About Caddis
Caddis (opens in a new tab) is an eyewear brand built on a simple idea: aging does not have to mean compromising on style. The brand designs frames, sunglasses, prescription eyewear and readers for a stylish, culturally aware customer.
For Caddis, the marketplace opportunity was clear: extend the brand’s reach, broaden its assortment and meet customers wherever they shop. With roughly 75,000 SKU combinations across frames, colors and magnifications, Caddis has expanded from direct-to-consumer into three marketplace channels, including Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Amazon. Today, the brand manages this growing marketplace business with a lean team and a clear objective: reach more customers without giving up control of its assortment, pricing or brand experience.
75,000
SKUs managed across channels
3
Marketplace channels live via Mirakl Connect
26%
Increase in sales in year one selling on marketplaces
The challenge: How do you add distribution without multiplying the work?
For Caddis, marketplaces represented more than another sales channel. They offered a way to introduce the brand to customers who might never discover it through D2C alone, while allowing the team to protect the brand experience it had built.
The operating challenge was significant. Caddis manages roughly 75,000 SKU combinations across frames, colors and magnifications. Keeping inventory accurate, maintaining marketplace-specific assortments and responding to promotions across multiple channels would quickly become a manual, resource-intensive process without a connection to the systems already running the business.
The brand needed a way to expand its reach without creating a second operating model.
“Our SKU count is significant – we're talking about 75,000 combinations across frames, colors and magnifications. Without a way to connect that to our existing platform, keeping inventory accurate and the assortment consistent across every channel would have been a constant drain on the team.” – Kirk Duda, COO, Caddis
Why Caddis chose Mirakl Connect
For a lean team, marketplace growth only works if the operating model scales with it. Caddis chose Mirakl Connect (opens in a new tab) to make marketplace selling an extension of its D2C business, not an entirely separate operation. Four priorities shaped the decision:
- Bring marketplace operations into one connected workflow: Caddis can manage multiple marketplace channels while keeping inventory, assortment and pricing connected to its existing systems.
- Reach new customers without taking focus away from D2C: Marketplaces introduce Caddis to new audiences while the team continues to invest in its own channel and brand experience.
- Turn assortment changes into a quick decision: With Catalog Transformer, Caddis can add products, remove them or adjust prices for marketplace promotions in minutes.
- Grow the channel without growing the workload: The team can generate meaningful sales and customer acquisition through marketplaces without taking on the manual effort of managing each channel separately.
“The goal was to add a channel without adding a second operation. Because Mirakl Connect ties into the systems we already run our D2C and wholesale business on, marketplaces became something we could layer on top rather than manage as a separate workload.” – Kirk Duda, COO, Caddis
The results: More reach, sharper assortment intelligence and minimal effort
By connecting its existing platform to Mirakl Connect, Caddis made marketplaces an additive growth channel, reaching new customers and generating insights that sharpen its assortment without pulling focus from D2C. The brand has also seen a lift in D2C sales attributed to marketplace activity, reinforcing that marketplace reach can expand the business rather than compete with it:
- Sales growth from expansion: Marketplace sales grew 26% in Caddis’ first year selling on marketplaces, a lift driven by its expanding SKU assortment and the addition of new marketplace channels.
- Reach that adds to the business: Marketplaces put Caddis in front of new customers, including shoppers with different preferences from the brand’s existing D2C audience.
- Assortment intelligence, not just sales data: Marketplace performance showed Caddis that products nearing discontinuation on its own site could find new momentum with a different audience. That insight prompted the team to reorder products it had been preparing to retire.
- A stronger view of customer demand: Selling through different marketplace audiences helps Caddis understand which frames, colors and magnifications resonate across channels, informing future assortment decisions.
- Speed to react: Catalog Transformer allows the team to add, remove or reprice products and participate in marketplace promotions in minutes rather than turning each update into a larger operational project.
“Catalog Transformer makes it simple to change what we're featuring – adding products, pulling others, adjusting prices for a promotion. What used to take real coordination now takes minutes.” – Kirk Duda, COO, Caddis
What's next for Caddis
Caddis plans to continue expanding its marketplace presence, using each channel to reach new customers and learn more about how they shop.
The brand’s approach is deliberately additive. Marketplaces extend the reach of Caddis without replacing its D2C business, giving the team another way to build awareness, acquire customers and test its assortment. As the business adds channels, the insights generated through marketplace performance will help Caddis refine its product strategy and identify new opportunities for growth.
