2 million rubles. per month from one product on marketplaces. We sell cat litter 1.5 times more expensive than competitors
How to sell on marketplaces if you have only one product and hundreds of competitors? How to make Ozon and WB compete for your customers and offer discounts at your own expense? How about increasing product margins without additional investments? VetSecret, a cat litter store, increased its revenue threefold in six months to RUB 2 million. per month and sells 1.5 times more expensive than competitors.
There is an opinion that to increase income on marketplaces, you need to constantly expand your assortment. We will argue: this is not necessary if you organize your promotion wisely. And the product may be of everyday demand, which is sold everywhere. Moreover, you can quickly achieve profit and increase margins.
Let's tell you how we helped a seller with one product – cat litter — in six months, increase income 3 times to 2 million rubles. per month and sell 50% more expensive than competitors.
Let's reveal professional secrets. Did you know that you can force marketplaces to fight for your customers and give discounts at their own expense, not yours? In what cases is advertising not needed to increase sales? Read the case and get benefits that cannot be found in guides for beginners.
The seller sold only one product and worked to zero: there were few sales on WB and Ozon, not a single one on Ya.Market
The client sells only one product on marketplaces – silica gel cat litter in 4 and 10 liter packaging. Before contacting us, sales on Wildberries and Ozon were low: income revolved around the break-even point, and it was not possible to consistently make a profit. There was not a single order on Yandex Market: the store was not promoted.
Each marketplace sells hundreds of fillers. Seller was forced to keep prices lower than competitors and reduce its profitability in order to win the market.
It was also impossible to boost sales by increasing the range. Only sell cat litter, the production of which has already been established.
Andrey Shakhvatov, CEO of VetSecret: I was looking for reliable contractors to outsource the maximum number of tasks related to product promotion – card optimization, pricing, shipment control and other operational tasks. I decided to contact IACS after reading a case study about the agency’s work on marketplaces.
The product received negative reviews due to internal problems of marketplaces. We improved the cards, created a support service, and reduced the negativity significantly
We issue product cards according to the principle Amazon graphic funnel. Its essence is to show visual content that responds to the client's objections. And do this in the order in which objections arise.
When we started working on the project, the product cards described its main advantages, but not all its properties. In addition, buyers had no idea where to turn if something went wrong after ordering. This led to the fact that even high-quality filler often received off-topic negative reviews: the product was not delivered, the package was torn upon delivery, the structure of the filler was not liked.
We took existing product cards as a basis and modified:
Added information about the hypoallergenic nature of the filler. The silica gel base eliminates the formation of fine dust that can irritate the nose and lungs. This is important for many cat owners.
Improved quality of illustrations. We took photos in higher resolution and in the format required by a specific marketplace. For example, on Ozon, for this product category, square images were needed, but rectangular ones were used, taken from Wildberries without adaptation. Because of this, the cards were indexed worse.
We created rich content for Ozon – a detailed description of the product with photos and infographics.
We suggested that the client organize a support service. We have added a phone number where buyers can directly contact the seller and ask questions or leave complaints.
After this, the number of negative reviews decreased significantly. If previously approximately every tenth review was negative, now it is every thirtieth or fortieth, about one per month.
We rejected the marketplace’s suggestions and created effective product titles ourselves – the card rating on Ozon increased to 100%
Marketplace algorithms evaluate the product card and automatically generate header options. But we did not rely entirely on them: the generated title may not be effective for promotion.
At the start of the project, using the MarketGuru service, we assembled our own semantic core, which buyers actually use to search for the product. Then we added advertising statistics to this list. Wildberries launched a campaign with payment through an auction and tracked which queries buyers used to find products:
We selected 5-7 of the most popular key phrases and integrated them into product cards: titles, descriptions, characteristics. They became noticeable to both marketplace algorithms and buyers.
We constantly updated the semantics and added the most popular and relevant queries to product descriptions. By filling out the characteristics in detail, we achieved a card rating of 100% on Ozon, while the average for the category is about 60%.
We introduced uniform SKUs and forced marketplaces to compete – offering discounts to customers at their own expense, not ours.
There is one secret that is critical for product card indexing and sales. But only professionals know it.
It lies in the fact that in the product card, graphics, text and especially articles must be the same on all marketplaces!
Then the magic happens. Based on the article number and images, the algorithm of one marketplace searches for our product from its competitors (other marketplaces). If he finds it, he attaches a price index to it and can give his own discount so that the product is better sold by him and not by competitors. This can be used to get a more profitable index.
For example, we needed the price of filler on WB to be slightly higher than on Ozon. The second marketplace gave a discount at its own expense to regular customers who regularly purchase goods on this site. The difference in price can be displayed as income or converted into points, which can then be spent on advertising.
How we achieved this:
We created identical cards on both marketplaces.
Ozon gave a discount to regular customers.
Wildberries “saw” the price reduction on Ozon and gave a 20% discount from its original price. On WB it became lower than on the second marketplace.
Ozon noticed a price reduction from a competitor and again increased the discount in order to still sell more goods on its site.
Profit – the price for WB is again higher, and for Ozon lower.
Thus, we achieved a high regular customer discount (FCD) – up to 30%. This has increased the attractiveness of our products. Moreover, we do not lose our margin: everything is due to marketplaces.
Reviews were rarely responded to, which demotivated customers. We began to communicate with them carefully, with humor and increased brand loyalty
Before contacting us, many product reviews remained unanswered. And responding quickly is also very important: it attracts attention, builds a positive reputation for the seller, helps convince new customers to purchase the product, and those who have already purchased to return.
We have systematized our work with reviews. Together with the client, we developed a tone-of-voice – the voice of the brand, which manifests itself in communications. We decided that we communicate informally, kindly, with care for customers and with gentle humor. We answered some of the reviews ourselves; if expert knowledge was required, we requested information from the client.
We modernized the product card and achieved a record high conversion on Ozon: every third click from an advertisement led to a purchase
When promoting on Ozon you cannot do without advertising. At first, we used both main formats – search promotion and stencils (a tool that allows you to display products on search and category pages, in promotional selections and recommendations).
Search promotion was launched with minimal bids, but in July Ozon raised them by several percent, and we abandoned this advertising campaign.
They left pay-per-click stencils. The effectiveness of this tool is determined by conversion to cart (the ratio between views of the product card and its addition to the cart). And this indicator depends on the attractiveness of the product card: you can get a lot of clicks, but the conversion will be low.
Thanks to improvements to the card, we were able to achieve a record high conversion rate. Every third user who clicked on the ad ended up adding the product to their cart:
We keep the DRR at 13%. Over the past two months, it has grown by 3-5%, because the client, having seen such advertising effectiveness, decided to scale and increased the advertising budget.
Yandex Market was messing with impressions. We unraveled the logic of the algorithm and increased card views from 50 to 4000, and sales by 5 times
On Yandex Market, we could not understand how the search engine promotion algorithm works. There was no transparency: you didn’t change anything, but today the product is shown, but tomorrow it’s not.
Like real marketers, we went through tests. We constantly changed the content and key phrases in the card and looked at how it affected impressions. At the same time, we analyzed the marketplace’s promotions and participated in those where Y.Market did not require lower prices for goods.
One day, card views soared from 50-60 to 3000-4000! It seems we have found the key to the algorithm. Then views remained at this level, and the next month sales increased 5 times – from 122,000 to 635,000 thousand rubles.
We set up advertising on Wildberries at the start of the project – also to test hypotheses and collect semantics. The budget did not exceed 5000-7000 rubles per month, and then we almost stopped using it. The product sells well due to card optimization and organic promotion.
We increased the marginality of goods and increased total income by 3 times to 2 million per month – product deliveries could hardly keep up with sales
We strengthened the seller's position in the niche and received a constant flow of buyers. This meant that there was no longer a need to balance on the brink of profitability. We began to gradually increase prices – by 5-7% per month. Over the six months of our cooperation, they grew by 30% and began to approach the premium class. Thus, the filler has become more profitable without additional investments. Now competitors are selling at 1.5 times cheaper, but they cannot take our customers away. And we plan to increase prices further in line with inflation.
The client’s income for six months increased 3 times to 2 million rubles.
Wildberries earned 2.62 million rubles. in 4 months.
On Yandex Market, where there were no sales back in March, 1.1 million rubles. in six months.
The number of orders increased even more – from 2-3 to 10 times.
On all marketplaces we have exceeded the break-even point and are making a profit.
Andrey Shakhvatov, CEO of VetSecret: The main indicator by which I evaluate the contractor’s performance is the increase in revenue. And it is constantly growing, which means the agency is delivering results. We recently introduced a new product to our range – Tofu cat litter.
We are ready to help other sellers with organizing the purchase of goods in China. Our company is part of an international logistics corporation, and we know all the nuances of this business.
Sales are going faster than the client expected. Even taking into account the fact that we raised prices. When we see that a product may run out earlier than expected, we warn the customer in advance and help set up timely logistics.
Andrey Shakhvatov, CEO of VetSecret: I like the autonomy of the MAKO team. They know what they are doing and everything works. Agency specialists perform all the functions of a full-time marketplace manager. Employees meet you halfway, listen, and quickly and clearly resolve issues that arise. Even if there were conflict situations or misunderstandings, we managed to find a common language and come to an agreement. I am impressed when a contractor has conscience, dignity and professionalism.
How to sell on marketplaces if you have a narrow range
Develop an effective graphical funnel.
Keep track of what queries your product is being searched for and what features your competitors are using, update your cards 1-2 times a month.
Reduce the number of negative reviews as much as possible and show loyalty to customers.
Participate in those advertising campaigns and promotions that are beneficial to you and give the best results.
Monitor the availability of goods in warehouses.
Already working on marketplaces and unhappy with sales? We offer conduct an audit of your progress. We will assess demand, develop a promotion strategy and launch sales. You will not lose anything, because we take on the risks.
Our clients pay for results – 5-10% of turnover growth. If you already receive income from marketplaces, then you will only pay for the increase in your existing turnover.
