E-commerce union asks Russian regulators to examine Ozon promotion controls

Russia's E-Commerce Union asked the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Industry and Trade Ministry to examine sellers' control over Ozon promotions. The marketplace says existing tools remain available.

RBC reported that union director Georgy Bagiryan signed the appeal dated October 15. The union confirmed the letter's authenticity. Sellers complained that some promotions no longer offered quantity limits for discounted goods and that withdrawing products had become difficult.

The union says sellers whose goods are stored and delivered by the marketplace risk having their entire stock sold at promotional prices. It requested checks of the controls' actual availability and compliance with platform economy and competition laws.

Ozon told RBC it began changing promotion management on October 12 but described the changes as technical. Each product now has a single maximum price. According to the company, a product participates when that price meets or falls below the promotion's required price and exits when the seller raises it above that threshold.

The company also said sellers retain the ability to opt out of automatic inclusion and set promotion restrictions. Ozon said these settings can be switched on or off at any time.