State of GenAI in Marketplaces 2026: Key insights from industry leaders

GenAI is reshaping marketplaces faster than most operators expected.

Following the release of our State of GenAI in Marketplaces 2026 report, we brought together leaders from Mirakl, Depop, Balderton Capital, and Photoroom for a live discussion on what’s actually changing and how marketplaces are adapting to this AI era.

Watch the full discussion below.

The real impact of GenAI in Marketplaces

One of the strongest themes from both the report and the discussion: AI is no longer in experimentation mode.

Examples highlighted in the report include:

Rappi: AI-enhanced product imagery drove a 20% uplift in conversion
Wolt: AI-powered image QA reclaimed 100+ hours per day
Mercari: AI-assisted description generation now supports hundreds of listings per minute

The conversation reinforced that GenAI is now directly influencing GMV for marketplaces, not just productivity.

Balancing implementation speed and trust

Every operator we interviewed agreed: trust is the currency of marketplaces. AI enables faster onboarding, translations, and visual improvements, but unchecked automation can damage credibility when precision or authenticity slip.

As Anne-Claire Baschet of Mirakl explained, accelerating workflows with AI requires guardrails. Image generation, catalog enrichment, and automation must enhance reality, not distort it.

In marketplaces, visual consistency and structured data are becoming core infrastructure layers.

Build vs buy in the AI era

A recurring question during the panel: should marketplaces build AI capabilities in-house or partner?

The consensus:

If AI is core to your differentiation, invest deeply
If it’s infrastructure, partner with specialists

As Laura McGinnis from Balderton noted, agility often outperforms slow internal builds in fast-moving technology waves.

Further reading: How to decide whether to build or buy AI image tools

The next era of marketplaces

Beyond operational efficiency, the discussion touched on what comes next: AI is lowering the structural cost of launching marketplaces and the competitive landscape is expanding.

Just as mobile enabled Uber and DoorDash, GenAI may unlock entirely new categories, including agent-driven marketplaces and AI-participating commerce ecosystems.

The full report dives deeper into the data, case studies, and predictions shaping marketplaces in 2026.