The ecommerce landscape is unforgiving. Consumers are difficult to attract and even harder to retain – making marketing automation essential for survival. Yet many ecommerce businesses have struggled with marketing platforms that weren't purpose-built for their unique needs… until now.
HubSpot has fundamentally reimagined how ecommerce data lives within marketing automation, introducing native Orders and Carts objects that replace the retrofitted approach of using Deals for ecommerce transactions. This shift represents more than a data model update—it's a complete rethinking of how marketing platforms should serve the ecommerce ecosystem.
From Repurposed to Purpose-Built
Previously, ecommerce data in HubSpot lived within the Deals object—essentially adapting a sales container for commerce transactions. While this workaround functioned, it created significant limitations:
Clarity challenges: The data model felt cobbled together rather than crafted for ecommerce, creating confusion for users who needed intuitive commerce workflows.
Reporting complications: Separating traditional sales pipeline data from ecommerce performance metrics became unnecessarily complex, hampering strategic decision-making.
Workflow inefficiencies: Marketing automations required additional complexity to account for the mismatch between sales processes and ecommerce operations.
The fundamental issue was clear: Deals were designed for traditional sales cycles, not the rapid, transaction-heavy world of ecommerce.
Introducing Native Commerce Objects
HubSpot's solution centers on two purpose-built objects: Orders and Carts. These objects are designed specifically to reflect how ecommerce businesses operate:
- Orders represent completed purchases with properties tailored to order value, item breakdowns, fulfillment status, and comprehensive transaction data.
- Carts capture in-progress shopping activity, enabling sophisticated use cases like abandoned cart recovery and behavioral analysis.
These objects coexist with Deals (which remain focused on traditional sales activities) while providing ecommerce businesses with a native, intuitive experience. Because they're built as HubSpot-defined objects, they integrate seamlessly across the entire HubSpot ecosystem—workflows, reporting, automation, and analytics.
Developer-First Integration
Recognizing that ecommerce success depends on robust partner integrations, HubSpot released public Orders and Carts APIs in 2024. These APIs enable partners to integrate their ecommerce platforms deeply with HubSpot using the same structure and capabilities built into native integrations like Shopify, BigCommerce, and NetSuite.
The adoption metrics demonstrate strong developer interest:
- 400+ public and private apps have implemented the Orders API
- 100+ public and private apps have integrated the Carts API
This developer ecosystem ensures that businesses can maintain their existing ecommerce infrastructure while gaining access to HubSpot's marketing automation capabilities.
Accelerating Time-to-Value
Beyond building better data models, the focus extended to making ecommerce implementation both fast and valuable. Even small teams needed to onboard quickly and see immediate ROI. This led to a comprehensive template library:
- Ecommerce reporting dashboard: Pre-built reports covering essential metrics including average order value, total revenue, recovered revenue from abandoned carts, and top-selling products provide immediate insights.
- Email templates: A complete library of conversion-optimized templates for abandoned cart recovery, product updates, re-engagement campaigns, and more—designed by experts and ready for immediate deployment.
- Workflow templates: Pre-built automations for essential ecommerce scenarios, including new customer welcome series and abandoned cart reminders, eliminate the need to build from scratch.
These templates are available not just for Shopify or BigCommerce users, but for any app leveraging the new Orders and Carts objects.
The AI-Powered Future
The richer, structured data foundation enables HubSpot's next evolution: AI-powered ecommerce agents. These intelligent assistants will integrate seamlessly into the ecommerce experience, acting as dedicated analysts to assess business performance and offer customized strategies.
Additional enhancements are already in development:
- Discount code data from Shopify: Bringing promotional code usage into HubSpot will help marketers better understand campaign effectiveness and optimize promotional strategies.
- Improved product variant handling: Enhanced representation of product variants addresses a long-standing challenge in ecommerce data management.
Beyond Data Models
The Orders and Carts initiative represents more than technical improvements—it demonstrates HubSpot's commitment to being genuinely built for ecommerce. By providing a native, purpose-built foundation, HubSpot enables both partners and customers to focus on growth rather than workarounds.
The ecommerce landscape demands platforms that understand the unique challenges of online retail. With native Objects, comprehensive APIs, and AI-powered intelligence on the horizon, HubSpot is positioned to serve as the marketing automation backbone for the next generation of ecommerce businesses.
For developers building ecommerce integrations, or businesses exploring new ways to optimize their online sales, the foundation is now in place. The canvas is wide open, and this is just the beginning. Learn more by visiting our developer docs.