Sellers began to be less afraid of marketplaces
There are fewer singers, starting to work on marketplaces, they began to fear low sales, additional expenses for logistics and high commissions of sites. The share of such entrepreneurs over the past three years has been reduced more than doubled. But recently, the threshold of entering the online platform has been growing for entrepreneurs, so some of them are trying to look for alternative channels.
By the beginning of the current year, the share of sellers who are afraid before going to low sales market players due to high competition amounted to 36%, followed by a survey conducted by Yandex Market and the position of 3 thousand entrepreneurs. This share was 2.25 times lower than in 2021, when the last time such a survey was conducted: then 81% of respondents replied that they were concerned with low sales, which they would encounter on the online platforms.
The main financial experiences of sellers who started business three years ago were the lack of real numbers about income and expenses and the opinion of high commissions of sites – this was noted by 70% and 69% of respondents, respectively.
In 2024, the indicators decreased to 22% and 29%, respectively, clarify in Yandex Market. The share of those who fear additional costs for logistics decreased from 53% to 42%, remoteness of warehouses – from 39% to 20%, analysts add. However, as the study by Yandex Market and Positions, only 52% of experienced entrepreneurs noted that fears regarding the exit to the marketplaces were not justified, and appreciated the coincidence of waiting and reality for one or five points of ten.
Evgeny Sholchev, founder of the Agency for Promoting the Sholchev marketplace, also noticed a positive attitude among beginners and among experienced singers. Previously, sellers had more uncertainty, confirmed by the President of the Association of Electronic Trade Representatives Alexei Moskalenko. Now the sites have become more transparent in issues of commissions, logistics and income, as well as much more quickly with technical support, adds Mr. Sholchev.
At the same time, the working conditions of singers on marketplaces are constantly becoming more complicated, and expenses are growing, Askar Rakhimberdiev’s CEO “My Warehouse” warns.
Go to the marketplace with an amount of less than 1-2 million rubles. Now it will not work, although a few years ago, 100-200 thousand rubles were enough to start a business, he adds. The share of advertising expenses on the sites three years ago was 10% of the amount of goods put up for sale, now many sellers do not even fit even 30%, Evgeny Sholchev notes. As a result, the total costs in some categories of goods can reach 40%, while several years ago they did not exceed 15%, Mr. Rakhimberdiev said.
Against this background, the revenues of the singers are growing more restrained pace than before. In 2023, they increased by 28% of the year, and in 2024 – only 20%, they counted earlier in “My Warehouse”. According to preliminary estimates by Data Insight, the turnover of the Internet trade market for 2024 increased by 40%, to 11 trillion rubles, a year earlier an increase was estimated at 44%. Although Ozon argues that the total turnover of sellers in 2024 increased by 69% of the year, which was lower than the dynamics of the total turnover of the site, which increased by 64% to 2.9 trillion rubles. In Wildberries and Megamarket did not respond to the request of Kommersant.
The dynamics of the growth of the number of new singers also slowed down. The number of new sellers on marketplaces in January -September 2024 increased by 17% of the year, while in 2023 the growth for the same period amounted to 38%, it was calculated in the Marketplais Point. The main restraining factor in the further expansion of sellers on marketplaces was a high concentration on the online platforms of more experienced and large players, says Yevgeny Sholchev. If the seller is not a manufacturer, but a reseller, then 80%that he will not survive in the struggle for net profit with manufacturers, he adds. Entrepreneurs are now looking for an alternative to marketplaces in the form of their own online stores, social networks and niche sites, where more controlled conditions of cooperation, says Askar Rakhimberdiev.
