How to Add Free Gift With Purchase on Shopify? [Last Updated: April 2025]

Gift-with-purchase promotions have become an essential strategy for driving e-commerce success, not just for Shopify-based brands. The effectiveness of free gift campaigns is evident in their widespread adoption by industry giants like Apple, Sephora, Nike, and Starbucks, who consistently integrate gift with purchase offers into their major sales events and product launches.

For Shopify merchants, implementing strategic gift-with-purchase campaigns delivers three critical business benefits: driving higher average order values, improving conversion rates, and enhancing customer loyalty. These promotions create powerful psychological incentives that encourage customers to spend more while building stronger emotional connections with your brand.

In this article, I will help you explore how gift with purchase works, how to set it up on your Shopify store, also provide top Shopify gift app recommendations and practical tips for maximizing your promotional success.

Let’s dive in!

1. What is Gift With Purchase, and How Does It Work?

Gift with purchase (GWP) is a promotional strategy where customers receive a complimentary item or service when they meet specific purchasing conditions. This marketing technique creates added value for shoppers while encouraging larger purchases and brand engagement.

Gift with purchase promotions operate on a simple conditional framework where customers must fulfill certain requirements to unlock their free rewards. Here’s what customers typically need to do and what they can receive:

What Customers Need to Purchase:

• Minimum Cart Value: Spend a specific dollar amount (e.g., “Spend $75, get a free tote bag”)
• Minimum Item Quantity: Buy a certain number of products (e.g., “Buy 3 items, get the 4th free”)
• Specific Product Purchase: Buy particular items to qualify (e.g., “Purchase any skincare set, receive a free travel-size moisturizer”)
• Category-Based Requirements: Shop from specific collections (e.g., “Buy any two makeup products, get a free lip gloss”)

What Customers Can Receive as Gifts:

• Branded merchandise (tote bags, water bottles, accessories)
• Sample or travel-size versions of existing products
• Exclusive or limited-edition items are not available for regular purchase
• Digital rewards (discount codes, exclusive content, early access)
• Service add-ons (free shipping, extended warranties, consultations)

Implementing Free Gift With Purchase offers numerous advantages that directly impact your bottom line and customer relationships:

• Increases Sales and Average Order Value: Free gifts incentivize customers to spend more to qualify for the offer, often leading to higher basket sizes and increased order values.
• Increased Brand Loyalty: A study conducted by Harris Interactive says that nearly 90% of recipients are “somewhat likely” to buy more frequently from a retailer after receiving a free gift.
• Enhanced Word-of-Mouth: In the same study by Harris Interactive, almost 65% of free gift receivers said they were at least somewhat likely to share their experiences with others online

But which types of free gifts can help grow your business? Our next section reveals the most effective options.

2. Common Types of Gift With Purchase You Can Create on Shopify

Shopify merchants can implement various gift-with-purchase strategies to suit different business goals and customer preferences. Here are the most effective types of GWP promotions:

• Product-Specific Gift: Offer free items when customers purchase specific products or product categories. This typically includes Buy One Get One (BOGO) promotions and Buy This Get That (Buy X Get Y) offers.
  Examples: “Buy any foundation, get a free makeup sponge,” or “Purchase a laptop, receive a free wireless mouse.”
• Spend-Threshold Gift: Reward customers who reach a minimum cart value with complimentary items. This strategy effectively increases average order value by encouraging customers to add more items to qualify.
  Example: “Spend $75 or more, get a free branded tote bag.”
• Choice-Based Gift: Allow customers to select their preferred free gift from multiple options when they meet promotion requirements. This personalization increases perceived value and customer satisfaction.
  Example: “Spend $100 and choose your free gift: lip balm, hand cream, or eye mask.”
• Quantity / Spend Tiered Gift: Provide different gifts based on the number of items purchased or when customers spend more.
  Example: “Buy 2 items, get a free keychain; buy 4 items, get a free tote bag; Spend $50, get a free sample set.”
• Loyalty-Member Gift: Provide exclusive free gifts to loyalty program members or VIP customers, enhancing customer retention and encouraging program participation.
  Example: “VIP members get a free birthday gift with any purchase during their birthday month.”
• Seasonal or Limited-Edition Gift: Create urgency with time-sensitive gifts tied to holidays, special events, or limited inventory to drive immediate action.
  Example: “Holiday special: Free festive ornament with orders over $60 (while supplies last).”
• Subscription Sign-Up Gift: Incentivize customers to join subscription services or email lists by offering welcome gifts upon sign-up.
  Example: “Subscribe to our newsletter and get a 10% discount code plus a free sample pack with your first order.”
• Bundle-Unlock Gift: Reward customers who purchase product bundles or complete sets with additional complementary items.
  Example: “Buy our complete skincare routine bundle and receive a free jade roller.”
• Social- or Referral-Exclusive Gift: Offer special gifts to customers who share products on social media or successfully refer new customers to your store.
  Example: “Share this product on Instagram and tag us for a free sticker pack with your order.”

To create gift-with-purchase promotions on Shopify, merchants can utilize Shopify’s internal discount tool or install a specialized third-party app for more advanced features and customization options. In the next section, we will provide a comprehensive step-by-step guide to setting up these promotions effectively.

💡 Read more: Creative Gift With Purchase Promotion Ideas to Learn From

3. How to create a Free Gift With Purchase Promotion on Shopify?

There are two common ways to create a Shopify free gift with purchase promotion for your store: Shopify’s native discount and third-party apps. 

• Shopify’s native discount is the built-in feature within Shopify that allows merchants to create and manage basic promotional offers directly from the Shopify admin. These discounts only offer fundamental features. 
• Shopify’s Third-party apps offer advanced promotions like auto add-to-cart, tiered pricing, bundles, and free gifts. These allow merchants to create more engaging promotions for their customers.

Need more details? Here’s our breakdown of the differences between these two methods:

When to choose each option? 

Shopify’s native discount best fits with entrepreneurs who are: 

• Running a short-term, single-product promotion
• Operating with tight budget constraints
• Willing to accept manual gift management 

On the other hand, a third-party app may be recommended for merchants who are:

• Managing multiple concurrent campaigns
• Demanding automated gift fulfillment
• Searching for advanced customer segmentation
• Requiring detailed and comprehensive analytics

💥 The biggest downfall of Shopify Native Discounts is that free gifts will not be automatically added to the customer’s cart even though the condition has been met. There are several ways you can automate this process, which we will explain further in this article: How to automatically add a free gift to cart on Shopify?

Set Up Free Gift With Purchase With Shopify Native Discount

If you are new to Shopify, below is a comprehensive guide on how to add free gifts with purchases with Shopify’s automatic discounts from the admin panel.

Step 1:

Visit your Shopify store dashboard > Click Discounts and choose Buy X get Y.

The buy X get Y promotion lets customers receive a free gift(s) (Y) when they purchase a specific quantity of products (X).

Choose the Automatic discount method and name the free gift.

Step 2:

Choose the minimum quantity of items if you want customers to buy a specific number of products. Choose the minimum purchase amount if you want them to spend a particular amount of money.

Then, select specific products or collections. Repeat these steps for the Customer gets section and click Free.

Decide whether to combine this offer with other available discounts. You can also set a maximum number of promotions used per order, e.g., only once or multiple times.

Lastly, set the start and end times for the promotion.

After meeting the conditions, you have to ask customers to manually add the free gift to their cart.

3 Best Shopify Gift With Purchase Apps to Consider

If you need more control over your GWP campaigns and require advanced functionality beyond Shopify’s native discount tools, here are the top 3 specialized apps to consider:

BOGOS – The Enterprise Solution
BOGOS stands out as the most comprehensive gift-with-purchase solution, offering advanced customization, extensive integrations, and enterprise-level features like POS compatibility and headless commerce support. With superior analytics, customer segmentation, and bundle/upsell capabilities, it’s ideal for large-scale businesses and growing enterprises that need sophisticated promotion management and are willing to invest in premium functionality.

FG Auto Add To Cart – The Budget-Friendly Choice
FG Auto Add To Cart offers excellent value with its perfect 5.0-star rating and affordable pricing starting at $14.99. While it lacks advanced features, it delivers reliable automatic gift addition with solid basic functionality. This app is perfect for small to medium-sized stores that want simple, cost-effective gift automation without complex customization needs.

Gift Box – The Balanced Option
Gift Box provides a middle-ground solution with reliable performance, multi-language support, and competitive pricing. While it doesn’t offer the advanced features of BOGOS or the budget-friendly approach of FG Auto Add To Cart, it delivers solid functionality for standard gift campaigns. This app suits medium-sized international stores that need dependable gift promotions with basic customization and multi-language capabilities.

👉 For more reviews of Shopify Gift-with-purchase apps, check out this blog: Top 8 Must-Have Shopify Free Gift With Purchase App To Boost AOV

4. How To Let Customers Choose Their Own Free Gifts From A Pre-defined List?

One of the most effective ways to enhance customer satisfaction and perceived value is by allowing shoppers to choose their own free gifts from a pre-defined selection. This approach gives customers control over their rewards while ensuring you maintain inventory management and profit margins.

Shopify merchants can implement various customer gift selection scenarios, including:

• Pick 1 from the list
• Pick 2 from the list (no duplicates)
• Pick 2 from the list (duplicates allowed)

To ensure a seamless experience, Shopify merchants should use a specialized GWP app like BOGOS. BOGOS is a comprehensive Shopify free gift and promotion app that offers advanced pop-up functionality, extensive customization options, and seamless integration with Shopify stores. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, BOGOS enables merchants to create engaging gift selection experiences that drive higher conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

To set up this advanced free gift condition with BOGOS, you can follow these steps:

• Step 1: Click Create Offer > Gift Offer > Create Manually.
• Step 2: Set Main Conditions
• Step 3: Select Free Gifts & Set Discounts.

• Step 4: Set sub-condition
• Step 5: Publish your offer

For example, if you want your customers to choose one free gift from the list of 3, this is how your free gift offers should look:

This pop-up functionality transforms a standard promotion into an engaging, interactive experience that increases customer satisfaction and perceived value while maintaining your promotional goals.

5. How To Combine Multiple Purchase Criteria to Qualify for a Free Gift?

Creating sophisticated gift-with-purchase campaigns often requires combining multiple qualifying conditions to maximize promotional effectiveness. For example, you might want customers to spend a minimum amount AND purchase from specific product categories to unlock their free gift.

If you are using Shopify Native Discount, it has significant limitations when combining multiple criteria:

• Same discounts applied to one line item: Shopify cannot stack multiple discount conditions on individual products
• Discount codes applied to products that are part of BXGY discounts: Native BOGO promotions conflict with other discount codes, preventing complex campaign structures
• Limited conditional logic: Native tools struggle with “AND/OR” conditions across different product categories and spending thresholds

Among the leading free gift apps available on the Shopify App Store, only a few can handle complex multi-criteria campaigns effectively. From our previously mentioned top three apps, only BOGOS offers comprehensive multi-criteria functionality that allows merchants to create sophisticated promotional logic.

The process is quite simple. Here is how you can do it using BOGOS:

• Step 1: Click Create Offer > Gift Offer > Create Manually.
• Step 2: Set Main Conditions. BOGOS allow you to combine cart value & cart quantity conditions in the same offer.
  For Example: Spend 50$ & purchase 1 product from a specific category to receive a gift.

• Step 3: Select gift offer & set discount
• Step 4: Set sub-condition
• Step 5: Publish your offer

This multi-criteria approach allows merchants to create highly targeted promotions that drive specific customer behaviors while maximizing average order value and strategic product movement.

6. 3 Shopify Brands that Successfully Use Gift-With-Purchase Promotion

Epic Loot Shop: 93% Sales Increase Using Strategic GWP

Epic Loot Shop, a Norse mythology-inspired jewelry brand, transformed their business using strategic gift-with-purchase promotions after iOS 14 updates impacted their Facebook advertising effectiveness in 2020. The brand implemented thoughtful GWP campaigns through BOGOS, offering complementary gifts like free necklaces with silver ring purchases and Viking feather pens with journal orders. Their approach focused on cohesive storytelling, pairing gifts that enhanced the Norse mythology experience while allowing customers to choose their preferred gifts through interactive pop-ups.

Key takeaways:

• Align gifts with brand storytelling: Choose complementary items that enhance your core product narrative
• Implement personalized gift selection: Use pop-up interfaces for more engaging customer experiences
• Focus on practical value: Select gifts that customers will actually use alongside main purchases
• Use visual cues: Display “Free gift included” messaging directly on product pages
• Promote across multiple channels: Leverage social media platforms with targeted content strategies

Results Achieved:

• 93% sales increase during Black Friday 2022
• 41% boost in conversion rate in 2024
• Successfully reduced reliance on paid advertising while maintaining growth

Heliocare UK: 20% AOV Increase Using Strategic GWP

Heliocare UK, a leading sun protection brand from European dermatological pharmaceutical company Cantabria Labs, successfully increased their average order value by 20% in just two months using strategic gift with purchase promotions. Operating in the highly competitive beauty and cosmetics industry, the brand needed fresh strategies to enhance customer shopping experiences while driving repeat purchases and higher order values.

Heliocare implemented a series of strategic promotions using BOGOS, including their successful “Beach Bag” campaign offering free branded tote bags for purchases over €40 from their 360° product line—perfectly aligning with their customers’ summer lifestyles. They also introduced new products through strategic sampling, offering free Body Glow samples with nearly every order (minimum purchase of just 1 item) to encourage trial and future full-size purchases. Their most ambitious promotion featured a high-value £54.99 serum as a free gift for purchases over £40, demonstrating genuine value that resonated strongly with customers.

Key takeaways:

• Align gifts with customer lifestyle: Choose promotional items that complement how customers use your main products
• Use strategic sampling: Offer product samples to introduce new lines and encourage future purchases
• Provide genuine value: Select high-value gifts that customers immediately recognize as worthwhile deals
• Set accessible thresholds: Use low minimum purchase requirements to maximize participation in sample programs
• Plan promotional series: Run continuous campaigns rather than isolated promotions for sustained momentum

Results Achieved:

• 20% increase in AOV within two months during summer 2024
• Enhanced customer retention through strategic product sampling
• Improved brand loyalty through valuable gift offerings
• Successful new product introduction via sample distribution

SkinShop.ie: €300K Revenue Achievement Using Strategic GWP

SkinShop.ie, an Irish premium skincare retailer, generated over €300,000 in revenue using strategic gift-with-purchase promotions through BOGOS. The brand moved from WordPress to Shopify during the 2020 pandemic and adopted a systematic approach to GWP based on customer psychology and genuine value creation. Their strategy combines high-value gifts like €7-€8.50 SkinCeuticals serum samples with practical items such as cosmetics bags, while also offering product samples to reduce purchase hesitation for expensive skincare products.

Key takeaways:

• Understand gift psychology: Use the reciprocity principle by offering genuinely valuable gifts that create an emotional connection
• Choose complementary gifts: Select items that enhance the main product experience
• Combine sampling strategies: Offer product samples alongside gifts to encourage future purchases
• Plan systematically: Use scheduling tools to test promotions before launching
• Learn from industry leaders: Research successful global retailers for promotional inspiration

Results Achieved:

• €300,000+ total revenue generated through strategic GWP campaigns
• €60,000 revenue during Black Friday Cyber Monday 2023 alone
• Enhanced customer loyalty through valuable sampling programs

7. Best Practices For Building a Free Gift With Purchase

Here are some helpful tips to help users leverage the promotion campaigns and achieve remarkable milestones.

Ensuring a seamless user experience

The checkout process plays a crucial role in determining the success of your free gift promotion. Therefore, this step should be hassle-free for buyers. Consider using third-party apps to automate the procedure, minimizing manual work for your customers. 

Besides, appealing banners of gifts at the top of your website or on relevant product pages become key to attracting customers. On the other hand, make sure you closely track the free gift inventory to avoid overselling.

Monitoring and optimizing free gift campaigns

If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your Shopify free gift-with-purchase campaign, you must utilize reliable analytics tools. Based on the data insights collected, you can adjust your strategies for improvement.

A few options include:

• Shopify Analytics: This approach is suitable for brand owners who want to set up promotions using Shopify’s internal functionality
• Google Analytics: This is one of the most popular tracking and reporting platforms with insightful data for your website 
• Third-party apps: Shopify free gift apps like BOGOS are brilliant moves for merchants to boost their store growth. They provide detailed analytics by measuring crucial metrics like conversion rate, AOV (average order value), CAC (customer acquisition cost), and ROI (Return on investment).

Avoiding common pitfalls

Avoid these common mistakes when implementing a free gift with purchase offer on Shopify to ultimately increase your average order value.

• Lack of clear communication: In some cases, you may not inform your customers clearly about the free gift offer. To solve this, display the deal prominently through banners, pop-ups, and product page notifications
• Lack of free gift highlight in cart: You must make the free gift visible in the cart summary and checkout page. This will confirm that they get it and increase their satisfaction
• Complicated redemption process: Customers will leave you out if they find your processes complicated and time-consuming. That is why you should make your Shopify gift-to-cart process automated and seamless 
• Ignore inventory management: Not managing your free gift inventory may lead to stockouts and disappointed buyers. Remember to track this inventory accurately and set up alerts for low stock. 

8. Conclusion

If you’re new to e-commerce and prefer to start with experimental steps, Shopify’s default settings offer an excellent entry point. This free approach is easy to set up and provides the basic features to manage small promotional campaigns.

However, for merchants looking to elevate their business, third-party apps provide enhanced capabilities to maximize the impact of Shopify free gift with purchase promotions. 

Explore insightful resources at our BOGOS Shopify resources to discover everything you need to launch an effective Shopify free gift with purchase strategy successfully.

9. FAQs