozon Home, Pet Pride — while Yandex promotes Tuvio and Junion. So, when entering the same categories on these platforms, a brand risks competing not only with other sellers but also with the platform's own algorithmic product support.

Launching on all three platforms simultaneously is strategically justified only if the brand has the resources for individual management of assortment and prices on each of them: identical product pricing on different marketplaces kills the benefit of cross-placement, and different pricing provokes dumping within the brand itself. It is wiser to start by choosing one platform corresponding to the product category and develop the brand strategy there to achieve stable repeat purchases, then scale the model.

How to connect marketplace and own website

Strategy on the marketplace and strategy on your own website solve different tasks, and mixing them is a mistake. On the marketplace, the brand does not own customer data: name, phone number, purchase history belong to the platform. On your own website, the brand owns everything, but must itself ensure traffic. Hence, a logical linkage: the marketplace works as a first touch channel and a broad reach channel, while the website and social networks work as retention and repeat sales channels.

In practice, this is implemented through QR-code investments in packaging leading to a Telegram channel or a website with a loyalty program, through unique SKUs that are easier to find in one's own online store at a more favorable price, and through content in the product card that clearly conveys the brand's style, recognizable later in social networks. The goal is not to replace the marketplace with a website, but to use it as a funnel, from which a portion of the audience moves to a channel where the brand controls data and economics.

How to protect a brand from copying and STM platforms

Copying product cards, names, and packaging is a routine problem on any marketplace. Working protection is built on several levels:

• Trademark registration before mass product launch — without this, it is almost impossible to legally fight copycats;
• Participation in official brand protection programs of the marketplace (Wildberries and Ozon have owner cabinets that allow blocking duplicate product cards);
• Unique elements that are difficult to copy quickly: branded packaging, original photo shooting, recognizable tone of voice in descriptions and responses to reviews;
• Diversification of sales channels — if a brand is present not only on the marketplace, copying a product card will not collapse the entire business.

Competing with STO platforms requires a different approach — there are no legal tools here, this is competition through algorithms and positioning. The only real answer is not to compete with STO in the low-price segment, where the platform benefits from promoting its own brand with zero commission, but to build a niche identity that the platform finds neither interesting nor profitable to copy.

Discounts against the brand: where is the balance

A discount race — the fastest way to destroy margins and at the same time the simplest path to first sales, so brands regularly dive into it. The problem is that Ozon's algorithms take into account more than 1000 ranking factors — the architecture of the ML graph DAG includes price, logistics, reviews, CTR, and probability of purchase. This means that price is just one of many signals, and aggressive dumping without working on the other factors gives a short-term spike, but not a sustainable position in the search results.

The working balance looks like this: discounts are used selectively — for launching a new product to the top of the search results or for liquidating overstock, not as a permanent strategy. The main visibility growth is ensured through CTR (headline and first photo), conversion (description, reviews, Q&A), and logistics (delivery speed, stock availability). A brand that competes on content and service, not just price, is less likely to fall into the spiral of continuous margin reduction.

What metrics to track, besides sales

Sales are a lagging indicator; it reflects the result, but does not explain whether the brand is sustainable. A broader set of metrics is needed to evaluate the strategy:

1. Share of repeat purchases and customer LTV within the platform — shows whether branding works for retention, not just for one-time conversion;
2. Brand search queries — growth in the number of people searching for a product by brand name, rather than by category.
3. CTR of cards and conversion from view to purchase — direct signals for the ranking algorithm;
4. The share of traffic that moves from the marketplace to own channels (website, social networks, loyalty program via QR codes);
5. The dynamics of commissions and margin by category — it is important to track separately from revenue, because growth in turnover with falling margin — is a signal of dependence on the platform, not brand growth.

Risks of long-term dependence on marketplaces

This is a topic that most materials avoid, although the data speaks for itself: many brands in 2022–2024 years reduced sales volumes or left the platforms due to rising commissions and lack of access to customer data. The reasons are rising commissions (at Amazon, in certain categories they reach up to 45% (for example, for Amazon device accessories), although in most categories they are 8-15%) and complete lack of access to customer data, without which it is impossible to build long-term relationships with the audience.

Therefore, a practical conclusion: a marketplace cannot be considered the final point of a brand strategy, only as a stage for scaling and testing the product on large traffic. A sound monetization model — to use the recognition gained on the platform to redirect part of the audience to a own online store or social networks, where margin is higher and there is data for personalization. Brands that build a parallel own channel from day one cope with algorithm changes and rising commissions much easier than those who fully depend on one platform.