MailChimp, which has already expanded beyond email into marketing automation, is now adding an online storefront and appointment-booking. A free-ish version of the storefront has no monthly fee, although users pay 2% of revenues. Or, users can pay $10 or $29 per month in exchange for lower transaction rates.
Market research firm Numerator is joining the omni-channel measurement wars with a new marketing share measurement system that fixes the problems with retail sales data, which now capture less than half of all purchases. The system achieves this magic by using a 1+ million household panel. Numerator was bought earlier this month by Kantar for $1.5 billion.
Omni-channel messaging platform MessageBird announced a $600 million acquisition of email optimization platform SparkPost, $1 billion Series C extension (from the previous $200 million), and entry to the U.S. market. We also just learned that MessageBird bought the Hull.io CDP at the end of March, along with video platform 24sessions. The deals strengthen MessageBird’s competitive position against Twilio, which you will recall bought the Segment CDP last year.
CDP and marketing cloud vendor Zeta Global announced an agreement to purchase LiveIntent, which helps companies do email-based advertising. The deal will let Zeta expand its identity graph, enter the publisher monetization business, and accelerate its mobile and retail media products. Zeta will pay $77.5 million in cash and $172.5 million in common stock, with potential for additional payments based on performance.