Medicube grew on TikTok Shop and Amazon, then Ulta.
Not a DTC story. A Korean device brand let about 34,000 creators sell for it, pointed its Meta ads at Amazon, and used the sales to win 1,400 Ulta stores.
BLOOM10X did not work with Medicube. This breakdown uses public sources only, linked below.
- 2017APR launches Medicube in Seoul
- 2021First Age-R skincare devices
- 2023Hailey Bieber posts the device, unpaid
- 2024APR lists; Ulta deal signed
- Mar 2025First K-beauty Super Brand Day on US TikTok Shop
- Aug 2025In 1,400 Ulta stores
- 2025About $1.1B in revenue
A billion-dollar brand with a small website.
Content, cart, counter
One brand carries the group
Five plays behind the growth.
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Sell a product people film
Medicube added Age-R devices in 2021. The Booster Pro sold at $220, devices are “often” 30–40% of sales (Glossy, Nov 2025), and the line has passed 6 million units (Vogue Business, Feb 2026).
Copy this: lead your ads with the product that shows a visible change on camera, even if it is not your best seller. Creative →
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Turn creators into a sales force
About 34,000 creators sell it as TikTok Shop affiliates. Charm.io data puts TikTok Shop sales up 1,143% from 2024 to 2025 and at $102.9M to date. In March 2025 it hosted the first K-beauty Super Brand Day on US TikTok Shop (Vogue Business).
Copy this: send product to creators who already post in your category and pay them per sale, not per post. Creator seeding →
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One big name, then thousands of small ones
A 2023 TikTok from Hailey Bieber was unpaid; Kylie Jenner’s 2025 post was paid (Glossy). Her pop-up visit drew 5,000 visitors in a week, and Tati Westbrook’s review reportedly returned over 10x its cost. The CEO answers device questions on TikTok himself (Vogue Business).
Copy this: spend on one creator your buyers trust, then cut their video into ads and brief smaller creators on the same angle. Partnership ads guide →
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Send paid traffic to Amazon
On Nov 10, 2026 Medicube ran about 480 active US Meta ads. Every one we opened linked to amazon.com, including partnership ads from creator handles and a Spanish-language ad tagged for Amazon’s own ad tracking. Prime Day 2025 alone brought $22M (Vogue Business).
Copy this: if most of your buyers check out on Amazon, test Meta ads to your listing with Amazon attribution links and judge them on total sales, not site sales. Meta ads →
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Use the sales to win the shelf
The Ulta deal came in 2024, after the TikTok Shop and affiliate base. It reached 1,400 stores in August 2025, and in October ranked No. 1 in Ulta’s online skincare and No. 3 overall (Vogue Business).
Copy this: take marketplace sell-through, reviews and creator reach to the buyer meeting as proof the product moves. Check the margin first →
The Amazon listing the ads point to.
- 1A brand store, not a reseller“Visit the medicube Store” sits under the title.
- 2Amazon’s proof, not the brand’s4.5 stars from 665 ratings, Amazon’s Choice and “6K+ bought in past month”.
- 3A low first price$18.90 one-time; Subscribe & Save from $17.95.
- 4A gift for a second item“Free bonus item when you buy 2 select item(s)”.
- 5A two-pack beside the single$34.02 for two, $16.84 per fluid ounce.
- 6Amazon ships, the brand sells“Ships from Amazon”, sold by “Medicube & Aprilskin”.
Our math on the two stores
Three places the money goes.
“[Medicube] Amazon No. 1 in Body Care”
- Copy opens on the problem: “Rough knees. Uneven-looking underarms.”
- Then “Shop on Amazon now.” and a link to amazon.com.
- 3 of the first 50 active ads the Library returned use this headline.
“¿Cansada del acné?”
- 8 of the first 50 active US ads were in Spanish.
- The link goes to amazon.com/dp/B0FT7TKN36 with “maas” parameters, the format Amazon uses to credit off-Amazon ads.
- The listing it opens is the one annotated above.
Booster Pro X2, $249
- $249 against a $299 regular price, and “4 interest-free installments”.
- “Complete the set” offers three skincare add-ons from $20.
- A $5-for-$5 referral bar and a 10% email pop-up sit on top.
Active US ads on the Medicube page, Meta Ad Library, Nov 10, 2026. “About 480” is Meta’s estimate. Of the first 50: 8 in Spanish, 8 buy-X-get-a-gift offers, 3 “Amazon No. 1” headlines.
How a creator ad sends people to Amazon.
- 1The handleThe header reads “Lavendersloveee with Medicube”, so it shows as a person’s post.
- 2A borrowed hook“POV: When Lady Gaga makes you add a PDRN gel mask to your skincare routine”.
- 3Use on cameraThe creator’s own video of the product in use.
- 4No stop at the brand siteThe link card reads www.amazon.com.
Our wireframe, built from partnership ads on the Medicube page in the Meta Ad Library, Nov 10, 2026. Not a copy of the ad.
The how-to video did the selling.
“Once we spent time on the platform, we realized there was deep peer-to-peer reviewing happening.”
“We want to be in every channel out there.”
Read it with three caveats.
- It owns its factories. “We don’t outsource production,” says the CEO. A brand on a contract manufacturer has less margin to pay creator commissions and Amazon fees at once.
- Amazon keeps the customer. Sending Meta traffic to a listing trades away the email list and the repeat order you would own on Shopify.
- The homepage borrows trust. All 12 YouTube reviews linked on medicube.us come from creators’ channels, not the brand’s. A new brand has none to link yet.
- What we’d change: send a share of the Meta budget to medicube.us with a device-plus-skincare bundle, and compare 90-day value per buyer against Amazon.
Six moves for a $1M–$10M brand.
- Put the product with the most visible change first in your ads. Creative
- Seed creators who already post in your category and pay per sale. Creator seeding
- Run their best videos from their own handles as partnership ads. Partnership ads guide
- Plan how many creator videos a month that takes. Creative volume calculator
- If you sell on Amazon, test Meta ads to the listing with attribution links. Meta ads
- Price a device or tool with a paid add-on and check the margin. Contribution margin calculator
Where every number comes from.
- Amy Francombe, “How K-Beauty Brand Medicube Pulled Off Its Global Breakout,” Vogue Business, Feb 13, 2026. vogue.com
- Sara Spruch-Feiner, “Kim Byung-Hoon, APR Corp (Medicube) | Glossy 50 2025,” Glossy, Nov 24, 2025. glossy.co
- Amazon, medicube Azelaic Acid 10 Soothing Serum listing, viewed Nov 10, 2026. amazon.com/dp/B0FT7TKN36
- Medicube, Booster Pro X2 product page and homepage, viewed on mobile Nov 10, 2026. medicube.us/products/booster-pro-x2
- Meta Ad Library, active US ads for the Medicube page, viewed Nov 10, 2026. facebook.com/ads/library
- Medicube, official YouTube channel (@medicube_global_official), videos dated Feb 27, 2023 to Feb 22, 2024. youtube.com/@medicube_global_official
