The SPINS MikMak Acquisition: Transforming the Future of Retail Data Analytics and Commerce Intelligence
Chicago-based data analytics firm SPINS announced its acquisition of commerce intelligence startup MikMak on January 14, 2026, marking a strategic move that will reshape the retail data landscape. This retail data analytics acquisition signals a major shift in how consumer packaged goods companies approach omnichannel marketing and measurement.
The SPINS MikMak acquisition represents more than just another corporate deal. It demonstrates how established data companies are evolving to meet the demands of today’s complex commerce ecosystem where customers are facing a more informed, more digital, and more complex shopper than ever before.
Understanding the Strategic Players Behind This Major Deal
SPINS: The CPG Data Powerhouse
SPINS is the leading provider of point of sale data intelligence and SaaS applications for CPG brands and retailers focused on specialty products (natural, organic, and health & wellness). The company has built its reputation by providing comprehensive market intelligence and product data across natural, regional, conventional, and specialty retail channels.
What sets SPINS apart in the crowded data analytics market? Through exclusive retail partnerships, SPINS is the only place to align natural, regional, conventional, and specialty retail data into a singular view. This unique positioning has made them invaluable to emerging CPG brands seeking to understand their market performance.
SPINS is a data seller that also has direct relationships with retailers, mostly regional and smaller chains, and with a particular focus on the natural wellness and health verticals. Their client base primarily consists of small to medium-sized brands looking to gain traction in the competitive CPG landscape.
MikMak: The Commerce Intelligence Innovator
MikMak has been a global leader in tracking, measuring, and optimizing omnichannel activity, serving brands across multiple categories; in addition to CPG and grocery, they also serve customers in beauty, alcohol, personal care, and consumer electronics.
Founded by Rachel Tipograph, MikMak has established itself as an e-commerce intelligence startup that bridges the gap between digital advertising and actual sales conversion. The 11-year-old company also sells shoppable media technology that allows consumers to buy products from social media platforms through landing pages that link to the retailers where products are sold.
The startup’s client roster differs significantly from SPINS. MikMak’s clients are big CPG brands, while SPINS traditionally serves smaller and emerging companies. This complementary customer base creates exciting opportunities for cross-selling and market expansion.
Key Details of the SPINS MikMak Acquisition Deal
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, several important MikMak acquisition details have emerged that illuminate the strategic thinking behind this move.
MikMak has raised a total of $14 million from investors including Wavecrest Growth Partners, indicating substantial investor confidence in the company’s technology and market position prior to the acquisition.
The timing of this retail data analytics acquisition is particularly strategic. This acquisition coincides with the imminent release of MikMak 4.0, a new and best-in-class platform that strengthens the company’s value proposition and ability to help brands to optimize every marketing dollar.
Organizational Integration Plans
The SPINS company news reveals thoughtful integration planning. Tipograph will lead a division of the company called Journey, ensuring continuity of MikMak’s leadership and vision within the larger organization.
As part of the acquisition, customers of a Spins product called Destini will become MikMak customers. MikMak will also ingest Spins’ data, creating immediate synergies between the two platforms.
The Strategic Rationale: Why This Acquisition Makes Perfect Sense
Addressing Market Evolution
The two companies first began talking about a potential partnership last year, SPINS CEO Jay Margolis told AdExchanger. The conversation quickly changed to, “actually, what would it look like if these two entities came together?”
This evolution from partnership to acquisition reflects deeper market changes. SPINS has been converting online buyers into offline purchases for over a decade, but the days of simple see-and-buy are behind us.
Complementary Strengths
The SPINS MikMak acquisition brings together complementary data assets and capabilities. For MikMak, the appeal, according to the startup’s CEO and Founder Rachel Tipograph, is that SPINS “has a proprietary data asset that we always wish we had”.
Meanwhile, SPINS gains access to sophisticated digital marketing and measurement capabilities. SPINS wanted to expand into MikMak’s space – which is to say, serving online ads and driving online conversions – as an extension of its in-store purchase and shelf-monitoring data offering.
Meeting Enterprise Customer Demands
Large CPG brands are demanding more integrated solutions. Traditionally, big CPG brands would typically split responsibilities between a marketing team running national or global campaigns and a trade marketing team partnering with retailers to boost sales in their stores. Large CPG companies and retailers are therefore now more open to integrating purchase data providers, ad vendors and online platforms.
They don’t want to work with siloed vendors, explains Tipograph. This market signal drove both companies toward consolidation rather than competition.
The Technology Behind the Integration
Enhanced Data Capabilities
The combined entity will offer unprecedented data granularity. The combined value proposition of the two companies will be to deliver an unparallelled level of granularity to consumer preference and behavior – on shelf and online.
For brands, this means access to data from over 108K locations across the US and provides key metrics regarding sales performance and product intelligence combined with sophisticated omnichannel tracking capabilities.
Platform Synergies
By acquiring MikMak, SPINS is adding more robust campaign delivery combined with measurement to its tool kit, which is what brands want. This isn’t just about combining datasets – it’s about creating entirely new analytical capabilities.
The integration allows for more sophisticated attribution modeling. When marketers run an Instagram campaign, they don’t only want to know how many conversions they drove on Instagram “in a vacuum.” They want campaign results “put into the context of everything that we do”.
Market Impact and Competitive Positioning
Expanding Market Reach
The two firms reach more than 4,000 brands, creating one of the largest combined client bases in the retail analytics space. This scale provides significant competitive advantages in data collection and insight generation.
The acquisition also enables geographic and category expansion. With MikMak, Spins hopes to expand into retail categories beyond grocery like home improvement, beauty, and pet.
Challenging Established Players
Historically, SPINS has competed with attribution services like Circana, which was formed by the merger of IRI and NCSolutions, the two largest store-based purchase data providers. The SPINS MikMak acquisition positions the combined entity to challenge these industry giants with a more comprehensive offering.
Unlike traditional players, the new combined entity can offer both in-store and digital measurement capabilities. This end-to-end approach addresses a key pain point for modern CPG brands managing complex omnichannel strategies.
Industry Implications and Future Trends
The Rise of Agentic Commerce
SPINS acquired commerce intelligence and omnichannel orchestration platform MikMak this week, accelerating its capabilities for enabling and measuring consumer engagement throughout the shopping experience “across physical, digital, and agentic” channels.
The mention of “agentic” commerce points toward AI-driven shopping experiences where intelligent agents make purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers. This forward-looking positioning suggests both companies anticipate significant changes in how commerce operates.
Data Privacy and Compliance
As data analytics becomes more sophisticated, privacy considerations become more complex. The combined entity will need to navigate increasingly strict data protection regulations while maintaining the granular insights their clients demand.
Real-Time Decision Making
We are motivated by a powerful mission – to grow brands in real time, says Rachel Tipograph. This real-time capability becomes crucial as commerce cycles accelerate and consumer behavior becomes more volatile.
Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
Integration Complexities
Merging two different data platforms, client bases, and corporate cultures presents significant challenges. The success of this retail data analytics acquisition will largely depend on how smoothly the companies can integrate their technologies and teams.
Cultural alignment appears promising. In SPINS, we found a team that thinks the way we do, and shares our relentless focus on helping customers keep pace with the evolving commerce world, notes Tipograph.
Market Education
Both companies will need to educate their respective client bases about the expanded capabilities. SPINS customers accustomed to traditional retail analytics will need to understand digital attribution benefits, while MikMak clients must appreciate the value of in-store data insights.
Technology Platform Unification
Creating a seamless user experience from two distinct platforms requires significant technical investment. The success of MikMak 4.0’s integration with SPINS’ existing systems will be crucial for client retention and growth.
What This Means for CPG Brands
Enhanced Attribution Modeling
Brands can now connect digital advertising spend directly to in-store sales performance with unprecedented accuracy. This capability addresses a longstanding challenge in omnichannel marketing measurement.
More Sophisticated Targeting
Companies can track consumer spending patterns and health trends across different geographies, channels, attributes, and other variables to uncover untapped opportunities for growth. The combined platform enables more precise audience targeting and message customization.
Improved ROI Measurement
The integration allows brands to optimize their entire marketing funnel rather than managing separate digital and traditional channels. This holistic approach should improve overall marketing return on investment.
Looking Forward: The Future of Commerce Intelligence
Predictions for Industry Consolidation
This e-commerce intelligence startup acquisition may trigger additional consolidation in the retail analytics space. Smaller players may need to find acquisition partners to compete with the enhanced capabilities of combined platforms.
Technology Evolution
Expect rapid advancement in AI-powered analytics capabilities as the combined entity leverages both companies’ data assets to train more sophisticated predictive models.
Client Service Enhancement
With expanded resources and capabilities, the combined entity should be able to provide more comprehensive consulting services alongside their technology platforms.
Conclusion: A Strategic Transformation of Retail Analytics
The SPINS MikMak acquisition represents more than a simple expansion deal – it signals a fundamental transformation in how retail analytics companies approach the modern commerce landscape. By combining SPINS’ deep retail data expertise with MikMak’s sophisticated digital commerce intelligence capabilities, the merged entity is positioned to address the evolving needs of CPG brands operating in an increasingly complex omnichannel environment.
This retail data analytics acquisition demonstrates the market’s clear direction toward integrated solutions that can measure and optimize the entire consumer journey. As commerce becomes more fragmented across digital and physical touchpoints, brands desperately need partners who can provide unified insights and actionable recommendations.
The success of this SPINS company news story will ultimately be measured by how effectively the combined platform helps brands navigate the challenges of modern commerce. Early indicators suggest strong strategic alignment and complementary capabilities, but the real test will come as integrated solutions reach market and demonstrate tangible value for the expanding client base.
For the broader retail analytics industry, this acquisition sets a new standard for comprehensive commerce intelligence. Competitors will need to evaluate their own strategies for addressing the full spectrum of modern shopper behavior, from initial digital engagement through final purchase and beyond.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the SPINS MikMak acquisition about?
SPINS acquired MikMak on January 14, 2026, combining SPINS’ retail data analytics capabilities with MikMak’s commerce intelligence and omnichannel orchestration platform to create a comprehensive solution for CPG brands.
Why did SPINS acquire MikMak instead of partnering?
The companies initially discussed a partnership but realized that full integration would better serve their clients’ needs for unified commerce measurement across digital and physical channels.
What are the financial terms of the SPINS MikMak acquisition?
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though MikMak had previously raised $14 million from investors including Wavecrest Growth Partners.
How will this acquisition affect existing SPINS and MikMak customers?
SPINS Destini customers will transition to MikMak’s platform, while MikMak will integrate SPINS’ retail data. The combined client base now exceeds 4,000 brands.
What new capabilities does this retail data analytics acquisition create?
The merger combines in-store purchase data with digital advertising attribution, enabling brands to measure and optimize their entire omnichannel marketing strategy from a single platform.
Who will lead MikMak after the acquisition?
Rachel Tipograph, MikMak’s founder and CEO, will lead a new division within SPINS called Journey, maintaining leadership continuity for the acquired platform.
What market trends drove this e-commerce intelligence startup acquisition?
The acquisition addresses growing demand for integrated commerce measurement solutions as brands struggle with fragmented data across digital and physical retail channels.
