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Turn your ideas into sales and start selling with Wix eCommerce→ Knowing how to grow your eCommerce business takes the right mix of strategy, tools and timing. Whether you're launching a new eCommerce website and still figuring out how to make an eCommerce website that converts or scaling an existing one, the right tactics can make the difference between steady growth and stalled sales. In this guide, you'll learn 10 proven strategies to grow your eCommerce business. Get inspired by eCommerce website design ideas. TL;DR: how to grow your eCommerce business Growing your eCommerce business comes down to three things, bringing in traffic from more channels, turning more visitors into buyers and keeping customers coming back. The 10 strategies below cover all three, from omnichannel selling and story-driven product pages to community building and international expansion. Focus on the tactics that match where your store is losing customers today. Your goal Where to focus More traffic Channel diversification, content, international expansion Higher conversion Product page optimization, live commerce, customer data Repeat customers Community, loyalty, brand differentiation Ready to launch your eCommerce business? With Wix eCommerce, you can build a professional online store that attracts customers, drives sales and grows your brand. Enjoy full customization, built-in SEO and powerful marketing tools, all in one platform. Start today and turn your vision into success. How to grow your eCommerce business: 10 ways Build a community around your business Think like a brand marketer Explore new sales channels Offer eCommerce gift cards Live stream shoppable events Nudge zero-party data collection Construct a customer advisory program Build out a story-driven product detail page model Invest in content Test new online markets 01. Build a community around your business Building a brand community fosters customer loyalty and connection. This goes beyond brand awareness to fostering an actual relationship with your customers. It’s all about the interactions and conversations you have with your customers. Much of this occurs on social commerce platforms like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. But, increasingly, brands are bringing their communities back to their own digital storefronts. Take personal care and beauty retailer Sephora which hosts a variety of community-oriented features including groups, conversations (Q&As with brands), a gallery of customer images and videos, and a hub for events. Sephora’s community hub is hosted on Sephora where customers can post and share content, but it also pulls from social platforms like Instagram to feature customer images and videos. When assessing the value of brand communities, Harvard Business Review notes that communities help in a variety of ways, for example, by resolving issues via the community and reducing the number of support requests. They can boost visibility in search results and create buzz around an event, product, or initiative. One underutilized method to create a community around your business is to add a forum to your site. Forums help you foster lively conversations, building customer advocacy in an inviting and active way. They’re also a great way to capture more detailed customer feedback as you’ll be able to see your most passionate customers talk about your products and services. Already a Wix user? Wix Groups allows you to add robust forum features to your existing store through a one-click process. Your forum will be fully customizable, allowing you to mirror your site’s brand aesthetic and comes mobile-friendly out of the box. 02. Think like a brand marketer The proliferation of eCommerce vendors, including traditional retailers like Walmart, digital behemoths like Amazon and emerging direct-to-consumer brands, makes it difficult for small retailers to stand out. When you are learning how to start a business, you figure out that differentiating your brand in this crowded environment involves lots of work from a branding perspective. But building brand recognition and loyalty is particularly important for eCommerce businesses, since consumers increasingly choose where to shop based on the brands they trust, and investors place significant weight on brand strength when evaluating businesses. This year, online store owners will need to think like brand marketers every step of the way. That means building a community (see above), embracing social media, focusing on creating and delivering high-quality content, and leveraging opportunities like options to sell subscriptions (as well as AI in eCommerce), using a service like the one offered by Wix, eCommerce gift cards and different fulfillment options to foster loyalty and improve customer experience. 03. Explore new sales channels Brands can no longer rely on paid Facebook or Google Ads to create demand. A diversified marketing approach is the only sustainable approach to building an eCommerce business, particularly when you consider how many channels consumers use across their entire buying journey. A great example of this is Amazon, where a significant share of U.S. consumers begin their product searches before considering other retailers. Thus, your eCommerce strategy should include an understanding of how to sell on Amazon (and a plan to start selling on the platform). You should also explore/experiment with new channels beyond Amazon including: Ebay: A long-established global marketplace with a large, active shopper base. Google Shopping: Google offers several different ways for eCommerce businesses to showcase their products including search and Shopping ads. Bing Shopping: Often overlooked, Bing reaches a high-value audience with less competition from other advertisers, making it another worthwhile addition to the mix. Wix integrates natively with Amazon, eBay and Google marketplaces, supports social selling on TikTok and Instagram and connects to in-person point-of-sale systems, letting merchants manage omnichannel sales from a single backend. Learn more about scalable eCommerce and how to set it up right. 04. Offer eCommerce gift cards Digital gift cards can help boost brand awareness, drive sales, and inspire customer loyalty. Use of digital cards has skyrocketed over the past year and a half as a result of several pandemic trends. These include the rise in demand for advanced payment solutions and the widespread use of mobile shopping (specifically, smartphone usage). Growth in this sector has been staggering, with continued expansion expected over the coming years. There are many ways eCommerce gift cards can benefit your online store. They can attract last-minute shoppers to your website during the holidays, improve your search engine rankings with dedicated “gift card” landing pages, and attract new customers. Wix supports digital gift cards natively, alongside built-in wishlist functionality that helps capture deferred demand and drive return visits. Gift cards also help boost revenue above and beyond the cost of the card, since recipients tend to spend more than the original card amount. They're also a great way to reward loyal customers for repeat business. These effects together are what make gift cards as a revenue strategy work, since one purchase creates several separate chances to earn. Learn more about how top merchants use gift cards to increase average order value. Read more: Best eCommerce platforms Squarespace alternatives Wix vs Squarespace 05. Live stream shoppable events Live stream shopping is an emerging digital trend that both online store owners and customers are embracing. A live stream shopping event occurs when a person or business uses streaming video to sell products or services in real time to a live audience. The delivery method varies but can include social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, eCommerce website examples and dedicated video platforms like YouTube. Live stream shopping events can be one-to-many events where a host broadcasts to an audience (e.g., QVC style) or one-to-one clienteling events where a salesperson speaks directly to a customer while the customer shops. Live stream shopping is particularly popular among Gen Z and Millennial consumers. As it grows, the functionality offered by platforms and providers continues to improve. For example, TikTok recently rolled out a shoppable feature that enables users to add pop-ups to live shopping events. Viewers can tap on the product popup to add the item to their shopping cart with mobile checkout beginning within TikTok. This kind of functionality within live stream video is happening across the entire social media ecosystem and promises to be an exciting new tactic for eCommerce businesses in the new year. 06. Nudge zero-party data collection Zero-party data is the information that a customer shares directly with a business. It differs from first-party data in that it doesn’t include website analytics, CRM, social media profiles, and other customer data shared indirectly. Zero-party data is becoming increasingly important because privacy regulations like Europe’s GDPR and California’s CCPA limit the collection and sharing of consumer data by third parties without their consent. Zero-party data facilitates eCommerce personalization—enabling you to customize content like product recommendations, offers, and deals to your customers as they shop online. Focusing on this strategy is cost-effective since you likely already have a database of customer information, plus consumers are willing to provide their data to companies when there’s a clear benefit. The best way to collect zero-party data is by asking customers to register on your website or app. Think about how you can get more than just contact information during this process. For example, you can ask about sizing and color preferences or other details relevant to what you sell (e.g., preferred operating system, topics of interest, etc.) You can also get zero-party data by creating email campaigns, offered by services by Wix CRM, and adding surveys or polls to your website. Learn more: eCommerce KPIs you should be following 07. Construct a customer advisory program Most businesses want to know what drives, excites, and motivates their customers, but getting this information from simple polls or customer feedback forms can be challenging. Creating a customer advisory program can help you better understand your business. Advisory programs are great for building community and they don’t have to be a big expense. You can offer your customers gift cards or free merchandise as an incentive to participate. An effective customer advisory program uses different methods of outreach (e.g., focus groups, surveys, beta tests, etc.) to obtain high-value feedback from your customers about your business, products, and user experience. eCommerce merchants can test different messaging and gain a much better understanding about which products customers prefer. Advisory feedback can also help you create more intuitive and conversion-oriented user experiences, gain insight into preferred online payment solutions, and unearth nuances like whether customers want options to buy products internationally. 08. Build out a story-driven product detail page model Creating effective, conversion-oriented, and impactful product detail pages is a balancing act. It requires that multiple elements work together to inspire customers to make a purchase. Most customers abandon product pages due to lack of information, clear images, a poorly visualized call-to-action, and lack of trust elements (e.g., accreditation badges, return policy link, etc.). Merchants can optimize the buying experience by making every product page tell a story through the use of detailed product descriptions, great visuals (including video elements) and compelling social proof in the form of badges and customer reviews/ratings. You should also clearly indicate product availability and communicate urgency (e.g., low stock, shipping cutoffs around the holidays, etc.). A product page that tells a story contains crisp, informative product descriptions accompanied by important information (e.g., the model’s measurements and size they’re wearing). It should speak directly to your target audience, and clearly communicate the product’s features and benefits while communicating emotion (e.g., cozy, comfortable, festive, etc.). Wix supports this with up to 50 images per product for richer visual storytelling and AI-powered packshot generation that turns phone photos into studio-quality product images in one click. 09. Invest in content The right content can help eCommerce merchants educate, inform and engage with customers. The content on your product detail pages, category, and home pages is really the bare minimum of what you should have on your online store. To sell online, you need to connect your content strategy with your commerce strategy, aligning messaging across all customer touchpoints. When building an eCommerce marketing strategy, plan your content around the customer’s needs. Make sure people can find information about your products on social media and can access information via mobile devices. Your content strategy should consider every channel where your content will appear. Content should be accessible and documented so that it can be easily retrieved and repurposed. A great way to begin planning content for the coming year is to do an audit of your existing content including what’s outdated and what’s missing as well as a wish list (e.g., live stream video events, long-form blog posts, updated product images, etc.) This will help you understand the timing and resources needed to consistently create and deliver content throughout the year. Learn more: eCommerce business names 10. Test new online markets The internet is nothing if not a vast global marketplace, blurring the definition of what it means to buy and sell locally. As global buying power continues to grow, international eCommerce presents a huge opportunity for digital store owners who want to expand beyond their home market. Suffice it to say, there's never been a better time to test new eCommerce markets. Our own data has found that Wix online store owners who sell across borders average nearly 700 percent more in sales than those who don't. When testing new markets, it’s important to thoroughly research the rules and regulations of each region, localize your eCommerce store (e.g., by adding native languages, ensuring content is culturally sensitive, and hiring a native speaker to review all website elements). Wix supports international selling with multilingual storefronts, automatic translations, multi-currency payments and automated tax calculations, removing technical barriers to cross-border growth. Selling to new markets can help differentiate you from your competitors. It’s a great way to grow your eCommerce business. Learn more: Shopify alternatives Wix vs Shopify WordPress alternatives Best business ideas to start with little money

Start selling with Wix eCommerce→ Get started with Dropshipping today Digital gift cards are electronic versions of physical gift cards that customers buy and send entirely online. They give shoppers a quick, flexible way to purchase presents for friends and family directly from your eCommerce website. In this guide you'll learn exactly how these virtual cards function, why they matter for your revenue and how to set them up seamlessly when starting an eCommerce business. Offering this option drives new traffic to your online store and builds lasting loyalty with first-time buyers. Learn more about how to use digital gift cards on Wix. Wix helps eCommerce businesses focus on long-term growth by supporting strategies that increase customer lifetime value. Flexible gifting tools like digital gift cards also allow brands to attract new shoppers and expand revenue opportunities throughout the year. TL;DR: What are digital gift cards Digital gift cards operate as prepaid electronic vouchers sent via email or text message. They eliminate shipping delays and provide instant gratification for last-minute shoppers. You can easily integrate them into your selling online strategy to capture more sales during busy holiday seasons. Feature of digital gift cards Description Why its important Instant delivery Sent via email or text immediately after purchase. Perfect for last-minute shoppers. Zero shipping Purely virtual products with no physical footprint. Saves money on logistics and packaging. Flexible values Customers choose exact denominations. Fits any budget and encourages higher spending. Secure tracking Codes are tied to specific buyer profiles. Reduces theft and simplifies customer support. What are digital gift cards in detail Digital gift cards serve as virtual currency tied to a specific brand or online store. Customers purchase these electronic vouchers online and send them to recipients instantly. The recipient receives a unique code, usually via email, which they enter at checkout to redeem the value. These e-gift cards function exactly like their plastic gift card counterparts but without the environmental waste or shipping costs. You can offer them in various denominations, allowing shoppers to choose the exact amount they want to spend. They integrate smoothly into modern eCommerce platforms, like Wix, and point-of-sale systems. Wix supports digital gift cards for eCommerce businesses and enables stores to attract new customers through gift card purchases by allowing businesses to offer flexible gifting options online. When someone buys an electronic gift card, the funds sit in a designated account until the recipient makes a purchase. This means you secure the revenue upfront, even if the card goes unused for months. It presents a low-risk, high-reward strategy for growing your customer base. Virtual gift cards completely bypass supply chain issues. You never have to worry about stock levels or manufacturing delays. Your inventory remains infinite, ensuring you never miss a sale when a customer wants to give a gift. Learn more: How to use gift cards as a revenue strategy Benefits of digital gift cards Adding virtual gift cards to your online store opens up entirely new revenue streams. Shoppers often spend more than the card's original value when redeeming their gift. This creates an immediate bump in your average order value and overall sales volume. These virtual items require zero inventory space and cost nothing to manufacture. You completely eliminate shipping fees, packaging materials, and delivery delays. This makes them the perfect product for last-minute holiday shoppers or folks who missed a birthday deadline. They also act as a powerful customer acquisition tool for your brand. When a loyal customer sends an e-gift card to a friend, they essentially endorse your business. This brings fresh eyes to your website, often resulting in long-term, repeat buyers. Electronic gift cards also provide highly trackable data for your marketing efforts. You can easily monitor which seasonal designs sell best and which promotions drive the most conversions. This information helps you refine your marketing strategy for future campaigns. Common challenges of digital gift cards Fraud represents the biggest hurdle when selling electronic vouchers. Cybercriminals frequently target virtual gift cards because they're easy to resell and hard to trace. You must implement strong payment verification tools to block suspicious transactions before they process. Another common issue is forgotten or lost redemption codes. Customers accidentally delete emails or send the card to an incorrect email address. Your customer support team needs a clear protocol for verifying purchases and reissuing lost codes quickly. Standing out in a crowded online market can also prove difficult for smaller brands selling online. Giant retailers dominate the gift card space with massive marketing budgets. You have to craft unique, personalized designs and run targeted promotions to capture attention and drive sales with yours. Accounting for unredeemed cards also requires careful attention to detail. Different regions have specific tax laws regarding unclaimed gift card revenue. You should always consult with an accountant to ensure your bookkeeping remains compliant with local regulations. Examples of digital gift cards Many successful brands use electronic gift cards to drive engagement and sales. Coffee shops often use reloadable virtual cards integrated into a mobile app. This encourages daily visits and streamlines the checkout process for morning commuters. Clothing retailers design seasonal e-cards for specific holidays like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day. They offer customizable templates where buyers can add personal messages or upload their own photos. This personal touch makes a digital item feel much more thoughtful and unique. Software and subscription services also use virtual gift cards effectively. They allow users to gift a month or a year of premium access to friends. This introduces new users to the platform without requiring a direct credit card commitment from the recipient. Local service businesses like spas and salons sell virtual vouchers for specific treatments. A customer can buy a "massage package" rather than a set dollar amount. This frames the gift as an experience, making it much more appealing to the buyer. Learn more: How top merchants use gift cards to increase average order value How to get started with digital gift cards Setting up electronic gift cards requires an e-commerce platform that supports virtual products. Choose a robust and advanced ecommerce website builder like Wix that handles secure payments and automated email delivery. This ensures the recipient gets their code the moment the transaction clears. Learn more: Features of an AI eCommerce website builder Wix helps eCommerce businesses focus on long-term growth by supporting strategies that increase customer lifetime value. Flexible gifting tools like digital gift cards also allow brands to attract new shoppers and expand revenue opportunities throughout the year. Learn more: Is Wix good for eCommerce Next, create attractive graphics for your virtual cards. Offer multiple designs tailored to different occasions like birthdays, weddings, or general appreciation. Give your customers the option to select different monetary values that fit their budget. Make the purchasing process as frictionless as possible. Ensure your checkout page works flawlessly on mobile devices, as many people buy gifts on the go. Clearly outline how the recipient will receive the card and how they can redeem it. Finally, promote your new offering across all your marketing channels. Add a prominent link to your main navigation menu and mention the cards in your email newsletters. Remind your social media followers about this easy gifting option right before major holidays. How do digital gift cards work? Purchasers buy an electronic code online for a specific monetary amount. The system emails this code to the recipient, who then enters it during checkout on your website. The platform automatically deducts the purchase total from the card's balance. Do virtual gift cards expire? Expiration rules depend on local laws and your specific store policies. Many regions prohibit gift cards from expiring for at least five years from the purchase date. Always state your terms and conditions clearly on the purchase page to avoid customer confusion. Can digital gift cards be used in physical stores? Yes, you can configure them to work both online and in person. If your website connects directly to your point-of-sale system, cashiers can simply scan a barcode from the customer's phone. This provides a seamless omnichannel shopping experience for your buyers. Learn more: What is Wix payments

Start selling with Wix eCommerce→ Get started with Dropshipping today You can easily set up and learn how to use digital gift cards with Wix to increase your store's revenue and attract new shoppers. Adding a digital gift card option to your online store provides a simple way for customers to share your products with their friends and family. This powerful eCommerce feature acts as a direct marketing tool, bringing new buyers directly to your digital storefront. Offering digital gift cards helps secure immediate cash flow while building long-term customer loyalty. Shoppers appreciate the convenience of buying an instant gift for any occasion, right from their computer or smartphone. By activating this feature on your eCommerce website, you create a seamless shopping experience that encourages repeat visits and drives higher overall sales. Wix, for example, helps eCommerce businesses focus on long-term growth by supporting strategies that increase customer lifetime value. Stores can implement loyalty and reward programs to encourage repeat purchases, offer subscription-based products or memberships for recurring revenue and keep customers engaged with automated back-in-stock notifications and pre-order options. Flexible gifting tools like digital gift cards also allow brands to attract new shoppers and expand revenue opportunities throughout the year. TL;DR: How to use digital gift cards with Wix Retailers and service providers need digital gift cards to capture last-minute shoppers and expand their customer base. A dedicated gift card page gives your audience a quick, reliable gifting solution that requires zero shipping time. To meet your sales goals, your website needs clear navigation, a dedicated gift card product page, and simple checkout options. How to use digital gift cards on Wix What to do Add the store app Install the Wix Stores app to your website. Enable gift cards Turn on the gift card feature in your dashboard. Customize details Set specific card values and design elements. Promote the cards Add a clear link to your website's main menu. Track your sales Monitor gift card purchases in your analytics. How to use digital gift cards with Wix in a few easy steps Adding a digital gift card option to your Wix ecommerce website requires just a few clicks. Follow the following steps to get your gift cards up and running: Add the Wix Stores app Enable the gift card feature Customize your gift card settings Promote your gift cards online Track and manage gift card sales 01. Add the Wix Stores app Your first step requires setting up an online store. Open your Wix dashboard and navigate to the app market. Search for the Wix Stores application and click to add it directly to your site. This app serves as the foundation for all your eCommerce activities. It allows you to process payments, manage inventory and handle digital products with your Wix online store. Once installed, take a moment to ensure your business details and payment processors are fully configured. 02. Enable the gift card feature Head to your main dashboard and look at the left-hand menu. Click on "Store Products" and select the "Gift Cards" option from the dropdown list. Click the button to set up your gift cards. The system will automatically generate a new, dedicated product page specifically for your digital gift cards. This page functions just like any other product listing on your site but is tailored for digital delivery. 03. Customize your gift card settings With Wix you have full control over how your gift cards look and function. Start by setting the specific monetary values customers can choose from. You can offer a wide range of amounts, from small tokens of appreciation to premium gifting options. Next, customize the design and messaging. Upload your brand's logo or select colors that match your eCommerce website's aesthetic. With Wix you can also edit the automated email that the recipient receives, ensuring the message reflects your brand's friendly tone. 04. Promote your gift cards online A gift card only generates revenue if customers know it exists. Add a highly visible link to your new gift card page directly in your eCommerce website's main navigation menu. Consider adding a banner to your homepage to announce the new feature. You can also feature the gift card in your regular email marketing campaigns or social media posts. Make the purchasing process as frictionless as possible for your visitors. 05. Track and manage gift card sales Monitoring your success helps you refine your sales strategy. Navigate back to your dashboard to view your gift card analytics. The system tracks exactly how many cards have been sold and how many have been redeemed. Use this data to understand peak gifting seasons for your specific audience. If you notice a spike during certain holidays, you can plan targeted marketing campaigns for those dates next year. Managing these transactions helps maintain accurate financial records for your business. Learn more: How top merchants use gift cards to increase average order value Gift cards as a revenue strategy Wix digital gift card use cases A coffee business can use digital gift cards to help locals treat their friends to premium coffee blends. The homepage features a minimalist design with a clear, sticky navigation bar. A dedicated gift card page can allow buyers to select custom amounts for coffee subscriptions or one-time bag purchases. This flexibility will make it a popular choice for holiday shopping. And a clean checkout process will keep distraction to a minimum. A wellness brand can use digital gift cards to fill up their appointment book. Design a website with soft, calming colors and wide-open whitespace to convey relaxation. A gift card integration can act as a core feature on their service menu. Clients can easily purchase a massage or facial for a loved one. A brand that sells beautiful handmade ceramics and pottery classes should create a website that features high-quality photography and dynamic scrolling effects. They should use digital gift cards to allow gift recipients to choose their own specific ceramic pieces. This eliminates the guesswork for the person buying the gift. They can prominently display the gift card option in a dedicated announcement bar at the top of the site. Can customers set a custom amount for Wix digital gift cards? Yes, you can allow customers to enter a custom amount when purchasing a digital gift card. Inside your Wix dashboard settings, you simply toggle the custom amount feature on. You can also establish minimum and maximum limits to ensure the custom amounts fit your business model. Do digital gift cards expire on Wix? You control the expiration rules for your digital gift cards. Depending on your local laws and business preferences, you can set the cards to never expire or establish a specific timeframe. Always check your local regulations, as some regions require gift cards to remain valid for a minimum number of years. How do customers redeem their digital gift cards? Customers redeem their gift cards right on your checkout page. The recipient gets an email containing a unique code. When they add items to their cart and proceed to payment, they simply paste that code into the dedicated promo or gift card field. The system automatically deducts the card's value from their total order amount. Learn more about how to use ecommerce discounts on Wix.

Get the perfect domain for your eCommerce store: find your domain→ Top merchants increase average order value (AOV) with gift cards through purchase thresholds, product bundles, cart recovery, seasonal promotion and loyalty pairing. Each tactic works whether you're about to make an eCommerce website or already run one and they lean on incremental spend instead of markdowns. If you're working through how to start an online store, gift cards fit in from day one. Wix supports long-term eCommerce growth with built-in customer loyalty programs, subscription commerce, back-in-stock notifications, digital gift cards and native wishlist functionality, all designed to increase customer lifetime value and keep shoppers engaged beyond the first purchase. Below, you'll find how to set up each tactic in your own store, plus answers to common questions about gift cards and AOV. TL;DR: how top merchants use gift cards to increase AOV Each tactic below nudges a shopper toward spending a little more without touching your prices and the table breaks down why each one moves AOV specifically. Track the results the same way you track other eCommerce metrics, since AOV means more next to your other numbers like conversion rate and repeat purchase rate. Tactic Why it works Set a purchase threshold Mirrors a free-shipping threshold, but the reward is a gift card instead of free postage. Pushes cart size up before checkout. Bundle with products Adds a gift card to a bundle or gift set, lifting per-order value without discounting the core product. Recover abandoned carts Offers a gift card tied to a minimum next order, recovering the original sale and setting up another one. Promote during peak season Gift card buyers routinely spend more than the card's face value once they redeem it. Pair with loyalty Uses gift cards as the reward inside a tiered program, encouraging bigger baskets to reach the next tier. Ready to start selling online? Build a custom online store with Wix and get the tools to sell, manage and grow your business from one dashboard. Customize every detail, reach customers across channels and market your brand with built-in SEO and marketing tools. How to use gift cards to increase average order value in 5 steps More than 7 in 10 shoppers abandon their cart before they finish checking out and on mobile that climbs to 85.65 percent. A gift card works differently than a straight discount here. Instead of shaving margin off one sale, it adds a small cost now in exchange for a second, near-guaranteed order later. Here's how top merchants put that math to work, step by step. Set a strategic gift card purchase threshold Bundle gift cards with high-margin or seasonal products Use gift cards to recover abandoned carts and win back lapsed customers Promote gift cards heavily during peak shopping seasons Pair gift cards with a loyalty or rewards program 01. Set a strategic gift card purchase threshold The mechanic is simple. Spend $75 and get a $15 gift card toward a future order. Set that threshold just above your current AOV, the same logic that works for a free-shipping cutoff. That nudges shoppers to add one more item to qualify rather than checking out with a smaller cart. Getting eCommerce checkout right means showing the reward at the exact moment a shopper decides whether to add one more thing, not burying it in a banner they will scroll past. Adi Avraham, Senior SEO Growth at Wix, puts it directly: The key to online sales is making it simple for your customers. With Wix, you can customize checkout flows, offer discounts and even track abandoned carts without a developer. — Adi Avraham, Senior SEO Growth at Wix Learn more: Gift cards as a revenue strategy 02. Bundle gift cards with high-margin or seasonal products Pair a gift card with a bundle or gift set instead of discounting the bundle itself. A $20 card tucked into a $120 gift set lifts the order's perceived value without touching your margin on the core products. It also gives the recipient a specific reason to come back rather than a vague sense of goodwill, which is worth more to your repeat purchase rate than a one-time markdown ever is. Getting that math right depends on knowing exactly what is in stock before you commit to a bundle at scale. Wix supports variant-level product management including individual pricing, inventory and SKU control per variant, which is where solid Wix inventory management pays off. Nick Lucas, who has run Kodapet on Wix for 6 years, relies on this kind of visibility before making any bundle-related decision. He checks his store's Wix analytics before every purchase. "I turn to Wix analytics literally before every inventory purchase to help me forecast our needs so I can order accordingly. This enables us to avoid sitting on inventory for long periods of time which frees up capital for our many other business needs." 03. Use gift cards to recover abandoned carts and win back lapsed customers A gift card offer in the recovery email flips that friction into an incentive. Come back and finish the order, here's $10 toward it. The same logic applies to customers who haven't ordered in months. A small card in a win-back email reads as a genuine thank-you rather than another discount blast. Wix supports high-performance eCommerce operations with AI product recommendations, automated eCommerce discount logic, abandoned cart recovery and customizable checkout workflows, so the recovery email itself runs without you manually chasing each cart. The same automation covers eCommerce discounts with Wix for the offer itself and a shopper waiting on a restock can get back in stock pre-alerts with Wix eCommerce instead of buying something else in the meantime. Sean Barkulis, Strategic Partner Sales at Wix, shared how the team thinks about this kind of automation. "When selling online, merchants can increase abandoned cart recovery rate by sending automated popups and personalized emails. Service businesses like fitness studios, home improvement and consulting can use scheduling capabilities to seamlessly take bookings and boost revenue." 04. Promote gift cards heavily during peak shopping seasons Gift card sales spike around the holidays because someone is buying for someone else. What is less obvious is that recipients typically spend beyond the card's face value once they redeem it, effectively pre-selling next quarter's revenue today, before you have spent a dollar acquiring that customer yourself. Give gift cards real placement in your eCommerce marketing strategies instead of a single footer link. Make sure they show up everywhere you sell online, including social channels and email, wherever your gift-giving customers are already browsing. Gift cards were already part of Mirbeau Inn & Spa's Wix store, but they had not yet been built into a dedicated seasonal push. That changed when the family-owned wellness brand in Skaneateles, New York, built an entire Black Friday campaign around the idea. Its offer was a free $50 gift voucher with every $350 purchased and gift cards ended up driving 96 percent of all orders that weekend, pushing gross payment volume up 32 percent year over year to $457,000. Aidan Mackinnon, founder of Cutthroat Knives and a Wix eCommerce seller who already runs gift cards through his own store, treats this kind of automation as core to how he operates rather than a seasonal extra. "Email marketing and discount codes, I use those regularly. And automations have changed a lot from when it first got introduced. It was very different when it first started. Now it's actually quite a robust tool." 05. Pair gift cards with a loyalty or rewards program A tiered rewards program gets more interesting when gift cards are the payout instead of a generic discount code. Reaching the next tier can unlock a $25 card instead of 10 percent off, which keeps the reward tied to a future purchase rather than a smaller one today. It also gives customers a reason to keep climbing toward the next tier instead of cashing out early. If you setup a customer loyalty program with Wix eCommerce this way, recurring customers are the ones most likely to redeem a card instead of letting it sit unused. That repeat-purchase pattern is also why the same reward works for a subscription model, whether you are still exploring how to sell subscriptions or already know what are subscriptions in eCommerce look like for your store. How different eCommerce merchants use gift cards None of this works without a way to actually issue and redeem gift cards in your store. That part is covered by Wix's native feature, detailed in digital gift cards and how to use digital gift cards with Wix. What follows is how a few different business types could put the tactics above to work. These are illustrative scenarios, not case studies of specific merchants. A service-based business using gift cards to smooth seasonal demand A walking tour or workshop business books unevenly across the year. Selling gift cards ahead of a slow season brings cash in now and creates future bookings that fill the calendar later, smoothing out revenue that would otherwise dip when demand naturally slows down. Here's how Eugeniy Mikityuk, founder of History Walks FXBG, describes running gift cards as part of an all-in-one Wix setup: Wix has been my business in a way. Everything I have done has been with Wix, whether it's adding a new service, selling gift cards, creating invoices. The streamlining and having everything in one place is where Wix has created a very high standard. — Eugeniy Mikityuk, founder of History Walks FXBG A fashion or beauty brand bundling gift cards with holiday gift sets A skincare or jewelry brand can bundle a $15 gift card into a $90 holiday set. The set itself does not get discounted and the card pulls the recipient back for a second order once the gift-giving season winds down, turning one holiday sale into two separate purchases spread across the year. A subscription or consumables brand using gift cards for cart recovery A coffee or supplement subscription brand can offer a gift card instead of a straight discount inside its cart abandonment emails. It protects subscription pricing on the front end while still giving the shopper a concrete reason to complete the order rather than letting the cart sit untouched. A multi-location or service brand pairing gift cards with a loyalty program A salon or fitness studio with multiple locations can issue gift cards as loyalty rewards that work at any branch, not just the one a customer usually visits. That flexibility is often what pushes a member to redeem it on a bigger service instead of a small one, since the reward feels less restrictive than a flat discount pricing code would. It also makes the loyalty program feel like one program instead of several disconnected ones, which matters more as a business grows past a single location. How to run this gift card strategy on Wix If you are starting from zero, making a website comes first. From there, a foundational business plan gives you direction, and a dedicated eCommerce business roadmap makes sense once you know online sales are part of it. Building and adjusting a gift card strategy used to take a developer and a ticket in a queue. It does not anymore and here is what it actually takes to turn one on. Add Wix Stores, Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants Orders or Wix Events to your site, whichever matches how you sell, since gift cards run on top of one of these. Go to Gift Cards in your site's dashboard and click Add Gift Card to Site. Wix generates a dedicated gift card page for you automatically. Set your gift card name, amounts, expiration policy and the recipient email template. Design the gift card page in the editor so it matches the rest of your site. Set your site currency before you publish, since switching currencies later can stop existing cards from being redeemed. Publish your site to make the page live and start selling. That covers the mechanics. Building or adjusting the page itself is where Wix Harmony comes in. Wix Harmony is Wix's AI website builder that lets you go from a single prompt to a fully designed, business-ready website. At the center of the experience is Aria, Wix Harmony's built-in AI agent, who is contextually aware of your canvas and can generate pages, refine copy and offer expert web design and business strategy guidance throughout the build. Testing a new gift card threshold or rewriting a promotion becomes a conversation with Aria instead of a ticket to a developer, which means you can react to what's actually working in your store much faster. Once the site is live, turning on the mechanics from this article is native, not bolted on. Wix supports digital gift cards for eCommerce businesses. Wix provides built-in loyalty and rewards programs for online stores, so pairing the two the way step five describes takes minutes, not a developer sprint. Track the lift the same way you would while working to grow your eCommerce business elsewhere. Whatever eCommerce looks like for your store today, Wix supports scalable eCommerce operations as a high-performance commerce platform that serves businesses from small online stores to high-revenue brands generating $5M–$30M+ in annual revenue. Average order value (AOV) FAQ What is the average order value (AOV) and why does it matter? Average order value (AOV) is total revenue divided by number of orders over a given period. It matters because raising it grows revenue from customers you already have without spending more to acquire new ones. A ten dollar lift in AOV across thousands of orders adds up fast and it costs nothing extra in marketing spend to get there. Do gift cards actually increase average order value? Yes, in two specific ways. First, a gift card purchase itself is incremental revenue that would not have happened otherwise. Second, most people spend more than the card's face value when they redeem it, since it feels like partially free money. Both effects compound with the tactics above, which is exactly why this angle gets so little attention next to bundling or free shipping, even though the math behind it is just as solid. How do gift cards make money for retailers? Retailers benefit three ways. There is immediate cash flow when the card is sold, incremental spend when redeemers go over the card's value and breakage, the small percentage of cards that are never fully redeemed. None of these require a discount on your core products and all three add up over a full year of gift card sales. One thing worth knowing: gift card breakage and expiration rules vary by state and country, so check local regulations before you set an expiration date or build breakage into your revenue projections. How can I set up a gift card program on my Wix store? Wix eCommerce includes a native digital gift card feature, so you do not need a third-party app to sell or redeem them. Set your denominations, decide whether cards expire and you are ready to start using the threshold and bundling tactics covered above. What's a good average order value benchmark for eCommerce? There is not one number that applies everywhere, since AOV varies heavily by vertical, price point and whether you sell single items or multi-item orders. The more useful benchmark is your own AOV over time. Track it consistently and treat any sustained increase as a sign your tactics are working, rather than chasing an industry average that may not reflect your business.

Get the perfect domain for your eCommerce store: find your domain → Using gift cards as a revenue strategy works because they bring in cash upfront, push customers to spend more than the card value and introduce your brand to new people. That makes them one of the simplest levers you can add to an eCommerce website, whether you sell in a store, online or both. If your storefront is not live yet, start by learning how to start an online store so your cards have somewhere to live. Gift cards also feed the retention side of selling. Wix supports digital gift cards for eCommerce businesses, so you can add this revenue stream straight to your store and connect it to checkout without piecing together extra tools. This guide breaks down how gift cards make money and gives you a six-step way to launch a program that grows revenue. TL;DR: gift cards as a revenue strategy Gift cards turn one sale into several revenue moments. You get paid upfront, buyers often spend past the card value and unredeemed balances add margin, all while new customers meet your brand for the first time. That mix is why gift cards belong in your revenue plan and not just your holiday checklist. Gift card play How it drives revenue Digital gift cards Sell instantly online for immediate cash flow with almost no cost to run. Physical gift cards Act as branding in the wallet and suit in-store and gifting moments. Bonus gift cards Add free credit above a spend threshold to lift average order value. Store credit as a gift card Keep refunds as future spend instead of handing cash back. Loyalty-linked cards Feed repeat purchases and win back customers who have gone quiet. Learn more about how to start a business. Ready to start selling online? Build a custom online store with Wix and get the tools to sell, manage and grow your business from one dashboard. Customize every detail, reach customers across channels and market your brand with built-in SEO and marketing tools. How gift cards make money for your business Gift cards create revenue in four ways at once. Each one is small on its own, but together they turn a single purchase into a longer earning cycle. 01. Upfront cash flow before you deliver When someone buys a gift card you collect the money right away, then deliver the product or service later. That gap gives you working capital for stock, marketing or payroll before you have spent anything to fulfill the order and it flows straight through your online payment solutions. 02. Customers spend more than the card value Most people treat a gift card as a starting budget, not a strict limit. When the item they want costs more, they cover the difference themselves, which lifts your average order value at redemption. You can design for this pattern, which is why it helps to see how top merchants use gift cards to increase average order value. 03. Breakage from unredeemed balances Some cards never get fully spent. Those leftover balances, known as breakage, can become revenue you keep. Treat this carefully though. Unclaimed balances may count as unclaimed property under escheatment rules and those rules vary by state, so check what applies before you count breakage as profit. Worth knowing: breakage is money you should not fully count on, because some customers redeem their cards months or even years later, so treat unredeemed balances as a bonus rather than core revenue. 04. New customers and repeat visits A gift card is a recommendation with money attached. When a customer buys one for a friend, they hand your brand to someone who might never have found you otherwise. Those first visits often turn into repeat ones, which is the whole point of trying to grow eCommerce business. That ownership of the customer relationship is the real prize. "It ignited a viral chain reaction, leading to thousands of orders. We needed an online store, fast, and Wix gave us the agility to adapt." - Jenna Spencer, The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles (Wix eCommerce user) The Last Bookstore, California's largest independent bookstore, built its Wix online store after a single Instagram post went viral and generated thousands of orders overnight. It now sells bundles, gift cards and merch to customers worldwide, which shows how a gift card line sits naturally alongside everything else you offer. Did you know? Wix supports long-term eCommerce growth with built-in customer loyalty programs, subscription commerce, back-in-stock alert, digital gift cards and wishlists and save for later functionality, all designed to increase customer lifetime value and keep shoppers engaged beyond the first purchase. How to build a gift card revenue strategy in 6 steps Decide on digital, physical or both Set up gift cards in your online store and at point of sale Price and design cards to encourage overspend Promote gift cards year-round not only in December Tie gift cards to loyalty and repeat purchases Track performance and stay compliant 01. Decide on digital, physical or both Digital gift cards are cost-effective to run and land in an inbox within seconds, which makes them ideal if you sell online. Physical cards cost more but double as branding every time they sit in a wallet. Plenty of businesses offer both. If you're new to the format, learn more about what digital gift cards are. 02. Set up gift cards in your online store and at point of sale Connect gift cards to your checkout and your point of sale so customers can buy and redeem them anywhere they meet you. A smooth checkout matters here, since every extra step at payment is a chance for a customer to abandon the purchase. Wix provides an intuitive point of sale system that makes it easy to accept payments and manage your business both online and in person. For a clean flow end to end, work through eCommerce checkout and try learning how to use digital gift cards with wix. 03. Price and design cards to encourage overspend Set denominations that sit just below your common basket sizes so customers naturally add a little more. Bonus-card promotions work well too, like a free $10 card on a $100 purchase. Wix automates eCommerce promotions using built-in discount logic, so pair these with your wider discount pricing plan and let the platform handle the math. 04. Promote gift cards year-round not only in December Holiday sales matter, but plenty of gift card demand shows up the rest of the year for birthdays, thank-yous and last-minute gifts. Feature cards in email, on social and on your homepage, then fold them into a flash sale or a wider eCommerce marketing push. 05. Tie gift cards to loyalty and repeat purchases Gift cards get more valuable when they feed your retention engine. Route redemptions into loyalty points and send e-gift credit to win back customers who have gone quiet. Reloadable cards keep the same customer coming back instead of buying once and leaving. Pair them with tiered rewards so a bigger balance earns a small bonus, and use birthday or anniversary credit to give people a reason to return. You can also turn store credit from returns into a gift card, which keeps that spend inside your business rather than refunding it away. For subscription and membership brands, a gift card works as a low-pressure first step that later converts into a recurring plan. Learn more: How to sell subscriptions on Wix How to setup a customer loyalty program with Wix 06. Track performance and stay compliant Watch the numbers that show whether the program pays off, like overspend, redemption rate, share of new customers and overall return. Keep an eye on your eCommerce metrics so you can adjust. On the legal side, the CARD Act says gift cards cannot expire within five years of activation, sales tax generally applies when a card is redeemed rather than when it is sold and escheatment rules vary by state. This is general information, not legal advice, so confirm the current federal and state rules before you launch. Fork n' Film, a cinematic dining brand in Los Angeles, treats this as a habit rather than an afterthought. "I love the analytics on Wix, it tells a big story about who we are as a company and who our customers are. When it comes to expansion, we want to go off data. We don't want to just go off assumptions." - Nick Houston, Co-founder, Fork n' Film Fork n' Film grew to $11M in sales across 9 locations in under 2 years and used Wix Analytics to decide which cities to expand into next. The same data mindset tells you whether your gift card program is pulling its weight. How to launch a gift card revenue strategy with Wix Adding gift cards on Wix takes just a few steps. Log in and open your dashboard: Sign in to your Wix account, or create one if you are new, and open your site dashboard. Set up Wix eCommerce and your currency: Add Wix Stores so you can process payments and manage products, then set your site currency before you sell anything, because switching it later stops older cards from being redeemed. Add gift cards to your site: Go to Gift Cards in your dashboard and click Add Gift Card to Site. Wix creates a dedicated gift card page for you. Set amounts, expiration and the email: Choose preset amounts or let customers enter a custom value, decide whether cards never expire or expire after a set number of months, and customize the email recipients receive. Design the page and publish: Style the gift card page in the editor to match your site, then publish so customers can start buying. Sell and redeem online and in person: Turn on gift cards at checkout and at your point of sale so customers can buy and redeem them across channels. Track and refine: Watch sales and redemptions in your dashboard. In Wix Analytics the initial purchase counts as revenue and the later redemption does not, so your gift card income stays easy to read. This setup also keeps you ready for how buying is changing. Wix Agentic Commerce is a new generation of online shopping where AI agents help discover, recommend and complete purchases on behalf of customers. Wix AI Visibility Overview lets merchants track how their brand appears across major AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Whether you sell in one place or across channels with omnichannel retail, gift cards add one more revenue stream to the same setup. You can run this whole strategy on one platform. Wix supports scalable eCommerce operations as a high-performance commerce platform that serves businesses from small online stores to high-revenue brands generating $5M–$30M+ in annual revenue. If you are still making a website, Wix Harmony is built for the agentic era, a hybrid environment where you can generate a complete site from a single prompt, refine it through conversation with Aria or take over manually at any point. The infrastructure carries the weight so you can focus on selling. "Every site runs on Wix’s proven infrastructure, with advanced commerce, payments, SEO and GEO, accessibility and scalability built in by default. As AI evolves and new standards emerge, Wix absorbs the underlying complexity so users can focus on creating and running their business, not managing the machinery behind it." - Nir Zohar, President of Wix Gift cards as a revenue strategy FAQ How do gift cards generate revenue for a business? Gift cards generate revenue in several ways. You collect payment upfront before you deliver, customers often spend more than the card value when they redeem, unspent balances can become breakage revenue and the cards bring in new buyers who received them as gifts. Are gift cards profitable for small businesses? Yes, though direct sales are usually a small slice of total revenue. The bigger payoff is the multiplier effect. Higher spend at redemption, repeat visits and new-customer acquisition together make gift cards more profitable than their raw sales figure suggests. How much more do customers spend when redeeming a gift card? Customers frequently spend beyond the value loaded on the card and cover the difference themselves. The exact lift varies by store and price point. Designing denominations just below common basket sizes encourages it. Do you charge sales tax when you sell a gift card? Generally no. Most jurisdictions treat a gift card as a form of payment, so sales tax applies when the card is redeemed for taxable goods rather than when it is sold. Rules vary by location, so confirm what applies to your business. What is gift card breakage? Breakage is the value of gift cards customers never redeem. Those leftover balances can turn into revenue for your business, though unclaimed amounts may fall under escheatment rules that differ by state, so track them and check local requirements.

Turn your ideas into sales and start selling with Wix eCommerce→ Points-based loyalty programs are struggling to deliver the retention results they once did, even as customer acquisition costs continue to rise and brands invest more heavily in loyalty than ever before. Points programs aren't broken, they're just no longer enough, and that’s why leading brands are shifting toward customer-held value, store credit and wallet-first retention strategies. The issue isn't loyalty itself. It's that most loyalty programs were built for a different era of eCommerce. Today's customers expect immediate value, seamless experiences and rewards that feel meaningful, not other points of balance they'll forget about after checkout. Here are five reasons traditional loyalty programs are struggling to keep up, and what leading brands are doing instead. TL;DR: points-based loyalty programs vs store credit Points-based loyalty programs are losing their edge as customers demand clearer, more immediate value from the brands they shop with. Leading eCommerce brands are replacing abstract point balances with store credit: a single, spendable reward that drives real repeat purchases. Customers don’t understand what points are worth, store credit is instantly clear. Loyalty programs that live outside the shopping experience lose engagement. Managing too many separate reward systems creates friction for customers and brands alike. Email and SMS alone are no longer enough, mobile wallets are becoming the new retention channel. Store credit drives revenue, not just engagement metrics. Points-based loyalty programs vs store credit Customers don’t understand the value of points Loyalty programs live outside the shopping experience Brands are managing too many reward systems Email and SMS alone are no longer enough Loyalty programs should drive revenue, not just engagement 01. Customers don't understand the value of points Ask a customer: "What is 1,250 points worth?" Most can't answer. Ask a customer: "What is $12.50 in store credit worth?" Everyone knows immediately. Points programs are great at aggregation. Customers build a balance over time, but the actual value is often opaque. Coupons and discounts have the opposite problem: a customer instantly understands "$10 off," but those rewards live scattered across emails, SMS campaigns and promotional offers, easy to forget and difficult to track. The result is a fragmented experience. Customers may have value tied up in points, coupons, referral rewards and promotional credits, with no single place to see it all. Store credit changes that dynamic. Like points, it accumulates in one balance. Like coupons, its value is immediately clear. Instead of asking customers to manage multiple rewards across multiple channels, brands create a single source of value that grows over time and a much stronger reason to come back. 02. Loyalty programs live outside the shopping experience A surprising number of loyalty programs require customers to visit a separate rewards page, log into an account, search for balances and remember redemption rules. Every extra step reduces engagement. Customers shouldn't have to hunt for rewards. Rewards should appear where purchasing decisions happen. Modern retention programs surface customer value directly on product pages, in carts, in customer accounts, and in mobile wallets. The reward becomes part of the shopping experience rather than a separate destination. 03. Brands are managing too many reward systems Many eCommerce teams operate a loyalty platform, a gift card platform, a referral platform, a customer service credit process and promotional discount programs, each creating another customer balance to manage. From the customer's perspective, this fragmentation makes no sense. Customers don't think in programs. They think in value. Forward-thinking brands are consolidating rewards into a single customer wallet that holds store credit, gift cards, cashback, referral rewards and loyalty incentives together. One balance. One experience. 04. Email and SMS alone are no longer enough Brands spend enormous amounts driving customers back through email campaigns, SMS and paid retargeting. But these channels are increasingly crowded and expensive. Mobile wallet adoption, meanwhile, continues to grow. Wallet passes create an always-accessible destination for customer value and open new engagement opportunities, push notifications, expiration reminders, location-based prompts, that don't depend on a customer opening an inbox. Instead of waiting for customers to come to you, the brand stays visible every day. 05. Loyalty programs should drive revenue, not just engagement Most loyalty platforms measure success through engagement metrics: points earned, points redeemed, program participation, referral activity. Those metrics are useful, but they don't always translate into revenue. The real question is: "Did this reward create another purchase?" A customer with 5,000 points may never return. A customer with $50 in store credit almost certainly will, because store credit represents future spending power. This shifts loyalty from a marketing program into a revenue engine. Rather than rewarding customers with abstract points, the brands seeing the strongest retention results are rewarding them with spendable value that drives repeat purchases and increases customer lifetime value. The shift from loyalty programs to customer value platforms The loyalty market is evolving. Points alone are no longer enough to create lasting customer relationships. The brands winning on retention are moving beyond traditional loyalty programs and embracing a broader strategy built around store credit, gift cards, cashback, referrals, wallet experiences and genuine visibility into customer value. The goal isn't simply rewarding purchases. The goal is giving customers a reason to come back. Why Rise.ai was built for this shift Most loyalty platforms started with points and later expanded into other reward types. Rise.ai took the opposite approach, building around customer-held value from day one, bringing together store credit, gift cards, cashback, referrals, loyalty rewards, mobile wallet passes and wallet notifications into a single ecosystem. Because the future of retention isn't another point's balance. It's giving customers value they can see, understand and spend. Ready to make the shift? Explore Rise.ai on the Wix Marketplace and see how leading eCommerce brands are turning store credit into their strongest retention tool. Points-based loyalty programs vs store credit FAQ What is a points-based loyalty program? A points-based loyalty program rewards customers with points for purchases or actions, which they accumulate and later redeem for discounts or perks. The tradeoff is that the point value is often unclear to customers, which limits how motivating it feels. Looking to build or improve your loyalty strategy? Learn: What is a customer loyalty program How to setup customer loyalty program with Wix eCommerce Why are brands moving away from points-based loyalty programs? Points balances are hard for customers to understand, live outside the shopping experience, and don't always translate into repeat purchases. Store credit solves this by giving customers a single, clearly valued balance they can spend right away. This simplicity can be especially valuable for businesses running an eCommerce website, where reducing friction can help drive repeat purchases. Is store credit better than a points-based loyalty program? Store credit tends to drive more repeat purchases because its value is immediately clear and spendable, while points require customers to track a balance whose worth isn't obvious. Many brands are combining both, or replacing points entirely with store credit, to improve retention.

If you've built a website in 2026, there's a good chance AI did at least some of the work. But which aspects of website creation are people using AI for, exactly? That’s the question we set out to answer in our latest Wix State of Websites report, based on data from 310 million users. For the report, we wanted to learn (a) how long it takes to build well-designed websites people are proud of (ones that are live, functional and built on stable, secure infrastructure), (b) which details people prefer to make by hand, even when AI is an easy option, and (c) when they typically tap AI for an assist. Here’s what we found. How is AI changing website creation? AI is compressing the time it takes to go from idea to live site, without replacing human creativity. People are publishing websites faster than ever In the last year, the average time to publish a website dropped 50%, from 8 days to 4. Importantly, we’re not only talking about landing pages or single-page websites. Some of these sites have eCommerce capabilities, scheduling software and other features that help run full-on businesses, not just websites. In four days. Every industry is moving faster. Restaurants are publishing websites in 7 days, down from 13 days. eCommerce businesses went from 14 days to 7. Beauty and wellness businesses cut their build time by 55%, from 20 days down to 9. Every industry is publishing websites faster in 2026 But people still want control over sensitive brand details Speed actually makes the human element more important, our data suggests. Wix recently launched Wix Harmony, an AI website builder that still gives users the ability to fine-tune their sites manually. This means we can see what people do when given both options: What do they build by hand, and how do they use AI? Ninety-one percent of users rewrite their own copy, and nearly 70% swap out images for their own photos. Sites still feel personal. Most users tap an AI agent for help at some point in the process Not everyone starts with AI, but most end up using it anyway. 84% of non-AI published premium sites use Aria, the AI agent at the heart of Wix Harmony. That means even users who built their sites manually still send an average of 9 messages to Aria per session. 93% used Aria for design-related tasks, 40% turned to her for technical assistance and 16% tapped her for copywriting help. Even users who don't start with AI still consult Aria, the agent at the heart of Wix Harmony They’re using MCP to connect external AI tools directly to their site Nearly 32,000 people used Wix's MCP integration in 2025 to connect external AI tools, like Claude, directly to their sites to manage content and debug issues through plain conversation. Total sessions hit 102 million. Coupled with Aria’s 84% adoption rate, that’s a lot of people using AI as a collaborative partner, and that’s the core takeaway: AI speeds up the process by a lot (50%), but people still want the final say on how their brand looks and sounds. Learn more: Why the AI compute makes Wix stronger

The conventional wisdom about AI goes like this: compute is scarce, it is expensive, it compounds, and therefore whoever controls the most of it will dominate the AI era. It's a compelling thesis. But it's wrong, or at least, profoundly incomplete. What Wix actually is Wix is not a compute company. We have never pretended to be. We are something more specific, and in the context of this moment, with a very different value proposition: we are the platform through which AI reaches the real economy. We are also something that is easy to underestimate if you look at only one dimension of what we do. One website. Every part of your golf business: Bookings, memberships, events, locations, and a pro shop. Built with Wix Harmony. One Wix dashboard. Every tool to run your business: payments, invoices, SEO & GEO, analytics, taxes, security, accessibility, automations and more. Base44 Base44, our AI-native application builder represents a new frontier: the ability for anyone to build sophisticated, functional business applications without writing a single line of code. But Base44 and Wix are not competing products. They are complementary layers of the same platform. A Wix user running a growing business doesn't just need a website. They need a booking system, an inventory manager, a customer CRM, a marketing automation tool, and a payments dashboard. They need, in other words, ten different applications and increasingly, all of those will be built, customized, and managed within the Wix operating system. Two custom Base44 apps built to support the business: Fairway Exchange, a golf gear marketplace, and Fairway Coach Hub, an AI-powered platform for swing analysis, coaching feedback, and student progress. Two operational Base44 apps for Fairway Club: LiveMap, an interactive command center for locations and bays, and Leagueboard, a scoring and leaderboard app for leagues, tournaments, and group challenges. Wix as the mechanism There are hundreds of millions of small businesses, entrepreneurs, creators, and independent professionals in the world. A florist. A yoga instructor. A boutique hotel owner. A freelance photographer. A family restaurant. These are the people who constitute the long tail of the global economy generating a disproportionate share of employment, community, and human meaning, even if they rarely make the front pages of financial newspapers. For most of the history of the internet, these people were promised access to the same tools as large enterprises and then handed a watered-down version that required technical expertise they didn't have, budgets they couldn't afford, and time they didn't have to spare. AI changes that equation entirely. And Wix is the mechanism through which it changes. When a small business owner uses Wix today, they aren't just getting a website builder. They are getting an AI system that understands their business, their customers, their industry, and their goals and actively works to help them succeed. AI-generated websites that would have required a designer. AI-written content that would have required a copywriter. AI-driven SEO recommendations that would have required a consultant. AI-powered eCommerce insights that would have required a data analyst. Each of these capabilities, even five years ago, cost thousands of dollars a month and required specialized expertise. Today, they are inside Wix, accessible to anyone, everywhere, regardless of budget or technical background. That is not a marginal product improvement. That is a civilizational shift in who gets access to the latest technology and economic tools. And Wix is at the center of it with integrated and functioning AI in the platform now. The moat that matters Here is the part of the compute narrative that I think gets systematically under appreciated: in a world where everyone has access to the same underlying AI infrastructure, the competitive advantage moves decisively to whoever has the best context. Let's be direct about the competitive landscape. The "vibe coding" era means that increasingly, anyone can build anything. The question is no longer ‘Can you build it?’ It is ‘Do you understand the user well enough to build it right?’ That is where Wix's moat lives. Generic AI knows a great deal about the world in the abstract. It has read the internet. It understands language, images, code. But it does not know what makes a small business's homepage convert. It does not know which product descriptions drive purchases in which categories. It does not know the seasonal patterns of a wedding photography business, or what pricing structures work for online tutors, or how a restaurant's social media presence correlates with reservation volume. Wix knows all of this across hundreds of millions of sites, billions of user interactions, and years of real business outcomes. This is the data moat. And in the AI era, data moats are the real oil wells. Think of it this way: the same underlying AI model, fine-tuned on Wix's proprietary dataset of SMB behavior, produces recommendations, designs, and insights that a general-purpose model simply cannot replicate. The compute is the same. The intelligence is not. Because intelligence, at the application layer, is not just about processing power, it is about the richness and relevance of the information those processors have learned from. Even if the world’s biggest AI companies decided tomorrow to build a website platform, they would face a formidable challenge: not the technology, but the accumulated understanding. Understanding of what a hair salon owner in São Paulo needs differently from a freelance consultant in Singapore. Understanding of what drives a first-time visitor to book an appointment versus bounce. Understanding is built from serving hundreds of millions of them, for decades, at every stage of their growth. That understanding is not a feature. It is the product. And it cannot be downloaded. But there is a second dimension to this moat that deserves equal attention, and it is one that the "just build it with AI" narrative consistently glosses over: the hidden complexity of running software that real businesses depend on. Ask yourself this: what does it actually cost to build a fully functional booking system from scratch, even with the best AI tools available today? The initial build might look deceptively simple. A few prompts, a working prototype, a demo that impresses in a meeting. But a system with real depth, one that a business can actually rely on, carries an enormous ongoing burden that rarely shows up in the demo. Bugs surface in production. Browsers update and break things. Security vulnerabilities emerge that require immediate patches. Privacy regulations change, accessibility standards, payment compliance and so on. Someone has to keep up with all of it. And critically, how do you even know if the AI-generated code got the compliance right? You can ask the LLM to handle privacy regulations. But can you be certain it did or that it will maintain it on an ongoing basis as compliance regulations change? Consider a booking system for a business with multiple staff members, complex scheduling rules, and real customers making real appointments. One bug, a double-booking, a missed notification, a payment that doesn't process and you've lost revenue, lost trust, and potentially lost customers permanently. The stakes are not hypothetical. They are existential for a small business. A large company absorbs these costs with dedicated engineering teams, security departments, and legal counsel. A small business like a yoga studio, a hair salon, a photography business has none of that. They cannot staff a security team. They cannot audit their own code compliance. They cannot be on call at 2am when a scheduling conflict corrupts their weekend bookings. And yet, the problem doesn't go away just because they can't afford to solve it. This is precisely what Wix has been solving quietly, continuously, at massive scale for 2 decades. Every security patch. Every browser compatibility update. Every regulatory change. Every infrastructure upgrade. Handled, invisibly, so that the business owner never has to think about it. The question for any small business evaluating a DIY AI-built alternative is not "what does it cost to build?" It is "what does it cost to run and what happens when something goes wrong?” That question has a very uncomfortable answer when the alternative is a bespoke system assembled with an AI tool by someone who is not a professional engineer, maintained by no one, and insured by nothing. Wix's value is not just what it builds. It is what it absorbs so its users never have to. When you own your model, you own your improvement curve Being an AI-native, for us, means something more than just how we use AI. It means we build it too. Wix Harmony, our AI-powered website creation experience, now runs on a model we trained ourselves, purpose-built for the specific task of creating websites, optimized on two decades of real user behavior, and continuously improved on our own terms. It is faster, more accurate, and structurally less expensive than relying on external providers. The cost savings alone represent a meaningful structural shift in how we operate. But that is only half the story. When Base44 joined Wix in 2025, something important happened beyond the product combination. The same data science team that built and trained the Wix Harmony model turned its attention to Base44's platform and together, they have made Base44 the first app-creation platform in the world to launch its own proprietary large language model “Base 1”. This wasn't Base44 building in isolation. It was Base44 gaining immediate access to years of accumulated expertise, proven training infrastructure, and hard-won institutional knowledge the moment they became part of Wix. That acceleration matters. It is what a real platform advantage looks like in practice. The Base44 model was trained on tens of millions of real interactions from the platform, the kind of dense, domain-specific signal that external models simply don't have access to. The result is a production-grade AI capable of managing complex, multi-turn conversations, generating and running code, handling backend operations, and operating as a true development agent. It is not a prototype. It is live, and it is serving users today. There is a clear logic to why both teams chose to go down this path. When you own your model, you own your improvement curve. You are not waiting on a third party's release cycle to fix what matters to your users. You act on feedback daily, not quarterly. You optimize for your specific domain rather than accepting a general-purpose compromise. And you control one of the largest cost lines in any AI-native business, compute and inference, which translates directly into healthier margins and a more sustainable path to scale. Building at this level is genuinely hard. It demands rare expertise spanning machine learning research, large-scale systems engineering, and advanced mathematical optimization. It requires the kind of depth that takes years to develop and cannot simply be hired overnight. Most companies never attempt it. We did. And the early results validate the conviction. The bottom line The AI era will produce infrastructure giants. It will also produce application-layer companies that translate that infrastructure into real human value at massive scale. History tells us, consistently and clearly, that both can be enormously successful and that the application layer often ends up generating more enduring value than the infrastructure beneath it. Wix is not in the compute race burning valuable capital on infrastructure. We are in the economic empowerment business. We are taking the most powerful technological capabilities in history and putting them in the hands of the people that need them. We have hundreds of millions of users, we have cash, and we have a product story that once you see it demonstrated concretely is genuinely hard to replicate. Not because of any single feature, but because of the accumulated depth of understanding that sits behind every feature, understanding of users, of businesses, and of what it actually takes to succeed online. The infrastructure will be built. The compute will scale. The AI will improve. And when it does, the hundreds of millions of small businesses who need a partner to help them navigate all of it will know exactly where to turn.

Build your website, your way with Wix Harmony → How to make a website via Wix's LLM breaks down into two real paths, and this guide covers both. The first runs through Wix's own AI website builder, built on a proprietary language model Wix trained in-house specifically to generate Wix sites. This guide covers how to make a website with an LLM either way, whether that means building inside Wix's own tool or reaching Wix directly from an outside LLM like Claude or ChatGPT. The first path's home is Wix Harmony, a hybrid editor that pairs that in-house model with full manual, drag and drop control; the sections further down on Claude, ChatGPT and the Wix MCP cover the second. TL;DR: how to make a website with Wix's LLM In short: there are two ways to build a Wix site with an LLM. Wix Harmony turns a written prompt into a live website you can refine by chatting with Aria, Wix Harmony's built-in AI agent, or by editing it by hand, and the Wix MCP lets you do much of the same thing from inside Claude or ChatGPT instead of opening the Wix editor at all. Either way, the process touches on how to make a website with an AI agent handling the busywork behind the scenes and where Wix AI fits once the site is built and running. Describe your business in a prompt and Wix Harmony generates pages, layout and starter copy. Or stay inside Claude or ChatGPT and build the same site through the Wix MCP. Refine the result by chatting with Aria or editing manually, moving between the two whenever you want. Add business tools like an online store, bookings or invoicing without leaving the editor. Hand off ongoing tasks such as content updates, customer replies or inventory alerts to an AI agent. Publish with SEO, security, domain name and hosting handled by Wix's infrastructure from day one. Wix Harmony brings AI and manual creation together in a single, smart platform. You can generate full pages, layouts and content with natural language, then fine-tune every detail with precise drag-and-drop control. It’s faster, more flexible website creation, without sacrificing quality or creative freedom. How to make a website via Wix's LLM Building a site starts with a choice: work inside Wix Harmony, or stay inside an outside LLM and reach Wix through the MCP. Both break into a short list of repeatable stages, from your first prompt to the moment you are ready to take orders or bookings. Jump to whichever stage matches where you are right now: Start with a single prompt Vibe code the design with Aria Edit by hand for pixel level control Add eCommerce, bookings and other business tools Bring an AI agent onto the team Publish and let SEO tools take over Type "@Wix" into Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot and let Wix Harmony build it from there 01. Start with a single prompt Why prompt a website instead of picking a template and dragging elements into place? A prompt lets Wix Harmony's underlying LLM understand what your business actually does, then generate a structure that fits it instead of making you adapt your business to a generic layout. Avishai Abrahami, CEO and co-founder of Wix, points to what is running underneath that experience: "We recently built our own proprietary LLM that is now powering Wix Harmony. By allowing us to continuously fine-tune our platform using our own data and user feedback at scale, this model creates a flywheel that we believe is unmatched and creates a significant competitive advantage." One thing worth knowing: the more specific the prompt, the less editing you will do afterward. Strong AI prompts for website building name the business type, the tone you want, a color direction if you have one and any must-have pages, then leave the rest to Wix Harmony. 02. Vibe code the design with Aria What is vibe coding? It is the practice of describing what you want in plain language and letting an AI turn that description into working sections, pages or components, then adjusting by hand until it matches your vision. Learning how to vibe code a website with Wix Harmony means treating Aria less like a chatbot and more like a collaborator who can execute multi-step requests. Yarin Singolda, Product Marketing Manager at Wix, describes how far that collaboration goes: "Aria isn't just an assistant, she's a collaborator who can handle complex tasks in one go. You can have her create a new section, add text, pull in best-selling items, insert images and even add linked buttons, all at once." As a vibe coding website builder, Wix Harmony keeps every creative decision with you even as Aria executes the technical steps. "I like using AI as a starting point. But I need the creative freedom to show my personality. I want site visitors to feel like they're stepping into my studio." - Tessa J. McNaboe, Pilates instructor, Wix Harmony user That balance, AI for speed and manual editing for personality, is the same trade-off Wix Harmony is built around. If you're learning how to design a website with AI, the goal isn't to let AI make every decision, it’s to move fast with a prompt, then slow down exactly where your brand needs a human touch. 03. Edit by hand for pixel level control Once the first draft exists, Wix Harmony's manual tools take over wherever a prompt falls short: pixel level drag and drop editing, custom component generation and a brand kit that keeps fonts and colors consistent across every page. Every good website builder eventually raises the same question: how much should a person decide by hand once the machine has done the heavy lifting? That is the same logic that makes prompt-then-edit workflows work: publish the AI-generated draft, then spend your editing time on the handful of sections that actually need a person's judgment. 04. Add eCommerce, bookings and other business tools A website built with an LLM still needs to run a real business once it is live, which is why Wix Harmony wires business tools in from the start rather than bolting them on later. As an eCommerce platform, Wix Harmony extends that into an AI eCommerce builder: describe a product catalog in a prompt and get a storefront with checkout, inventory and payment processing already connected. Worth knowing: if your product catalog includes variants across more than two or three attributes, such as size, color and material, plan for extra setup time to structure those correctly after the AI generates your first draft. Most stores are live within hours; catalogs with heavy variation are closer to a full day. Beyond the storefront, Wix's broader eCommerce features cover subscriptions, loyalty programs, back-in-stock notifications and multi-currency payments, all manageable from the same dashboard that Wix Harmony just built for you. 05. Bring an AI agent onto the team What is an AI agent, and how is it different from the chat window you just used to build your site? A website builder generates a result from a prompt and stops. An AI agent keeps working after that: it can complete tasks on an ongoing basis, like replying to a customer message, updating inventory or drafting a marketing email, without you re-prompting it every time. The AI agent use cases that matter most to a small business owner tend to be operational rather than creative: answering routine customer questions, flagging low stock, drafting invoices or summarizing what happened on the site overnight. Wix's own agentic roadmap, called Symphony, is built specifically around this idea: instead of learning Wix's AI agents one at a time, an owner talks to a single orchestrator that routes tasks to specialist agents behind the scenes. Shahar Talmi, GM of Developer Platform at Wix, frames the shift in infrastructure terms: "The industry has been focused on making it easier to build things. We've been building the infrastructure to make those things operate at scale. With Wix Headless, an AI agent doesn't just generate a storefront, it turns it into a fully functional and sustainable business." Learning how to manage online business with AI agent support usually starts small: automate one repetitive task, confirm it works reliably, then hand over the next one. That incremental approach is also the most realistic way to think about how to run an SMB better with agentic AI, since a five-person business rarely has the bandwidth to overhaul every workflow at once. 06. Publish and let SEO tools take over Once the site is live, Wix's built-in SEO features, including meta titles, structured data, sitemaps and canonical tags, start working without any separate setup, the same way they would on a site built entirely by hand. 07. Type "@Wix" into Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot and let Wix Harmony build it from there Wix Harmony isn't the only way to build with an LLM. Here is what actually happens, step by step, when you build a Wix site from inside ChatGPT, Claude or another connected tool instead of opening the Wix editor directly. Type "@Wix" and describe your business. Learning how to make a website in GPT starts with a single tag: type "@Wix" into a ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot conversation, then describe your business the same way you would prompt Wix Harmony directly, for example "a bakery in Austin that takes online orders and shows a weekly menu." How to make a website through a GPT chat is really a two-layer process: the chat interface sends your description to Wix, and Wix Harmony, the same AI website builder covered earlier in this guide, generates the actual site, including booking systems and menus, without you ever opening the Wix editor yourself. Once the first draft exists, follow-up messages in the same conversation add pages, adjust copy or restructure sections, the same way prompting Aria does inside Wix Harmony itself. The chat is the interface; Wix Harmony is still doing the building on the back end either way. For anyone who prefers Claude, how to make a website with Claude and how to use Claude with Wix both run through the Wix Claude Connector: open a conversation, connect your site and either build a new one or update an existing store, bookings or content without leaving the Claude interface. Since the connector launched, Claude has become the most-used MCP agent on the Wix platform. What is the Wix MCP behind all of this? It is a Model Context Protocol server that exposes Wix's core capabilities, including site generation, store management and bookings, as structured tools that any MCP-compatible AI client can call directly. That single server is what "@Wix" in ChatGPT, the Wix Claude Connector and tools like Cursor are all built on top of, whichever chat window you happen to be typing into. This raises a real question in the vibe coding vs no code comparison: no-code tools still require you to click and configure. Vibe coding through an LLM, whether that means typing directly into Wix Harmony or typing "@Wix" into an outside chat connected through the Wix MCP, lets you describe the outcome and skips the manual configuration step entirely. How to make a website with Wix's LLM fast Speed is usually the first thing people want to know about how to make a website fast with an LLM, and the honest answer is that the AI draft itself takes minutes. The variables that add hours are content readiness, meaning whether your product photos and copy are ready, and how much manual customization you want afterward. For businesses that need to move even faster, teams building on Base44, Wix's AI app builder, have shown just how far same-day can stretch when a first version does not need to be perfect. "We launched it within a week. Just before Gift My Book, we worked with developers and it took a few months, and then we basically built it in a week." - Yoav Hornung, co-founder, Gift My Book Yoav's team validated the idea with $100 in ad spend before scaling and reached close to $1 million in annualized revenue within three months of launch. That timeline is the practical version of how to build a website in a day: launch something functional immediately, then improve it in public as real customers respond to it. How does an AI website builder actually work? How does an AI website builder work under the hood? A large language model reads your prompt, maps it against patterns learned from analyzing how real websites in your category tend to be structured, then generates pages, layout and starter copy that match. What is the Wix AI website builder doing differently comes down largely to training data: Wix Harmony's model is trained specifically on Wix's own site-building data rather than general web text, which is why Avishai Abrahami describes the fine-tuning loop as a competitive advantage rather than a one-time feature. AI website builders vs traditional and no-code tools The traditional vs AI website builder debate mostly comes down to where the first draft comes from. A traditional website builder starts you on a blank template and asks you to fill in every section by hand. An AI website builder starts you with a structured draft based on your prompt, then lets you edit from there. Among the best low-code no-code website builders, the meaningful difference is whether AI generation and manual editing live in the same interface or require switching tools entirely. Wix Harmony was built specifically so a person never has to leave the editor to move between prompting and hands-on design. Learn more: Why the AI compute makes Wix stronger Wix Harmony for small business owners Wix Harmony for small business owners tends to matter most for the people running a business alone, without a marketing team or a developer on staff. How to make a website via Wix's LLM ultimately comes down to a single decision: describe what you are building, then decide how much of the result you want to shape by hand. Wix Harmony was built around that exact choice, giving you the speed of a prompt and the precision of a full editor in the same place. Ready to see it for yourself? Try Wix Harmony and turn your first prompt into a live, business-ready website today. How to make a website with Wix's LLM FAQ What is Wix Harmony? Wix Harmony is Wix's AI website builder. It is not itself an LLM. It runs on a proprietary large language model that Wix trained in-house specifically to generate Wix Harmony websites, and it generates a complete, business-ready website from a single prompt. From there, you refine it through Aria, Wix Harmony's built-in AI agent, or by editing manually with full drag and drop control. How do I make a website with Wix's LLM? Describe your business in a prompt to start, then review the draft Wix Harmony generates. From there, chat with Aria to adjust sections and copy, or switch to manual editing for pixel level changes. Add business tools like a store or booking system, then publish. Is Wix Harmony good for eCommerce? Yes. Wix Harmony connects directly to Wix's eCommerce platform, so a store generated from a prompt already includes checkout, inventory and payment processing, along with features like loyalty programs and subscriptions. Can I edit an AI-generated website by hand? Yes. Wix Harmony is built as a hybrid editor. You can move between prompting Aria and using pixel level drag and drop tools, custom component generation and a brand kit at any point in the process. Can I use Claude or ChatGPT to build a Wix site? Yes. Wix's ChatGPT integration lets you type "@Wix" to invoke Wix Harmony directly from a conversation, and the Wix Claude Connector lets you build and manage a Wix site from inside Claude. Both rely on the same Wix MCP server that exposes Wix's capabilities to any compatible AI client.

Build your website, your way with Wix Harmony → Why vibe code a website is a question more creators and businesses are asking as AI transforms how sites are built. Instead of writing code or configuring complex tools, you can now describe what you want and let a modern website builder generate layouts, content and structure automatically. Vibe coding website builders like Wix Harmony combine AI generation with visual editing so anyone can build a professional site quickly with an AI agent or assistant, like Wix Aria. This new workflow, often called a vibe coding website builder approach, lets you move from idea to live site in minutes instead of days. Read more about how AI is changing website creation. TL;DR: why vibe code a website Vibe coding changes website creation by combining AI prompts with visual editing. Instead of building everything manually, you describe the site you want and refine it using intuitive tools. The vibe code approach makes website creation faster, easier and more accessible for creators, businesses and entrepreneurs. Learn what is vibe coding? See how an AI website builder can generate layouts, copy and structure instantly. Understand how to vibe code a website using prompts and visual tools. Explore the best vibe coding tools available for modern website creation. Wix Harmony brings AI and manual creation together in a single, smart platform. You can generate full pages, layouts and content with natural language, then fine-tune every detail with precise drag-and-drop control. It’s faster, more flexible website creation, without sacrificing quality or creative freedom. Why vibe code a website Before diving deeper, here are the main reasons people are choosing this approach: Can you vibe code a whole website? Drag and drop website builder workflows make editing simple What is Wix Harmony and how AI website creation works Generating website ideas quickly with AI Starting from ready-made website templates Launching quickly with free website hosting Getting a domain name and publishing fast Adding essential website features automatically Comparing modern best website builders Why AI is shaping the next generation of AI website builders 01. Can you vibe code a whole website? Can you vibe code a whole website? Many people assume AI tools can only generate small pieces of a site, like a landing page or a homepage. In reality, modern AI platforms can generate the entire structure of a website, including multiple pages, navigation and content sections. This means you can start with a prompt describing your business or project and generate a complete website draft within minutes. For example, AI can create: A homepage with hero content and calls to action About and contact pages Product or service pages Blog or portfolio layouts Once the draft site is generated, you can edit and refine the content using visual tools, making it easy to launch a professional site quickly. According to McKinsey, generative AI could automate up to 60–70% of tasks in many digital workflows, including design and content creation. That productivity boost is exactly why AI-driven website creation is growing so quickly. Explore the best AI prompts for website building. 02. Drag and drop website builder workflows make editing simple One of the biggest advantages of AI website creation is combining automation with visual editing. After AI generates the initial layout, you can refine it using a drag and drop website builder interface. This approach gives you the best of both worlds: AI handles the heavy lifting of generating structure and design Visual editing allows full customization With drag and drop controls you can: Move sections and elements around the page Replace images or text instantly Add new content blocks Adjust spacing, layout and styling This makes website creation accessible even for beginners with no technical experience. 03. What is Wix Harmony and how does it support vibe coding? If you're exploring AI-driven website creation, you might ask what is Wix Harmony? Wix Harmony is a platform designed to combine AI-powered generation with flexible editing tools so users can build complete websites quickly. Instead of manually assembling each part of a site, the AI generates a starting point based on your description of the website you want to create. After the site draft is generated, you can refine the design and functionality using Wix AI visual editing tools. This approach allows creators to: Generate websites quickly Customize designs visually Refine content with AI assistance The result is a streamlined workflow that helps turn ideas into live websites faster. “The hybrid approach is what sets Wix Harmony apart. You can rely on AI for efficiency, letting it handle repetitive or technical tasks via vibe coding, and then jump in with drag-and-drop precision whenever you want to craft something truly unique. It’s the best of both worlds in one interface.” - Yarin Singolda, Wix Harmony product marketing manager Learn more about Wix Harmony: Why use Wix Harmony? How much does Wix Harmony cost? 04. Generating website ideas quickly with AI One of the hardest parts of building a site is deciding what the site should actually look like. AI tools help solve this problem by generating website ideas based on a simple description of your project or business. For example, you might prompt the AI with something like: “Create a portfolio website for a photographer” “Build a website for a small bakery” “Generate a consulting business website” From that description, the AI can suggest: Page structure Layout design Content sections Website navigation structure These suggestions give creators a starting point they can refine and customize. Learn more: prompts to use with AI website builder. 05. Starting from ready-made website templates Another reason to vibe code a website is that many platforms combine AI generation with pre-built website templates. Templates provide design frameworks that already include: Optimized page layouts Visual hierarchy Mobile responsiveness Built-in navigation systems AI can adapt these templates to match your project or industry. For example, a template might automatically adjust for: A Portfolio website A Business website Online blog An eCommerce website This saves time while still allowing full customization. 06. Launching quickly with free website hosting Launching a website typically requires configuring servers and hosting services. With modern site builders, free website hosting is often included as part of the platform. This simplifies the process significantly. Instead of managing hosting separately, users can: Generate their site Customize it visually Publish directly to the web This streamlined workflow makes website creation much easier for beginners and small businesses. 07. Getting a domain name and publishing fast Once your website is built, you'll need a domain name so people can find it online. A domain is the address users type into their browser, such as: yourbrand.com yourportfolio.com Most website builders allow users to search for and register domains directly from the platform. This means you can: Generate your site with AI Connect a domain Publish the website Learn more about domains: What is a domain? How to buy a domain name How to register a domain name Is GoDaddy the only place to buy a domain? 08. Adding essential website features automatically Another reason creators vibe code websites is that AI can recommend useful website features based on the type of site you're building. For example, a business website might include: Online forms Online scheduling Invoice creator An online store might automatically include: Product pages Online shopping carts Online payment processing This helps ensure your site has the functionality users expect without requiring technical setup. 09. Comparing modern best website builders AI-driven creation is becoming a core feature among modern best AI website builders. Instead of starting with a blank page, users can now generate sites automatically and refine them with visual editing tools. This shift is changing how websites are built because it reduces complexity while speeding up website development. For many creators and entrepreneurs, this means they can focus more on growing their project rather than learning technical skills. "When it comes to website building, one of the biggest challenges for business owners is the amount of time needed to create one. With AI, everything is much faster and easier. Business owners can now build their own websites, update their content and create or enhance images with minimal effort. AI is revolutionizing the world, and the technology is expanding into everything we do." - Marine Levy Belder, product marketing manager at Wix 10. Why AI is shaping the next generation of AI website builders The growth of AI website builders signals a major shift in how digital products are created. AI tools are increasingly capable of generating: Layouts Written content Branding suggestions Page structures As these tools improve, building a website will likely become even faster and more intuitive. Instead of spending weeks assembling pages, creators will be able to move from concept to launch in a fraction of the time. Learn more: Vibe coding vs no code Why you can vibe code a website without any coding skills One of the biggest advantages of vibe coding is that it removes the need for traditional coding knowledge. Normally, building a website requires multiple technical steps: HTML CSS JavaScript CMS configuration Hosting setup With vibe coding, you bypass most of that complexity. Instead of writing code, you interact with the platform using prompts and visual tools, making website creation much faster and more accessible. For example, you can instruct the AI to generate: A portfolio homepage layout for your creative work A restaurant website with menus, reservation forms and images A landing page optimized for conversions The AI handles the heavy lifting while you focus on refining the design, content and branding. This workflow opens up website creation to freelancers, creators, startups and small businesses, anyone can go from concept to live site without technical expertise. Why vibe code a website FAQ What is vibe coding for websites? Vibe coding is a method of building websites using AI prompts combined with visual editing tools. Instead of writing code, users describe the site they want and refine the generated result. Is vibe coding faster than traditional website development? Yes. AI-generated layouts and content significantly reduce the time needed to build a site. Many websites can be created in minutes instead of days. Do you need coding skills to vibe code a website? No. Most vibe coding tools are designed for beginners and non-developers, allowing anyone to build and customize a site visually. Can businesses use vibe coding for professional websites? Yes. Many modern platforms generate production-ready websites suitable for portfolios, small businesses, blogs and online stores. Is vibe coding changing traditional website development? Not entirely. Developers still build complex custom systems, but AI-powered website creation is making it easier for individuals and small teams to launch websites quickly.

Build your website, your way with Wix Harmony → If you’ve been researching how to create a website lately, chances are you’ve come across the term “vibe coding.” In web design, it’s when you chat with an AI tool to generate a fully functional site. Let me say first, it’s pretty impressive. And yes, you can vibe code a whole website. But if you’ve actually tried, you’ve likely hit a wall at some point. Because the truth is, vibe coding is amazing for creating a first draft but falls short when it comes to finishing it. Let’s take a look at why. The limitations of 'classic' vibe coding If I had to put a number on it, vibe coding gets you to the 80% mark of your final website super fast. It usually nails the structure and the general aesthetic you’re looking for. But the moment you try to fine-tune that last 20% to your brand, you enter what I call “prompt purgatory.” Here’s a typical scenario: You want the logo to appear slightly larger at the top of your website. You prompt AI to fix it. AI makes it too large. You ask it to shrink it back. It reduces its size but messes up your logo’s alignment with the menu. You ask it to fix the menu. It changes the font. Suddenly, instead of designing, you’re negotiating with AI. You’re trying to describe visual nuance with text. You get stuck in a loop. It’s inefficient, and frankly, it kills your creative flow. Read also: Preserving your creativity in the age of AI website building The “generic” trap The other issue with relying 100% on vibe coding is the output itself. AI models are trained on averages. If you ask it to create a site for a “modern coffee shop,” it gives you the mathematical average of every modern coffee shop on the internet. The resulting site looks professional, sure. But it lacks the specific choices that human designers make. It lacks the spark. And if you’re working on a vibe coding platform that doesn’t let you touch the design manually, you’re stuck with a site that looks like thousands of others. While you’re here: Sure, AI can design your whole website—but you give it soul Enter the middle ground Since AI came along, you usually have two choices when creating a website. You can suffer through “prompt purgatory” or create things by hand. The good news? You don’t have to choose anymore. Our new editor, Wix Harmony, was built on the belief that the future of web design isn't AI or human—it’s both. It gives you a middle ground where you can use AI for the heavy lifting (speed, structure, mobile optimization) and manual tools for the precision (personal touches, unique interactions, your authentic tone of voice). This is what we call “hybrid” web design. To make that hybrid flow work, we built Aria, an AI agent who understands natural language and web design. You can just tell Aria what you want to build, and she makes it happen. She’s also trained on millions of real business sites built on Wix, so she gets the nuances of creating different types of websites for different types of businesses. I like to compare her to having a professional designer sitting right beside you. Learn more: Vibe coding vs no code 5 tips for vibe coding a website Striking that balance between AI assistance and manual control is an art form, but it’s one anyone can learn. Based on how we built Wix Harmony and the successful sites I’ve seen built using the hybrid approach, here are five ways to get it right. 01. Being specific is your superpower My best advice for working with AI? Be accurate. Be specific. If you just tell your AI agent, “I'm a mechanic,” you’re going to get something generic: a site showing cars, engines and maybe a wrench icon. But if you say, “I'm a mechanic specializing in Porsche cars, I take pride in precision, everything in my garage is done by hand,” AI will likely give you much more than just a car. It’ll show measuring tools and close-ups of hands working on metal. It’ll make the font look high-end and create content that shows off your expertise. 02. Use AI as a “repair” tool Don’t be afraid to get messy. If you change an image size or add text that breaks the visual balance of a section, ask AI to reorganize the content rather than trying to fix the principles of design yourself. Let it build the structure, choose the font pairings and make sure the mobile view isn't broken. Then, use your manual classic design tools for the final tweaks. That’s the sweet spot. 03. Let AI know who you are (within reason) You don’t want to waste time writing your life story, but generally, the more context you give your AI agent about your backstory and taste, the more it’ll understand what you need. For example, give Aria the lowdown on why you started your business, where you are today and your hopes for the future. She’ll remember this information as she creates the content for your site. Read my other work: How do you choose the right AI agent for web design? 04. Lean on AI for trends If you aren't sure what “vibe” actually sells in your industry, ask your agent. Since it understands the design expectations for different niches, you can use it as a market researcher. Ask, “What kind of layout do high-end architects usually use?” and let the data guide you. 05. Know when to switch gears If you’re new to hybrid design, finding the flow between AI and manual design is a muscle you have to build. The more you create, the more you’ll understand the division of labor. You’ll learn that Aria can map out your site super fast. But you’ll also realize that you’re the expert who brings intention and taste. And as you spend more time in the weeds with the manual tools, your confidence will naturally grow. Who knows? You might prefer to handle the 80% yourself and have AI take care of the 20%, instead of the other way around. It’s your expression that counts One of the questions I get asked most often is, “If everyone uses AI, won't the internet just become a sea of generic sameness?” Don’t get me wrong. I get their concerns. There’s a lot of “AI slop” out there already. But right now, I’m much more excited about how we’re democratizing the “sweet spot” that counters it. With Wix Harmony, we bridge the gap between the two extremes. We allow you to be messy when you want (e.g., telling AI "Just make this look good") and surgical when you need to be (using freeform drag-and-drop tools). At the end of the day, building a website is about expression and sharing your passion with the world. Don't be afraid to lean on AI to handle the technical stuff like spacing and hierarchy. Let it remove the anxiety of the blank page. But never forget that you’re the source of inspiration. So, go ahead. See what you can do when you go hybrid. Learn more about Wix Harmony: What is Wix Harmony? Why use Wix Harmony? How much does Wix Harmony cost?

Turn your ideas into a live website in minutes with Wix’s AI Website Builder → Vibe coding is a new approach to building software where users create websites and applications by describing the desired functionality, or “vibe,” in natural language to Artificial Intelligence (this can be an AI website builder or vibe coding website builder), rather than learning to code. This method shifts your role from writing code to guiding an AI tool that handles the implementation, effectively allowing non-technical creators to build complex software through prompts and iteration. In this guide, you’ll learn how this trend is democratizing software creation and transforming how products are built. By understanding the mechanics of vibe coding, you can use AI tools to turn your creative ideas into usable apps and tools without spending years learning traditional programming languages. With Wix Harmony, the hybrid vibe coding and drag-and-drop website builder, you can create professional and interactive websites quickly and with more control. It combines natural language prompting with visual editing, so you can generate layouts, connect data, set up interactions and automate workflows, then fine-tune every detail manually when needed. This hybrid approach keeps the creative flow fast while giving you the flexibility of drag-and-drop precision. With Wix Harmony, you can vibe code a business-ready website from a single prompt and continue shaping it exactly the way you want. Vibe coding doesn’t have to mean starting from zero. Using the best vibe coding tools, you can connect data, set up interactions and automate workflows, all while focusing on creativity and user experience. With Wix’s AI website builder, you can generate a full site layout, design direction and professional copy, then fine-tune it your way. It’s the fastest path from idea to a fully built website. That's the idea Wix Harmony is built around: you should never have to choose between AI speed and human precision. TL;DR: What is vibe coding Vibe coding, popularized in 2025 by tech figures like Andrej Karpathy is the practice of talking with AI to write code for you. Instead of worrying about semicolons and syntax errors, you focus on the high-level logic and user experience. Coding feature Traditional coding Vibe coding Input Code Syntax (Python, JS, C++) Natural Language Prompts Required skills Deep technical knowledge Logic, ideas, prompting Speed Slower (manual typing/debugging) Fast (instant generation) Role of the human Writer/Builder Manager/Director Barrier to entry High Low (accessible to non-coders) When it comes to vibe coding, the AI tool you choose acts as a junior developer. For example, using tools like: Wix's AI website builder Vibe coding with Base44 Using an AI app builder You tell it what you want—for example, "Create a blue button that bounces when clicked"—and the AI generates the HTML, CSS and JavaScript to make that happen. If it looks wrong, you don't rewrite the code, you tell the AI, "The bounce is too slow, make it snappier." Explore how vibe coding principles can also guide how to build an app. Benefits of vibe coding Vibe coding is also fast becoming a popular way to go about prototyping and building MVP (Minimum Viable Products). Here's why: Speed: What used to take days of coding now takes seconds. You can create a landing page or a simple game in the time it takes to describe it. Lower barrier to entry: You don't need to know any code. If you can explain logic clearly, you can build software. Creativity: Developers can spend more time on UI/UX and product fit rather than debugging missing brackets. "The hottest new programming language is English." — Andrej Karpathy Common challenges of vibe coding While it has many benefits, relying entirely on AI to create software is not without risks. Hallucinations: AI can confidently write code that looks correct but fails to run or uses non-existent libraries. Maintenance difficulty: If you don't understand the code the AI wrote, fixing a bug that the AI cannot resolve can become a major roadblock. Security risks: AI might generate code with vulnerabilities if not prompted to follow security best practices. It's important to choose a vibe coding tool that has advanced security practices and infrastructure. Examples of vibe coding How does vibe coding look in the real world? An instant game: A user asks an AI app builder 'Make a snake game but the snake is a train and the food is passengers.' The AI writes the Python script and the game is playable within seconds. Data analysis: A marketer uploads a CSV file and asks, 'Create a graph showing the correlation between email open rates and sales.' The AI writes the Python Pandas script and renders the chart. Web design: A designer prompts, "Create a portfolio page with a dark mode toggle and a brutalist design aesthetic." Vibe coding vs traditional coding Traditional coding asks you to think like the computer: pick a language, learn its syntax, design the architecture and write every line by hand. Vibe coding flips that around. You think like a product designer: describe what you want, let the AI handle the implementation and iterate on the output. The trade-offs are real on both sides. Traditional coding gives you full control, predictable performance and a deep understanding of every system you ship, which matters when you're building something that has to scale or stay secure for years. Vibe coding gives you speed, accessibility and creative freedom, which matters when you're testing an idea or shipping a prototype. Most builders end up using both, depending on the project: vibe coding for the messy creative phase, traditional coding when something needs to last. How to get started with vibe coding Choose your AI builder: Use AI-native editors like Base44 or Wix's AI website builder for vibe coding a website. Start small with your vibe coding: Don't ask for a competitor to Facebook, start with a landing page or similar. Iterate: Your first prompt won't be perfect and that's OK. Treat the AI like a human—which means giving it feedback. "That's good, but change the font to Roboto," or "This function is too slow, optimize it." Tips for vibe coding effectively Vibe coding looks easy from the outside, but the quality of what you get out is almost entirely a function of how you prompt. A few habits that separate frustrating sessions from productive ones: Be specific about what you want. Vague prompts like "make it nicer" get vague results. Name the element, describe the change and give a reason. "Make the hero section feel more energetic by using a brighter accent color and adding a subtle animation on scroll" beats "make the page pop." Give the AI one task at a time. Stacking five changes into one prompt almost always produces something off. Break complex changes into a sequence of small prompts and check the output between each step. Share context the AI can't see. If your site is for a specific audience or industry, say so. If you're inspired by a particular style, name it. The AI builds what you describe, not what you imagine. Treat the AI like a junior collaborator, not a vending machine. Give feedback on what's wrong. "The bounce animation is too slow, make it snappier" is more useful than starting over with a new prompt. Review what you ship. Vibe coding makes it easy to publish quickly, but it's worth scanning the result for broken interactions, missing alt text or copy that doesn't quite match your brand voice before sharing the link. Learn about Wix's hybrid website builder: What is Wix Harmony? How much does Wix Harmony cost? Why use Wix Harmony? What is vibe coding FAQ Is vibe coding the same as no-code? No because no-code builders usually just hide code behind a visual interface. Vibe coding actually generates real, raw code (Python, JavaScript, etc.) that you can export, edit and host anywhere. It gives you the power of code without the actual coding. Learn more: Vibe coding vs no code Will vibe coding replace software engineers? It's unlikely as it just replaces a part of the engineering process. Its possible engineers will transition from writing syntax to reviewing and orchestrating AI-generated code. Do I need to know how to code to be able to vibe code? No. However, having a basic understanding of how code works (knowing what a variable or a function is) can help you manage the AI builder better and spot errors when the AI "hallucinates." Is vibe coding the same as no-code? Not exactly. No-code tools rely on visual building blocks like drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built templates. Vibe coding uses natural language prompts to generate actual code (or fully built features) behind the scenes. The output is usually more flexible than what a pure no-code tool can produce, and you keep the option to edit the underlying code if you want to. Tools like Wix Harmony blur the line by combining both: you prompt to generate, then drag and drop to refine. Is vibe coding good for beginners? Yes, especially for early-stage ideas. Vibe coding removes the syntax barrier and lets you focus on what you want to build rather than how to code it. The catch is that once your project gets complex, understanding at least the basics of how the code works will help you debug issues, spot security risks and communicate more effectively with the AI. For business-ready sites and apps, picking a builder that handles infrastructure for you (like Wix Harmony or Base44) is a safer starting point than raw code generation. Will vibe coding replace traditional coding? Probably not entirely. Most experts agree that vibe coding shines for prototypes, MVPs and creative experiments, while production systems still benefit from human review, testing and architectural judgment. The more likely outcome is that vibe coding becomes one tool in a developer's toolkit, alongside traditional coding, freeing humans to focus on strategy, UX and the harder design problems AI can't yet solve on its own. What are the best vibe coding tools? The right tool depends on what you're building. For websites, Wix Harmony combines vibe coding with full drag-and-drop control and ships with business tools built in. For full-stack apps, Base44 generates a working app (frontend, backend, database) from a single conversation. For raw code generation inside an IDE, tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor and Replit are popular with developers who want AI assistance without leaving their existing workflow.