For ecommerce sites run on Shopify, offering gifts and novelty items is an effective way to improve customer satisfaction and increase sales. This article introduces 5 apps that let you easily manage and distribute (automatically) gifts and novelty items on your Shopify store. Using these apps can help you run effective promotions and accelerate your business growth.
Benefits of Offering Novelty Items on Shopify
You Can Expect Improved Customer Satisfaction
Offering free gifts or perks delights and surprises customers, creating a positive purchase experience. This can improve customer satisfaction and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Adding your logo or company name to novelty items increases brand exposure and boosts recognition. It also gives customers a reminder of your brand every time they use the item.
You Can Expect Increased Sales
Promotions like "free gift with purchases over ¥XX" stimulate customer purchase intent and contribute to a higher average order value. You can also expect additional purchases from customers seeking the novelty item itself.
The blog article below explains upselling and cross-selling. Please use it as a reference.
It Can Help Differentiate You From Competitors
An appealing novelty program can become a point of differentiation from your competitors and one of the reasons customers choose you.
You Can Expect to Acquire New Customers
Novelty campaigns are an effective way to attract new customers. In particular, they tend to generate buzz on social media, which increases the likelihood of acquiring new customers through word of mouth.
4 Ways to Distribute Novelty Items on Shopify
Add Manually From Order Management
First is manually adding the novelty item from order management. You can open the order details page for the target order and add the novelty item via "Edit > Add product."
The benefit of this method is that you can distribute novelty items for free. The drawback is that identifying the eligible products and distributing the novelty items takes some manual effort.
Have Customers Add It Themselves Using the Discount Feature
Automatically Add to Orders With Shopify Flow
(Example workflow for automatically distributing novelty items)
Automatically Add to Cart With a Shopify App
5 Shopify Novelty Apps
RuffRuff Order Bonus
RuffRuff Order Bonus is a Shopify app that supports a wide range of conditions and lets you flexibly run a variety of promotional initiatives. It meets the highest quality standards of Built for Shopify, so you can use it with confidence.
As an app developed by a Japanese company, it comes with robust Japanese-language support, so even those who aren't confident in English can get set up and running smoothly.
Choose From Multiple Distribution Methods
You can choose from the following three types of novelty item distribution methods.
- Simple gift: Distribute one novelty item when the condition is met
- Choice of gift: Let the customer choose from multiple novelty items when the condition is met
- Repeating gift: Automatically distribute a novelty item each time the condition is met
Examples of Promotional Initiatives You Can Achieve
You can achieve a variety of promotional initiatives like the following.
- Free shipping for VIP members only
- Discounts based on member rank
- Gift distribution for members only
- Volume discounts
- Discounts when a specific product is included
- Discounts for customers with 10+ past purchases
- Sample distribution when a specific product is purchased
- Novelty item distribution on orders over 10,000 yen
- First-come, first-served discounts (e.g., 20% off for the first 10 customers)
- Distributing summer samples during a spring seasonal campaign
Pricing Plans
- Monthly billing: From $9.9/month
- Annual billing: From $99/year ※ Equivalent to 2 months' savings compared to monthly billing
Setup Instructions
The blog article below explains how to distribute novelty items using RuffRuff Order Bonus. Please use it as a reference.
EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift
Source: EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift｜Shopify App Store
EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift is a Shopify app that automatically adds free gifts or products based on custom rules. Depending on specific products in the cart or the order total, it can automatically add products or schedule offers like BOGO or Buy X Get Y. It's easy to set up with a simple UI, letting you run effective upsells and cross-sells.
It's also a gift/novelty app that doesn't interfere with the popular Shopify pre-order app "RuffRuff 予約販売." Even if you've configured RuffRuff 予約販売 to prevent regular products and pre-order products from being combined in the same shipment, regular products (gift/novelty app items) set up via EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift can still be allowed to ship together.
Reference: Can it be used together with a gift/present app? | RuffRuff 予約販売 Help Center
※ BOGO (Buy One Get One) is a promotion method where, for example, buying one T-shirt gets you a second one for free.
※ Buy X Get Y is a promotion method where purchasing X items gets you Y items, for example "buy 3, get 1 free" or "buy 2, get 1 at 50% off."
The blog article below introduces the main features, capabilities, and setup process of EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift. Please use it as a reference.
EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift Pricing Plans
| Plan Name | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $12.99/month | • Up to 3 rules can be set • Basic rule triggers • Simple customization • Product inventory alert feature • Premium support |
| Unlimited | $24.99/month | • Unlimited rule setup • Advanced rule triggers • More customization options • Geographic targeting • Product inventory alert feature • Priority feature requests • Premium support |
qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift
Image source: qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift｜Shopify App Store
"qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift" is an app that enables a variety of promotional initiatives, and is used by over 7,200 Shopify stores worldwide (as of March 2025).
Its biggest strength is that it's an all-in-one tool offering a wide range of promotional features — upsell, cross-sell, free gifts, and product bundles — all in a single app. Merchants no longer need to install a separate app for each initiative; adopting qikify alone lets you run a wide range of promotions.
Using this app, you can expect to boost your Shopify store's sales and average order value. It's also quick to set up in just a few minutes, and you can start on the free plan, making it accessible to beginners and small stores alike.
The blog article below introduces the main features, capabilities, and setup process of qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift. Please use it as a reference.
qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift Pricing Plans
| qikify Plan Name | FREE | BASIC | PROFESSIONAL | ADVANCED | SHOPIFY PLUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicable Shopify plan | All | Basic | Shopify | Advanced | Shopify Plus |
| Monthly fee | $0 | $9.99 | $24.99 | $49.99 | $99.99 |
| Active campaigns |
1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| One-click upsell/cross-sell | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Upsurge | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Product bundles | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Cart upsell | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Volume discounts | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Order goals | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Shipping goals | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Order bonus | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Product bonus | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Analytics | — | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ | ◯ |
| Checkout upsell | — | — | — | — | ◯ |
| Support | Live support | Live support | Live support | Priority support | Priority support |
GB: Free Gift with Purchase
Source: GB: Free Gift with Purchase｜Shopify App Store
GB: Free Gift with Purchase is a Shopify app that enables adding a free gift to the cart with an easy setup. Its automatic gift application feature automatically adds a free gift at the time of purchase based on the conditions you configure. Flexible gift-selection options also let customers choose the gift they prefer.
The blog article below explains the main features, setup process, and usage of GB: Free Gift with Purchase in detail. Please use it as a reference.
GB: Free Gift with Purchase Pricing Plans
| Plan Name | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Trial & Dev | Free | ・For trial stores ・For development stores |
| Basic | $19.99/month | ・For Shopify Basic ・Unlimited free gifts and orders ・No extra fees ・Chat & email support ・Subscription pause option |
| Standard | $39.99/month | ・For Grow and Advanced ・Unlimited free gifts and orders ・No extra fees ・Chat & email support ・Subscription pause option |
| Plus | $99.99/month | ・For Shopify Plus ・All features ・Unlimited orders and free gifts ・No extra fees ・24/7 chat and email support ・Onboarding call |
Automatic Discounts & Upsells
Source: Automatic Discounts & Upsells｜Shopify App Store
Automatic Discounts & Upsells is a Shopify app that lets you centrally manage discounts, free gifts, BOGO, tiered discounts, and member perks. Setting purchase goals, showing progress bars, and displaying discounts or gifts in advance can help increase sales. It also supports upselling, cross-selling, and BOGO offers in the cart, along with rules based on cart contents or customer attributes.
The blog article below introduces the main features, pricing plans, and setup process of Automatic Discounts in detail. Please use it as a reference.
Automatic Discounts & Upsells Pricing Plans
| Plan Name | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Test the waters | Free/month 2.9% fee on sales made through the app |
All features |
| Basic Essentials | $9.99/month 1.2% fee on sales made through the app |
All features |
| Startup | $19.99/month 0.9% fee on sales made through the app |
All features |
| BUSINESS | $49.99/month 0.6% fee on sales made through the app |
All features |
In Closing
Using Shopify novelty apps lets ecommerce site operators run promotions efficiently. The 5 apps introduced here — "RuffRuff Order Bonus," "EG Auto Add to Cart Free Gift," "qikify Cart Upsell & Free Gift," "Automatic Discounts & Upsells," and "GB: Free Gift with Purchase" — each have distinctive features and can meet a variety of needs.
Using these apps for automatic gift addition, custom rule configuration, and flexible promotion setups like BOGO and Buy X Get Y can help improve the customer experience and increase sales. Choose the app that best fits your business model and goals, and roll out an effective gift/novelty item strategy.
Finally, the blog article below introduces a variety of recommended apps by category — beyond gift/novelty apps, we cover "customer acquisition," "sales growth," "blog post extensions," and more. Please use it as a reference.
