Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. Markivo Loyalty & Rewards: An In-Depth Comparison

Introduction

Choosing the right Shopify apps to drive customer retention is a critical decision for any merchant aiming for sustainable growth. The market offers a wide array of tools, each promising to enhance loyalty and customer lifetime value. However, navigating this landscape to find a solution that aligns with specific business needs, budget, and growth trajectory can be challenging.

Short answer: Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist offers a comprehensive, all-in-one platform integrating loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists, ideal for growing and larger stores seeking to consolidate their tech stack. Markivo Loyalty & Rewards focuses primarily on loyalty, VIP tiers, and referrals, making it a suitable choice for merchants prioritizing these specific functions with a more streamlined approach or starting with a tighter budget. Integrated platforms generally reduce the operational overhead associated with managing multiple single-purpose applications.

This analysis provides a feature-by-feature comparison of Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and Markivo Loyalty & Rewards. The goal is to help merchants make an informed decision by understanding each app's strengths, potential limitations, and ideal use cases, ultimately contributing to a strategic choice for their Shopify storefront.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist vs. Markivo Loyalty & Rewards: At a Glance

Deep Dive Comparison

Customer retention is a cornerstone of profitable ecommerce, and loyalty programs play a pivotal role in fostering repeat purchases and brand advocacy. Evaluating apps like Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and Markivo Loyalty & Rewards requires a detailed understanding of their feature sets, scalability, and how they align with a merchant's overall business strategy.

Core Features and Workflows

The foundational capabilities of a loyalty app dictate its utility and impact on customer engagement. Both Growave and Markivo offer robust solutions, but their scope and approach differ significantly.

Loyalty Programs (Points, Redemption)

Growave offers a comprehensive loyalty points program that allows merchants to reward customers for various actions, not just purchases. This includes account creation, social shares, birthdays, and product reviews. The flexibility extends to redemption options, where points can be converted into discounts, free shipping, or even custom rewards. This broad approach to earning and spending points aims to keep customers actively engaged with the brand across multiple touchpoints, supporting broader loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases. Growave's ability to handle data imports and exports from its free plan suggests a focus on data portability and management from the outset.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards also provides basic points earning and redemption options in its free plan, expanding to "comprehensive" options in its Essential plan. The description highlights "over 10 point-earning options," indicating a strong focus on varied ways for customers to accumulate points. This suggests that Markivo prioritizes diverse engagement methods within the loyalty points framework itself. The focus on customer activities and membership management further reinforces its dedication to core loyalty mechanics.

VIP Tiers

VIP tiers are crucial for recognizing and rewarding high-value customers, encouraging them to spend more to unlock exclusive benefits.

Growave introduces a dedicated VIP Tiers program at its Growth plan level. This includes features like dedicated loyalty pages, points expiration, and gift cards, which are often integral to sophisticated VIP strategies. The inclusion of Shopify POS Loyalty QR in the Growth plan signifies support for omnichannel experiences, allowing customers to earn and redeem points seamlessly across online and physical retail environments. This layered approach supports merchants looking to create tiered VIP tiers and incentives for high-intent customers.

Markivo also offers a custom VIP tier system, available from its Essential plan. The Plus plan enhances this with "VIP customers tier privileges" and "VIP card advanced decoration," suggesting a focus on the aesthetic and perceived value of the VIP experience. While Markivo clearly supports VIP tiers, the specifics of its advanced features, such as points expiration or omnichannel integration, are not as explicitly detailed as with Growave. Its emphasis on advanced decoration implies a strong branding component for VIPs.

Referral Programs

Referral programs are powerful tools for customer acquisition, leveraging existing loyal customers to bring in new ones.

Growave includes a referral program with fraud protection starting from its Entry plan. This early inclusion highlights the platform's understanding of the dual benefit of loyalty and acquisition. The fraud protection feature is particularly valuable, ensuring the integrity of referral campaigns and preventing abuse, which is a common concern for merchants running such programs. These programs contribute to overall reward mechanics that support customer lifetime value.

Markivo also features a referral reward program, available even on its Free plan. This makes it an accessible option for new businesses looking to implement a basic referral system without immediate cost. The description mentions it helps stores "attract a continuous flow of new customers," emphasizing its role in growth. While fraud protection is not explicitly mentioned, its early availability makes it attractive for budget-conscious merchants.

Reviews & User-Generated Content (Growave) / Other Engagement (Markivo)

This is a significant differentiating factor. Growave is an all-in-one platform, encompassing not just loyalty but also reviews and user-generated content (UGC).

Growave offers product reviews starting from its Free plan and expands with features like review request email series (Entry plan), account extensions & review attributes, Google Shopping Reviews, and Instagram UGC (Growth plan). This integrated approach means merchants can centralize the collection, display, and management of customer feedback and social proof alongside their loyalty efforts. The ability for customers to earn loyalty points for leaving reviews creates a powerful feedback loop. Merchants looking for a unified approach to collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews will find Growave's solution compelling. Further, the platform enables review automation that builds trust at purchase time by streamlining the feedback process.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards, based on its description, focuses exclusively on loyalty, VIP, and referral programs. It does not appear to offer integrated review or UGC collection and display functionalities. Merchants choosing Markivo would need to integrate a separate review app to cover this aspect of customer engagement, potentially leading to a more fragmented tech stack.

Wishlist Functionality (Growave)

Another key differentiator is the inclusion of a wishlist feature within Growave.

Growave provides wishlist functionality from its Free plan. At the Growth plan level, it includes advanced features like "Back-in-stock wishlist emails." Wishlists are powerful tools for capturing customer intent, reducing cart abandonment, and driving future purchases. Integrating this with loyalty allows for a holistic view of customer behavior and engagement. This integrated approach aligns with the strategy of running retention programs that reduce reliance on discounts by offering varied incentives.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards does not specify any integrated wishlist functionality. This means merchants would need a separate app for wishlists, again contributing to a potentially larger and more complex app stack.

Customization and Branding

The ability to customize the loyalty program's appearance and behavior to match a brand's identity is crucial for a seamless customer experience.

Growave emphasizes full flexibility to customize app branding and tailor experiences, even for headless commerce setups at its Plus plan level. Customizable emails are available from the Entry plan. A "Loyalty page custom design" is offered at the Plus plan, suggesting deep control over the visual presentation of the loyalty program. This level of customization ensures that the loyalty experience feels like an organic extension of the brand.

Markivo highlights "advanced customization options" to make the loyalty program more attractive and strengthen brand identity. It also mentions a "customizable loyalty widget" from its description. The Plus plan includes "VIP card advanced decoration." This indicates a strong focus on visual customization, especially for the loyalty widget and VIP elements, ensuring they align with the store's look and feel.

Integrations and Ecosystem Fit

The effectiveness of a loyalty app often depends on its ability to integrate seamlessly with other tools in a merchant's tech stack, such as email marketing, customer support, and page builders.

Growave boasts extensive integrations, listed as "Works With": Checkout, Shopify POS, Customer accounts, Shopify Flow, Pagefly, LayoutHub, GemPages, Shopney, Klaviyo, Omnisend, Postscript, Recharge, Gorgias, Attentive, TikTok Shop, PushOwl. It offers "+1 integration (e.g., Klaviyo)" at its Entry plan and "Unlimited integrations" at the Plus plan. This broad compatibility underscores Growave's design as a central hub for retention activities, minimizing data silos and enabling comprehensive customer journeys. This aligns with a business strategy focused on an approach that fits high-growth operational complexity and integrating with essential marketing tools.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards lists fewer explicit integrations: Klaviyo and Judge.me. Klaviyo integration is specified in the Plus plan. While these are critical integrations for many Shopify stores (email marketing and reviews), the narrower list suggests a more focused ecosystem. Merchants with a more diverse tech stack might need to verify compatibility or consider workarounds if other key apps are not explicitly supported. Its integration with Judge.me is notable, as it provides a path for review functionality, albeit through a separate app.

Pricing Structure and Value Assessment

Understanding the pricing models and what is included at each tier is essential for evaluating the long-term value and total cost of ownership. Both apps offer free plans, but their paid tiers scale differently.

Growave Pricing Breakdown

Growave's pricing structure is designed to scale with a merchant's business size and complexity, generally based on monthly order volume.

• FREE Plan: Supports up to 100 orders/month (500 total orders). Includes Loyalty points, Wishlist, Product Reviews, Data imports/exports, and 48hr email support. This is a robust free offering, especially with the inclusion of reviews and wishlists.
• ENTRY Plan ($49/month): Extends to 500 monthly orders. Adds advanced rewards, referral program with fraud protection, nudges, review request email series, Shopify POS, Shopify Flow, +1 integration (e.g., Klaviyo), customizable emails, and 24/7 email support. This plan significantly expands core loyalty and referral capabilities and begins to introduce integrated marketing tools.
• GROWTH Plan ($199/month): For up to 1,500 monthly orders. Adds VIP Tiers, 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* Onboarding, and 24/7 email/chat support. This tier unlocks advanced retention features and integrates more deeply with UGC and omnichannel experiences. Businesses considering this tier are often evaluating feature coverage across plans to match their increasing customer base.
• PLUS Plan ($499/month): For up to 3,000 monthly orders. Includes checkout extensions, headless API & SDK support, custom loyalty page design, custom reward actions, B2B, unlimited integrations, a customer success manager, dedicated launch plan, and 24/7 email/live chat/phone support. This plan targets high-growth and enterprise-level merchants, particularly those on Shopify Plus, requiring extensive customization and dedicated support, supporting capabilities designed for Shopify Plus scaling needs. This structure offers a pricing structure that scales as order volume grows.

Markivo Pricing Breakdown

Markivo's pricing is also tiered, with increasing features at each level.

• Free Plan: Includes basic points earning and redemption ways, referral reward program, customer activities, and membership management. This provides a solid foundation for merchants just starting with loyalty.
• Essential Plan ($19.90/month): Adds comprehensive points earning and redemption, points expiration, customer VIP tiers, and a launcher and pane. This is a very affordable step up to unlock core advanced loyalty features like VIP tiers and points expiration.
• Plus Plan ($59.90/month): Includes all Essential plan features, VIP customers tier privileges, VIP card advanced decoration, and Klaviyo integration. This tier focuses on enhancing the VIP experience and adding a crucial email marketing integration.
• Enterprise Plan ($199.90/month): Offers unlimited orders, all Plus plan features, prioritization for newly launched features, and priority customer support. This is Markivo's highest tier, suitable for larger stores prioritizing core loyalty with dedicated support.

Comparative Value

When assessing value, merchants need to look beyond the monthly fee to the total cost of ownership and the breadth of features.

Markivo presents a significantly lower entry price point for its paid plans ($19.90 vs. Growave's $49). For merchants with a limited budget who primarily need basic loyalty, VIP tiers, and referrals, Markivo offers a highly cost-effective solution. Its Enterprise plan is priced similarly to Growave's Growth plan, but for "unlimited orders," which could be appealing to very high-volume stores if its feature set meets their needs. However, it requires separate apps for reviews, wishlists, and potentially other marketing functions, which would add to the overall monthly cost and complexity.

Growave's pricing reflects its "all-in-one" nature. While its Entry plan starts higher, it bundles loyalty, reviews, referrals, and wishlists—features that Markivo requires separate apps for. This consolidation can lead to better value for money by reducing the need for multiple subscriptions and streamlining data and workflows. For merchants seeking to minimize app sprawl and manage multiple retention functions from a single dashboard, Growave often provides a lower total cost of ownership despite higher individual plan prices. Its Plus plan offers dedicated support and advanced features crucial for features aligned with enterprise retention requirements. Merchants should consider selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs when making their decision.

Customer Support Expectations and Reliability Cues

The quality of customer support and the app's reliability are crucial for long-term satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Growave has a robust track record with 1,197 reviews and an average rating of 4.8. This high volume of positive feedback is a strong indicator of merchant satisfaction, app reliability, and effective customer support. Growave offers tiered support: 48hr email support on Free, 24/7 email on Entry, 24/7 email/chat on Growth, and 24/7 email/live chat/phone support with a dedicated customer success manager on Plus. The increasing levels of support and dedicated resources at higher tiers reflect a commitment to supporting merchant growth, especially for those with an approach that fits high-growth operational complexity. Merchants often benefit from checking merchant feedback and app-store performance signals to validate these aspects.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards currently shows 0 reviews and a 0 rating. While this doesn't inherently mean the app is unreliable or has poor support, it does mean there's no public track record for merchants to assess. The Enterprise plan does offer "Priority customer support." For new apps, the absence of reviews means a higher degree of uncertainty regarding real-world performance and customer service responsiveness. Merchants should conduct thorough due diligence or rely on direct communication with the developer to understand their support model if considering Markivo. Without public reviews, assessing app-store ratings as a trust signal is not possible for Markivo.

Performance, Compatibility, and Operational Overhead

The choice of a Shopify app also impacts store performance, compatibility with the wider Shopify ecosystem, and the effort required for ongoing management.

Growave is described as being "Built for Shopify Plus: powerful checkout and account extensions" and offering "headless: API & SDK" support at its Plus plan. This indicates a focus on high performance, scalability, and compatibility with advanced Shopify setups. Its extensive list of "Works With" integrations suggests careful consideration for compatibility with popular page builders, marketing automation tools, and POS systems. As an all-in-one solution, Growave aims to reduce operational overhead by centralizing multiple functions, minimizing the need to manage various app settings, data synchronization, and support tickets from different vendors. This allows merchants to focus on real examples from brands improving retention.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards' description does not explicitly mention Shopify Plus readiness or headless commerce support. While its core loyalty features should be compatible with standard Shopify stores, the lack of explicit mention for advanced Shopify environments might be a consideration for high-growth or enterprise merchants. With fewer specified integrations, operational overhead might involve managing additional apps for functionalities like reviews or wishlists, and ensuring their independent compatibility and data flow. The simplicity of its core offering, however, could lead to lower initial overhead for merchants whose needs are strictly confined to loyalty and referrals.

Analytics and Reporting

Understanding the performance of loyalty programs is vital for optimization and strategic decision-making.

Growave's description, with its emphasis on "growth" and being a "flexible retention platform," implies robust analytics for tracking loyalty program performance, although specific reporting features are not detailed in the provided data. The comprehensive nature of the platform, combining loyalty, reviews, and referrals, suggests that merchants would likely have access to aggregated data and insights across these modules, enabling a holistic view of customer engagement and retention metrics. The capacity for data imports/exports also supports external analysis.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards' description does not explicitly detail specific analytics or reporting features. While any loyalty app must track points, redemptions, and referral success, the extent of dashboard reporting, customer segmentation capabilities, or integration with external analytics tools is not specified in the provided data. Merchants would need to inquire directly with Markivo about the depth of their analytical offerings.

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

Merchants frequently encounter "app fatigue"—a phenomenon characterized by tool sprawl, fragmented customer data, inconsistent user experiences across disparate apps, and the escalating costs of managing a growing collection of single-function solutions. As a store scales, managing separate apps for loyalty, reviews, wishlists, and referrals can become an administrative burden, leading to inefficient workflows and missed opportunities for cross-functional insights. This disjointed approach often results in a less cohesive customer journey, where interactions with loyalty programs feel disconnected from review requests or wishlist notifications.

This is where the "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy, embodied by platforms like Growave, offers a compelling alternative. Instead of piecing together a retention strategy from multiple vendors, an all-in-one platform consolidates these critical functions into a single, integrated suite. This approach tackles app fatigue head-on by providing a unified dashboard, synchronized data, and a consistent brand experience across all customer engagement touchpoints. By centralizing features such as loyalty programs that keep customers coming back, the ability to build social proof that supports conversion and AOV, and robust wishlist features, merchants can streamline operations and gain a clearer, more holistic view of their customer base.

The strategic advantage lies in the synergy between these integrated modules. For instance, customers can earn loyalty points for leaving product reviews, further incentivizing UGC workflows that keep product pages credible. Wishlist additions can trigger targeted email campaigns that leverage loyalty points for conversion, connecting various engagement points. For larger or rapidly scaling businesses, especially those on Shopify Plus, an integrated platform provides a more stable and manageable foundation. It offers retention tooling suited for Plus governance needs and simplifies the technical stack, reducing potential conflicts and maintenance overhead. This consolidation also allows for a clearer view of a clearer view of total retention-stack costs, preventing unexpected expenses from a growing number of individual app subscriptions. If consolidating tools is a priority, start by comparing plan fit against retention goals. The ability to manage reviews, loyalty, and wishlists from one place leads to more efficient team workflows and a more consistent brand voice. Merchants can learn from customer stories that show how teams reduce app sprawl, demonstrating the practical benefits of this integrated approach.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist and Markivo Loyalty & Rewards, the decision comes down to the scope of desired functionality, budget, and strategic goals for their customer retention efforts.

Markivo Loyalty & Rewards presents itself as a highly accessible and cost-effective solution for merchants primarily focused on implementing core loyalty points programs, VIP tiers, and referral initiatives. Its lower price points and inclusion of basic referral programs in the free tier make it an attractive option for startups, smaller businesses, or those with very specific loyalty-focused needs and a limited budget. However, the absence of integrated reviews, UGC, or wishlist functionality means merchants would need to invest in and manage additional apps, potentially leading to increased complexity and cost in other areas of customer engagement. The lack of public reviews also means a nascent track record.

Growave: Loyalty & Wishlist, conversely, stands out as a comprehensive, all-in-one retention platform. By integrating loyalty, VIP tiers, referrals, reviews, UGC, and wishlist functionality into a single app, Growave offers a solution designed to minimize app fatigue and provide a unified customer experience. Its robust features, scalability, Shopify Plus readiness, and extensive integrations cater to growing and enterprise-level merchants seeking a cohesive strategy to increase customer lifetime value and improve repeat purchase rates. While its paid plans have a higher entry point, the consolidated feature set often provides better overall value by reducing tool sprawl and streamlining operations. Merchants can explore lessons from brands scaling repeat purchase rate to understand the benefits of such an integrated approach.

Ultimately, the choice depends on where a merchant is on their growth journey and the complexity of their desired retention strategy. For a focused, budget-friendly start on loyalty and referrals, Markivo may suffice. For those aiming for a holistic, integrated approach to customer engagement and retention across multiple touchpoints—loyalty, social proof, and intent capture—Growave offers a more strategic, consolidated platform that simplifies management and enhances the overall customer journey. To reduce app fatigue and run retention from one place, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

FAQ

How do loyalty programs impact customer lifetime value (LTV)?

Loyalty programs significantly increase LTV by incentivizing repeat purchases, encouraging higher average order values through tiered rewards, and fostering emotional connections with a brand. When customers feel valued and receive rewards, they are more likely to return, spend more over time, and become brand advocates.

Is an all-in-one platform always better than specialized apps for loyalty?

Not always, but often. An all-in-one platform, like Growave, offers a consolidated approach, reducing tool sprawl, integration complexities, and potential data silos. This can lead to a more consistent customer experience and streamlined operations, especially for growing businesses that need multiple functions (loyalty, reviews, wishlists). Specialized apps, like Markivo, might be ideal for merchants with very specific, limited needs or a tight budget, who prefer to build their tech stack piece by piece. The decision depends on a merchant's specific requirements, current tech stack, and future growth plans.

What are the key considerations when choosing a loyalty app for a Shopify Plus store?

For Shopify Plus stores, key considerations include the app's ability to handle high order volumes, compatibility with Shopify Flow for advanced automations, support for checkout extensions, and API/SDK access for headless commerce. Robust support, dedicated account management, and deep customization capabilities are also crucial for enterprise-level operations. Such stores often benefit from retention tooling suited for Plus governance needs.

How important are customer reviews and ratings for an app?

Customer reviews and ratings on the Shopify App Store are crucial trust signals. They offer real-world insights into an app's performance, reliability, ease of use, and quality of customer support. A high volume of positive reviews, such as Growave's 1,197 reviews with a 4.8 rating, indicates a proven track record and merchant satisfaction. Conversely, an app with few to no reviews, like Markivo, presents a higher degree of uncertainty regarding its performance and support in live store environments. Merchants are encouraged to use these as critical data points when evaluating potential solutions.