Most retailers build their marketplace strategy one project at a time: a marketplace this year, a retail media program next year, advanced omnichannel after that. Each piece may work on its own, but launching them separately means missing the synergies that come when they go live together.
CarParts.com (opens in a new tab) is taking the synergistic approach and launching everything at once. The company has announced plans to launch CarParts Connect (opens in a new tab), a marketplace and retail media network powered by Mirakl. Expected to launch in December 2026, CarParts Connect will bring together marketplace operations (opens in a new tab), catalog management (opens in a new tab), retail media (opens in a new tab) and seller payouts (opens in a new tab) in one solution.
The marketplace will expand CarParts.com’s product selection, adding universal performance parts and adjacent categories for the vehicle, the journey and the destination, such as:
- Vehicle accessories
- Tools
- Travel and road-trip essentials
- Pet and passenger products
- Outdoor and recreational gear
Qualified sellers will gain a new channel to reach CarParts.com’s unique and loyal customer base. Sellers can learn more and apply (opens in a new tab) to join CarParts Connect.
How a marketplace flywheel builds momentum
CarParts.com starts with a trusted name in the automotive aftermarket and customers who already come to it for vehicle maintenance and upgrades. The company serves more than 100 million unique customers annually and offers more than 1.5 million automotive parts and accessories.
Picture a customer who comes to CarParts.com to replace their brake pads. They also have a road trip coming up. With a marketplace in place, they can pick up a roof rack, a pet seat cover and camping gear from third-party sellers in the same visit, things they never planned to shop for here. Each new seller widens the assortment, which gives that customer, and the next one, more reasons to visit.
More visitors mean a bigger audience for the sellers and brands that want to promote their products, which creates retail media revenue for CarParts.com. Reliable payouts keep sellers engaged, and sellers who stay add more products.
How Mirakl powers each turn of the flywheel
CarParts Connect will run on Mirakl’s enterprise marketplace platform, with each capability driving the next:
- Marketplace operations. Mirakl helps CarParts.com recruit, onboard and manage sellers while keeping visibility into marketplace performance, including order management and quality control, so a broader seller base can bring more assortment.
- Catalog and product data management. Mirakl’s catalog management organizes product information from different sellers, so customers get a consistent experience as they explore, compare and evaluate products. AI-driven matching helps map seller product data to the marketplace catalog, so the marketplace can add new sellers with less manual cleanup.
- Retail media. Mirakl’s retail media solution lets sellers and brands promote relevant products through formats such as sponsored product listings and banner ads, where CarParts.com customers are already shopping. It also gives CarParts.com a new revenue stream.
- Seller payouts. Mirakl’s seller payouts tie seller payments and related financial processes to marketplace activity. A clearer financial process helps CarParts.com support sellers throughout the partner lifecycle, which keeps the flywheel turning.
Why launching together matters
Sequencing these projects one at a time carries costs that are easy to underestimate. A catalog built before the marketplace may not fit the data that third-party sellers submit. Retail media added later means onboarding your best sellers twice: once for the marketplace, and again for advertising. Payouts handled outside the platform leave finance teams reconciling orders, commissions and seller payments by hand. Each problem can be fixed, but together they slow a marketplace down just as sellers and customers are forming their first impressions.
Running these capabilities together on one platform removes those handoffs, and Mirakl’s marketplace expertise (opens in a new tab) supports CarParts.com as it launches, manages and scales its marketplace.
Questions to ask before you launch a marketplace
CarParts.com’s approach points to questions any retailer can ask when planning a marketplace:
- Who will you let in, and how will you check them? Define seller requirements, onboarding steps and quality standards before recruitment starts, and bring sellers into retail media during the same onboarding.
- Can your catalog ingest data from many sources? Third-party sellers use different formats and naming conventions, so product data needs to be mapped, matched and checked before it goes live, at scale.
- How will you monetize the traffic? Decide where sellers and brands can advertise on your site and how ad placements fit with search and product pages.
- How will sellers get paid? Decide on your payout cycle and how much cash to hold in reserve in payout accounts, so returns can be paid out smoothly.
In automotive, the catalog question carries extra weight once a marketplace moves beyond universal parts, which fit every vehicle, because every other part has to be matched to the vehicles it fits.
A broader opportunity for retailers
CarParts Connect shows how an established retailer can use a marketplace to grow its assortment in its core categories and beyond, while building on the trust it has already earned.
The model applies across categories. Retailers in home, electronics, fashion, sporting goods and other sectors can use marketplaces to add relevant products, reach new sellers and create additional ways for brands to connect with customers.
The question for any retailer is which growth project will make the rest of the commerce business more valuable.
Talk to the Mirakl team (opens in a new tab) to explore what launching these capabilities together could look like for your business.
