Market

Ivan Fadeev launched an online store of toys for adults a few years ago, but then things didn’t work out. Today he returned to sales in this niche, but this time he went the other way, and sells them all over Russia. Market, SberMegaMarket, Ozon, Aliexpress and Wildberries. He told us why adult products are perfect for trading on marketplaces and whether you need to learn how to trade on these sites.

How it all began? 

A few years ago we tried to launch an 18+ online store. In my opinion, this category is quite difficult to promote if you sell exclusively through an online store. We really had no idea how to work with advertising under censorship restrictions, and not all platforms allow you to post content marked 18+. As a result, my partners and I were distracted by another project. And two years ago, we started working with marketplaces - they were just beginning to actively develop in Russia, and many of them began to open the category of goods for adults. Now more than half of all sales on the Internet are made through them. Online stores remain relevant, but much less.

What is the benefit of working with marketplaces?

 One of the main expenses of an entrepreneur launching an online store is marketing, which can take a significant part of the budget. Here you need to constantly try, test, develop creatives, and on marketplaces you can simply place your assortment and receive orders for a fixed commission. Marketplaces spend huge budgets on promoting themselves and it is in their interest to maximize the number of orders. For sellers, this is a huge plus, since they take on all marketing costs. The transparency of these sites is also important - we know exactly how much we will pay the marketplace for each order.

How to sell an assortment marked 18+? 

There were absolutely no difficulties that we encountered at the very beginning of the journey when we launched the online store. All marketing activity is on the side of marketplaces - they themselves request a product, look for bloggers for advertising and provide a link to us. We get buyers, but we don't do advertising. Of course, you can do it like everyone else, through your own efforts as a blogger. The blogger makes a review, gives a link, the person goes to the marketplace page, where, in addition to our products, many competitors' products are presented. Even in our card there are links to other sellers. It turns out that we pay for promotion, and the traffic goes not only to us, but also to the marketplace and competitors.

How are goods shipped?

We receive an order from the client through the marketplace showcase and only after that we buy the ordered goods from the seller. We cooperate with the "Supplier of Happiness" - they pack, label and ship orders on the same day, or the next day. Thanks to this, we do not load our warehouse and deliver goods to customers on time.

"Supplier of Happiness" offers deep IT integration with each of the marketplaces presented in Russia. Since all this is organized within one information system, the entrepreneur does not have to solve integration issues. If we were to implement all these tasks on our own, we would have to separately integrate with the supplier, logistician, marketplace, and then “mold” all this into a single system on our own.

What are the difficulties of working with marketplaces? 

In 2020, when a lockdown was introduced in Russia, the number of orders we had just went through the roof. People were bored at home, and they tried their best to diversify their lives. Today the situation is a bit different and the profit is about 10% of our peak "pandemic" indicators. Over the past year, competition has greatly increased, many have begun dumping, and, as a result, marginality has decreased.

Among the significant disadvantages are the regular increase in site commissions, the tightening of delivery conditions, which occur every two to three months. If we used to be able to afford some order to ship later, now it is almost impossible.

How did you deal with dumping? 

As a rule, all top manufacturers monitor price changes for their goods and impose sanctions if the store sells goods below the recommended retail price. In our experience, a warning comes first. If the seller fails to respond quickly, then the shipment of individual articles is blocked, and it can last for several days. If a repeated violation is recorded, then the blocking can last a month.

What is the site commission and profit?

The commission for each product is different - somewhere it can be 3%, and somewhere 20%. 1-2% of the retail price remains for net profit in the lowest margin categories, and up to 20-30% in high-margin categories, which include adult products.

Do I need training courses to work with marketplaces? 

I believe that it is quite easy to start on the marketplace: it is enough to have minimal entrepreneurial experience. Plus, I have a technical about education, so it was easy and simple for me. My friends who entered the adult market when there was already strong competition did not face any serious problems either.

However, I understand that difficulties may arise. If you had no experience in entrepreneurial activity before, then such courses will help save time. Someone will master the entire toolkit in a week, someone else will.These few months can turn into a few days. And such courses can also protect a novice entrepreneur from mistakes and losses, which are difficult to avoid at the start.

What are the prospects for working with marketplaces?

 The marketplace market in Russia is still quite young, so it is still stormy and tossed from side to side. In order for it to form and grow stronger, you need to wait a couple more years. I believe that everything will return to normal when those are eliminated. Most will play enough and leave in other directions. The future of marketplaces lies with sellers with strong resources and a clear understanding of the rules by which this business exists.

You can also realize yourself in the intimate goods trade segment by contacting the “Supplier of Happiness” company. This is the founder of dropshipping in Russia. Specialists provide support to clients at all stages - from the launch of the project and before its promotion in the media at the stage of success. Supplier of Happiness is the company with the largest range of 18+ category products on the market. There are more than 30,000 items on sale, which is several times more than any other supplier.