Regulatory Response to Marketplace Policy Changes
In August 2025, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) reported a surge in complaints from small and medium-sized businesses regarding recent procedural changes on Wildberries and Ozon, which together account for nearly 80% of the Russian e-commerce market.
The changes reviewed by FAS include the introduction of new seller management algorithms and modifications to order fulfillment and returns procedures.
Sellers cited increased operational challenges, especially around mandatory inventory policies, automated discounting, and restricted warehouse access.
Wildberries: Inventory Pressure and Automated Discounts
Wildberries introduced a “product balance index” to monitor inventory levels.
Sellers with low turnover now face three difficult options:
- Pay higher storage fees.
- Accept unsanctioned discounts automatically applied by the platform.
- Retrieve inventory — often through a complex and delayed process.
Alongside this, the platform’s “Attractive Price” feature employs internal algorithms to determine selling prices and automatically apply discounts. Sellers have limited ability to opt out. Attempts to raise prices often result in the loss of promotional visibility.
Ozon: Returns Policy Overhaul
Ozon’s changes, effective October 1, 2025, revised the FBS (Fulfillment by Seller) model.
Customer returns and cancellations (unrelated to product quality) are now rerouted to Ozon’s central warehouses, making them eligible for resale.
However, sellers report logistical bottlenecks — difficulties in scheduling pickups and delays in slot allocation, leading to prolonged storage fees and capital lock-up.
FAS Reaction
The FAS Expert Council has flagged these practices as potentially harmful to both sellers and consumers, citing unfavorable contractual conditions and market manipulation risks.
The regulator called for policy revisions to restore fairness, transparency, and efficiency. Both marketplaces responded publicly, stating they would review and adapt their rules in line with FAS recommendations.
Implications for E-commerce Systems and Content Infrastructure
The procedural and algorithmic changes at Wildberries and Ozon have wide-reaching consequences for the technological and operational fabric of Russian e-commerce.
Impact on Product Feeds and Catalog Management
The shift toward algorithm-driven inventory and discount management directly impacts the composition and accuracy of sellers’ product feeds.
Automated discounts and ranking logic alter product visibility, SKU presentation, and price strategy.
Unplanned discounting or status changes disrupt catalog integrity.
Sellers must now invest in real-time synchronization between internal systems and marketplace APIs to keep product data compliant and up to date.
Standards of Categorization and Product Card Completeness
Stricter inventory and pricing automation raise the bar for data quality.
Incomplete or outdated product cards risk lower visibility, as algorithms prioritize listings that align with turnover and pricing rules.
This dynamic incentivizes structured, enriched content — detailed titles, high-quality images, and accurate categorization — to maintain rank and minimize losses from algorithmic penalties.
For SMBs, maintaining this level of data quality becomes both resource-intensive and strategically vital.
Speed to Market and Assortment Turnover
New storage pricing models and return constraints slow down assortment updates.
Sellers face challenges withdrawing or rotating slow-moving goods, leading to delayed time-to-market for new products.
Automated price controls further limit flexibility, requiring sellers to monitor algorithmic behavior constantly or risk losing control of their offers.
Role of No-Code and AI-Driven Systems
The rise of platform-driven automation increases demand for no-code and AI-based tools.
These solutions enable sellers to:
- Synchronize product data in real time.
- Track automatic pricing and promotion updates.
- Simulate the impact of platform policy changes.
AI-driven analytics offer predictive insights into stock levels, price elasticity, and promotion timing — replacing manual oversight with intelligent automation.
For small and mid-sized brands, no-code integration platforms are becoming essential to stay compliant and adaptive.
One of the most effective tools for this is a structured product feed.
Market Power, Transparency, and Seller Autonomy
Ozon and Wildberries jointly control around 80% of online retail and 85% of pickup point infrastructure in Russia. This dominance amplifies the impact of their internal policies.
Both sellers and regulators are calling for greater transparency and voluntary participation in promotional and pricing programs.
The loss of direct pricing control is viewed as a threat to market innovation and seller autonomy.
FAS has urged platforms to ensure:
- Clear feedback mechanisms for sellers.
- Opt-in participation for automated promotions.
- Transparency in algorithmic decision-making.
If voluntary reforms stall, tighter regulation may follow.
Persistent issues — such as indefinite storage fees or restricted withdrawals — already pose liquidity risks for smaller vendors.
This reflects a broader challenge of highly concentrated digital markets: as major platforms centralize merchandising and logistics, sellers’ flexibility and content resilience erode, leaving them exposed to unilateral changes.
Outlook and Trends
The FAS intervention could mark the start of more prescriptive oversight in algorithmic pricing, automation transparency, and contractual fairness.
Ongoing dialogue between platforms, sellers, and regulators will define the future of catalog standards, data management, and process automation in Russian e-commerce.
For e-commerce practitioners and content teams, this highlights a new imperative:
adaptable, data-rich workflows supported by intelligent automation.
As marketplace dynamics shift, success will depend on:
- Continuous feed optimization.
- Agile inventory control.
- Compliance with evolving algorithms and policies.
The implications for product feed management are profound — businesses must adapt faster to remain visible and profitable.
NotPIM Perspective
The ongoing regulatory scrutiny underscores a critical trend:
quality and adaptability of product information now define e-commerce competitiveness.
With rising complexity in discounting, inventory automation, and data compliance, companies require platforms that provide agility and control.
At NotPIM, we see growing demand for:
- Standardization and automation of product data.
- Real-time catalog synchronization with marketplaces.
- AI-driven enrichment and error detection.
Our solutions help businesses maintain consistent, compliant, and optimized product information — even as marketplace rules evolve.
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