What Myer launched
On July 16, Australian department store Myer launched the Myer Media Network, an in-house retail media platform that lets brand partners run sponsored products and campaigns across myer.com.au. The network runs on Mirakl Ads, which Mirakl describes as an AI-native retail media platform, and it draws its targeting from Myer one, the retailer loyalty program. Myer positions the network as an expansion of its existing advertising offering, combining loyalty insights with digital, physical, and customer relationship channels. The pitch to brands is measurable return from placements shown to a known, logged-in audience rather than anonymous traffic.
The launch did not arrive in isolation. Myer rolled out a Mirakl marketplace on myer.com.au the previous month, adding more than 25,000 products and additional global brands to its online range. That sequence matters. A larger third-party assortment gives the media network more inventory to advertise against, and the marketplace gives sellers a reason to buy placements. Standing up marketplace and media on the same vendor foundation is a deliberate architecture choice that keeps commerce, catalog, and advertising inside one connected system.
Why loyalty data is the engine
The value of any retail media network comes down to the quality of its first-party data, and Myer is leaning on Myer one as the differentiator. Amanda McVay, Myer Chief Customer Officer, said brand partners will have the opportunity to reach Myer customers and that Myer one insights will help power campaigns and marketing activity across a broader suite of customer touch points. Loyalty membership gives Myer identity, purchase history, and consent, which are the three inputs that make targeting and measurement credible to a media buyer.
For a retailer, that data is also the highest-margin asset in the business. Selling access to an engaged, identified audience carries far better economics than selling the underlying merchandise. That is why retail media has become the fastest-growing line in many retailers financials. The strategic logic for Myer is to turn a loyalty program that already exists into an advertising platform that funds price investment, personalization, and the marketplace itself. The data was always there. The network is what converts it into revenue that drops closer to the bottom line.
The single-vendor architecture bet
Myer built marketplace and media on Mirakl, and that is a consequential decision. Tzipi Avioz, CEO of Mirakl Ads, said that by combining Myer trusted brand, loyalty scale, and digital momentum with Mirakl Ads retail media technology, Myer can create a high-performing network that delivers value for customers, brands, and sellers alike. The appeal of one stack is integration. Marketplace sellers, product catalog, and ad placements share the same platform, so a brand can list, sell, and advertise without moving data between systems.
The counterweight is concentration risk. Running commerce infrastructure, third-party marketplace, and retail media on one vendor means Myer growth in each area now depends on a single supplier roadmap and pricing. For a technology leader, the trade is real and worth naming: faster time to a connected experience today against reduced negotiating leverage and portability tomorrow. Myer clearly judged that speed and integration outweigh the lock-in, which is a defensible call for a retailer trying to catch up in a category where rivals already have a head start.
Hiring signals the seriousness
Retail media lives or dies on execution, and Myer signaled intent with its hire. The network will be led by Michael Sharlassian, General Manager of Retail Media, who previously worked at Coles 360, the retail media arm of one of Australia largest grocers. Bringing in an operator who has already scaled a network is a shortcut past the early mistakes that come with building an ad business from scratch inside a retailer that has never sold media before.
That choice reflects a wider truth about retail media. The technology platform is necessary, and it is nowhere near sufficient. A network needs a commercial team that can package audiences, price inventory, sell to brands, and prove return, which is a different muscle from running a department store. Hiring from an established competitor buys that capability faster than growing it internally. For Myer, pairing a proven platform with a proven leader is the more credible path to revenue than either piece alone would be.
Retail media keeps spreading beyond grocery
Myer is a department store, not a supermarket, and its entry underscores how far retail media has moved beyond its grocery and marketplace origins. Australian competitors including David Jones and Chemist Warehouse have been building retail media capabilities, and the category has become a standard expectation for any retailer with scaled first-party data. The playbook is now well understood, which lowers the risk of entering but also raises the bar, because brand advertisers can compare Myer directly against more mature networks.
That maturity cuts two ways. It means Myer can adopt proven tooling like Mirakl Ads rather than inventing it, which shortens the path to a working network. It also means the easy growth is gone, and Myer will have to compete on data quality, measurement, and audience engagement rather than novelty. The retailers that win the next phase of retail media are the ones with genuinely differentiated first-party data and the discipline to measure outcomes brands can trust. Myer is betting Myer one gives it that foundation.
What it means for retail technology leaders
Myer offers a clean template for a retailer entering retail media late. Sequence the assets: get a marketplace live to expand assortment, wire it to a loyalty program for identity, then layer media on the same platform so the pieces reinforce each other. Hire a leader who has done it before, and lean on a vendor stack rather than building bespoke ad infrastructure. That approach trades some independence for speed, which is often the right call when competitors are already selling media and the window to establish a network is closing.
The caution for any CTO copying this is to keep the first-party data portable even while the ad platform is not. The loyalty data is the durable asset, and it should live somewhere the retailer controls, so that a future change of media vendor does not put the audience at risk. Retail media is a rare software project that generates high-margin revenue directly, which is exactly why it deserves the same architectural care as the checkout. Myer has made the entry move. The execution over the next year will show whether the loyalty data is as valuable as the strategy assumes.
