Ask to Buy vs. First Wish: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Shopify merchants face an overload of single-purpose apps that promise quick wins — wishlists, cart sharing, gift registries, and more — but choosing the right tool means balancing features, cost, implementation effort, and long-term value. This comparison focuses on two Shopify wishlist/cart-sharing apps: Ask to Buy create & share cart (AskToBuy) and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards (Vellir). The goal is to give merchants a clear, objective assessment of each app’s strengths, limitations, and best-fit use cases.

Short answer: Ask to Buy create & share cart is suited to stores that need a focused solution for cart sharing, checkout pre-fill, and sales-rep-driven purchases. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards is built around classic wishlist behavior and customer-curated boards with tiered usage caps. For merchants who want fewer tools to manage and better long-term retention, a unified retention platform that bundles wishlists with loyalty, reviews, and referrals may deliver better value for money than adding standalone apps.

This post provides a feature-by-feature comparison, pricing and value analysis, integration and support review, and a practical look at which merchants should consider each app. The final section explains how consolidating features into one platform can reduce app fatigue and improve retention metrics.

Ask to Buy create & share cart vs. First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards: At a Glance

Feature Comparison: Functionality and User Flow

Core purpose and UX

Ask to Buy create & share cart

Ask to Buy focuses on converting situations where the person selecting items is not the person paying. The app provides a visible button or customizable trigger that allows a shopper or a sales rep to create a cart snapshot, pre-fill shipping (and other checkout details where supported), and generate a shareable link or email. Invitees land directly at the checkout page with a custom welcome experience and only need to complete payment. The app also tracks when invites convert and can notify the inviter on finalized purchases.

Key user flows:

• Shopper builds cart → clicks AskToBuy button → pre-fill details → generates link/email → invitee opens link and pays.
• Sales rep builds cart for customer → sends link → customer pays at checkout.

This flow reduces friction for gift purchases, assisted sales, and situations with multiple decision-makers.

First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards

First Wish is centered on saving items for later and building curated "boards" or lists customers can share. It supports both anonymous visitors (with limits) and logged-in users with sync across devices. The app emphasizes social sharing (social media, messaging, email) and provides an admin dashboard for insights into wishlist activity and best-performing products.

Key user flows:

• Visitor or registered customer clicks to add product to wishlist → items accumulate in wishlist/boards → user shares board link or posts to social channels.
• Logged-in users can access sync’d items across devices.

This is the classic wishlist experience intended to increase future conversions by making it easier for customers to return to items they like.

Saving vs. Paying: Where each app helps conversion

Ask to Buy reduces friction at checkout when the payer is different from the shopper. That directly aids conversion because invitees arrive at a pre-filled checkout with fewer steps to complete payment. This can shorten the purchase path and reduce abandoned purchases due to payment/authorization issues.

First Wish increases the likelihood of a return visit and eventually a purchase by encouraging customers to save products for later. Its conversion influence depends on re-engagement tactics outside the app (email, on-site reminders, or integration with other retention tools). Without integrated incentives, wishlists alone can be a softer conversion driver.

Sharing and social features

• Ask to Buy supports link and email sharing optimized for a checkout destination, and supports group sharing. The sharing action is transactional: it expects a payment to follow.
• First Wish prioritizes social sharing and boards; sharing is about inspiration and discovery rather than immediate payment.

Choosing between the two depends on whether the priority is immediate purchase completion (Ask to Buy) or increasing product discovery and later purchase intent (First Wish).

Analytics and reporting

Ask to Buy includes tracking for cart shares, conversions, and generated revenue. This enables merchants to measure which shares convert and the direct revenue attributable to shares from customers or sales reps.

First Wish offers an admin dashboard with wishlist usage metrics, best-performing products in wishlists, and activity reports. The focus is on product interest rather than immediate purchase conversions.

Merchants who need clear, transactional attribution will find Ask to Buy’s conversion tracking more directly actionable. Merchants focused on product-market fit and discovery insights may find First Wish’s activity reports useful.

Pricing & Value

Ask to Buy create & share cart pricing

Ask to Buy offers a Basic plan at $15 per month. The available data shows only this plan explicitly. For a merchant primarily seeking cart sharing and simple checkout pre-fill, $15/month is a predictable cost for a focused capability.

Value considerations:

• For stores that get a small but consistent number of assisted purchases, the app can directly pay for itself if converted shares yield incremental revenue.
• If additional features or scaling are needed, the limited plan options (as presented) could require contacting the developer for custom pricing.

First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards pricing

First Wish has a tiered pricing model with a Free entry plan and paid plans that scale by wishlist add limits:

• Free: anonymous and logged-in wishlist support, up to 1,000 wishlist adds per month.
• Beginner ($9.90/month): 5,000 adds/month, unlimited boards, sharing boards.
• Advanced ($19.90/month): 20,000 adds/month.
• Pro ($29.90/month): 50,000 adds/month.

Value considerations:

• The free tier is attractive for very small catalogs and low wishlist activity.
• Tiered usage caps make the app pricing predictable by activity, but merchants must monitor usage and upgrade when limits are reached.
• At scale, the $19.90–$29.90 tiers may represent reasonable value for merchants with high wishlist activity.

Which app offers better value for money?

"Better value for money" depends on desired outcomes:

• For merchants who prioritize increasing immediate conversions from shared carts and assisted sales, Ask to Buy’s focused function at $15/month is a strong value if it addresses a recurring checkout hurdle.
• For merchants who want to offer a full wishlist experience with boards, social sharing, and flexible free entry, First Wish’s tiered approach provides choices by activity level and can be cost-effective when wishlist metrics are the priority.

However, merchants should consider the incremental costs of supporting multiple single-purpose apps versus a multi-feature platform (discussed in the Alternative section). Consolidating features often reduces overall monthly spend and integration overhead, leading to better value for money long term.

Integrations and Technical Fit

Integrations

Neither Ask to Buy nor First Wish lists an extensive integration matrix in the provided data. That suggests a limited native integration set relative to larger retention platforms. Considerations:

• Ask to Buy focuses on checkout pre-fill and may rely on Shopify checkout behaviors. Confirm compatibility with custom checkouts, multi-currency setups, and headless storefronts before implementation.
• First Wish emphasizes logged-in syncing and an admin dashboard. Confirm whether it integrates with email platforms, customer account structures, or analytics tools to activate wishlist re-engagement.

Merchants should verify integration depth with cart/checkout flows, email platforms, and third-party analytics when evaluating these apps.

Customization and frontend experience

• Ask to Buy supports built-in buttons or custom buttons, enabling merchants to match on-site appearance to brand styles. The checkout landing supports a custom welcome experience for invitees.
• First Wish supports label customization and translations, useful for multi-language stores; the app offers social sharing formats and curated boards.

If deep UI/UX customization beyond basic branding is required, merchants should request examples or demo installations, since single-feature apps sometimes impose styling limits.

Shopify Plus and advanced stores

Neither app’s data explicitly calls out Shopify Plus support or enterprise-grade integration. Stores on Shopify Plus, with complex checkout flows, multiple merchants, or headless setups should validate compatibility, particularly for checkout pre-fill and checkout extensions.

Implementation, Onboarding, and Merchant Effort

Setup complexity

• Ask to Buy: Setup typically involves adding the AskToBuy button and configuring checkout pre-fill fields. Sales reps may need training on building carts and sending links. Because it targets checkout behavior, testing across browsers and devices is essential.
• First Wish: Setup often includes installing the widget, configuring labels/translations, and configuring dashboard access. Merchant effort also involves deciding how to surface wishlists in UI and where to encourage social sharing.

Both apps are positioned as easy to install, but merchants should allocate time for QA and to ensure mobile behavior is polished.

Ongoing maintenance

• Ask to Buy: Maintenance includes monitoring share conversion metrics and ensuring pre-fill fields remain compatible after Shopify theme or checkout updates.
• First Wish: Maintenance revolves around monitoring wishlist add limits (on paid tiers), ensuring syncing for logged-in users, and using dashboard insights to influence merchandising.

Both apps require attention during theme updates and Shopify changes to avoid regressions.

Support, Reliability, and User Feedback

App store ratings and review volume

• Ask to Buy create & share cart: Rating 4.4 from 7 reviews. This indicates generally positive feedback from a small sample of merchants.
• First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards: Rating 1.0 from 1 review. A single low review strongly influences the score; however, the dataset is too small to draw firm conclusions about stability or support.

Merchants should read individual reviews in the Shopify App Store and reach out to developers with specific questions about edge cases before installing. Request references or examples of stores using the app for similar workflows.

Developer support and responsiveness

• AskToBuy and Vellir likely provide developer support channels via the Shopify App Store listing and in-app contact. Merchants should evaluate response times and look for support hours or SLAs if uptime and rapid fixes are important.

Reliability and data integrity

• Apps that interact with checkout flows must be robust to Shopify changes. AskToBuy’s pre-fill behavior demands careful QA; any breakage could impact conversion directly.
• First Wish’s sync across devices relies on customer account management. If syncing fails, it can reduce trust in the wishlist feature.

Request uptime histories, changelogs, and staging test access where possible to validate reliability.

Merchant Use Cases: Which App Fits Which Business?

When Ask to Buy is the better fit

• Gift-oriented merchants with frequent purchases made by someone other than the shopper, such as gift registries, teen shoppers, or corporate gift buyers.
• Stores with sales teams that create carts for customers (B2B or high-touch B2C) and need a smooth path to payment.
• Brands that need direct attribution of revenue to shared carts and want to track conversion from shares.

Ask to Buy delivers an immediate conversion edge where pre-filled checkout and a minimized payment path matter.

When First Wish is the better fit

• Merchants aiming to boost discovery and increase saved-for-later behavior across an audience that regularly curates items (home décor, fashion, gift lists).
• Stores that want a free entry-level wishlist for experimenting and that plan to scale wishlist usage predictably by upgrading when needed.
• Brands relying on social sharing of curated boards to drive external discovery and referrals.

First Wish is better suited to discovery, social sharing, and softer conversion pathways tied to repeat engagement.

When neither single app is enough

• Merchants who need an integrated retention strategy — combining wishlists, loyalty rewards, referral incentives, and review collection — often find that piecing together multiple single-purpose apps increases maintenance, billing complexity, and potential cross-app conflicts. For those merchants, a single multi-feature retention platform may provide better ROI.

Data, Privacy, and Compliance

Data capture and ownership

Both apps will capture customer behavior (cart shares, wishlist adds). Merchants should verify:

• Where data is stored and whether it is accessible/exportable.
• How personal data in pre-fill fields (Ask to Buy) is secured and whether it complies with GDPR or similar regulations.
• If deleted orders/wishlists are purged from the third-party provider’s storage as required.

Consent and cookie behavior

• Any app that tracks user activity or sets cookies must align with a merchant’s privacy policy and banners. Confirm with developers how cookies and tracking behave on install.

Security posture

Merchants should ask for security measures used by the developer: TLS usage, data-at-rest encryption, and incident reporting processes. For pre-filled checkout flows, it is critical to confirm that payment details are never exposed and that only non-sensitive fields are pre-populated where allowed by Shopify.

Conversion Metrics and Measuring Success

Metrics for Ask to Buy

• Share-to-purchase conversion rate (percentage of invitees who complete payment).
• Average order value of converted shared carts.
• Revenue attributable to shares per month.
• Reduction in multi-step purchase friction (fewer abandoned carts where the payer differs from the shopper).

These are direct, transactional metrics easy to track and tie to revenue.

Metrics for First Wish

• Wishlist add rate (adds per session or visitor).
• Wishlist-to-purchase conversion (percentage of wishlist items that convert within X days).
• Social shares and referral traffic from shared boards.
• Product interest signals that inform merchandising.

These are engagement and discovery metrics that require integrated re-engagement channels (email, push) to maximize conversion.

Migration and Exit Considerations

Before installing any app, merchants should consider exit strategies:

• Can wishlist or cart-share data be exported if the app is removed?
• For wishlists, can users be migrated to a different wishlist system without losing saved items?
• For Ask to Buy, are shared links invalidated upon app uninstall? Are there residual UI elements left in the storefront?

Always request data export procedures and test them in a staging environment if possible.

Price vs. Functionality Trade-offs and Long-Term Cost

Single-purpose apps are often cheap initially. However, ongoing costs add up when multiple apps are needed for growth (wishlists, loyalty, reviews, referrals). Each app adds maintenance time and potential overlap or conflict. Merchants at growth stages should project cumulative monthly spend and overhead from multiple apps and weigh it against integrated platforms that combine multiple functions in one billing and UI.

The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform

What is app fatigue?

App fatigue happens when merchants accumulate a growing set of single-purpose apps to solve discrete problems. Each app increases complexity — more admin screens, separate billing, potential UI clashes, disparate customer data, and different support channels. This leads to higher operational overhead, slower iteration, and lower visibility into cross-functional metrics like lifetime value (LTV) and repeat purchase behavior.

Consequences of app fatigue include:

• Increased total cost of ownership and fragmented reporting.
• More points of failure and potential inconsistencies in customer experience.
• Difficulty orchestrating campaigns that depend on multiple features (e.g., rewarding customers who submit reviews and refer friends for wishlist items).

Why consolidate features into a single platform?

Consolidating wishlists, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into a single platform reduces administrative weight and creates data unity. Unified customer profiles enable richer segmentation and more effective retention campaigns. Instead of stitching events across multiple apps, merchants get a single source of truth that drives LTV improvements.

Growave: More Growth, Less Stack

Growave positions itself as a flexible retention platform that combines loyalty, referrals, reviews & UGC, wishlist, and VIP tiers into one integrated suite. The platform is designed to reduce tool sprawl while enabling merchants to build multi-channel retention programs.

Key benefits of this approach:

• Fewer apps to manage means less technical overhead.
• Shared customer data across loyalty, wishlist, and referral features allows richer, automated campaigns.
• Enterprise-level features for brands scaling on Shopify Plus, and built-in integrations with popular tools.

Merchants evaluating single-purpose apps like Ask to Buy or First Wish should consider how a combined approach affects long-term retention and operational simplicity.

Where Growave fills the gaps left by single-purpose apps

• Wishlist plus Loyalty: Wishlists become more actionable when tied to reward incentives. For example, a wishlist reminder email can be paired with a loyalty discount for higher conversion. Growave enables building such connections without adding another app. See how to build loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases.
• Reviews and UGC: Collecting social proof alongside wishlist behavior helps prioritize which wishlist items deserve promotional focus. Merchants can collect and showcase authentic reviews within the same platform.
• Unified analytics and campaign orchestration: Instead of correlating data across multiple dashboards, Growave surfaces combined insights for more effective decision-making. Merchants can consolidate retention features and review pricing tiers to understand the combined value.

Real-world values to expect from consolidation

• Reduced monthly app fees and a predictable, consolidated billing model.
• Faster execution of cross-feature campaigns (e.g., reward customers who refer wishlist items).
• Better measurement of LTV impacts when loyalty, reviews, and wishlist behaviors are linked.

For merchants who want a hands-on walkthrough of how an integrated stack reduces operational complexity and increases repeat purchases, consider booking a demo. Book a personalized demo to see how an integrated retention stack improves retention.

Platform fit and scalability

Growave supports integrations with major tools (Klaviyo, Omnisend, Recharge, Gorgias) and has pay plans suitable for various growth stages. Merchants on Shopify Plus can access enterprise-level features and dedicated support paths. Explore Growave’s Shopify App Store listing to check compatibility with a merchant’s specific stack and read merchant feedback: Growave on the Shopify App Store.

Pricing visibility and trial options

Merchants can compare pricing tiers to see which plan aligns with order volume and feature needs. Review available plans and test the platform with minimal risk by reviewing pricing details and trial options: compare pricing tiers. For a focused look at wishlist plus retention workflows, vendors can also explore loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases and how reviews integrate into the retention loop by looking at ways to collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Where single-purpose apps may still make sense

• Very small stores with one-off needs: A free wishlist or a $15 cart-sharing app may be sufficient for very low-volume merchants who don’t plan to scale retention programs.
• Highly specialized workflows: If a merchant’s business requires a bespoke cart-sharing behavior that an integrated platform doesn’t support natively, a focused app might still be needed.

However, for merchants seeking sustainable retention gains, consolidating features in an all-in-one stack typically yields better long-term ROI and fewer integration headaches. For merchants ready to evaluate consolidation, Growave’s public listing gives an overview of app features and reviews: Growave on the Shopify App Store. Detailed plan explanations and a direct comparison of tiers can be found when merchants compare pricing tiers.

Implementation Checklist: Questions Merchants Should Ask Before Installing Either App

• Which exact customer flow is the app intended to improve (immediate checkout completion vs. saved-for-later discovery)?
• Does the app export or migrate data on uninstall? How is wishlist or share history preserved?
• What native integrations with email, analytics, or CRM exist?
• How does the app handle device sync and logged-in vs. anonymous users?
• Are checkout pre-fill fields compatible with the store’s theme and any checkout customizations?
• What SLAs or support response times does the developer offer?
• Are there usage caps, and how are overages handled (First Wish has explicit add limits)?
• How will the chosen solution impact overall app count and operational complexity over the next 12–24 months?

Answering these will surface whether a single-purpose app or a multi-feature platform is the better investment.

Practical Recommendations by Merchant Profile

• Small gift boutique with occasional assisted purchases: Ask to Buy provides an affordable, focused improvement to the checkout flow and can increase conversions for gift purchases without operational overhaul.
• Mid-market fashion store wanting to drive repeat purchases and social sharing: First Wish can help increase product discovery through boards, but the best long-term value will likely come from coupling wishlist data with loyalty and email automation.
• Growing brand with plans for loyalty, referrals, and review management: Consider a platform that consolidates wishlist, loyalty, reviews, and referrals to build connected retention strategies and reduce administrative overhead.
• Enterprise or Plus merchants: Validate compatibility with custom checkout flows and consider integrated platforms that offer enterprise features and dedicated onboarding.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Ask to Buy create & share cart and First Wish ‑ Wishlist & Boards, the decision comes down to intended outcomes: use Ask to Buy when the primary need is reducing friction for assisted payments and enabling sales reps or shoppers to hand off carts for quick checkout; use First Wish when the priority is product discovery, saved-for-later behavior, and social sharing of curated lists. Both apps serve specific needs, and each can be the right fit depending on merchant priorities and traffic patterns.

For merchants looking to scale retention without managing multiple single-purpose apps, a unified retention platform reduces tool sprawl and creates stronger cross-feature workflows. Growave’s “More Growth, Less Stack” approach bundles wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into one platform so merchants can turn wishlist actions into rewards, pair review collection with product promotion, and build referral incentives that amplify repeat purchases. Review pricing tiers and consider the operational benefits before stacking more single-use apps: compare pricing tiers. Learn more about how wishlist behavior can be combined with loyalty to increase repeat purchases by exploring loyalty and rewards that drive repeat purchases. For an upfront look at review collection and social proof, see options to collect and showcase authentic reviews.

Start a 14-day free trial to test how consolidating wishlists with loyalty, reviews, and referrals simplifies operations and increases LTV.

FAQ

How do Ask to Buy and First Wish differ in their impact on conversion rates?

Ask to Buy directly targets conversion by sending invitees to a pre-filled checkout, making it effective for transactions where the payer differs from the shopper. First Wish influences conversion indirectly by increasing saved-for-later behavior and social sharing; its conversion lift depends on re-engagement strategies and integration with email or incentives.

Which app is easier to start with if budget is a constraint?

First Wish provides a free tier that lets merchants test wishlist behavior without monthly cost, though it includes usage limits. Ask to Buy has a straightforward $15/month Basic plan that provides a single, focused capability. Both are relatively low-cost entry points compared with multi-feature platforms.

Can either app replace a loyalty or review platform?

No. Each app specializes in a single domain (cart sharing or wishlist/boards). Loyalty, referral, and review programs require additional capabilities to build repeat purchase incentives and gather social proof. Merchants should evaluate integrated platforms to reduce the number of installed apps and to create cross-feature campaigns.

How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps?

An all-in-one platform consolidates wishlist, loyalty, referrals, and reviews into a single environment, reducing administrative overhead and enabling unified customer data. This makes it easier to create automated, cross-feature campaigns and to measure lifetime value impacts. For merchants aiming to scale retention and minimize tool sprawl, consolidation typically offers better long-term value. Review plan details and compatibility carefully: compare pricing tiers.