Coming soon: K-beauty brand Mixsoon inks deal with Costco to expand US footprint

In addition, the firm is also in talks to launch with Costco in Canada, allowing it to expand its footprint across North America.

The brand is already available online on Amazon, where it is ranked as one of the top selling serums.

“We’re expanding really fast, especially offline, in the US and Europe,”​ said Janet Kim, general manager of Mixsoon.

She told CosmeticsDesign-Asia​ that the brand was currently available in Galeries Lafayette in France as well as Rossmann in the Czech Republic.

The brand is also set to launch in Poland with health and beauty retailer Hebe, starting with around 300 doors.

The US is currently the brand’s biggest market, followed by Europe. It is also eyeing potential in the Middle East.

Travel retail opportunities

This year Mixsoon exhibited at the Tax Free World Association Asia Pacific Exhibition for the first time as it looks to expand into the travel retail market.

It debuted in the sector at Seoul’s Incheon Airport through Shilla Duty Free, where it found that some of its products resonated strongly with consumers.

“Our products are simple and easy to use. Our clean formula is also good for all skin types, even sensitive skin. These factors make our products well suited for travel retail,” ​said Kim.

The company’s goal is to launch in duty-free shops at international airports and hopefully develop amenities for airlines.

The brand has already developed travel retail exclusives such as its plastic-free kit, which consists of shampoo, condition, and face and body bars. Moving forward, it plans to release mini-sized products for travel retail.

Moving forward, the company’s focus will be on the US, Europe, and the Middle East.

While China holds a lot of potential, the firm is holding back as it is challenging for K-beauty brands right now.

“China is a really tricky market right now because of the competition from Chinese brands which are getting really popular. SEA, is also tricky but because of the price,”​ said Kim.

She elaborated that the SEA market was now saturated with K-beauty brands due to the popularity of K-culture.

However, its products are more on the premium end of the spectrum, making it difficult to compete with the myriad of more affordable brands.

Kim added that Mixsoon has been performing well in Singapore and is hoping to expand online and offline further.

Organic word-of-mouth​

Since its launch in 2020, Mixsoon has experience phenomenal success.

Kim revealed to us that the brand’s sales for its first quarter this year had already surpassed its full-year sales in 2023, which surpassed USD10m.

“Honestly, it’s all been word-of-mouth and totally organic,” Kim told us.

The brand really started to take off when a South Korean celebrity makeup artist posted about its Bean Essence.

The company subsequently had an open dialogue with the makeup artist to understand why the product resonated with her.

“When Bean Essence was developed, it was just meant for moisturising, and it was good for massage because it has this really slippery texture. But the makeup artist told us that by massaging it into the skin, it could also exfoliate the skin. So, we studied it further and found that one of the ingredients was a natural and gentle alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA),”​ said Kim.

The unique and multifunctional nature of the product continued to gain traction online and soon became its bona fide flagship product.