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Where to Sell: How Much Does a Business's "Entrance Ticket" to Marketplaces Cost
Where to sell: How much does a “ticket” cost on a corporate trading platform?
Entrance fee 60~110,000.
Now, registering a seller on any trading platform will take only a few minutes. Taking out a "test" batch of products is not a problem, but everything works on the principle of "entry - a penny, exit - a ruble." The seller pays a certain percentage as a commission, pays for the storage and promotion of goods stored in the warehouse of the electronic trading platform so that the goods do not become obsolete, carries out logistics, assembly, etc.
The cost of the marketplace services varies depending on the product category, size, price and many other factors. Realnoe Vremya calculated the approximate size of the commission that sellers pay when selling goods of certain categories. However, the actual figures may differ from those given below depending on the type of product, price, lot size and other criteria.
This does not reflect additional costs that inevitably arise if the seller wants a better presentation of the product with photos, videos or a high-quality description of the product (which determines how many buyers will see this particular offer in the search). According to expert data published in the public domain, you will have to pay 5-20 thousand rubles for a photo, 2-5 thousand rubles for a video and 3,000 rubles each to professionally issue a card. Another cost item is product certification. The cost is not less than 5,000 rubles. Advertising a product costs more than 20,000 rubles.
When registering on Wildberries, you must pay a security deposit. It currently costs 30,000 rubles. Also, in the contract with the seller, the marketplace may provide for the right to change the commission amount unilaterally, so an "Early Reserve" is required, which is estimated in different sources at 20-50 thousand rubles.
Experts currently estimate the total cost of an “entrance ticket” to the electronic trading platform at 60–110 thousand rubles.
not the first, but the fifth
The number of Russians who made at least one purchase on the marketplace was 15 million in 2021 and 88 million in 2023. 84% of Russians buy here, and 80% do so at least 2-3 times a month. According to experts, by the end of 2024, the number of marketplace sellers is expected to increase more than 1.5 times, reaching 700,000.
According to Data Insight, Wildberry's share of the Russian online sales market is 47%, Ozon - 34.4%, Yandex Market - 8.1%, Magnit Market - 0.4%, and other marketplaces - 10.2%. The number of Russians who have bought something on online platforms at least once has grown sixfold from 15 million in 2021 to 88 million in 2023, and sales have grown more than sevenfold in three years (2021-2023).
According to the same source, in 2023, Tatarstan took 5th place in the top 10 in terms of the number of seller registrations. Only Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and the Krasnodar region are ahead. As of early December 2023, 8,900 Tatarstan enterprises and entrepreneurs were registered with Ozon, and 94,000 with Wildberry.
Yarullina noted: Marketplaces focus on each other when determining conditions for sellers, and as a result, the conditions are almost the same everywhere. According to her, novice players in this market should take into account various subtleties in order not to get into trouble. For example, someone who sells clothes should be prepared for the fact that a buyer who orders the same item in several sizes will have to take one item and return another, incurring additional costs. And entrepreneurs entering this market need to use advertising tools to achieve success - from conditional free promotions and points to advertising banners on the main page of the marketplace.
“When we first started working in 2021 and brought sellers to the market, some thought that online transactions do not require human intervention - you just deliver the goods and that's it,” says Yarullina. “And you have to constantly log into your personal account to check the balance, what you are buying and what needs to be adjusted.” Much depends on how much the seller can spend on advertising to avoid shortages.
Her data shows that over the past three years, retailer logistics, returns, last mile, commissions and advertising fees have risen from 25% of the cost of an item to 40-45%, and in some cases to 50%. And for the cheapest items, shipping costs already exceed the cost.
"I went to Kazan Express as a self-employed person with a product that was more or less made by hand - a notebook made of kraft paper," Kazan entrepreneur Vadim Gershanov told Realnoe Vremya. "These products are designed for a specific audience, and the original name I gave the notebook was a kind of appeal to a specific group of buyers. This platform turned out to be the most convenient for me given the low turnover of staff.
After that, Gershanov switched to Wildberries, using the free support of the smp.rf platform. He believes that doing this on his own would be much more difficult, since each market has its own rules and peculiarities that entrepreneurs may not know or understand. This meant that entrepreneurs did not have to spend money on things like paying for professional photos and creating accurate product cards at the "debut" stage. He was supported until his first birth.
Now Gershanov is also accessing Ozon via the sмп.рф platform. The plan is the same. Support will be provided until the first device is shipped.
"If you have working capital and want to invest, you need one market entry strategy, if not, you need another strategy," says Vadim Gershanov. - If you don't have money, look for cheap things and start small. But in any case, it is important to choose the right niche product. No one will tell the entrepreneur about this, no one will provide this information. He will sell this product in this niche himself.
Representatives of the Mendeleev enterprise, which specializes in the production of furniture under the Stul i Kov brand and sells its products in several markets, told Realnoe Vremya that in terms of initial and subsequent costs, its own production is in more favorable conditions. position. Unlike resellers who sell other people's products, we have our own packaging lines, warehouses and logistics, which allows us to save money.
"As a result, resellers have more opportunities to work. Having tried to supply small quantities of one product and having spent minimal money, you will be able to evaluate the prospects of this direction and decide whether to continue or look for another product. niche.
But in any case, says Realnoe Vremya’s interlocutor, you need to be prepared for the fact that the product “will not work” and sell it at a minimum price, even at a loss.
"As competition in the market increases, it is becoming increasingly difficult for entrepreneurs and business owners to "naturally" turn their products into bestsellers," entrepreneur Farid Abdulganiyev from the press service of the Office for the Protection of Rights under the President of the Republic of Tatarstan explained to Realnoe Vremya. - Knowledge and ability to use analytical and product promotion tools offered by the market are crucial to your success. That is why we have been holding a free educational forum-marathon in Tatarstan for the third year. More than 3,000 participants have registered their stores on the marketplace and are trading successfully.
The corporate ombudsman's office noted: According to official data, the number of Russians who have made at least one purchase on the market has grown from 15 million to 88 million in three years, and sales on online platforms have grown more than sevenfold. According to forecasts from the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), in 2023 the Russian e-commerce market will grow by 45.1%, reaching 8.3 trillion rubles. Over the next three years, the volume of transactions will reach $18 trillion, and the share of online transactions in total retail sales will increase from 14.9% to 25%.