Reaching Shoppers Traditional Paid Channels Couldn't: How Sulwhasoo Drove $450K with Mate

Sulwhasoo (설화수), the heritage Korean luxury skincare brand that blends traditional medicinal herbs with modern science, plugged into Mate's performance offers network and generated $450K in new sales, 2,100+ orders, and a 15% AOV lift in just 90 days - reaching verified, in-market buyers with AI-personalized offers instead of blanket discounts.

Challenges

As Sulwhasoo scaled its global presence, the team faced the challenge every growing prestige beauty label knows: scaling efficiently while protecting the margins that make luxury skincare worth selling.

With rising CAC and an increasingly crowded beauty vertical, Sulwhasoo needed new ways to reach in-market shoppers without over-relying on discounts or traditional paid channels that were charging more to convert buyers who were already harder to reach.

The team set out to:

Reach verified, first-party, high-intent shoppers beyond traditional ad platforms
Drive incremental sales without eroding luxury margins
Lift AOV through personalized, data-backed offers
Scale new customer acquisition while protecting brand integrity
Test offer types that align with a prestige brand voice and margin goals

In a category crowded with paid social spend and generic codes leaking margin, Sulwhasoo needed a smarter channel - one built on real shopper intent, not impressions.

Solution

Sulwhasoo was live on Mate's Performance Network fast, with no complex integration and no operational drag.

From there, Mate ran campaigns across two levers of the Performance Network, both reaching in-network shoppers already in-market for luxury skincare:

Targeting delivered AI-personalized, single-use offers to high-intent shoppers at the right moment, acquiring net-new buyers at a fraction of traditional CAC.

Audiences delivered personalized gated offers to verified, qualified segments, unlocking exclusive pricing for the right shoppers without leaking discounts to the open web.

Impact

Both ladder into the same Performance Network, so Sulwhasoo connected with the right buyers without cannibalizing existing customers or leaning on blanket discounts. Because Mate only charges on purchases, every dollar was tied directly to a conversion.

Across both levers in 90 days:

Targeting drove $250K in sales and 1,200+ orders
Audiences drove $200K in sales and 900+ orders
15% AOV lift across the program, all incremental, all attributed to Mate

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