Mailchimp is a powerful email tool — but it can't create your customer list for you. Shopolo builds your list automatically from every gift card purchase, loyalty sign-up, and order. Then you email them, all from the same dashboard.
Pricing sourced from public Mailchimp and Shopolo plan pages. Subject to change.
The biggest challenge with Mailchimp for a local business is getting contacts in. You have to import CSVs, set up pop-ups, or integrate with your POS. With Shopolo, every gift card buyer, loyalty member, and customer who places an order is automatically added to your list — with opt-in captured at checkout.
Mailchimp charges based on the number of contacts in your list. At 500 contacts it's free; at 5,000 it's $75/mo; at 50,000 it's $350+/mo. Shopolo is a flat monthly fee regardless of how many customers you have. For a growing business, Shopolo is more predictable.
If you use Mailchimp for a local restaurant or salon, you still need separate tools for gift cards, loyalty, booking, and ordering. That's 4–5 extra subscriptions. Shopolo replaces all of them — including the email marketing — in one platform at a lower combined cost.
Mailchimp is the right choice when email is your primary need and you require advanced multi-step automation — drip sequences, A/B testing, complex segmentation across tens of thousands of contacts. If you're running a digital-first brand with a large, sophisticated email program, Mailchimp's depth is valuable. For a local restaurant, café, or salon emailing a few hundred to a few thousand customers with promotions and gift card campaigns, Shopolo is simpler and more cost-effective.
No hardware. No setup fees. Gift cards, loyalty, ordering, and bookings — live in under 10 minutes.
Start free — 30 days →