Mailchimp Adds Online Storefront And Appointment-Booking Tools

Mailchimp

Mailchimp has launched two new commerce features for merchants to its larger integrated marketing platform, and has made them available for free, according to a Tuesday (April 27) announcement.

One of these features, called Stores, allows merchants to create an online storefront, add or edit products, complete orders and manage payments, tax and shipping. This product is in beta now and is scheduled to be available in the U.S. and the U.K. by May 18.

The other feature, Appointments, will launch Wednesday (April 28) and allows businesses to offer service bookings and manage their schedules online. The tools also give users built-in access to Mailchimp’s marketing platform.

Explaining its move into eCommerce, the marketing service firm said its “customers have been asking us to add more commerce functionality to our marketing platform.” Close to 40 percent of the firm’s 14 million customers “are in the commerce space,” and as of last year, 61 percent “identified as offering services.”

Mailchimp said it recognizes that not every small business will need the same commerce solution, and notes that its service integrates with several other eCommerce platforms, such as BigCommerce, Magento and Big Cartel.

“Our goal is to not just help merchants to build their stores or online presence — we aim to help them build their audiences to attract shoppers and receive orders, too,” the company says. “That means small businesses don’t just see purchase or schedule information, they’ll be able to see which emails or social posts drove traffic and purchases on their site, or be able to easily target repeat customers with automations based on their browsing and purchase history.”

This is not Mailchimp’s first journey into the eCommerce realm. Last year, it cemented a partnership with Stripe that allowed Mailchimp users — many of them small businesses — to accept payments on their websites through Stripe. Mailchimp had launched a similar feature with Square in 2018.