Russian marketplace sellers started storing goods in own warehouses after drone strikes

Almost all sellers who work with Wildberries have started storing their goods in their own warehouses following Ukrainian drone strikes on the marketplace’s logistics facilities.

Citing data from the bank Tochka, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported that the share of sellers using the FBS (Fulfillment by Seller) model — in which goods are stored and shipped from the seller’s own warehouse — had nearly doubled to 97.4% by the end of August. A similar trend appeared at Ozon, where the share of sellers using their own warehouses rose by 7.8 percentage points, to 73.1%.

The share of sellers using the FBO (Fulfillment by Operator) model — where goods ship from the marketplace’s own warehouse — fell at both companies.

Wildberries told Kommersant it has indeed seen growing seller interest in FBS but stopped short of calling it a mass shift, with marketplace representatives saying sellers are trying to combine both models. Ozon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Experts polled by Kommersant said marketplaces charge higher commissions to sellers who use their own warehouses, but noted that for goods with steady demand, relying on a marketplace’s warehouse still offers advantages, including faster delivery.

Ukrainian troops have used drones to attack all of Wildberries’ major warehouses since mid-July. Ozon’s logistics facilities were also struck.

As of early August, the damage to Wildberries and its sellers from the drone strikes was estimated at hundreds of billions of rubles.

On September 9, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Roman Chekushov said that not all of the logistics facilities damaged in Ukrainian drone strikes should necessarily be rebuilt. According to him, it’s first necessary to understand “how logistics will be restructured.”