Sponsored product campaigns connect high-intent shoppers with professional photography and video brands at under 5% ad spend, in just 9 months.
About Adorama
Founded in 1974 and headquartered in New York, Adorama is a specialty retailer serving the creative community with photography, video and professional electronics equipment. What started as a single storefront in Manhattan has grown into a destination for a category that rewards expertise: Canon lenses, professional lighting rigs and studio audio gear — products people research for weeks, not minutes, before buying.
That research-heavy buying pattern shapes everything about how Adorama's eCommerce works. The brands and sellers on the platform aren't chasing impulse clicks — they're trying to be present at the exact moment a well-informed buyer is ready to commit. As Adorama's seller base grew, its partners began asking for a way to control their own visibility rather than relying on Adorama to do it for them.
Since launching their retail media program in December 2025 with Mirakl Ads, Adorama has enrolled 550 1P products in their program.
By the numbers
20.3x
return on ad spend for brands advertising on the platform
4.92%
advertising cost of sale (ACoS), meaning $20 in revenue for every $1 spent
7%
conversion rate on sponsored campaigns, in a high-consideration category
11x
impressions since launch, while keeping CPC consistently at $0.95 and driving the program's best-ever sales month in August
The challenge: Getting specialty brands seen
Photography, video and professional electronics is a category where recognition matters as much as price. Many of the brands selling on Adorama's marketplace make excellent products but don't have the consumer name recognition of larger, more mainstream players — and in a crowded category page, that's a real disadvantage.
- Uneven brand visibility: Strong brands in niche product categories weren't getting the discovery they needed, even when they were the right fit for a shopper's search.
- Partner demand for self-service: Sellers already spending with Adorama on advertising wanted direct control over their own campaigns rather than working through account managers.
- An untapped revenue channel: Adorama needed a way to monetize its audience and traffic without disrupting the research-driven shopping experience its customers expect.
Adorama went looking for a retail media platform that could give its partners self-service control while keeping the shopping experience relevant to a highly deliberate buyer.
Why Adorama chose Mirakl Ads
Adorama built its retail media program on Mirakl Ads (opens in a new tab), launching in December 2025, to give brands a direct, self-managed path to visibility on its retail media program.
- Self-service campaign management: Partners can create and manage their own sponsored product campaigns directly, rather than relying on Adorama's team to run them.
- A new, dedicated revenue channel: The platform gave Adorama a way to monetize its marketplace traffic that didn't previously exist.
- AI-powered campaign performance: Campaigns are optimized to connect the right shoppers with the right brands, which matters in a category where relevance drives conversion more than reach does.
"We picked Mirakl because it provided a fantastic platform, and our partners wanted something like that where they could actually manage their own campaigns. And it was another great way for us to create a new revenue channel. — Hani Batla, CIO and CTO, Adorama"
The results: Performance built for considered purchases
In a category where shoppers deliberate before they buy, Adorama's retail media numbers show sponsored placements are reaching buyers who are already close to a purchase decision — not chasing clicks that don't convert. Adorama has also seen nearly $172,500 in gross merchandise value driven through sponsored placements, with a strong advertiser investment rate of 4.9%.
- 20.3x ROAS: Brands advertising on Adorama's marketplace are seeing a return that signals the platform is surfacing the right products to the right shoppers.
- 4.92% ACoS: Partners are generating roughly $20 in revenue for every $1 of ad spend, a strong efficiency mark for a high-ticket category.
- 7% conversion rate: Sponsored placements are converting well above what's typical for impulse-driven categories, a sign that campaigns are reaching shoppers who are already primed to purchase.
- GMV generated through Mirakl Ads: $172,463.59
- Advertiser investment rate: 4.9%
"The results have been a fantastic performance for the companies that do participate in our program ... and it's all powered by Mirakl's beautiful AI, and we love it. — Hani Batla, CIO and CTO, Adorama"
What this proves about high-consideration categories
Adorama's results push back on the assumption that retail media only works for impulse purchases. In a category where a shopper might visit a product page a dozen times before buying, a 7% conversion rate and 20.3x ROAS indicate the opposite: Sponsored placements can perform even better when they're reaching buyers deep in a deliberate research process, not competing for attention on a quick scroll.
Looking ahead: A new engine for growth
Adorama's advertising results are proof that a retail media program doesn't need mainstream, impulse-driven traffic to work — it needs relevance. At 20.3x ROAS and under 5% ACoS, Adorama has turned retail media into a monetization engine that benefits both its business and the specialty brands that depend on it for visibility.
"For Adorama, it's just been a great way of unlocking a new revenue channel. And there's so much growth here, and we have become a destination for not just great products but also a beautiful destination for folks to actually discover new things. And there's so much more we can be doing with it, so we’re looking forward to the future with Mirakl. — Hani Batla, CIO and CTO, Adorama"
