Mirakl Capturing Retail Media Revenue
Mirakl vs. Amazon vs. Walmart
Mirakl is moving from being the software that helps retailers open a marketplace to also being the toll collector on the most profitable activity inside that marketplace. Marketplace software fees rise with GMV, but ads create a second monetization layer where sellers pay for visibility after they are already paying to list and transact. That is the same profit pool that made Amazon and Walmart’s marketplace models so much more attractive than plain retail.
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The mechanics are simple. A seller on a Mirakl powered site can buy sponsored placement in search or category pages, and the retailer monetizes traffic without owning more inventory. Mirakl then earns software and services revenue for enabling that ad layer across its network of retailers and sellers.
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This matters because ads usually come after the core marketplace is already working. The best signal is seller competition. If the platform can credibly rank one seller above another, sellers will pay for placement. If supply is thin, ads do not work well because the marketplace cannot afford to hide anyone.
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Mirakl is now building both sides of that business. On the supply side, more than 20 retailers had adopted Mirakl Ads after its first year. On the demand side, the December 10, 2024 acquisition of Adspert added bidding and budget optimization tools, so sellers can manage spend across Mirakl properties and outside marketplaces too.
The next step is a broader retail media stack where Mirakl makes money from retailer subscriptions, marketplace GMV, and seller ad spend all at once. As more enterprise retailers launch marketplaces, the winners will not just add assortment. They will build Amazon style monetization loops, and Mirakl is positioning itself as the packaged system that installs that loop much faster.