Quick answer: Brazil's retail media market grew up without Amazon at the center. Mercado Libre holds an estimated 60% of e-commerce, grocery and pharmacy are split among regional family-owned chains, most media budgets move through agencies, and most purchases still happen in-store. According to Herik Mourão, founder of Retail Media FC and head of community and market for Kevel in Latin America, that mix has produced a fast-learning market where delivery apps, marketplaces and even airlines are building media businesses, and where in-store media is the biggest opportunity nobody has fully figured out.
Most retail media conversations assume Amazon sets the rules. In Brazil, it doesn't. Walmart entered the country and left, the largest grocer nationally isn't the largest in any single state, and shoppers move between WhatsApp, delivery apps and physical stores with ease.
In this episode of Unlocking Retail Media, Kevel CEO James Avery talks with Mourão, who started his career in search and performance marketing, spent years representing retail media platforms across the region, and built Retail Media FC into the gathering point for the industry in Brazil. It now spans a podcast, a news show, WhatsApp communities and a summit in São Paulo. Below are the five biggest takeaways, structured as direct answers to the questions retailers and brands are asking about Latin America right now.
Takeaway #1: What Makes Brazil's Retail Media Market Different?
Short answer: No single platform controls it, and the structure of Brazilian retail looks very little like the US or Europe.
Mercado Libre leads e-commerce. Mourão puts its share at roughly 60%, with Amazon a much smaller player.
Walmart is gone. It opened in Brazil and later exited the market.
Grocery and pharmacy are fragmented. Chains are large but family-owned and regional. Carrefour is the biggest grocer in the country, yet it isn't the leader in any individual state.
Most purchases happen in-store. Delivery apps like iFood are growing fast, and Chinese platforms are entering the market, but the physical store still carries most of the volume.
Mourão is firm that the in-store share says nothing about maturity. Brazilians adopt new behaviors quickly. The country has one of the two largest WhatsApp user bases in the world, which makes conversational commerce a real channel, and it imports ideas from two directions at once: retail media from the US, and live commerce and TikTok Shop from China.
"I wouldn't consider us less mature. What I see is that the professionals here are paying attention to what's going on abroad, and we try to speed up the learning curve." - Herik Mourão
Takeaway #2: Why Do Brazilian Retailers Struggle to Win Media Budgets?
Short answer: Most media money in Brazil moves through agencies, and regional grocers were never set up to sell to them.
Avery pointed back to his earlier conversation with iFood's Sam James, who estimated that around 80% of spend in the market flows through agencies. In the US and Europe, most retailer ad revenue still arrives directly from brands under joint business plans (JBPs), often as repurposed trade dollars. Selling to agencies is hard everywhere. For a regional family business, the climb is steeper.
Mourão shared an observation from Victor Bertoncini, former CEO of Impulso, the retail media arm of pharmacy group Raia Drogasil. Big tech platforms and publishers host agencies and advertisers with champagne on the Côte d'Azur during Cannes. The owner of a family grocery chain flies economy, if he goes at all.
Mourão calls these blockers, and he says the industry has already mapped them. His prediction for the next few years:
- Stronger networks and stronger aggregators that package retailer inventory for agency buyers.
- Demand partners such as Skai and Flywheel bringing budget to retailers that can't chase it alone.
- Lean in-house sales teams at grocers and pharmacies, focused on special formats and tailor-made campaigns for the largest brands.
He adds that winning the budget is only part of the job. How media gets delivered, and how agencies and brands judge what they received, will decide whether that money comes back.
Takeaway #3: Which Retail Media Networks Are Leading in Latin America?
Short answer: Mercado Libre sets the pace, while iFood, Magalu, LATAM Airlines and VTEX are each building a different kind of media business.
Mercado Libre. It already has partnerships with Disney, HBO and other premium connected TV (CTV) providers, and it is developing its own tech stack. Most of its revenue still comes from sponsored product ads, but it is growing quickly.
iFood. Mourão says it flew under the radar for a while. Recent senior hires and an expansion into groceries, pharmacies and pet supplies have changed that. Its advantage is frequency: shoppers open iFood far more often than the roughly twice a month they visit Mercado Libre. (Kevel works with iFood.)
Magalu. One of Brazil's largest retailers, with a portfolio of acquired brands that includes the sports retailer Netshoes. Mourão says the market already sees it as the real Brazilian retail media network.
LATAM Airlines. New to retail media, but it has hired heavily from Mercado Libre and Magalu. Mourão is "100% sure" travel media will be a big story in the region.
VTEX. Often described as the Brazilian Shopify. Its retail media offer, strengthened by the acquisition of a local company, aggregates inventory so the merchants on its platform can claim their share of media revenue.
Takeaway #4: Why Is In-Store Retail Media Still Underused?
Short answer: The money flowing into sponsored products and online formats far outweighs what reaches the store, even in a market where the store is where most buying happens.
"In store [and its growth path] is not being fully understood. There's a huge imbalance." - Herik Mourão
Mourão doesn't question the basic case. Citing the recent LinkedIn debate between Professor Byron Sharp and the CMO of Liquid Death, he argues that placing an ad in front of a shopper opens the opportunity to sell, and he credits analyst Andrew Lipsman for pushing the industry on in-store. The trouble is execution. He sees three blockers:
- It is a different medium. In-store can't be planned, bought or measured the same way as online.
- Measurement is unsettled. He expects a blend of technologies from several vendors to produce a standard advertisers will accept.
- Creative gets recycled. Running a TikTok video or a linear TV spot on a store screen will not work.
"It's time to bring creativity to the table and discuss in-store." said Herik. He also sees clear openings. QR codes in an aisle can serve extra product information, carry sponsored content, and add that device to a retargeting audience. Screen fill rates at many chains are low, which makes testing cheap, and test results are what move advertiser budgets. What's missing, in his view, is the boldness from advertisers and agencies to commit. As he put it, "It's a huge opportunity, and it can be measured."
Avery noted that the US trails here. Continente in Portugal and Tesco in the UK run far more in-store screens than most American grocers, though he has seen plans at Albertsons that point to change. Mourão still remembers visiting one of the largest Albertsons in Nevada during Shoptalk in 2023, camera in hand, and finding cardboard chocolate displays.
Takeaway #5: How Do You Build a Career in Retail Media?
Short answer: Get as much exposure to the subject as you can, and find a mentor you can ask anything.
Mourão calls search and performance marketing his "mother tongue." Years of reading purchase intent and building targeting from signals gave him an intuitive feel for how sponsored products and off-site retail media work. He moved into retail media partly because performance marketing stopped being fun. In the early days, it felt like racing go-karts. With today's automation from Google and Meta, he says, it feels more like racing self-driving cars.
His own entry point came early. In 2015, while at the Brazilian portal UOL, he walked the exhibitor hall at the Internet Retailer Conference in Chicago looking for a business model to bring home. HookLogic stood out. He admits he didn't connect all the dots at the time and couldn't convince the team, but the idea stuck.
For anyone starting out in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico or elsewhere, his advice is practical:
- Listen to podcasts. He learned performance marketing that way and recommends it for retail media.
- Find a mentor. Ask the questions that feel basic, such as why in-store isn't growing faster or why a brand isn't advertising in stores.
- Connect the dots across backgrounds. Retail media blends people from retail, CPG, trade marketing and performance, and it is building a shared language from all of them.
He singled out Fatima Leão of Carrefour as one of the people who taught him the most.
Key Takeaways at a Glance
Who leads e-commerce in Brazil?
Mourão's answer: Mercado Libre, with roughly 60% of the market. Amazon is not the dominant player.
Why is Brazilian grocery retail media hard to scale?
Mourão's answer: Chains are regional and family-owned, and most budgets move through agencies they aren't built to sell to.
Which networks should the industry watch?
Mourão's answer: Mercado Libre, iFood, Magalu, LATAM Airlines and VTEX.
What is holding back in-store media?
Mourão's answer: Unsettled measurement, recycled creative and a lack of boldness from advertisers.
How should newcomers learn retail media?
Mourão's answer: Listen to podcasts, find a mentor and ask every question, even the basic ones.
What Brazil Shows Retailers Everywhere
Brazil is a preview of retail media without a single dominant platform. When no one company owns the market, retailers have to build their own media businesses, find their own paths to agency budgets and prove value on their own terms. The market's fragmentation creates friction, and it also leaves room for a delivery app, a regional grocer or an airline to become a serious media owner.
For retailers building media networks, the lesson travels well: owning your inventory, your data and your measurement is what makes you worth an advertiser's budget. The next wave of growth, especially in-store, will go to the retailers willing to test, bring original creative to their screens and show brands results they can trust.
Mourão's Retail Media FC Summit returns to São Paulo in November, with keynote speaker Colin Lewis heading to Brazil. You can follow Retail Media FC on LinkedIn and Instagram, or at retailmediafc.com.br.
Listen to the Full Conversation on Unlocking Retail Media
For more insights like these, tune in to the full episode of Unlocking Retail Media, the podcast where Kevel CEO James Avery sits down with industry leaders and innovators shaping the future of retail and commerce media.
Listen to the full conversation with Herik Mourão on Unlocking Retail Media.
