Target Plus, Ulta Beauty Marketplace, Nordstrom Marketplace, Macy’s Marketplace, and Bloomingdale’s Marketplace are all curated. The retailer picks every brand. A nomination, referral, or introduction can put your brand in front of the right team — and that is all it does. Understanding how marketplace nomination works, and how it differs from applying yourself, helps you plan the path in without expecting a shortcut. It never guarantees approval.
Open marketplaces let almost anyone list. These five do not. Fit, category, product quality, and operational readiness all matter, and the retailer weighs them before any brand goes live.
Getting onto a curated shelf usually means one of three things. The brand applies where a public path exists. The retailer invites the brand. Or a trusted partner introduces the brand to the retailer’s marketplace team. That third path is what people usually mean by nomination or referral — and it is where Acenda can help.
Acenda can introduce qualified brands to these five marketplaces — and to almost every other curated third-party marketplace we connect to.
Target Plus, Ulta Beauty Marketplace, Nordstrom Marketplace, Macy’s Marketplace, and Bloomingdale’s Marketplace: when your brand, category, and operations look like a strong fit, Acenda may help nominate you directly to that retailer’s marketplace team. Not every brand is a fit, and the retailer always makes the final decision — but a qualified introduction is the fastest way to get in front of the right people. The same applies across the rest of Acenda’s 100+ marketplace channels: wherever a retailer runs a curated program, Acenda can usually introduce a brand that fits. Book a demo to find out whether your brand qualifies.
None of these retailers publishes a formal public partner-nomination program. A partner nomination is an introduction to the marketplace team, not a separate application track. It can open a door. It does not close the deal.
Applying yourself means using a public path when one exists — Ulta Beauty Marketplace via RangeMe, for example — or reaching out directly to the retailer’s marketplace team. You own the outreach and the paperwork from the start.
Nomination or referral means a trusted partner puts your brand in front of that same team. Either way, the retailer evaluates brand fit, category mix, product quality, and whether you can operate to its standards. The decision is the same decision; only the route to it differs.
None of them publishes a formal partner-nomination program.
When a brand looks like a strong fit — the right category and assortment, and operations that can meet the retailer’s standards — Acenda may help nominate it to the marketplace team at any of the five channels above. Not every brand is a fit. Whether Acenda can help depends on the channel, the category and assortment, and operational readiness.
A nomination is an introduction, not an approval. No one, including Acenda, can guarantee acceptance, and Acenda does not decide who gets on a curated marketplace.
Once the retailer approves your brand, Acenda connects catalog, inventory, pricing, orders, shipping, and returns — including across Mirakl-powered department-store channels as you expand. Acenda is a flat rate per channel, never a percentage of sales. A quote is given on a demo.
The public path after an invitation looks similar across these channels. Exact checklists vary and are confirmed in onboarding.
This is the start of onboarding, not permission to start selling.
You sign the retailer’s marketplace seller agreement and accept that channel’s commercial and operating terms.
Typical U.S. basics called out by Macy’s and Ulta include U.S. business registration, a tax ID or W-9, a U.S. bank account, U.S. shipping and return addresses, and scannable UPCs. Requirements can change; each retailer confirms the current checklist in onboarding.
Connect catalog, inventory, and orders through an approved integration partner such as Acenda, or work directly with the retailer. The retailer reviews listings before items go live.
No retailer publishes a full end-to-end timeline from first outreach to live. Macy’s says items take at least 5–6 days to go live after onboarding is complete; that is the only post-onboarding day count in this set, and it does not apply to the other four. Once you are operating, Ulta and Macy’s ask for orders to ship within about two business days. Catalog readiness and retailer review usually determine how long the rest takes.
On curated retail marketplaces, nomination or referral usually means a trusted partner introduces your brand to the retailer’s marketplace team. It can get you in front of the right people. It does not guarantee approval. The retailer always decides.
No. Applying yourself means using a public path where one exists, for example Ulta Beauty Marketplace via RangeMe, or contacting the retailer directly. Nomination or referral means someone else puts you in front of the team. Either way, the retailer makes the final call on brand fit, category, quality, and operational readiness.
Target Plus, Ulta Beauty Marketplace, Nordstrom Marketplace, and Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s are all curated. The retailer picks the brands. Public paths differ. Target Plus is invite-only, with no open self-serve sign-up. Ulta is invitation-only and has a public application path via RangeMe. Macy’s works with a select curated group and keeps a separate assortment from Bloomingdale’s. Nordstrom is widely described as gated or invite-only and does not publish a detailed process.
Acenda may be able to help. When a brand looks like a qualified candidate for Target Plus, Ulta Beauty Marketplace, Nordstrom Marketplace, Macy’s Marketplace, or Bloomingdale’s Marketplace, Acenda may help nominate it to that retailer’s marketplace team. A nomination is an introduction, not an approval. The retailer always makes the final decision, and acceptance is never guaranteed. None of these retailers publishes a formal partner-nomination program. Not every brand is a fit. The same introduction route is available on almost all of the other curated third-party marketplaces Acenda connects to, not just these five. Once you are approved, Acenda handles integration: catalog, inventory, pricing, orders, shipping, and returns.
Typical public steps: accept the invitation, sign the retailer’s marketplace agreement, complete account setup, connect catalog and orders through an approved integration partner or directly with the retailer, then pass listing review before going live. Macy’s and Ulta call out U.S. business registration, tax ID or W-9, a U.S. bank account, U.S. ship and return addresses, and scannable UPCs. Exact checklists vary by retailer and are confirmed in onboarding. An invite is the start of onboarding, not permission to start selling.
Common publicly discussed reasons include a category or assortment mismatch, products the retailer already sells itself (Macy’s calls this out), a weak marketplace track record or reviews, missing GS1 UPCs, and operational gaps such as U.S. fulfillment, shipping speed, or returns.
No retailer publishes an end-to-end timeline from first outreach to live. The only post-onboarding figure in this set is Macy’s: items take at least 5–6 days to go live after onboarding is complete. Once you are operating, Ulta and Macy’s expect orders to ship within about two business days. Catalog readiness and retailer review usually decide the rest. Do not expect a promised number of weeks.
After the retailer approves your brand, Acenda connects catalog, inventory, pricing, orders, shipping, and returns. Macy’s publicly names Acenda as one of its approved integration options for uploading items. Acenda does not decide or guarantee marketplace acceptance. Acenda is a flat rate per channel, never a percentage of sales. Book a demo for a quote based on your setup.
Book a demo and we’ll walk through which channels fit your assortment, whether Acenda may be able to help nominate your brand, what readiness looks like before you apply or get introduced, and how Acenda runs catalog, inventory, and orders once you are approved.
