A retail media network is an advertising business operated by a retailer or marketplace using its first-party shopper data and owned digital properties. It allows brands and sellers to reach customers close to purchase through formats such as sponsored products, display, video, and brand advertising.

A retail media network typically includes an onsite ads platform, advertiser campaign tools, a retail media ad server, audience and placement controls, measurement, reporting, and billing.

Retail media generally refers to advertising sold by a retailer or marketplace across its owned properties. Commerce media is the broader category, applying commerce data and performance advertising across more stages of discovery, consideration, and purchase.

Retail media can therefore be understood as one form of commerce media.

Moloco Commerce Media is an AI-driven commerce media and retail media platform for retailers and marketplaces. We help businesses build and scale retail media networks by turning first-party shopper data, onsite traffic, and advertiser demand into a scalable advertising business. Moloco supports both established retailers replacing legacy retail media technology, and growing marketplaces launching their first sponsored products platform.

Moloco Commerce Media is designed for retailers and marketplaces that want to launch, replace, or scale a retail media network.

We can help established retail media businesses move beyond the performance ceiling created by keyword matching, fixed rules, manual optimization, and fragmented technology. Or we can become the retail media ad server for newer programs, providing the machine learning, measurement, automation and campaign tools needed to launch.

A2G measures advertising revenue as a percentage of gross merchandise value, or GMV. Also described as ‘ad revenue to GMV’, it is one of the clearest indicators of retail media monetization because it shows how effectively a retailer turns its sales activity into advertising revenue.

A2G is calculated by dividing advertising revenue by gross merchandise value (GMV) over the same period, then expressing the result as a percentage. For example, if a retailer generates $20 million in ad revenue from $1 billion in GMV, its A2G is 2%.

For Moloco’s customer benchmarks, A2G is measured in consecutive 30-day windows from each retailer’s commercial launch. A retailer is considered to have reached a given A2G level when its ad revenue as a percentage of GMV averages that level or higher across a complete 30-day window. Among eligible Moloco Commerce Media customers, retailers have reached 1% A2G within one year, 2% within two years, and more than 3% within three years. Results vary according to business model, vertical, traffic, advertiser demand, available inventory, and implementation.{[data-attribute="init-tooltip"][tooltip-content="<p>Source:<br><br>Moloco internal data, as of April 2026. A2G (advertising spend as a percentage of gross merchandise value, "GMV") is measured as total ad spend / total GMV during weeks 3-6 following each customer's commercial launch on Moloco MCM (their first billing date), excluding the first two weeks to remove soft-launch ramp. Sample: 24 MCM customers, measured at the contractual-customer level, that had completed six weeks of activity by April 2026. The substantial majority began below 1% initial A2G.</p>"]}

Legacy retail media platforms often match ads through keywords, fixed rules, and manual optimization. These systems can struggle to adapt as shopper behavior, inventory, and demand change.

Moloco Commerce Media benefits from a foundational compound AI system, built by engineers who helped create monetization and ad systems at Google, YouTube and Amazon.

Our AI system CARA learns from first-party shopping signals and predicts in real time which product, advertiser, and bid are most likely to create value for each eligible impression. This learned relevance helps ads feel more like product discovery than interruption.

Moloco Commerce Media can power onsite ads across retailer- and marketplace-owned properties, including search, browse, product discovery, and other shopping placements. It supports sponsored products, sponsored brands, display, and video advertising.

Moloco is broader than a standalone onsite ads platform because it also provides campaign management, machine learning, measurement, advertiser tools, and automation for the wider retail media business.

Building a retail media platform in-house provides maximum technical ownership and customization. It also requires sustained investment in a retail media ad server, machine learning, campaign management, advertiser interfaces, measurement, billing, security, and operational support.

Buying a production-proven platform can reduce time to market and technical risk while allowing the retailer to retain control over its data, inventory, advertiser relationships, policies, and customer experience.

Built by engineers with experience in performance advertising technology at leading tech companies, Moloco offers proven continuous improvement through a compounding AI advertising system. We work closely with each customer on campaign configuration, placement design, advertiser onboarding, governance, testing, and ongoing optimization.

Moloco Commerce Media can support retailers in replacing or moving away from legacy retail media platforms. Migration can include ad serving, data integration, placement configuration, advertiser continuity, measurement, testing, and phased rollout.

Implementation typically requires access to relevant first-party data, including the product catalog, inventory information, and shopper interactions. Moloco’s ad serving and measurement capabilities are then integrated with the retailer’s existing commerce technology.

Moloco supports sponsored products, sponsored brands, display, and video advertising across the shopping journey. These formats can run across search, browse, discovery, and other onsite placements.
Because the formats operate through the same AI system, learning from one part of the advertising business can improve decisions elsewhere.

Moloco’s models adapt as traffic, inventory, advertiser participation, campaign volume, and product catalogs grow. Automation across targeting, product selection, bidding, and optimization allows the retail media business to scale without operational workload increasing at the same rate.