How Wave is revolutionizing rewards-based shopping.

Wave is a browser extension and mobile app that partners with over  11,000 top online retailers, including Nike, Sephora, Macy’s, Walmart,  and more. Unlike traditional coupon finders, Wave provides a dynamic,  gamified shopping experience where users not only save money with  automatically applied discounts but also earn tokens for every purchase. These tokens can be used to enter exciting prize giveaways, giving  users a chance to win big simply by shopping as they normally would.  This approach drives higher engagement, repeat usage, and customer  loyalty.

Save Instantly


No need to search for coupons; Wave applies the best deals automatically.

Earn While You Shop


Every purchase earns tokens, which can be redeemed for prize entries.

Win Big Prizes


Users can enter sweepstakes for electronics, travel, gift cards, and more.

Hassle-Free Experience


A seamless extension and mobile app integration ensure users never miss out on rewards.

Overcoming challenges

Wave is a browser extension and mobile app that partners with over  11,000 top online retailers, including Nike, Sephora, Macy’s, Walmart,  and more. Unlike traditional coupon finders, Wave provides a dynamic,  gamified shopping experience where users not only save money with  automatically applied discounts but also earn tokens for every purchase. These tokens can be used to enter exciting prize giveaways, giving  users a chance to win big simply by shopping as they normally would.  This approach drives higher engagement, repeat usage, and customer loyalty.
‍

1. Eliminating Technical Debt

   Previous development led to a bloated, inefficient microservices architecture, causing delays and performance issues.

2. Bridging the Mobile Gap
    Initial  development prioritized desktop users, ignoring mobile-first shoppers, a critical audience for social media-driven traffic.

3. Authentication Frustrations
    Wave’s original authentication system relied on AWS Cognito, which proved difficult for seamless mobile integration.

4. Speed & Performance Bottlenecks
    
As a media-rich platform, Wave faced slow loading times, sluggish responsiveness, and high bounce rates.

5. User Retention Struggles
    Converting one-time users into loyal customers required stronger incentives and engagement mechanisms..

The solution

We stepped in to refine and enhance Wave’s platform, ensuring it was  fast, seamless, and built for long-term success. Our focus was on  improving performance, expanding reach, and boosting user engagement  while keeping everything intuitive for both users and administrators.  Here’s how we made that happen.

Making the extension more powerful & seamless

A custom model fine-tuned on user-submitted images to ensure precise  facial detail retention. This helped generate more lifelike portraits,  improving cosine similarity by 28% and face verification accuracy by 9%.

Building a mobile-first experience

A custom model fine-tuned on user-submitted images to ensure precise  facial detail retention. This helped generate more lifelike portraits,  improving cosine similarity by 28% and face verification accuracy by 9%.

Supercharging performance & engagement

We improved Wave’s overall performance by reducing load times through image optimization, caching, and backend improvements, while also removing code bloat to increase reliability and stability. Data handling was refined to ensure faster responses and smoother transactions.

At the same time, we boosted user engagement by enhancing daily reward streaks, optimizing the gamified shopping experience, and creating a frictionless onboarding flow that drives early engagement and retention.

Key features

Wave is powered by a modern, scalable tech stack combining React and Swift on the frontend, Node.js and Supabase on the backend, AWS and PostgreSQL for storage, and Amplitude for analytics.

Impact

Wave is not just another coupon extension. It's a smarter, more rewarding way to shop online. By seamlessly integrating automatic savings,  gamified rewards, and exclusive prize opportunities, Wave makes every  purchase more exciting and valuable. Unlike other extensions, Wave gives you chances to win real prizes simply by shopping.

Download Wave at joinwave.com and start turning your everyday purchases into exciting rewards!

What’s next for Wave?

Wave is just getting started. We’re continuing to build on its success with new features:

1. Expanding Marketing Efforts
    Wave is ramping up marketing initiatives to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. With targeted campaigns, influencer. partnerships, and referral programs, the goal is to attract more users and amplify engagement.

2. Enhancing Mobile UX
    As more shoppers prefer mobile browsing, Wave is refining its mobile experience to ensure faster load times, smoother navigation, and an optimized in-app rewards system.

3. Advanced Data Analytics
  
By leveraging real-time analytics, Wave is fine-tuning user behavior insights to enhance personalization, improve conversion rates, and optimize retention strategies.