What Myer launched
Myer, the Australian department store chain, has stood up an in-house retail media network built around the first-party data of its MYER one loyalty program. The Myer Media Network packages that customer data with an AI-native sponsored product layer supplied by Mirakl Ads, and it sells advertising across onsite, offsite, CRM, digital, and physical channels. The move, announced in mid-July, turns Myer's accumulated view of its shoppers into a product it can sell to the brands that already stock its shelves. It is a deliberate step to build a higher-margin revenue line that does not depend on selling one more sweater.
The network is led by Michael Sharlassian as general manager of retail media, recruited from Coles 360, the media arm of one of Australia's largest grocers. That hire is a signal in itself. Bringing in an operator who scaled a grocery-scale media network tells you Myer intends to compete on the same terms as the retailers who pioneered the category locally, rather than run a modest ad-sales side project. Department stores have loyalty data and brand relationships that rival grocers, and Myer is betting it can convert those assets into a media business that carries real weight with advertisers.
Loyalty data becomes ad infrastructure
The strategic core of retail media is that a retailer's loyalty program is an advertising asset most retailers have underused. MYER one records what customers actually buy, which lets Myer define audiences by demonstrated purchase behavior instead of the inferred interests that power most digital advertising. For a brand paying to reach lapsed premium-denim buyers or frequent beauty purchasers, targeting built on real transactions is more valuable than a lookalike model, and it is measurable against real sales. That closed loop, exposure to purchase, is what commands premium ad rates and what makes retail media the fastest growing channel in the market.
This reframes the loyalty program from a discount mechanism into media infrastructure. The customer relationships and purchase histories Myer built over years become the raw material for an advertising business, and the more channels the network spans, the more places that data can be activated. Extending across onsite placements, offsite campaigns, CRM, and physical stores means a brand can follow a defined audience through multiple moments of the shopping journey. For technology leaders, the lesson is that first-party data assets have a second life as ad inventory, and the retailers monetizing that early are opening a margin stream their competitors have left on the table.
The AI layer is Mirakl Ads
The technology under the network is Mirakl Ads, positioned as an AI-native retail media platform that serves targeted sponsored product campaigns across myer.com.au. The AI layer is the piece that translates Myer's retailer data into campaign decisions: which product to promote to which audience, at what bid, in which placement, and how to measure the result. That optimization is what separates a modern retail media network from a manual ad-sales operation. Doing it well at scale requires software that can process behavioral signals and adjust campaigns continuously, which is precisely the work a packaged platform like Mirakl Ads is built to handle.
Choosing a platform partner rather than building the ad engine in-house is the pragmatic call for a retailer Myer's size. Building a competitive retail media stack from scratch, ad server, targeting, bidding, measurement, and reporting, is a multi-year engineering commitment that few non-grocery retailers can justify. Buying an AI-native platform lets Myer stand up a credible network quickly and focus its own effort on the assets it uniquely owns, the loyalty data and the brand relationships. It is a clean build-versus-buy decision that most retailers entering media should study, because the differentiation lives in the data, and the ad machinery is increasingly available off the shelf.
The marketplace connection
The media network did not appear in isolation. It follows Myer's rollout of a Mirakl-powered marketplace on myer.com.au, which added more than 25,000 products and additional global brands to the site in the prior month. The sequencing is deliberate and worth noting. A marketplace brings in a long tail of third-party sellers and brands, and every one of those sellers is a potential advertiser who wants placement and visibility for their listings. The media network gives Myer a way to monetize that demand for attention, turning the marketplace's expanded catalog into a larger pool of advertisers competing for shopper eyeballs.
This marketplace-plus-media pattern is how Amazon built its most profitable segments, and it is now being replicated by retailers of every size on packaged platforms. The marketplace grows selection and seller count without inventory risk, and the media network extracts margin from the sellers' need for visibility. For Myer, running both on Mirakl infrastructure keeps the two tightly integrated, so seller onboarding and ad activation can reinforce each other. Retail technology leaders evaluating a marketplace strategy should plan the media network alongside it from the start, because the two assets compound, and launching them separately leaves the easier revenue on the table.
Why department stores need media margin
The financial logic is hard to miss in the current retail climate. Merchandise margins are under sustained pressure from discounting, promotions, and the cost of running physical stores, and department stores have felt that squeeze more acutely than most formats. Retail media offers something the core business rarely does: high-margin revenue that scales without a proportional increase in cost of goods. An ad impression sold against existing traffic and existing data carries margins closer to a software business than a retail one. For a chain fighting to defend profitability, a media network is one of the few levers that adds margin without adding inventory risk.
The market backdrop makes the timing rational. Retail media is forecast to grow 19.5 percent to 2.3 billion dollars in 2026, the fastest growing advertising channel in the market, and the retailers that establish networks now will capture a disproportionate share as budgets shift. Waiting means ceding that growth to competitors who move first and lock in the brand relationships and measurement track record that advertisers reward with repeat spend. Myer is entering while the channel is still expanding fast enough that a credible late entrant can still build a meaningful position, which is exactly the window a retailer wants to move in.
What retail technology leaders should note
Myer's launch is a clean case study in the pattern reshaping retail economics. A retailer with a strong loyalty program and brand relationships packages its first-party data as advertising, buys the AI-native ad technology rather than building it, and pairs the network with a marketplace to expand the advertiser pool. Every piece of that is now available to mid-size retailers through platforms like Mirakl, which means retail media has opened up well beyond the largest players. For any retailer with meaningful loyalty data, the opportunity clearly exists, and the strategic question is how quickly it can be captured before rivals move on the same assets.
The caution is that a retail media network is only as good as the data quality and measurement discipline behind it. Advertisers will keep spending only if the network proves it drives real sales, which requires clean loyalty data, honest attribution, and a customer experience that does not degrade under a heavier ad load. Retailers who chase the margin without protecting the shopper experience risk training their best customers to tune the ads out. Myer has the assets and the leadership to build a credible network. Whether it becomes a durable business will come down to execution on measurement and restraint on the customer-facing side.
