The K-beauty brand once assumed marketplaces were where big retailers sold overstock. But selling on them became the fastest way the brand had ever grown.
2x
Sales month over month in Siia's first year selling on marketplaces
4
Marketplaces live – Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and Ulta Beauty
~15 min
Time now spent running multichannel operations each day
A small team with a big reach problem
Siia Cosmetics is a K-beauty brand, founded in 2017 on one idea: beauty is for everyone. Its products are made in Korea, while its headquarters, marketing and customers are in the United States. With a team of 20 people total, the business grew mainly through wholesale for years.
In 2024, Siia turned its focus to selling direct to consumers but hit a growth ceiling. Its website and Meta ads worked, but customer acquisition costs kept rising. Pop-ups and beauty trade shows brought in new customers, but reach was limited to only those who showed up in person. A display in a Dallas store reached shoppers only in Dallas.
To grow faster, Siia needed reach that it couldn't buy one ad or one event at a time. Marketplaces were the obvious answer – but a misconception about them held the brand back.
The assumption that nearly cost Siia its next stage of growth
Before Siia started selling on marketplaces, CEO Simon Jeon saw them the way many sellers still do.
“Previously, we believed that Macy's and Nordstrom marketplaces only sold products that were already available in their physical, offline stores.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
That perception keeps many growing brands on the sidelines. Marketplaces can look like a loss of control, a place where a brand ends up shelved next to overstock or whatever isn't moving. Selling on them told Siia a different story.
Siia's way in to selling on marketplaces was through Macy's. When they set out to sell there, Macy's pointed them to the platform that runs its marketplace operations: Mirakl Connect. Siia created an account, synced its Shopify catalog and started selling. That was the brand's first marketplace experience – and the entry point to every one that followed.
What Siia found was not a clearance shelf. It was a serious operation, with Mirakl Connect at its center. Each marketplace gave Siia an account manager, while Mirakl Connect helped the brand see its growth across all of those channels. When sales climbed fast enough to outgrow Siia's plan, Mirakl Connect flagged it and moved the brand up to the next tier.
Mirakl Connect also does something Siia used to pay a third party for: it scans the marketplace ecosystem, identifies new opportunities and points the brand toward new channels that fit.
“Our operations lead asks if there's a marketplace that fits our brand, and they search and suggest them for us. Mirakl is doing what a third party used to do.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
The channel Simon once pictured as a dead end was working as a growth engine. Once Siia started selling through Mirakl Connect, sales doubled month over month.
Choosing marketplaces on purpose, not all at once
Siia did not rush to sell on every marketplace it could. It chose them in an order that matched the brand's goals, using marketplaces to exercise control rather than give it up.
Macy's came first because of its scale, high traffic volume and a large audience, many of them shopping for a promotion. Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's followed as a deliberate step toward a more premium customer – one who buys without waiting for a discount.
“Many people who shop at Macy's may not shop at Nordstrom. It's a different customer group, so that helps us move up to the next level.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
That strategy shows up in how Siia advertises. Its Macy's campaigns lead with promotions and value. Its Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's campaigns lead with product education and benefit. One brand and one catalog, reaching three distinct audiences by design.
How a 20-person company can run 4 marketplaces
Getting onto the right marketplaces takes some work. Retailers vet the brands they accept, and a brand has to earn its place. Running one catalog across four marketplaces might seem like it means quadruple the work: four systems to learn, four sets of listings to maintain, four places to fix whenever a price changes or a product sells out.
But Siia does it with a tiny team because Mirakl Connect sits between its Shopify store and every marketplace – so the brand manages one connection instead of many.
That connection makes growth fast. Adding Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's after Macy's took days, not months, because the catalog and Shopify sync were already in place. Onboarding a new marketplace meant turning a channel on, not building one from scratch. Bloomingdale's went from first conversation to live sales in weeks, with orders coming in before Siia ran a single ad.
It also makes the day-to-day simple. When Siia's operations manager changes inventory or pricing in Shopify, the update reaches every marketplace within about 15 minutes. She makes the change once, instead of repeating it at Macy's, then Nordstrom, then Bloomingdale's.
“As a small company, it really helps to have Mirakl Connect. The software does the work for you. You could run the whole business with just yourself and one other person.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
The payoff: time back, sharper marketing, and more inbound inquiries
From execution to strategy
Siia's operations lead owns nearly every part of the day-to-day business, from product and logistics to marketing, advertising and customer service. Before Mirakl Connect, manual work consumed her time.
Now she spends about 15 minutes each morning confirming that everything is in order, and the rest of her day goes to the work that grows the brand: reading the data, spotting what's working and building better ads from it.
“Before, she would have to keep uploading without looking at the data. Now, she can see that an ad worked because it showed every color shade, and she'll use that in the next video. She now gets to do the more detailed work.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
From chasing to being chosen
Siia once paid a third-party service a commission to pitch the brand to marketplaces. Now they come to Siia.
“Mirakl already has all our performance data. Marketplaces can review us without us having to say, 'We have this much growth.’” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
Nordstrom reached out after seeing Siia's success on Macy's. Bloomingdale's invited the brand to help build its K-beauty assortment. The interest that once cost Siia time and commission now arrives on its own.
What's next for Siia
Siia's performance on U.S. marketplaces has become its calling card in new markets. When a brand can point to real results on Macy's or Nordstrom, retailers in other countries pay attention. Siia has launched in Mexico and, most recently, with Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. Next is East Asia, including a return to Korea, where its products are made.
The brand that once saw marketplaces as a dead end now runs its expansion through them, with Mirakl Connect as the layer that lets a team of 20 keep adding channels without adding complexity.
“Getting onto each of these platforms is the dream for every brand. It's very hard to grow all your sales from your own website alone. Being on all of them together is what grows our business.” – Simon Jeon, CEO, Siia Cosmetics
