Ozon is one of the first e-commerce companies in Russia, sometimes referred to as "the Amazon of Russia."^[2][3][4] Established in 1998 as an online bookstore, Ozon was one of the three biggest online retail platforms in the country by 2019.^[5] It was named as the #3 most valuable Russian internet company of 2020 by Forbes.^[6]

Ozon is part of Ozon Group, which also owns the online travel booking platform Ozon. Travel and a stake in Russia's largest digital bookstore Litres.^[7][8] The current chief executive officer of Ozon is Alexander Shulgin, who joined the company after serving as chief financial officer and later chief operating officer of Yandex.^[9][10]

In October 2020 it was reported that Ozon plans to hold an IPO in the United States that could value the company at $3-5 billion.^[11] In November 2020, Ozon went public on the Nasdaq in an IPO that valued the company at $6.2 billion.^[12] Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nasdaq suspended trading in the company's securities and then announced its intention to delist. Ozon unsuccessfully appealed twice, and in October 2023 announced a voluntary delisting.^[13]

Ozon.ru was established in 1998 as an online bookseller by the Russian software house Reksoft. The company soon expanded its assortment to CDs and DVDs before going on to sell a wide range of goods from clothing to electronics.^[14] In 2012, it acquired the shoe seller Sapato.ru and sold it in 2015 to the online fashion retailer KupiVIP.^[15] In 2014, it acquired a stake in Litres, a major Russia's e-book marketplace.^[16]

Ozon offers more than 9 million products across more than 20 product categories including clothing, groceries, home goods and electronics.^[40] After a large increase in the available assortment, the volume of orders more than doubled in 2019 to 32.2 million.^[41]

In early 2019, the company launched a service called Ozon.Invest that grants loans to small and medium-sized businesses that sell their products on the Ozon marketplace.^[42] Ozon was also the first online retailer in Russia to launch consumer loans for multi-category online purchases, as well as its own debit card with a cashback feature.^[43][44]

Ozon has been operating a marketplace platform for third-party sellers since 2018.^[45] In June 2020, the marketplace had more than 13,000 sellers who accounted for more than 85% of the assortment on the site.^[46]

In November 2021 “Ozon” announced the opening of pilot pickup mini-points, at least 15 square meters each, in small Russian towns from the beginning of 2022.^[47]

In August 2022, Ozon announced the launch of an ad service for the sale of goods from individuals. The pilot region was the Rostov region. ^[48]

Ozon developed its own fulfillment infrastructure to deliver orders in Russia's 11 time zones. In 2018 the company had seven fulfillment centers in the Moscow region as well as St. Petersburg, Tver, Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Rostov-On-Don and Novosibirsk.^[49] It more than doubled its fulfilment capacity in 2019 to almost 200,000 sqm, as well as investing in its last-mile delivery infrastructure.^[50]

The company operates its own delivery logistics platform and has a network of over 16,000 pickup points, including automated parcel lockers across Russia, .^[51][52] The use of brick-and-mortar pickup points where customers can pick up their orders arose out of a lack of reliable third-party delivery services in many parts of Russia.^[53] In 2019, Ozon launched an express grocery delivery service in Moscow,^[54] and rolled out its contactless home delivery service, which became a popular option during the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020.^[55]

In March 2020, Ozon announced plans to spend more than $300 million to expand its logistics in advance of a potential IPO.^[56]

In October 2021, “Ozon Express” brand launched in Moscow inhouse ready-to-serve food production with one hour delivery with up to 30 dishes by the end of 2021. “Ozon Express” culinary production is expected to be available in other regions of Russia.^[57]

In December 2021, "Ozon" announced to be ready to launch by the end of the year 2021 the 15-minutes delivery of groceries and pre-prepared food in 30 districts of Moscow by virtue of company`s darkstores.^[58]

Ozon reported record sales growth during the coronavirus pandemic, as quarantine measures in Russia drove more people to shop online.^[59][60] During the crisis, the company capped prices on the most sought-after goods to prevent price gouging by marketplace sellers and expanded its contactless home delivery service to limit the spread of infection.^[61] In July 2020, Ozon and four other Russian retailers commissioned a monument to delivery workers who continued to work during lockdown in Moscow.^[62][63]