Marketplace or your own online store: what to choose for a business in Kazakhstan
A marketplace is a large online platform where thousands of sellers list their products, and the buyer chooses and pays in one place. Your own online store is a website with only your products, where you set the rules. Both sell, but they work differently.
In Kazakhstan, people search Google for «маркетплейс» ("marketplace") about 6,600 times a month and for «онлайн магазин» ("online store") about 390 times (Google Ads data, November 2026). Let's look at how they differ and which one suits your business.
Comparison
| Marketplace | Your own online store | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyers | already on the platform | you have to bring them in with ads and from Google |
| Costs | a fee on every sale | website development and advertising |
| Prices | competitors one line away push your price down | buyers don't compare you on a single page |
| Customers | contact details stay with the platform | the customer base is yours |
| Rules | the platform changes them | you set them |
| Brand | you're one of many sellers | people remember you by name |
When a marketplace is enough
- You sell a popular product that people search for by name.
- You want to start selling quickly without your own website.
- You're ready for a constant fight over price and reviews.
When you need your own store
- Your product is made to order or has options: sizes, materials, installation. The buyer needs things explained and calculated, and that's hard to do on a platform.
- The average order is large, and people take a long time to choose: trust in the company matters to them.
- You want to build up a customer base and sell to them again.
- You work with companies: they need an invoice, terms and a manager, not a shopping cart.
The best option is to combine them
Many businesses do it this way: the platform brings quick sales of popular products, and their own website brings large orders, repeat purchases and customers from Google. The key is for inquiries from every channel to land in one place, a CRM, where you can see where each buyer came from.
An example from our work
For the Mir Matrasov factory in Almaty, we built an online store to replace the old website and kept all its pages in Google. The site has three languages and pages for 11 cities, and every inquiry goes straight into amoCRM. Clicks from Google grew from 2,280 to 2,850 in 3 months, which is +25%, and for the query «ортопедические матрасы алматы» ("orthopedic mattresses Almaty") the site ranks 1st in Google (October 2026).
Mir Matrasov
- A new site in place of the old one, with every Google page kept
- Three languages and pages for 11 cities
- Every enquiry goes straight to amoCRM
Numbers from Google Search Console. Search position as of October 2026.
If you've decided it's time for your own storefront, we build online stores that get customers from Google and pass orders on to your CRM.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, and it's a common choice: the platform gives you quick sales, and the website gives you your own customer base and large orders.
On a platform you pay a fee on every sale, while your own website needs an upfront investment. Which pays off better depends on your order value, markup and sales volume.
You need a website with a catalog and a request form: companies look for suppliers on Google and want to see your range and terms.
Ads bring the first inquiries right after launch, while Google search takes a few months of work on the site.
Let's build your online store
We'll build a store with a catalog, a cart and online payment, connect orders to your CRM and bring in customers from Google and ads. Leave a request below, and we'll discuss what kind of store your business needs.