How do I offer gift cards as a loyalty reward on Shopify?

[William96]

I’d like customers to redeem loyalty points for gift cards. Can this be automated?

[getshoptimal]

Not natively. Easiest way is to use a Loyalty app like Smile (on Starter Plan) or Loyalty Lion (Free up to 400 monthly orders).

[dived009]

Solution:

To automate loyalty point redemption for gift cards, you’ll need two components:

1. A Loyalty Program App That Supports Gift Card Rewards

Choose a loyalty app that allows:

• Customers to redeem points for store credit or gift cards
• Automation of reward delivery

Popular options that support this:

• Smile.io (with paid plans): Lets you set up a reward that auto-generates a gift card when a customer redeems points.
• Rise.ai: Focused on store credit and gift card automation — works well with loyalty programs.
• LoyaltyLion (Advanced plans): Allows auto-issuing of rewards including gift cards.

2. Gift Card Integration or Automation Setup

These apps typically:

• Let you set a reward rule (e.g., “Redeem 500 points for a $5 gift card”)
• Automatically generate and email a gift card code when a customer claims the reward

You don’t need to manually send anything — the system handles it once it’s set up.

Steps to Automate:

1. Install a compatible loyalty app (e.g., Smile.io)
2. Create a reward called “$X Gift Card” and set the required points
3. Link it to your store’s gift card system
4. Enable automatic sending when the reward is claimed

Once done, customers can go to their rewards panel, redeem points, and receive the gift card immediately via email.
i hope this we help you

[Channelwill]

Hey @William96! Yes, you can let customers redeem loyalty points for gift cards on Shopify, but whether it’s automated depends on the loyalty app you’re using.

Some apps (like Rise.ai) natively support this setup. Others may require a workaround, such as manually issuing gift card codes or syncing through automation tools.

If you’re looking for something straightforward, I’d recommend checking out Loloyal which can help you set custom rewards, including Shopify gift cards

Once set up, you can define how many points = which value of gift card, and it’ll handle the logic and delivery for you.

If this helped, feel free to mark it as a solution so others can find it too

[Richard232]

Richard from 99minds Gift Card & Loyalty here!

Yes, you can absolutely let customers redeem their loyalty points for gift cards, and it can be fully automated with 99minds.

Using 99minds automated workflows, you can set up rules so that when a customer reaches a certain number of loyalty points, a gift card is automatically issued to their email. You decide the point threshold, the gift card value, and the design. Once the conditions are met, the system takes care of the rest without any manual work.

It’s a great way to make your rewards program more exciting and give customers a tangible benefit for staying loyal.

[AiTrillion]

Hi @William96 ,

You can use the Gift card through various apps. You can also use our app. Where you can use the feature to redeem Loyalty points for Gift card automatically to get a discount. This feature is also available in a free plan.

If you have any questions feel free to message me or reply here.

[LoyaltyLionOfficial]

Hey, Sarah from LoyaltyLion here, confirming that our platform absolutely allows customers to redeem points for gift cards.

We’ve also designed this so customers can still use normal Shopify discount codes alongside the gift card (unless you turn that off in settings - your choice)

If you’re looking for gift card alternatives too, lots of our customers offer Seamless Free Products in the cart in exchange for points, or automatic discounts based on a customer’s loyalty tier status, and so much more.

Very happy to chat about what would work for your brand - get in touch anytime.

[AlphaSale_Kathy]

Hi @William96

Try out Alpha Loyalty — a new loyalty app by Alphalogic.

The app works smoothly with gift cards and gives you many more options, like:

• Points & VIP programs that target different customer groups - you can use tags for precise targeting.

• Flexible earning rules — reward different products with different point values.

• Automatic discounts at checkout — no need to copy coupon codes, no chance of fraud, applied instantly.

• Wide range of rewards — from discounts and gift cards to free shipping and products.

Special early adopter offer:

Everyone who joins us now gets lifetime free access to all current features (and many upcoming ones) + full support, a personal onboarding/demo call, and a chance to influence the app’s roadmap.

We’d love to hear your feedback and see how Alpha Loyalty can fit into your store!

[Perkstar]

Yeah this is doable with the right loyalty app. You set thresholds (e.g. 500 points = £10 gift card) and it can auto-generate the gift card code when they redeem.

I built perkstar.co.uk which does this natively in Shopify - customer hits the point threshold, they can redeem directly from their loyalty card in Apple/Google Wallet, and the gift card gets issued automatically through Shopify’s gift card system.

The key is making sure it’s actually automated and not requiring you to manually generate codes every time someone redeems. Most loyalty apps can do the points tracking but the gift card generation bit needs proper Shopify integration.

Install from the Shopify App Store, set your redemption rules, and it handles the rest. Customer sees their points balance on their digital loyalty card, taps to redeem, gift card appears in their email.

Way better than manually tracking spreadsheets and sending codes.