Why does a product that retails in only dozens of batches in Türkiye sell hundreds of units a day in Russia? Turkish pharmacist Cihat Aygün found the answer to this question: after entering a new market, he not only multiplied sales several times over, but also completely redesigned his business model. In just two years, the entrepreneur successfully built an international business on Ozon Global, the cross-border division of Russia’s largest marketplace, where he identified profitable niches and significantly increased sales: the company grew its shipment volume from five to 10 deliveries to 500-600 per day. In this article, the entrepreneur shares the tools tested in practice and through personal experience.
Aygün is a trained pharmacist. Five years ago, together with partners, he launched an e-commerce business in Türkiye, focusing on pharmacy-category products. After a couple of years working in online sales, Cihat turned his attention to electronic exports, specifically the fast-growing e-commerce market in Russia. The entrepreneur noticed steady demand for products by Turkish sellers among Russian consumers, who actively use online platforms.
Russia’s largest marketplace, Ozon, has 67.3 million users, about 18 million of whom shop weekly, indicating a very high level of engagement.
The entrepreneur notes that over a short period, Ozon Global has evolved from an additional sales channel into one of the key drivers of the business: while previously the platform accounted for only 1- 2% of turnover, today its share has reached a substantial 20%.
At the start of working with the Russian marketplace, Aygün immediately identified the platform’s key advantage – the simplicity and ease of selling. While entering other popular marketplaces meant dealing with complicated customs procedures, on Ozon, this barrier was effectively absent: selling in Russia felt just as easy as shipping goods within Türkiye. The platform takes on all logistical and regulatory issues, allowing sellers to focus solely on the product.
“When I wanted to take this business into digital, I went to Moscow to conduct research and examine the operations and fulfillment centers there. But then I realized that doing business from Türkiye is much easier. I understood that with my company in Türkiye, I could quickly open my Ozon store and sell products abroad without disrupting my existing operations or creating a completely new system. My Ozon journey started entirely after realizing this convenience.”
According to the entrepreneur, Ozon’s analytical tools also played an important role: “This data gives you the opportunity to make precise moves and minimize the possibility of failure. By using analytics, I study my competitors and, instead of competing with extremely cheap products sold directly from Ozon’s own warehouse, I focus my energy on the right products. Also, Ozon has a great rating system that makes it easy to get customer reviews. Customers leave reviews very quickly.”
As a result, Cihat’s company moved away from selling only one category and shifted to a multi-category model: today, the team is steadily expanding its assortment and showing sustained sales growth across product categories – from dietary supplements and medical devices to hygiene products, household chemicals and even electronics.
Where the business initially worked with just 100-150 product listings, the assortment quickly expanded to 500. This growth made it possible to better match buyer behavior: when ordering from another country, Russian customers more often build larger baskets. As a result, customers began completing more of their purchases within a single store, even when prices were higher than competitors’, which significantly increased average order value. An additional benefit comes from the review system, which accelerates the accumulation of feedback, pushes products toward the top, and organically speeds up sales. Against this backdrop, the company’s daily shipment volume grew from five to 10 to 500-600.
“Russian consumers are not as ‘price-dependent’ as customers in Türkiye. In Türkiye, e-commerce is almost entirely price-oriented; Buybox algorithms are determined by price. However, on Ozon, I noticed that customers care much more about delivery time, seller ratings, and seller reviews. Many times, we sold products in very high quantities even though we listed them at higher prices than the market. This shows that Russian customers value service quality and shop very consciously. The fact that price is not the only criterion was something that surprised and pleased me greatly,” said Aygün, who uses multiple marketplaces both in Türkiye and in other countries.
Reflecting on his experience, Aygün identifies two categories with the greatest potential in the Russian market – dietary supplements and textiles. The entrepreneur notes that demand for these categories is long-term. In his view, trust in Turkish goods in these segments is formed not only online but also offline – he personally observed the strong presence of Turkish brands in pharmacies in Moscow, and Ozon Global data confirms this trend at the sales level. In textiles and dietary supplements, Russian buyers consciously choose Turkish quality, even at a higher price. In the end, Aygün formulates a key takeaway for Turkish entrepreneurs: the Russian e-commerce market is already established, trust in Turkish sellers exists and demand is growing.
That is why companies entering now can grow from small businesses into large-scale operations by relying on convenient and transparent tools for export sales in Russia.
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