Why can some marketplaces scale advertising fast without wrecking performance? Because AI recommendation surfaces sponsored products by relevance, so growth doesn’t dilute results. Glovo, the Spanish delivery platform, grew its vendor base tenfold in months while holding strong returns.
The result: Glovo grew to 1,000+ active advertising vendors in under three months using AI-powered recommendation APIs, maintaining 5–7x ROAS with consistently high conversion.
Scaling ads without diluting relevance#
When a marketplace opens up advertising, the usual failure is that more sponsored products crowd out relevance, shoppers tune out, and ROAS collapses. Glovo avoided that by surfacing sponsored and recommended products through AI that ranks by conversion likelihood. So as the advertiser base grew tenfold — to 1,000+ vendors — shoppers kept seeing relevant products, and ROAS held at 5–7x. AI recommendation APIs (including auto-bidding that calculates each impression’s expected value) let growth and performance coexist.
How recommendation AI works#
Recommendation AI predicts what each shopper wants and surfaces it — including which sponsored products to show, ranked by relevance.
Three mechanics drove Glovo’s result. The engine personalizes product surfacing, showing each shopper the most relevant items, sponsored or organic. It uses AI auto-bidding, directing ad spend to placements that convert based on learned conversion rates. And it preserves relevance at scale, keeping the feed useful even as vendors multiply, which protects ROAS.
Why relevance protects ad performance#
The lesson is that ad performance and shopper experience aren’t opposites — when relevance drives placement, they’re the same thing. A sponsored product that matches a shopper’s intent converts, which is good for the advertiser (high ROAS), the shopper (useful result), and the platform (sustainable revenue). The moment placements become “whoever paid most,” all three suffer. Glovo’s 5–7x ROAS across a rapidly growing vendor base proves that relevance-driven recommendation is the foundation of a healthy ads business.
What this means for your store#
If you run promoted products, bundles, or featured placements, this applies:
- Surface promoted and recommended products by relevance, not a fixed slot.
- Let conversion likelihood drive what’s featured, so placements earn their spot.
- Protect the experience as you scale promotions, because relevance sustains performance.
You can grow promoted inventory without degrading the experience — if AI keeps every placement relevant.
Bring recommendation AI to your store with CartAmplify#
CartAmplify brings relevance-driven recommendation AI to any store — Shopify, dropshipping, or marketplace. Surface the right products — promoted or organic — and keep performance strong, the way Glovo scaled to 1,000+ vendors at 5–7x ROAS.
Related reading#
- How Glovo Held 5-7x ROAS Across 1,000+ Vendors with AI
- How Vinted’s Recommendation AI Powers Resale at Scale
- How Temu’s Recommendation AI Drove $3B in Australian Sales
Figures cited from the publicly reported Glovo / Topsort case study. Results vary by catalog, traffic, and implementation.
