Banning marketplaces from influencing prices: A new trading model and the implications for e-commerce businesses

The initiative to limit the influence of marketplaces on product prices is no longer just a topic of market debate and is gradually taking shape as a systemic concept for trade reform. The draft new national trade model proposes enshrining the principle that determining the price of goods should remain solely with the seller, and the role of the digital platform should be limited to an infrastructure function. Essentially, this represents a fundamental revision of the economic architecture of e-commerce, transforming the marketplace from an active participant in pricing policy into a storefront, logistics operator, and technological intermediary.

This approach reflects the government’s desire to change the balance between online and traditional retail. While previously, platforms could actively participate in discounts, creating consumer expectations of consistently low prices, the new model assumes that price is part of the seller’s commercial will, not a platform tool.

For businesses, this means not just a likely change in price levels, but the need to restructure financial, contractual, and product strategy.

How will the new regulatory mechanism be structured?

The proposed model envisions a phased transition, making the reform particularly important for strategic business planning. During the initial phase, marketplaces will retain the ability to participate in discount promotions, but only with the seller’s consent. However, a seller’s refusal to participate in the promotion should not negatively impact their position on the platform, the terms of cooperation, product visibility, or access to infrastructure services.

The next stage will consider a more stringent configuration—a complete ban on platforms’ participation in price formation, including discounts subsidized by the platform itself.

In fact, the market is moving towards a model in which:

• the price of the product is determined only by the seller;
• discounts are possible only with his express consent;
• the refusal of shares does not affect the commercial terms;
• the marketplace does not use price as a tool of pressure;
• Competition is shifting to service, logistics and customer experience.

This approach is aimed at reducing the risks of unfair competition, when artificially low prices are used as a mechanism to displace offline retail and increase sellers’ dependence on the digital ecosystem.

How marketplaces actually influenced prices before

Modern platforms have long since moved beyond the role of neutral intermediaries. Their involvement in pricing was built through promotions, mandatory promotional campaigns, algorithmic promotion, subsidized discounts, and indirect influence on product rankings.

The main instruments of influence included:

• discounts due to the platform;
• joint promotional campaigns;
• mandatory participation in sales;
• price reduction for the sake of increasing output;
• redistribution of margins through commissions and advertising.

For the buyer, this looked like a familiar, eye-catching discount, but economically, the difference was often offset either by the seller or through subsequent increases in commissions, logistics, and promotion costs.

It was precisely this model that, for many years, shaped the market’s habit of artificially low prices and allowed marketplaces to rapidly increase their share of e-commerce.

Why the new model is important for offline retail

A separate strategic goal of the reform is to support traditional retail, particularly small and medium-sized businesses in the regions. Local stores, small retail outlets, and regional chains are objectively unable to compete with the subsidized discounts offered by large platforms, especially in everyday consumer goods categories.

The new retail model is essentially aimed at restoring more balanced competition between sales channels. Within this framework, the offline segment assumes particular importance, fulfilling not only a commercial but also an infrastructural function—ensuring the availability of goods in small towns, supporting local employment, and fostering a sustainable consumer market.

This is especially important for:

• regional small business;
• local grocery retail;
• specialized stores near your home;
• retail outlets in small towns;
• local distributors and franchisees.

From an economic policy perspective, this is an attempt to prevent excessive concentration of sales in a few digital ecosystems.

How will this affect prices and unit economics?

In the short term, price increases on marketplaces remain the most likely scenario. When a platform loses the ability to subsidize discounts, buyers begin to see prices based on the actual cost, commissions, storage costs, returns, advertising, and delivery.

The most sensitive will remain:

• everyday goods;
• household chemicals;
• FMCG – low-margin products;
• Office goods;
• Inexpensive household goods.

However, it’s important to understand that in many categories, the current price hikes effectively mean abandoning artificially low prices. Today, many retailers already factor in future discount depths into their prices to avoid losing margins on mandatory promotions. With this pressure removed, prices become not so much higher as more economically transparent.

For the company’s financial unit, this means the need to recalculate:

• SKU marginality;
• acceptable discount level;
• ROI of advertising tools;
• GMV dependence on promotions;
• share of the commission in the final price.

The market is moving from a growth model through price dumping to a transparent pricing model, where price becomes an element of the seller’s commercial independence.

For businesses, this means a transition to a more mature and sustainable e-commerce model, in which the key competitive factor is not artificial discounts, but rather quality of service, product range, logistics, customer experience, and managed margins.