Growave Loyalty Report · 2026 Edition
The Loyalty Advantage,
By the Numbers
Based on an analysis of 227 Shopify stores, loyalty and rewards programs show a profound positive impact on customer value, repeat purchasing, and revenue. Here is the evidence.
Points Program
Earn & redeem
VIP Tiers
Tiered perks
Referrals
Give & get rewards
+66%
Median revenue per member
$288.31 vs $173.45
+238%
Returning customer rate
40.85% vs 12.1% median
+65%
Lifetime value per member
$3,416 vs $2,070 median
Loyalty members drive dramatically higher value and engagement
1
Value & retention surge
Customers who actively redeem rewards generate significantly more value. Median revenue per member is $288.31 vs $173.45 for non-members, and median returning customer rate reaches 40.85%, nearly 3.4x higher.
+66% median revenue
+238% returning rate
+202% repeat purchases
2
Returning-rate gap widens by Shopify plan
The returning-customer-rate gap between members and non-members widens with plan tier. It grows from +152% on Grow to +165% on Advanced and +184% on Shopify Plus, showing that loyalty compounds hardest across an established customer base.
Chart 1
Median revenue increase from loyalty members, by industry
Health & Wellness, Jewelry, and Sporting Goods lead all categories, each posting roughly a doubling of median revenue from their loyalty members. Every industry we measured showed a positive lift, but the size of the gain varies widely, so where your brand sits shapes how much upside a loyalty program can unlock.
Health & Wellness
+106%
Jewelry
+102%
Sporting Goods
+98%
Arts & Crafts
+84%
Home & Living
+78%
Food & Beverage
+62%
Beauty
+50%
Fashion
+47%
Beauty & Personal Care
+45%
Chart 2
Customer retention: loyalty members vs non-members
Across both retention measures, members roughly triple the rate of non-members. Returning customer rate climbs from 12.1% to 40.85%, and repeat purchase rate from 13.96% to 42.11%. Retention is where loyalty compounds: every extra returning customer costs far less to win than a new one, and members keep coming back.
Loyalty members
Non-members
Returning customer rate
Repeat purchase rate
Points Program
The most widely recognized loyalty initiative. Customers accumulate points through purchases or engagement, then redeem them for discounts, store credit, free shipping, gift cards, and more.
Points programs don't merely foster engagement, they significantly enhance profitability.
Purchase Frequency
1.73
vs 1.15
50% increase
45% at the typical store
Returning Customer Rate
40.85%
vs 12.1%
238% increase
187% at the typical store
Repeat Purchase Rate
42.11%
vs 13.96%
202% increase
150% at the typical store
Average Order Value
$153.71
vs $132.75
16% higher
15% at the typical store
Lifetime Value
$3,416
vs $2,070
65% higher
69% at the typical store
Sample: n=195 of 227 stores (≥10 members)
VIP Tiers Program
VIP Tiers show the clearest value-concentration story in the entire dataset. Customers placed in a tier don't just spend a bit more, they represent a completely different tier of value, and that value keeps compounding the higher they climb.
Tiered customers dramatically outperform non-tiered ones, more than double the AOV and over twice the purchase frequency. And the higher the tier, the more each customer is worth.
Purchase Frequency
2.41
vs 1.16
108% increase
92% at the typical store
Average Order Value
$260
vs $125
109% higher
59% at the typical store
Top-tier AOV vs. entry
$339
vs $147
132% higher
Tiers 3-5 vs Tier 1
Revenue concentration
2%
of customers
generate 9% of revenue
Top three tiers combined
AOV climbs at every tier
Median AOV rises without exception from Tier 1 to Tier 5, nearly triple the entry tier by the time a customer reaches the top.
A tiny fraction drives outsized revenue
Tiers 3-5 are just 2% of tiered customers but generate 9% of tier revenue, over 4x their proportional weight.
Share of customers
Share of revenue
Tier 1
81.19%
80.17%
Tier 2
16.70%
13.20%
Tier 3
1.84%
5.42%
3x rev
Tier 4
0.22%
1.95%
9x rev
Tier 5
0.05%
1.38%
28x rev
Fun fact
What brands actually name their tiers
Naming leans traditional: Gold, Silver, and Bronze dominate, though many brands opt for fully custom, on-brand tier names. Most stores (43%) use exactly three tiers.
Gold
32%
Silver
28%
Bronze
22%
VIP
16%
Member
11%
Diamond
9%
Star
8%
Elite
7%
Rookie
7%
Icon
6%
Sample: n=116 of 227 stores (≥10 customers across all tiers combined); tier-position breakdowns based on the subset of stores with each respective tier populated.
Referral Program
A referral program is essential for customer acquisition within a comprehensive loyalty strategy. Referred customers make noticeably more purchases than non-referred customers.
Purchase Frequency
1.44
vs 1.15
25% increase
No meaningful change in AOV
Referral programs are primarily an acquisition and frequency lever, not an AOV lever, consistent with what we've seen elsewhere.
Sample: n=134 of 227 stores (active referral usage, ≥10 members)
The Growave Install Effect
What happens after you install Growave
We also looked at what happens to a store's overall repeat purchase rate before vs. after installing Growave. The effect builds over time: repeat purchase rate rose 13% in the first three months, and 23% by six months.
The pattern holds by plan tier and industry too. Advanced Shopify stores saw a 33% lift over six months, and Shopify Plus stores saw a 5% lift. Fashion stores, the largest industry group in this analysis and therefore the most reliable figure, saw a 14% increase, followed by Beauty & Personal Care at 11%.
Repeat purchase rate · 3-month
13.51%
vs 11.93% before
+13% increase
Repeat purchase rate · 6-month
18.99%
vs 15.46% before
+23% increase
By plan tier
Advanced Shopify
+33% increase
6-month lift
By plan tier
Shopify Plus
+5% increase
6-month lift
By industry
Fashion
+14% increase
6-month lift
By industry
Beauty & Personal Care
+11% increase
6-month lift
Based on an analysis of 227 Shopify stores. This reflects the combined effect of installing Growave as a whole (not any single feature), comparing each store's own repeat purchase rate before and after install.
Methodology
How we ran the numbers
This research refers to program participants and non-participants as "loyalty members" and "non-members," since the analysis measures the impact of Growave's loyalty program specifically.
Before analysis, we removed stores with very low member counts or very few loyalty-related orders, comparing 210 members to 17 non-members is far less reliable than comparing 210 to 77, so a minimum data threshold was applied to ensure every store included had a meaningful sample on both sides.
The analysis covers 227 Shopify stores. Because not all stores use every feature (Points, Referral, VIP Tiers, etc.), sample size varies by metric and is reported alongside each result.
Results were consistent across minimum sample thresholds of 5-50 members per store, which supports the robustness of these figures regardless of exactly where the cutoff is drawn.
Turn retention into your growth engine
See what Points, Referral, and VIP Tiers could do for your store. Talk to a human, even our CEO if needed.