Sportpit goes online: sales on marketplaces have grown, and reviews, search, and card content are crucial
For brands and sellers, this means one thing: demand growth will have to be ensured not by a promotional race, but by assortment discipline, transparent logistics, and readiness for traceability and labeling requirements.
Sports nutrition has become one of the fastest growing segments within the Sports category on marketplaces. Against the background of the general growth of sports involvement in Russia, the channel shift has also intensified: offline sporting goods outlets are shrinking, while online continues to gain momentum. As a result, marketplaces are already taking over a significant share of sports goods sales — and the sports market is one of the main "accelerators" here.
Two platforms are two different competitive economies. According to the study, Wildberries and Ozon have category dynamics that differ not only in pace, but also in the structure of success.:
- On Ozon, the share of sellers who have sales in sporting goods has increased — this usually means a "window of entry" for newcomers: the market is expanding faster than the competition has time to close.;
- On the contrary, the share of successful sellers on Wildberries has decreased — a typical sign of saturation: in order to stay, you either need to get into strong subcategories, or invest in the quality of the offer and operational efficiency.
In the sports field itself, the growth looks particularly contrasting: Wildberries has increased the turnover of the subcategory by tens of percent, while Ozon has a multiple jump in money and units. This suggests that the buyer of a sports bar is increasingly choosing not a "convenience store", but a platform with a wide range, discounts and fast delivery — that is, the classic logic of FMCG, transferred to e-commerce.
The main insight for sellers is that it's not just the price that decides. The statistical model for Ozon Fresh shows that a critical share of success is formed by a combination of reviews, search position, and card content. Discounts and price are important, but they don't "kill" competitors alone. Simply put: the sports bar is becoming a category where those who manage the trust and visibility of the product win, and not just put a minimum price tag.
Foreign economic activity perspective: why the growth of the sports field inevitably rests on supply chains. For most brands, sportpit is a complex product in terms of raw materials and components (concentrates, amino acids, flavor mixtures, sweeteners, functional additives). The more active the demand, the higher the burden on purchases and import shoulders, including in the BRICS areas, where large suppliers of raw materials and packaging are concentrated. The market quickly "punishes" for gaps in availability: A card with strong reviews loses ground in weeks if the product goes out-of-stock.
What will change the rules of the game in 2026. A separate factor is the mandatory labeling of sports nutrition in Russia, which has already become practical for market participants. For sellers, this means increased requirements for documents, batch traceability, correct aggregation, and working with EDI. Marketplaces will strengthen acceptance control: any labeling failure turns into a delay in delivery, fines, and a drop in ranking due to a drawdown in availability.
Practical conclusions for business.
- Rely on feedback management (quality, service, honest communication), not just promo.
- Invest in the content of the card: composition, purpose, instructions, photos — this is a direct conversion driver.
- Plan for foreign economic activity and production "on availability": it is critical for the sports field to keep an insurance reserve for the top SKU.
- Check the readiness for labeling and EDI, so as not to lose the pace of sales at the stage of acceptance and shipment.
