A brand in the discount stream: how to maintain its uniqueness on marketplaces and not lose itself among competitors

Marketplaces have become the main driver of online sales in Russia, providing quick access to a wide audience. However, with increasing competition, sellers face a difficult question: how to preserve the brand's identity in the face of standard product cards and aggressive discounts?

According to T-Data and Data Insight, marketplaces continue to strengthen their positions: spending on these platforms increased by more than 40% in 2024, and the number of purchases increased by 20%. For entrepreneurs, this is an opportunity to enter the market instantly. But the speed of entry is often accompanied by a loss of brand control.

Marketplaces offer branding tools: Wildberries has paid brand zones, Ozon has branded storefronts with multimedia content, and Yandex.Market has free "storefronts" without competitors. But many sellers either don't use these features or don't know how to effectively use them for promotion.

Meanwhile, brand awareness is becoming an important factor: according to a Yandex.Market study, almost half of buyers focus on the brand when choosing a product. This means that sellers need to go beyond the simple display of goods — they need to build an image, work with visual and create value beyond the price.

One of the key problems is aggressive discounts and promotions, which are often initiated by the sites themselves. They contribute to the growth of short-term sales, but at the same time they blur the perception of the brand, especially if the prices on the marketplace and on your own website are very different.

Another threat is dependence on a single platform. Many sellers build their business around a single marketplace without diversifying their channels. This makes the model vulnerable: changing logistics conditions, higher fees, or new display rules can reduce profits overnight.

Experts recommend building a brand as an independent system. Even if sales go through marketplaces, it is important to maintain a unified positioning, establish communication with the customer, and control price and analytics. This is the only way a brand can survive in the face of growing competition and the rules of the game imposed by the site.

The marketplace is just a tool. If you don't control your strategy, you may just end up being one of many. But if you use it wisely, it can become a springboard for large—scale growth.