Promotions on OTTO: how sellers use discount campaigns for more visibility

How do promotions work?

According to OTTO Market, you decide yourself for which period, with which discount and for which products a promotion runs. OTTO then places the promotion on otto.de automatically. OTTO names better visibility and better placement in product lists as benefits – it does not publish figures for this.

The 30-day rule: lowest price

Anyone announcing a price reduction to consumers must, under § 11 of the German Price Indication Ordinance, state the lowest total price charged in the 30 days before the reduction. For reductions that increase step by step without a break, the price before the first step may be used. Exceptions include individual price reductions and perishable goods. For your pricing this means: a price raised shortly before is not a valid reference price. This section is not legal advice.

Don't confuse: post-sale price reduction

The OTTO Market API has an interface called Price Reductions. It is not a promotion but a partial refund after shipping – for example as goodwill for a minor defect.

Plan promotions well

1. Choose products that already rank reasonably and have enough stock.
2. Improve the listing first: title, images and attributes – see Optimising product titles for otto.de.
3. Combine with ads if the product ranks too far back organically – see OTTO Advertising.
4. Plan peak season early, for example Black Friday.

Common promotion mistakes

• Too little stock: if the product sells out mid-promotion, the visibility is wasted.
• Price raised beforehand: this breaks the 30-day rule and costs trust.
• Promoting products on page 5: a discount alone rarely moves a barely visible product forward – improve listing and keywords first.
• No measurement: without a baseline you don't know whether the promotion worked.
• Too many promotions at once: then you can no longer tell which one had an effect.

Measure the effect

Whether a promotion moves your product forward in search, you only see by comparing its position before, during and after the promotion. Switch the project to daily checks for the promotion period and compare with the baseline afterwards. If the product stays further forward after the promotion, it achieved more than short-term revenue.

Check your products' position on marktrank.de – 5 products free, without an account.

Frequently asked questions