For boutiques, bookstores, garden centers, gift and home stores, hobby, pet and specialty retailers
A favorite item is back. A new collection just arrived. Saturday's workshop has a few places left. RetailBlasts lets customers hear about the parts of your store they care about, starting with the email list you already have.
Connection-based and encrypted. Credits are prepaid and never expire. No subscription, no SMS, no inventory or POS connector.
The cast-iron skillet people kept asking about is back on the shelf this morning. Eight of them, same maker as before.
The autumn collection came in overnight and it's on the rail from ten. Photographs in the thread.
Saturday's seed-starting workshop has four places left. Reply YES if you'd like one and I'll follow up with you.
A store is always changing
Something is back. New merchandise landed. The season's first shipment arrived. A workshop has places. Holiday ordering opens. The hours change. Every one of these is worth saying, and almost none of them is for everyone. The store knows when each one happens, and chooses who should hear it.
The new collection is on the rail from ten this morning. Sizes run through 14 this time.
The author is here on the 22nd at 7. Signing after the reading; we take names at the counter.
The first fall herbs came in this morning: rosemary, thyme, sage and two kinds of basil.
The trail shoe that sold out in August is back in every size but 8. Sixteen pairs.
A limited shipment of the kits people asked about landed: twelve, and the maker isn't running more this year.
The grain-free food you asked us about is back on the shelf. We ordered extra this time.
New work from three local makers is on the front table from Friday. They'll be in the shop Saturday afternoon.
A sharpening demonstration in the shop, Saturday at 11. Bring one knife.
Holiday hours start the 18th, and the last day to order for pickup before the holiday is the 20th.
The Hub does not know any of this happened. A person at the store does, and tells the customers who asked to hear about that kind of thing.
The interest, not the entire list
RetailBlasts organizes your customers by what they want to hear about, not by what you want to say. A new store starts with five interests most stores share, and adds its own: a department, a category, a brand it carries, workshops, one per location. A customer picks the ones they care about and can be in as many as they like.
Every open interest appears on the customer's preferences page. The customer who only wants your holiday hours ticks Store Updates and hears nothing else.
When someone tells you at the counter what they want to hear about, add them to that interest from Customers. There is no rule that does it for you, and nobody is sorted by what they bought.
The restock goes to Back in Stock. The workshop goes to Events. The holiday hours go to Store Updates, or to everyone when they genuinely concern everyone.
A customer who hears from you three times a month about things they asked for still opens the fourth message. That is the whole discipline, and it is why this is not a coupon channel.
Onboarding seeds All Customers, New Arrivals, Back in Stock, Events, Offers and Store Updates for a new store. Rename, archive or add to them; the interests you create by name are chosen by customers the same way.
The interest, not the entire list
Then the ones you add by name: Books & Authors, Yarn & Fiber, Kids & Toys, Plants & Garden, one per store. Customers choose them the same way.
One week at a store
A week at Morrowpine Market, the fictional home-and-lifestyle market this site uses as its example. Each message went to one of Morrowpine's own interests, which it named for the way its customers shop. A bookstore or a garden center names its own.
The washed-linen napkins people kept asking about are back on the shelf this morning, in all four colors.
The first fall herbs arrived this morning: rosemary, thyme, sage and two kinds of basil, on the bench by the door.
Saturday's candle-pouring workshop has four places left. Reply YES if you'd like one and Nell will follow up with you.
New work from three Central Florida makers is on the front table: forged garden tools, stoneware and letterpress cards. They'll be in the shop Saturday afternoon.
Holiday preorders open tomorrow at ten. The pickup dates are on the form at the counter and in the thread.
Not five messages to every customer. Five messages to the customers who wanted them.
Home & Table, Plants & Garden, Local Makers, Workshops & Events and Seasonal & Holiday are Morrowpine's own interests, created by name. They are not RetailBlasts defaults; your store names what it carries.
Start with the customers you already have
Nobody re-collects anything. A customer on your list receives by email from the day they join, and their messages move to the Blasts app the moment they connect it.
Take an email address at the counter, import the opted-in list from your newsletter tool or online store, or point your website signup at the Hub's webhook or Zapier. Each customer joins as an email subscriber and receives updates by email through the Hub.
Your Hub prints an enrollment kit with a short code and a QR code for the counter card, the receipt and a slip in the bag. A customer who installs the free Blasts app and enters the code sends your store a connection request. You accept it on Customers, or turn on auto-accept and they are connected the moment they join.
When a customer connects, their updates move from email to their phone. Nothing to re-collect, nobody asked twice, and the interests they chose come with them.
Customers join on your counter card, your website form or your own import, never on a RetailBlasts form. There is no connector to any point-of-sale, inventory, online-store or loyalty platform, and the Hub never sees what anyone bought.
You can export your customer list: owners and admins, confirmed with a passkey or your phone, up to three downloads a day, every one logged.
Let customers choose what matters
The preferences page is where a customer decides what reaches them. It is theirs to change at any time, and it is the reason a message from your store reads like a note from a shop somebody likes.
On their preferences page a customer ticks the interests they want: New Arrivals, Back in Stock, Events, Offers, Store Updates, and whatever you added by name. Someone still on email can also pick a weekly digest instead of every message.
Interests are not a contract. A customer who stops taking workshops unticks Events; one who starts collecting a maker ticks Local Makers. The preferences link is on the counter card and in every email.
Then they hear about those things and nothing else: by email until they connect the Blasts app, on their phone after. The store's welcome sequence reminds them twice in the first three weeks that the choice is theirs.
A customer who tells you at the counter what they care about can be added to that interest by hand from Customers. Nothing sorts a customer for you: not a rule, not a purchase, not a guess.
There are no rule-based or dynamic audiences, no purchase-history targeting and no per-product subscription. Back in Stock is an interest a customer chooses; the store says when something is back.
All Customers is always there. Holiday hours, an unexpected closure, a move across the street, a change of ownership: these concern the customer who only ever buys one thing a year. The Hub asks you to confirm an All Customers send with a passkey or your phone, which keeps it deliberate rather than automatic. Used that way, it stays read.
New, back, happening and useful
This is the cadence a store actually has. None of it is urgent, and none of it should go to everyone.
New merchandise landed. A photograph to New Arrivals the morning it goes on the floor.
Something people asked about is back. One note to Back in Stock, typed by the person who unpacked it.
A workshop, a demonstration, a signing, a maker in the shop. To Events, with the places-left line typed by a person.
The first shipment of the season, holiday ordering opening and closing. To the interest it belongs to.
Hours, closures, holiday schedules. To Store Updates, or to everyone when it concerns everyone.
An honest offer, to the customers who ticked Offers. Rare enough that it still works.
A typed or rich note with a photograph of what arrived, links and up to three attached files, to the interest it fits. Ask for a YES or NO reply and the Hub counts the answers; a person follows up.
Write a month of arrivals at once as a Content Series and each note goes out on its day to New Arrivals. A customer who joins in week three gets week three's note. Included from the start.
Five messages over three weeks, timed from the day each customer joins: what they can hear about, an invitation to choose, what's new, the events, and a reminder that the choice is theirs. With Hub Pro.
A reply becomes a one-to-one thread in a shared inbox: is it in yet, do you have it in blue, could someone keep one by the counter until Saturday. The person who knows answers by hand.
Welcome, and thanks for joining. Here's what you can hear about from us: what just arrived, what's back, store events and workshops, the occasional offer, and store news like holiday hours. You choose which of those reach you.
We carry more than any one person cares about, so you don't have to hear about all of it. Pick the interests you want on your preferences page. We'll keep the rest quiet.
One week in. Here's what's new in the store right now and what's coming this month. Looking for something in particular? Reply here. A person answers.
Beyond the shelves: the workshops, demonstrations and visiting makers we host. If that's your thing, make sure Events is ticked.
Three weeks in. You're in charge of what you hear from us: change your interests any time. We'd rather send less and have it matter.
Save the date: what's happening, who it's for, when it starts, how to take part.
What to expect on the day, and if places need to be saved, how you're taking names.
Where things stand on places, and the last day to let you know. Typed by a person.
Doors, start time, parking, what to bring.
It's today. Doors open at the usual time.
Thank you for coming, what people asked about most, what's next.
Sending, interests, Content Series, conversations, roles and the email leg are included from the first send. Journeys and Event Campaigns are Hub Pro, which unlocks at $500 in cumulative credit purchases tied to your store. The Hub is not an event-registration system: whatever takes names keeps that job, and campaign steps carry no YES or NO.
See it at Morrowpine Market
Morrowpine Market is a polished independent home-and-lifestyle market in Central Florida: tabletop and kitchen, linens, candles and home fragrance, plants and small garden goods, pantry gifts, seasonal pieces and work by regional makers. Its site shows how it keeps customers posted by interest. It is a fictional example organization, not a customer.
Walk through Morrowpine Market
What you see there is the store's own site and copy. The live enrollment code and the live customer experience are added once its demonstration Hub exists.
The washed-linen napkins people kept asking about are back on the shelf this morning, in all four colors.
Email, social, SMS and Blasts
RetailBlasts does not replace the channels a store already uses. It gives the ongoing customer relationship a home of its own, and it starts inside email.
Inbox communication: the newsletter, the lookbook, the long read, anything with twenty photographs.
Stays. It is also the first channel inside the Hub: a customer on your list receives every update by email until they connect the app.
Feed and discovery: the window display, the photograph that brings a new person through the door.
Stays, for the people who have not found you yet. A customer who asked to hear about restocks should not have to catch a post.
Phone-number messaging: short, per message, with a list of mobile numbers to collect and keep consented.
Not part of this. RetailBlasts collects no mobile numbers and pays no per-message carrier fee.
An ongoing business-to-customer connection: the customer approves your store once, chooses their interests, and hears about those.
The interest, not the entire list. Sent by the person who knows, encrypted, and gone in 30 days.
You can start with email and move customers to Blasts as they connect. The list, the interests and the history stay the same; only the delivery changes, and the Hub changes it for you.
A relationship the customer controls
Nobody can be reached on Blasts by a store they have not approved, and nobody joins your email list without opting in.
On the preferences page a customer chooses the interests they hear about. In the Blasts app they can mute you for a day, set quiet hours, or disconnect silently.
Messages travel over encrypted connections, not the carrier network, and auto-delete after 30 days. No tracking pixels.
This is Blasts plus email. There is no spreadsheet of customers' mobile numbers to gather, store or pass around.
Owner, admin, store manager (the leader role) and viewer. The buyer is granted New Arrivals and Back in Stock; the events lead is granted Events; each reaches only what you grant.
Sending to All Customers, changing roles and removing people ask for a fresh confirmation. That is what keeps the everyone-send rare.
If you want an administrator to review a manager's message first, switch approval on in Settings. A new store starts with it off, so the restock goes out the morning it lands.
Your existing systems keep their jobs
RetailBlasts works beside the tools a store already runs on. It replaces none of them and reads none of them.
The direct communication relationship: the customers who chose to hear from you, the interests they picked, what you sent, and the replies. Your systems tell your team what happened; your team tells the customers who asked.
Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Lightspeed, Clover and Klaviyo are named here only to say there is no connector to any of them, and none is planned as part of RetailBlasts. Customers reach the Hub by CSV, the inbound webhook or Zapier.
What it costs
There is no subscription and nothing bills in a quiet month. A typed Blast to one customer is one credit, prepaid on BlastCredits at standard pricing. Sending by interest is cheaper than sending to everyone, but the point is the other way round: the customers who did not want the restock never had to tune you out.
One typed Blast, one customer, one credit. No carrier fee, no monthly minimum.
Customers still on email cost one email credit per email. Every new Hub includes 50; packs are bought from your Hub. As customers connect the app, the email spend falls.
There is no verification program for stores and no tier to qualify for. A shop that is itself a registered nonprofit can apply for the nonprofit bonus like any other nonprofit.
Journeys and Event Campaigns unlock at $500 in cumulative credit purchases tied to your store. Everything else is included from the first send.
The same 13 messages, each sent to the interest it belongs to instead of the whole list. The interest sizes are illustrative; yours come from what customers actually tick.
The same 13 messages to all 4,000 customers: 52,000 credits, and 4,000 people hearing about things they never asked for.
| Message | Recipients × sends | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Just in: new arrivals to New Arrivals | 1,400 × 4 | 5,600 |
| Back again: restock notes to Back in Stock | 900 × 3 | 2,700 |
| This weekend: workshops and events to Events | 600 × 3 | 1,800 |
| One offer to Offers | 700 × 1 | 700 |
| Store news to Store Updates | 2,200 × 1 | 2,200 |
| One All Customers notice (holiday hours) | 4,000 × 1 | 4,000 |
| Credits for the month, sent by interest | 17,000 | |
About 17,000 credits a month by interest is about $34 at $50 Starter pricing, against about $104 for the same messages sent to everyone. Larger packages cost less per credit.
Dollar figures are computed from the current BlastCredits package data when this page is built, never typed in. Email credits for customers still on email are a separate, smaller line. Prices and packages are on BlastCredits.
How to roll it out
For the owner, manager or buyer who will actually do it.
An operator signs in with an email code, a passkey or a Blasts sign-in and walks through onboarding: the store's name, its timezone, a mailbox on its own domain as the account of record. No application, no verification.
Keep the five seeded interests, then add your own by name: a department, a category, a brand you carry, workshops, the second store. Leave them open so customers can choose them.
Import the opted-in export, or connect the website form. Print the enrollment kit for the counter and the bag, and put the preferences link on the card so every new customer chooses on the day they join.
Invite the manager as an admin, the buyer with New Arrivals and Back in Stock, the events lead with Events, the bookkeeper as a viewer. Approval is off for a new store; turn it on if you want a review first.
Something that landed, something that's back, the workshop with places left. To its interest, after Send a test to me. It goes as a Blast to connected customers and by email, through the Hub, to everyone else on the list.
The rollout guide
One month of customer communication on the Hub, in order: joining, the interests, who sends what, and the messages a store has ready. It is a page, not a download, and it is open to read now.
No form on this page: RetailBlasts collects nothing here.
Direct answers
RetailBlasts is the direct line from an independent store to its customers, organized by what each customer wants to hear about. A customer joins with an email address at the counter or on the store's website, picks interests such as New Arrivals, Back in Stock, Events, Offers and Store Updates on a preferences page, and hears when something in those interests happens: by email until they connect the free Blasts app, then on their phone. The Hub is where the store works: one interest per kind of news, a composer, replies in one shared inbox, and roles so the buyer sends arrivals and the events lead sends events. It is not a point-of-sale, inventory, online-store or loyalty system and it connects to none of them: the store knows something is back or a workshop has places, and tells the customers who asked.
No. A customer on your list receives every message by email until they connect the Blasts app; when they do, the Hub notices and moves their messages to the app on its own. Blasts itself is connection-based: nobody can be reached on it by a store they have not approved.
They join with an email address: at the counter, on your website form, or through an opted-in import from your newsletter tool or online store. To move to the app, a customer installs the free Blasts app and enters the short enrollment code from the counter card, the receipt or the bag slip. That sends your store a connection request, which you accept on Customers; with auto-accept on in Settings they are connected the moment they join. Your Hub prints the kit with the code and a QR code.
People receive on the Blasts app for iOS or Android, on a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Brave and other Chromium browsers, or in the web app at blasts.app.
On their preferences page, which is linked from the counter card and every email. They tick the interests they want, such as New Arrivals, Back in Stock, Events, Offers, Store Updates and anything you added by name, and change them whenever they like. You can also add a customer to an interest by hand when they tell you at the counter. Nothing sorts a customer automatically.
No, and it does not pretend to. Your inventory system or the packing slip tells your team; your team sends one note to Back in Stock. Back in Stock is an interest a customer chooses, not a per-product alert: nobody subscribes to one item, and nothing is triggered by a stock change.
That is why the note reads like a person wrote it. Somebody did, the morning it landed.
Not with a native connector, and we will not pretend otherwise. There is no built-in integration with Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Lightspeed, Clover, Klaviyo or any other point-of-sale, inventory, online-store or loyalty platform, and the Hub never sees orders, stock or spend. The Hub's doors are generic and work with all of them: import a customer list as a spreadsheet, point any website form or automation tool at the inbound webhook, receive signed events back when a customer connects, replies or opts out, and ask for the Zapier app if you would rather not write code.
Separately, the Blasts platform has its own integrations: Blasts integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe, PayPal and Zapier, and can log sends as contact activities in Salesforce, HubSpot and Dynamics 365. That is the platform, not a RetailBlasts connector to your till.
A YES is the customer's own answer, which the Hub counts. It does not hold merchandise, reserve a place, charge a card or register anyone. Someone on your team reads the count and follows up with each person, and whatever takes names for the workshop keeps taking them.
No. An Event Campaign carries the messages around one date, from the announcement two weeks out to the thank-you the day after, and moves them all when the date moves. It holds no places, counts no seats and takes no payment. If a form, a ticketing site or a sign-up sheet at the counter takes names today, it keeps that job.
When something genuinely concerns everyone: holiday hours, a closure, a move, a change of ownership. The Hub asks you to confirm an All Customers send with a passkey or your phone, which keeps it deliberate. Most merchandise and event news is more useful to the interest it belongs to, and a store that keeps the everyone-send rare keeps it read.
No. Email is the first channel inside the Hub: a customer who joins by email receives every message that way, through the Hub, until they connect the Blasts app. Your newsletter and lookbook stay wherever you send them now. Email is metered in email credits, and every new Hub includes 50.
Email is still the right tool for the long lookbook with twenty photographs. A Blast is the right tool for the restock the customer asked to hear about.
A typed Blast is one credit per customer, so a note to all 4,000 is 4,000 credits, and a note to the 480 who chose one interest is 480. Credits are prepaid one-time deposits that never expire, with no subscription or marketing-platform contract. Current packages are on BlastCredits.com.
Customers decide, and they are well armed: they approved you, they chose their interests, and at any time they can change them, mute you for a day, set quiet hours or disconnect silently. Blasts also auto-delete after 30 days. The discipline is the one a good shopkeeper already uses: send the restock to the people who asked about it, and keep the everyone-send for things that concern everyone.
A typed or rich note with photographs of what landed, links and up to three attachments of 5 MB each, to one interest or to everyone. You can ask for a YES or NO reply the Hub counts, schedule a send ahead or repeat it weekly, and read every reply in one conversation thread. Delivered counts come from the Blasts app, not tracking pixels; read counts appear where your account's sending lane reports them. Blasts itself, the platform underneath, also carries badges, voice Blasts and polls when a message is sent from the Blasts app rather than from your Hub.
No. Stores buy at standard BlastCredits pricing. The verification program with bonus credits is a nonprofit and church program and does not apply to a retail Hub, and verification has never been a condition of Hub access. The only threshold is Hub Pro at $500 in cumulative credit purchases, the same for every organization.
The shared Hub documentation is public at blastshub.com/en/docs/, and the retail version, written in customer and store terms, is at blastshub.com/en/docs/for/retail/. Blasts itself, the consent-based network underneath, is documented at blasts.app.
The interest, not the entire list. Set up your store's Hub this afternoon, or walk through a week at Morrowpine Market to see it done.
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