Comparing Shopify Loyalty Apps: Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

Introduction

Choosing the right Shopify apps to build customer loyalty and drive repeat purchases can be a complex challenge for merchants. The ecosystem offers a vast array of solutions, each promising distinct advantages. Understanding the nuanced differences between leading platforms is crucial for making an informed decision that aligns with a store’s growth objectives and operational realities.

Short answer: Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist is a comprehensive platform integrating multiple retention tools, best suited for merchants seeking an all-in-one solution for loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists to streamline operations. 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty specializes in advanced gift card, store credit, and loyalty programs, ideal for stores prioritizing robust gift card functionality and refund automation. Integrated platforms often provide a more cohesive customer experience and can reduce the operational overhead associated with managing multiple single-purpose applications.

This analysis provides a detailed, feature-by-feature comparison of Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty. The goal is to illuminate their respective strengths, highlight their ideal use cases, and empower merchants to select the tool that best supports their unique retention strategies and overall business growth.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

To truly understand which solution best fits specific business needs, a closer examination of each app's capabilities, operational considerations, and strategic implications is essential. This section breaks down the core elements that define Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty.

Core Features and Workflows

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave is designed as a unified retention platform, aiming to connect with customers at every stage of their journey. Its feature set is extensive, covering several critical aspects of customer engagement and loyalty.

• Loyalty & Rewards: Includes a loyalty points program, advanced rewards, and a referral program with fraud protection. Higher tiers unlock VIP Tiers, points expiration, and gift cards as rewards. This breadth supports diverse reward mechanics that support customer lifetime value and retention programs that reduce reliance on discounts.
• Reviews & User-Generated Content (UGC): Offers product reviews, review request email series, and the ability to collect and showcase authentic customer reviews. Growth and Plus plans add Google Shopping Reviews and Instagram UGC features, strengthening social proof that supports conversion and AOV.
• Wishlist: Basic wishlist functionality is available from the free plan, with higher tiers offering back-in-stock wishlist emails to re-engage interested customers.
• Referrals: The Entry plan introduces a referral program with built-in fraud protection, allowing merchants to leverage existing customer bases for new acquisitions.
• Nudges & On-Site Reminders: On-site nudges are included from the Entry plan, providing real-time prompts to customers as they browse.
• B2B Selling: The Plus plan specifically mentions features for boosting B2B selling, indicating a broader applicability beyond direct-to-consumer models.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

99minds focuses on bolstering sales through gift card programs, store credit, and loyalty initiatives, with a strong emphasis on automation, particularly around returns and refunds.

• Gift Cards: A core offering, allowing the launch of complete gift card programs with support for both physical and e-gift cards. This is a significant differentiator, providing robust tools for a key revenue stream.
• Loyalty Program: Facilitates the setup of loyalty programs for brands, claiming it can be done in minutes without coding.
• Returns & Refunds: A standout feature is the automation of refunds and the ability to reward customers with store credit as part of the return process. This can improve customer satisfaction and keep revenue within the store.
• Referral Program: Allows merchants to add a personalized customer referral program, similar to Growave, to encourage word-of-mouth growth.
• Workflows: The app emphasizes the ability to create, trigger, and automate rewards based on specific customer actions, providing flexibility in program design.

Comparison of Core Workflows

When evaluating core features, Growave offers a broader suite of tools within a single platform. Merchants looking for an integrated approach to managing loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases, reviews, UGC, and wishlists from one interface will find Growave’s architecture advantageous. Its focus extends to loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases and collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews, which are foundational for many DTC brands.

Conversely, 99minds excels in specific areas where Growave might require additional configuration or be less specialized. Its dedicated and advanced gift card program, including support for physical cards, and its integrated store credit/refund automation are powerful for businesses that process a high volume of returns or see gift cards as a major sales driver. While Growave offers gift cards as a reward in higher plans, it is not its primary focus as a standalone sales mechanism to the extent of 99minds.

Customization and Control

The ability to customize loyalty programs, on-site widgets, and email communications is paramount for maintaining brand consistency and optimizing customer experience.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave emphasizes flexibility in customization.

• Branding & Tailoring: Offers full flexibility to customize app branding and tailor experiences, including support for headless commerce via API & SDK in its Plus plan. This enables advanced brands to maintain precise control over their front-end design and user flows.
• Customizable Emails: Available from the Entry plan, allowing merchants to align transactional and loyalty-related emails with their brand voice and aesthetic.
• Dedicated Loyalty Page: The Growth plan includes a dedicated loyalty page, offering a central hub for customers to engage with their rewards. This can be enhanced with custom design options in the Plus plan.
• Custom Reward Actions: The Plus plan provides custom reward actions, allowing for highly specific and unique incentive structures.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

99minds highlights ease of use for setting up programs without coding.

• Program Setup: Promotes the ability to create gift cards and build loyalty programs in "mere minutes - no coding skills required," suggesting a more templated or intuitive setup process.
• Personalized Referrals: The referral program is described as "personalized," implying customization options for referral links and messages.
• Workflows: The ability to create, trigger, and automate rewards based on customer actions points to a level of customization in the logic and delivery of incentives.

Comparison of Customization

Growave appears to offer deeper and more extensive customization, particularly for larger and enterprise-level stores, including those operating on Shopify Plus or with headless setups. Its focus on custom branding, dedicated loyalty page design, and custom reward actions allows for a high degree of brand alignment and strategic flexibility. This level of control is valuable for brands looking to differentiate their customer experience.

99minds, while emphasizing simplicity and speed for setup, likely provides customization within a predefined set of parameters. For merchants who value quick deployment and straightforward configuration over extensive, granular design control, 99minds' approach may be more appealing. The strength of its automated workflows also offers a different type of customization, allowing for dynamic rule-based rewards.

Pricing Structure and Value for Money

Understanding the pricing model is critical for evaluating the long-term total cost of ownership and aligning expenditure with growth.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave offers a tiered pricing structure that scales as order volume grows, moving from a free plan to increasingly comprehensive paid plans.

• FREE Plan: Includes 100 orders/month (500 total orders), loyalty points, wishlist, product reviews, data imports/exports, Growave branding, and 48hr email support. This is ideal for startups or small stores.
• ENTRY Plan ($49/month): Extends to advanced rewards, referral programs with fraud protection, nudges, review request email series, Shopify POS & Flow integration, one additional integration (e.g., Klaviyo), customizable emails, and 24/7 email support.
• GROWTH Plan ($199/month): Adds VIP Tiers, a dedicated loyalty page, Shopify POS Loyalty QR, points expiration, gift cards, account extensions, review attributes, Google Shopping Reviews, Instagram UGC, back-in-stock wishlist emails, 5-star onboarding, and 24/7 email/chat support.
• PLUS Plan ($499/month): Designed for enterprise needs, it includes checkout extensions, headless API & SDK, loyalty page custom design, custom reward actions, B2B features, unlimited integrations, a customer success manager, dedicated launch plan, and 24/7 email/live chat/phone support. This plan targets capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

The provided data for 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty does not specify detailed pricing plans, only its categories and developer information. It does not list pricing tiers or associated features.

Comparison of Pricing

Given the lack of detailed pricing for 99minds in the provided data, a direct comparison of specific plan values is challenging. However, Growave's transparent, tiered model allows merchants to understand a pricing structure that scales as order volume grows and select a plan that matches their current operational scale and feature requirements. The presence of a robust free plan makes Growave accessible for new and smaller businesses to get started with core retention features.

For Growave, merchants can analyze their projected order volume and required feature set to determine the most cost-effective plan. The ability to upgrade as the business grows provides a clear upgrade path without unexpected costs or having to switch providers. When comparing plan fit against retention goals, Growave offers a comprehensive breakdown of what each tier provides, assisting in budgeting for retention spend.

Without specific pricing details for 99minds, it is difficult to assess its value for money. Merchants interested in 99minds would need to consult their official website or the Shopify App Store listing for current pricing information and conduct their own analysis of a clearer view of total retention-stack costs against their specific needs.

Integrations and "Works With" Fit

The ability of a loyalty app to integrate seamlessly with other tools in a merchant's tech stack is crucial for a unified customer experience and efficient operations.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave emphasizes its seamless integration capabilities with a wide range of popular e-commerce tools.

• Key Integrations: Explicitly works with Klaviyo, Gorgias, Attentive, TikTok, Omnisend, Postscript, Recharge, PushOwl, Ampify, Pagefly - LayoutHub, GemPages - Shopney, and Shopify Flow.
• Shopify Ecosystem: Built to work with Shopify Checkout, Shopify POS, and Customer accounts.
• Plus Plan Benefits: The Plus plan offers unlimited integrations, signifying advanced capabilities for complex tech stacks.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

99minds also lists several key integrations, focusing on marketing automation and Shopify functionality.

• Key Integrations: Works with Klaviyo, Omnisend, DotDigital, Active Campaign, Hubspot, Mailchimp, and Shopify Flow.
• Shopify Ecosystem: Integrates with Shopify Checkout and Shopify POS.

Comparison of Integrations

Both apps integrate with essential Shopify components like Checkout, POS, and Shopify Flow, which are foundational for loyalty programs. Both also support leading email marketing platforms like Klaviyo and Omnisend, which is vital for lifecycle marketing and automated communications.

Growave's list of integrations is more extensive, including customer service (Gorgias), SMS marketing (Attentive, Postscript), subscription management (Recharge), and visual page builders (Pagefly, LayoutHub, GemPages, Shopney). This wider array of integrations reinforces its position as an all-in-one platform capable of connecting various facets of the customer journey, from reviews to loyalty and even social commerce with TikTok. Its stated unlimited integrations for the Plus plan make it particularly suitable for enterprise users with diverse and evolving tech stacks.

99minds' integrations are strong within the marketing automation and CRM space, making it a solid choice for merchants focused on leveraging gift cards and loyalty data within their communication strategies. However, for a broader integrated retention strategy that includes robust collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews or diverse customer support tools, Growave appears to offer more out-of-the-box connections.

Analytics and Reporting

Understanding program performance is essential for optimization and demonstrating ROI.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

While the description doesn't explicitly detail a dedicated "Analytics and Reporting" section with specific dashboard features, the focus on "effective customer retention, engagement, and loyalty" implies data tracking. Features like data imports/exports (Free plan) and the provision of a Customer Success Manager in the Plus plan suggest an emphasis on performance monitoring and strategic guidance, which would rely on data.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

The description for 99minds also does not explicitly detail a dedicated analytics and reporting suite. The emphasis on "maximizing customer loyalty, retention and revenue" inherently suggests that some form of performance tracking would be available, particularly for gift card sales, loyalty point accumulation, and referral success. However, specific dashboard capabilities or reporting metrics are not specified in the provided data.

Comparison of Analytics

Based on the provided descriptions, neither app explicitly highlights advanced analytics dashboards or reporting features. Both likely offer basic insights into program performance, such as points earned, redemptions, gift card sales, and referral conversions, which are standard for such applications. Merchants prioritizing deep analytical capabilities, custom reports, or integration with business intelligence tools would need to explore each app's live demo or documentation to confirm the extent of their reporting functions. For advanced needs, the presence of a Customer Success Manager with Growave's Plus plan suggests more bespoke insights and strategic support might be available.

Customer Support Expectations and Reliability Cues

The quality of support can significantly impact a merchant's experience, especially during setup or troubleshooting.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave outlines a tiered support structure that scales with the plan.

• FREE Plan: 48hr email support.
• ENTRY & GROWTH Plans: 24/7 email support, with chat support added for Growth.
• PLUS Plan: 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support, along with a dedicated CSM (Customer Success Manager) and AM (Account Manager), and a dedicated launch plan.
• Reliability: The app boasts 1,197 reviews with a 4.8 rating, indicating a high level of customer satisfaction and a well-established user base.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

The description for 99minds does not explicitly detail its customer support structure or available channels.

• Reliability: The app has 33 reviews with a 5 rating. While a perfect 5-star rating is impressive, the lower volume of reviews compared to Growave might suggest a newer or smaller user base, making it harder to draw broad conclusions about long-term support consistency.

Comparison of Support

Growave's detailed support structure, offering various channels and dedicated personnel for higher tiers, signals a commitment to comprehensive customer assistance. The availability of a CSM and phone support for Plus plan users is a strong indicator of enterprise-level service, providing tailored guidance and helping teams navigate features aligned with enterprise retention requirements. The large volume of positive reviews lends significant credibility to its overall reliability and support quality.

Without explicit support details for 99minds, merchants would need to investigate their support channels and availability. The smaller number of reviews, while positive, means less data to assess support trends over time. Merchants valuing readily available, multi-channel support and a large body of peer feedback may find Growave's offering more reassuring.

Performance, Compatibility, and Operational Overhead

The impact an app has on store performance, its compatibility across various Shopify setups, and the overall operational burden it adds are critical considerations.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist

Growave is positioned as an "all-in-one platform packed with features" and "Built for Shopify Plus," suggesting robust performance and compatibility.

• Shopify Plus Readiness: Explicitly built for Shopify Plus, offering "powerful checkout and account extensions" and "Headless: API & SDK" in its Plus plan. This indicates readiness for high-traffic, complex storefronts and helps manage retention tooling suited for Plus governance needs.
• Operational Overhead: By consolidating multiple functionalities (loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlist) into one app, Growave aims to reduce "app fatigue," integration overhead, and potential conflicts that arise from stacking numerous single-purpose apps. This implies a lower total cost of ownership by simplifying the tech stack.
• Compatibility: Works seamlessly with Shopify POS, customer accounts, and popular page builders like Pagefly, LayoutHub, GemPages, and Shopney.

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty

99minds claims to "Substitute multiple apps with 1 powerful app" for gift cards, store credit, rewards, referrals, and refunds, aiming to reduce app sprawl in these specific areas.

• Compatibility: Works with Shopify Checkout, Shopify POS, and Shopify Flow.
• Operational Overhead: By consolidating gift card, loyalty, and refund functions, it seeks to reduce the management complexity associated with these specific tools. The "no coding skills required" aspect also points to lower technical overhead for setup and maintenance.
• Performance: The description doesn't explicitly mention performance optimizations for high-traffic stores or Shopify Plus environments, beyond general Shopify compatibility.

Comparison of Performance and Overhead

Growave's explicit "Built for Shopify Plus" designation, coupled with its support for headless commerce, suggests a strong focus on performance and scalability for larger, high-volume merchants. Its core philosophy of being an "all-in-one" platform directly addresses the issue of operational overhead by reducing the number of individual apps a merchant needs to manage, update, and integrate. This approach can lead to more consistent customer experiences and simplified data management, which is a key advantage for teams looking at examples of retention execution across teams.

99minds also positions itself as a consolidator, but within a more focused scope of gift cards, loyalty, and refunds. For merchants whose primary app sprawl issues stem from these specific areas, 99minds could offer a streamlined solution. Its emphasis on no-code setup also contributes to lower operational overhead, particularly for smaller teams or those with limited technical resources. However, for a broader consolidation of retention tools that include comprehensive reviews and UGC, Growave's integrated approach offers a wider reduction in app stack complexity.

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

Merchants often encounter a phenomenon known as "app fatigue" or "tool sprawl." This occurs when a growing e-commerce business adds numerous single-function apps to address specific needs—one for loyalty, another for reviews, a third for wishlists, and so on. While each app might solve an immediate problem, the cumulative effect can lead to significant operational challenges:

• Fragmented Data: Customer data is siloed across different applications, making a unified view of customer behavior difficult and impacting personalized marketing efforts.
• Inconsistent Customer Experience: Different app interfaces can create a disjointed and often confusing experience for customers interacting with various loyalty or engagement features on a website.
• Integration Overhead: Each new app requires configuration, testing, and ongoing maintenance, consuming valuable time and resources. Potential conflicts between apps can also arise, leading to technical issues.
• Stacked Costs: Subscribing to multiple individual apps can quickly escalate monthly expenses, often exceeding the cost of a single, more comprehensive platform.
• Scaling Complexity: As a business grows, managing an increasingly complex tech stack becomes a bottleneck, hindering agility and responsiveness.

Growave addresses these challenges directly with its "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy. By offering an integrated suite of retention tools—including loyalty and rewards, referrals, reviews & UGC, and wishlists—Growave aims to provide a cohesive solution that fosters sustainable growth while minimizing operational complexity. This approach allows merchants to manage multiple facets of customer engagement from a single dashboard, ensuring data consistency and a seamless customer journey.

For instance, rather than deploying separate applications for loyalty programs that keep customers coming back and for post-purchase review requests that feel consistent, Growave bundles these functionalities. This integration enables merchants to connect loyalty points with review submissions, incentivize referrals, and re-engage customers with wishlist reminders, all within a unified framework. Such an integrated platform can deliver better value for money and a lower total cost of ownership by reducing the number of subscriptions, integrations, and support interactions required. Merchants looking for a seamless approach can start by evaluating feature coverage across plans to match their specific needs with a comprehensive solution.

For businesses that are growing rapidly or operate on Shopify Plus, the advantages of a consolidated platform become even more pronounced. Managing capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs means not just features, but also performance and governance. An all-in-one solution minimizes potential conflicts and ensures that all retention initiatives work in harmony, providing a consistent and high-performance experience for even the most demanding customer bases. When considering a long-term retention strategy, looking at a pricing structure that scales as order volume grows often highlights the benefit of a unified solution in preventing future app sprawl. The emphasis on reviews that reduce uncertainty for new buyers is also more powerful when connected directly to loyalty incentives, creating a cycle of engagement and trust.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty, the decision comes down to the specific priorities and strategic focus of their e-commerce business. 99minds stands out for its specialized and robust handling of gift cards, store credit, and automated refund workflows. It is an excellent choice for businesses where these specific functionalities are paramount, perhaps for high-volume gift card sales or complex return policies. Its ability to simplify these targeted operations can be a significant advantage.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist, conversely, presents itself as a more comprehensive, all-in-one retention platform. It excels in integrating a broader spectrum of customer engagement tools, including loyalty programs, referrals, detailed reviews, user-generated content, and wishlists. This integrated approach is particularly beneficial for merchants seeking to streamline their entire retention strategy, from incentivizing repeat purchases with loyalty programs that keep customers coming back to building social proof through review automation that builds trust at purchase time. For those looking to reduce reliance on a fragmented app stack and centralize their customer data and experience, Growave offers a compelling value proposition by simplifying selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs.

Ultimately, both apps offer valuable tools for enhancing customer loyalty and driving repeat business within the Shopify ecosystem. The optimal choice depends on whether a merchant needs a highly specialized solution for gift cards and returns or a broader, integrated platform that unifies multiple retention efforts. To reduce app fatigue and run retention from one place, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

FAQ

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

An all-in-one platform like Growave integrates multiple retention features (loyalty, reviews, referrals, wishlists) into a single solution, aiming to provide a consistent customer experience and consolidated data. This can simplify management, reduce integration overhead, and potentially offer better overall value compared to subscribing to several single-purpose specialized apps. Specialized apps, such as 99minds focusing on gift cards and returns, typically offer deeper functionality within their specific niche. The choice depends on a merchant's priority: breadth of integrated features versus depth in a particular function.

Which app is better for stores needing advanced gift card features?

Based on the descriptions, 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty is explicitly designed with advanced gift card capabilities, including both physical and e-gift card programs, and the ability to automate store credit for refunds. Merchants for whom gift cards are a central revenue driver or who need robust return management would likely find 99minds to be a more specialized and powerful solution for these specific needs.

Does Growave support Shopify Plus merchants?

Yes, Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist is explicitly built for Shopify Plus, with its highest tier (Plus plan) offering enterprise-level features such as checkout extensions, headless API & SDK, custom loyalty page design, and dedicated account management. This indicates its readiness for high-growth operational complexity and advanced storefront requirements.

Can these apps help automate customer refunds and store credit?

99minds Gift Card & Loyalty highlights its ability to "Automate Refunds and Reward Customers with Store Credit," making it a strong contender for stores looking to streamline this particular workflow and retain revenue. While Growave offers gift cards as a reward mechanism in higher tiers, its primary focus is broader loyalty and retention, rather than specific refund automation with store credit.