Bloomreach Adds External Segments, Custom Item Types and Data Hub Contexts

In October 2026, Bloomreach introduced three updates to its MarTech platform: External Segments for using audiences from external data warehouses, Custom Item Types for managing non-product catalogs, and Data Hub Contexts for personalizing product assortments, pricing, and availability. The changes are intended for companies using Bloomreach alongside enterprise CDPs, data warehouses, CRMs, and multiple commerce systems.

External Segments Bring Audiences From External CDPs and Data Warehouses

Between October 14 and 19, 2026, Bloomreach released External Segments in Engagement 1.320. The feature allows marketers to bring in existing customer segments from other systems without recreating segmentation rules in Bloomreach. Sources include data warehouses, CDPs, and reverse ETL platforms.

On October 26, 2026, Bloomreach announced Zero-Copy Activation for companies using an open data architecture. External Segments receives information about which customers belong to each segment through an API and, after the initial transfer, receives changes to audience membership. Marketers can use these segments in campaigns and automated journeys.

On October 26, the company also clarified the role of Loomi: existing audiences can be used to personalize offers, select communications, and optimize interactions. For example, an e-commerce business can calculate customer lifetime value (LTV) and repeat-purchase propensity in Snowflake or Databricks, pass the resulting segment to Bloomreach, and activate it across email, SMS, and other channels.

Zero-Copy does not mean that absolutely no information is copied. Bloomreach does not require the transfer of the underlying tables or the logic used to calculate the segments, but it does store customer-to-audience membership information. Supported sources include Snowflake, Databricks, Google BigQuery, and Amazon Redshift, with API-based transfers also available for other systems. The practical benefit is keeping analytical logic in the enterprise data infrastructure while using its results in marketing without duplicating the calculations.

Custom Item Types Extend Data Hub Beyond Product Catalogs

Between October 28 and November 2, 2026, Bloomreach released Engagement 1.321 with Custom Item Types for Data Hub. This new data type supports records beyond products, including articles, store addresses, hotels, locations, and reference data.

Previously, Product Item Types were designed primarily around product records and variants. Custom Item Types support independent sets of records with their own fields, identifiers, and imports. A single Item Collection can contain multiple product and non-product data sets.

For example, a travel service could store information about hotels and destinations; a publisher could maintain articles and topics; and a retailer could store locations and pickup points. After connection to Bloomreach Marketing, Data Hub publishes the set as a General Catalog and synchronizes updates. Six types of Catalog Triggers are available for the resulting catalogs when the relevant attribute requirements are met. Examples include notifications about a new article or an approaching booking date.

Custom Item Types do not support product variants and cannot be used directly as a Search Destination. Existing General Catalogs are not automatically converted: migration requires creating a new item type and updating associated journeys. The update expands automation beyond conventional product catalogs.

Data Hub Contexts Support Different Prices and Assortments in One Catalog

The same Engagement 1.321 release, delivered between October 28 and November 2, 2026, added Contexts for Product Item Types in Data Hub. The feature keeps one base catalog with attribute overrides for specific regions, stores, or B2B customers.

An international retailer can assign local prices and inventory levels; an omnichannel chain can represent stock availability at individual stores; and a B2B supplier can maintain contract-specific prices. The Overrides mechanism retains shared attributes in the base record and records only the differences in each context. When a shared description changes, it needs to be updated only once, while an individual price is held in its specific context.

Using Contexts with Bloomreach Search requires a Multi-View Catalog configuration. For new integrations, customers should coordinate setup with their Customer Success Manager. Support for Contexts in Bloomreach Marketing is limited: campaigns use base product records, so customer-specific prices should not be assumed to be automatically available in every marketing journey. The main benefit is reducing duplicated catalogs for international and B2B e-commerce operations.

More About Bloomreach and Its Intended Users

Bloomreach is a MarTech platform for e-commerce search, product discovery, personalization, and customer communications. Bloomreach Marketing, previously Engagement, combines customer data, behavioral events, segmentation, and automation across email, SMS, push notifications, and other channels. Loomi supports AI personalization and analysis, while Data Hub manages products and other business objects.

The platform is designed for midsize and large e-commerce businesses, omnichannel retailers, international chains, and B2C services. For B2B companies, enterprise data integration and catalogs with multiple contexts are particularly relevant. The October updates address three distinct needs: activating segments from an existing analytics infrastructure, maintaining non-product data for marketing journeys, and representing differences in assortment and pricing within a single catalog structure.