Which is better, your own online store or go to marketplaces

As I was figuring out why sellers from Ozon and Wildberries are increasingly thinking about their website, although sales from marketplaces are going briskly.

Author: Egor Ivanov, Bulltech Chief Operating Officer

Marketplace VS online Store

I started to understand this topic not from reports or from the headlines that «sellers are leaving marketplaces.» It all started much simpler.

At some point, I caught myself thinking that, as an ordinary customer, I had almost stopped remembering who I was buying goods from. I open Ozon or Wildberries, enter the desired query, look at the price, reviews, delivery time, rating, photos, and make a decision. Sometimes I don’t even pay attention to the seller’s name. If the product looks normal, the delivery is fast, and the reviews are not suspicious, the purchase is almost automatic.

And in this seemingly mundane scenario, there is an important problem for business.

The customer remembers the marketplace. But he doesn’t always remember the seller.

He says: «I ordered on Ozon» or «I bought on Wildberries». But he rarely says, «I bought from a particular company because I trust it.» It is convenient for the buyer. Not always for the seller.

What do I think about it?

As the chief operating officer of an IT company that develops websites, services, and online stores, I increasingly see the same query: a business is already selling on marketplaces, but is starting to think about its own website. Not because the marketplaces stopped working. They’re working. Sometimes it’s even too good. The problem is different: sellers increasingly realize that there are sales, but there is no own brand, direct customer base, or control over the sales channel.

I was curious to figure out why this is happening. Is this a temporary emotion of entrepreneurs who are tired of commissions and site rules, or a real market reversal? And if a business really needs its own website, then why exactly: for image, for sales, for independence, or for everything at once?

Let’s start honestly: marketplaces have done a lot for Russian e-commerce.

A few years ago, an entrepreneur who wanted to sell online had to solve dozens of tasks at once: develop a website, enable payment, set up delivery, think over a warehouse, launch advertising, engage in SEO, write texts, make product cards, organize support, deal with refunds and analytics.

Ozon and Wildberries have greatly simplified this path. They gave sellers a ready—made infrastructure, and buyers a familiar purchase scenario. For small and medium-sized businesses, this has become a quick entry into online commerce. It was possible to check demand, start selling, get the first reviews and reach an audience across the country without your own online store.

How did the market react

The market reacted quickly. According to AKIT, the volume of online commerce in Russia by the end of 2025 increased by 28% and reached 11.5 trillion rubles. At the same time, 96,2% of online sales came from Russian online stores and domestic digital platforms, and the share of online commerce in total retail reached 18,8%. In other words, online sales have long ceased to be an additional direction and have become a normal part of trading.

But along with the growth of the market, concentration also increased. According to Data Insight, in 2024, Wildberries and Ozon together processed 77% of all online orders and generated 53% of Russian e-commerce revenue. For the buyer, this means convenience: most of the goods are assembled in two familiar places. For the seller, it means dependence on large platforms, their rules, tariffs, algorithms and internal competition.

And that’s where the fun begins.

At the start, an entrepreneur needs access to the flow of customers. But as a business grows up, it becomes important not only to sell, but also to manage how it looks, how much it earns, who its customers are and how they return for a repeat purchase.

When I look at marketplaces as a user, I see a convenient storefront. When I look at them as a person from IT and business, I see a different picture: the seller inside the marketplace often becomes part of the overall output.

What does the seller have:

• He has a product card;
• rating;
• reviews;
• remains;
• price;
• advertising promotion.

But all this lives inside someone else’s interface. The visual environment belongs to the site. The personal account belongs to the site. The purchase scenario belongs to the site. Communication with the buyer is limited by the rules of the site. Repeat purchases are also often left inside the site.

It turns out to be a strange situation: an entrepreneur can invest in a product, packaging, photos, description, work with reviews, warehouse, logistics, advertising, but in the buyer’s mind the marketplace still remains the main «store».

This is especially noticeable in categories where there are many similar products. Clothing, accessories, household goods, cosmetics, electronics, children’s goods, sports goods — everywhere the buyer sees dozens of cards that compete with each other in the same format. The price, rating, number of reviews, photos, and delivery time differ. But the brand often fades into the background.

In such an environment, the seller becomes not so much an independent company as a card in a large system.

And if the buyer does not remember the seller, then next time this seller must again fight for his attention: through a discount, advertising, position in the issue, participation in the promotion, reviews and price. It’s like renting a place in a very large mall, only the rules of the mall can change faster than the sign above your store.

I myself have come across a situation more than once when I found an interesting product on a brand’s website or in an advertisement, but I still went to the marketplace to buy it.

Why? Because the map is already saved there. There’s a clear delivery. There’s a familiar return. There’s a pick-up point near the house. You can quickly compare reviews there. And even if the product costs about the same or slightly cheaper on the seller’s website, habit sometimes wins.

This is an unpleasant truth for businesses: just having a website is not enough.

If your own online store is loading slowly, if it has an unclear delivery, a weak product card, an inconvenient shopping cart, no normal payment methods, no reviews, guarantees, clear return conditions, and a sense of reliability, the user will go back to where they are most used to.

Marketplaces have raised the bar for user experience. The buyer is used to buying quickly, without unnecessary questions and doubts. Therefore, your own website should not only be beautiful. It should be convenient, fast, understandable and convincing.

And it’s not just the development that’s important here. The logic of the customer’s entire journey is important: from the first touch to the repeat purchase.

But brand awareness is only one part of the issue. The second, more painful, is the economy.

When an entrepreneur first enters the marketplace, he often looks at the turnover: how many orders, how much revenue, how the card is growing, how many reviews, what positions are in the search results. But over time, it’s not the turnover that has to be counted, but the net profit.

And here it turns out that selling on a marketplace is not just «placing an item and paying a commission.»

The costs include site commission, logistics, storage, reverse logistics, refunds, advertising, participation in promotions, discounts, card promotion, fines, packaging, content management, operational support and constant adaptation to the rules of the site.

This is already being felt in the market. Kommersant, citing data from the Association of Electronic Commerce Representatives and Mpstats, wrote that in three years, from the beginning of 2023 to the end of 2025, the commissions of the largest marketplaces for sellers increased by 58-63%, and the cost of logistics services increased by 33-89%. The same article cites the opinion of Artur Gafarov, director of the Institute for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Economics: over the past year alone, site commissions have increased 1.5–2 times.

In another article, Kommersant cites the assessment of Askar Rakhimberdiev, CEO of the MoiSklad service: marketplace commissions for Russian sellers amount to 25-40% of revenue, and taking into account logistics, storage and advertising, costs can reach up to 50-70%.

Of course, this does not mean that marketplaces have become unprofitable for everyone. In some categories, they still generate strong sales and remain the main channel. But this means that an entrepreneur can no longer evaluate a marketplace based solely on turnover.

We need to calculate the margin.

How much is left after the commission? How much did it take for logistics? How much did the ads eat? How much did you lose on refunds? How much did you have to give away in discounts? How much does it cost to hold a position in the search results? What happens if the tariffs change again? And will the business be able to rebuild quickly if the site changes the rules?

The more often an entrepreneur asks himself these questions, the clearer it becomes.: You need your own website not as a replacement for a marketplace, but as a way to reduce dependence on a single channel.

Another reason why businesses are starting to look for alternatives is the unpredictability of conditions.

A marketplace is not just a showcase. It is a large platform with its own rules, algorithms, tariffs, internal advertising, logistics, warehouse policy, card requirements, reviews and sanctions. The seller can work well, but still depend on decisions that are not made by him.

In 2025, the FAS of Russia reported numerous complaints from sellers about the new Wildberries and Ozon rules. The FAS Expert Council pointed out that a number of innovations require revision, including the rules related to the index of the remaining goods, pricing tools, refunds and the ability of sellers to dispose of their goods.

For me, it is not a separate controversial mechanism that is important here, but the fact itself: the relationship between marketplaces and sellers has already become the subject of the regulator’s attention. This means that the problem is not an isolated or emotional one. The market has grown to a level where platform rules directly affect the sustainability of a large number of businesses.

If the entire sales model is tied to one platform, then any rule change becomes not an external news, but an operational risk.

In this sense, the site does not eliminate all risks. But it gives the business a space where the rules are set by the company itself.

When I started to understand the topic, the first wording was: «Why are sellers leaving Ozon and Wildberries?»

I would put it differently now.

Sellers don’t necessarily leave. They’re growing up.

Marketplaces remain a strong channel. For many niches, they will provide a significant portion of sales for a long time. But entrepreneurs are increasingly realizing that building a business on just one site is risky.

A study of the MoiSklad ERP service among 1010 sellers on Russian marketplaces showed that 20% of sellers plan to develop their own online stores in 2025-2026. Another 14% are planning to enter new marketplaces, 12% are considering opening an offline store, and 8% are ready to completely leave marketplaces.

It is also interesting that, according to MoiSklad, in the first half of 2025, the turnover of online stores of small and medium-sized businesses increased by 14%, while the turnover of sellers on marketplaces increased by 9%. At the same time, the number of SMEs using their own online stores increased by 18% year-on-year.

These numbers don’t mean that marketplaces are losing importance. They’re talking about something else: the business is starting to develop additional channels.

First, an entrepreneur needs quick access to sales. Then there is the understanding of economics. Then there’s the brand, the customer base, repeat purchases, and independence.

And it is at this stage that your own website becomes especially important.

Sometimes your own website is perceived too narrowly: catalog, cards, shopping cart, payment. But if a site just repeats the marketplace, it will almost always lose.

The marketplace already has an app, an audience, saved maps, pick-up points, reviews, fast delivery and a familiar interface. It’s pointless to compete with him on his own field.

Your own website should solve a different task.

He should explain why the product is worth paying attention to. Why the brand is different. Why it is profitable, reliable or convenient for the buyer to buy directly. Why does a company understand its audience better than a faceless card in the general issue?

You can tell the brand’s story on the website. Show production, team, approach, materials, guarantees. Make collections, instructions, video reviews, comparisons, articles, FAQ, pages for different selection scenarios. To build the user’s path not around the lowest price, but around trust and value.

The marketplace sells the card.
A website can sell meaning.

This is especially important for products that require explanation: appliances, electronics, cosmetics, clothing, children’s goods, sporting goods, furniture, household goods, equipment, tools, electric vehicles, goods with a consulting cycle.

For example, if a company sells electric vehicles, you can not just post a list of models on the site. You can help a person choose: an electric scooter for the city, an electric bike for cottages, an electric motorcycle for trips, an off-road ATV. You can explain the differences, show usage scenarios, compare models, and talk about service, warranty, spare parts, delivery, and maintenance.

On the marketplace, all this is often compressed to a card. On the website, this can be turned into a full-fledged path of choice.

When I look at my own website as a business tool, I see not so much «pages» as the return of control.

1. Brand control. The company decides for itself what it looks like, what language it speaks, what advantages it shows, what meanings it brings to the first screen and how it builds trust.
2. Control over the customer base. When selling through a marketplace, the buyer remains primarily a customer of the site. On its website, a business can develop a personal account, order history, mailing lists, bonuses, personal offers and repeat sales.
3. Control over analytics. Your own website allows you to see the user’s path: from an advertisement, search query, or article to a product card, shopping cart, and payment. This makes it possible to make decisions not based on feelings, but on data.
4. Assortment control. You can promote not only what is better ranked in the search results, but also what is important to the business: marginal products, kits, new products, seasonal offers, products with a consulting cycle.
5. Development control. On the marketplace, businesses adapt to the rules of the platform. On his website, he decides for himself which functions to launch, which integrations to connect, which scenarios to test, and which data to collect.

And perhaps the most important thing is that the website returns the name to the business.

The buyer begins to interact not just with the product card, but with the company.

It is important not to go to the other extreme here. Your own website is not a magic pill.

If you simply upload products to a separate domain, connect a shopping cart and wait for orders, the result may disappoint. Especially if the business doesn’t have a clear strategy for promotion, content, SEO, advertising, analytics, and repeat sales.

The website should be integrated into business processes.

Before developing, you need to honestly answer a few questions.

Why do we need a website? What role will it play next to marketplaces? Which products do we bring out first? Which categories are the most marginal? Which products require an explanation? Which customers should come to the site? How will we attract traffic? How will we retain customers? What integrations are needed at the start? What can be left for the second stage?

Without these answers, the site risks becoming just another showcase that was once made but not developed.

And a good online store is not just about design and development. It is a bundle of product, content, analytics, logistics, marketing, and operational processes.

I would not advise businesses to abruptly abandon marketplaces and rely only on the site. In most cases, it’s too risky.

It is more correct to go in stages.

First, you need to analyze the current sales on marketplaces.: which products generate turnover, which make a profit, which are often returned, which require consultation, which are re-purchased, which cards are better converted, and which questions are most often asked by customers.

Then — define the site’s role. For example, a website can become a channel for flagship products, margin categories, repeat purchases, content, SEO promotion, or working with a loyal audience.

After that, the structure is designed: catalog, categories, filters, cards, collections, comparisons, articles, FAQ, delivery terms, brand pages, promotions, personal account.

Then the first version is launched. It is not necessary to create a huge online store with all possible functions right away. It is often better to run a strong basic version: catalog, cards, shopping cart, payment, delivery, administrative dashboard, analytics, SEO framework and several key integrations.

And then — to develop a website based on data. See what works, where users leave, which pages sell, which products require a better description, which filters interfere with the choice of where automation is needed.

This way, the website becomes not a one-time development, but a managed sales channel.

At Bulltech, we look at such projects not as «website development», but as creating a separate digital channel for business.

This is an important difference.

You can simply create an online store: catalog, cards, shopping cart, payment. Formally, the task will be completed. But a business doesn’t need a set of pages, but a system that helps it sell, collect data, retain customers, and reduce dependence on external platforms.

We can help on several levels.

First, do the analysis and design. Figure out how the business is selling now, which products should be displayed on the site, which scenarios are important for customers, which integrations are needed, which catalog structure is best laid out and what should be included in the first version.

Next is to develop a UX/UI design. An online store should not only be visually neat, but understandable. The user must quickly find the product, understand the characteristics, see the advantages, understand the terms of delivery and place an order without unnecessary actions.

Then you need to implement the technical part: catalog, filters, product cards, shopping cart, checkout, personal account, administrative dashboard, content management, SEO settings, integration with CRM, warehouse systems, delivery services, payment, online sales register, analytics and notifications.

After the launch, help develop the site. Because the online store cannot be considered completed on the day of publication. It needs to be improved based on user behavior, sales, analytics, feedback, and business objectives.

Our task is not just to «transfer the seller from the marketplace to the website.» Our goal is to help businesses build their own managed sales environment.

In the history of marketplaces, there is no simple division into right and wrong. The platforms have given businesses something that was previously not available to everyone.: quick access to the customer, federal logistics, ready-made infrastructure and a familiar sales scenario. For many entrepreneurs, this has become a real growth point.

But every convenience has a price. In the case of marketplaces, this price is expressed not only in commissions, logistics, and advertising. It also depends on algorithms, rules, issuance, discounts, reviews, internal promotion tools, and the user’s habit of buying «on the site» rather than «from the brand.»

Therefore, your own website is not an escape from marketplaces. This is an attempt to restore balance to the business.

On the marketplace, the company gets access to demand. On her website, she gets the opportunity to build a relationship with a customer. And it is this distinction that is becoming more important as the market matures.

If the seller is only checking demand, the marketplace may be enough. If he wants to build a brand, manage customer experience, develop repeat sales, and understand his economy more deeply, a marketplace is no longer enough.

The main conclusion for me in this study is this: the question is not where to sell — on Ozon, Wildberries or on your own website. The question is how much the business manages its sales by itself.

And the sooner a company starts building its own channel, the less it depends on other people’s rules and the more likely it is that the customer will remember not only the product, but also the brand behind it.