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Overview

The Merchandising Rules feature allows you to take control of how products are displayed on your collection pages. Unlike traditional sorting methods, merchandising rules give you the flexibility to:
  1. Manually pin specific products to the top of a collection page
  2. Create expressions that automatically group and prioritize products based on attributes
  3. Combine both approaches in a hybrid strategy for maximum control

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Merchandising Architecture

Merchandising Rules sit at the top of the platform hierarchy and can override all lower layers, providing ultimate control over product display:
Merchandising rules extend your Sort Orders rather than replace them. Products that aren’t manually pinned or matched by expressions will follow the base sort order you’ve selected.

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Getting Started with Merchandising

Our platform offers robust tools that enable you to manually merchandise your collection pages. By creating merchandising rules, you can override the default sorting logic and curate product displays that align with your marketing strategies.

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Step 1: Accessing the Merchandising Interface

To begin merchandising a category, navigate to the Merchandise tab on the dashboard and click on the Create button.

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Step 2: Configuring the Merchandising Interface

On the create or edit page you can configure the number of columns in the merchandising grid and attributes shown on product cards in the merchandising interface by clicking the “Configure” button on the left above the grid.

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Step 3: Creating a Merchandising Rule

  1. Define a Collection: Select the collection you wish to merchandise.
  2. Define a Sort Order: Select the sort order that you want to extend with your merchandising rule.
  3. Product Pinning: Pin products to appear at the top of the category page. This is useful for highlighting new arrivals, bestsellers, or promotional items.
  4. Add Expressions (Optional): Create rules that automatically group products based on specific attributes.

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Step 4: Publish

Once satisfied, publish the merchandising rule, and the product positions will be reflected on your category page.

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Types of Merchandising

Layers offers three approaches to merchandising your collection pages:

Manual Merchandising

Manually pin specific products to appear at the top of your collection page, giving you precise control over which items receive the most visibility.

Automated Merchandising

Use expressions to automatically group and prioritize products based on attributes like product type, vendor, tags, or other criteria.

Hybrid Approach

Combine manual pinning with expressions for a comprehensive merchandising strategy that balances precision with automation.

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Understanding Merchandising Expressions

Expressions are powerful rules that automatically sort products based on attributes like product type, vendor, price, or any other filterable attribute in your catalog.
Expressions are applied after manual/conditional pins and before the primary sort order. This means pinned products always appear first, followed by products matching expressions, and finally all remaining products sorted by the base sort order.

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How Expressions Work

  1. Products matching your expressions appear in the order of the expressions
  2. Within each expression group, products are sub-sorted by your selected base sort order
  3. Products not matching any expression follow at the end, sorted by the base sort order

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Example Use Case

Let’s say you want to group products in your “New Shoes” collection by product type, while using the “Best-selling” sort order: 
Expressions:
1. product_type = Sneakers
2. product_type = Sandals
3. product_type = Boots
Result:
  • All Sneakers appear first, sub-sorted by best-selling rank
  • Then all Sandals, sub-sorted by best-selling rank
  • Then all Boots, sub-sorted by best-selling rank
  • Finally, any remaining shoes (like Slippers or Loafers) sorted by best-selling rank
Merchandising Expressions Example

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Creating Expressions

To add an expression:
  1. Click the “Add Expression” button in the Merchandising Expressions section
  2. Select an attribute (must be marked as filterable in your attributes settings)
  3. Choose an operator (equals, contains, greater than, etc.)
  4. Select or enter a value
  5. Add multiple expressions and arrange them in the desired order

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Tips for Effective Merchandising

  • Align with Marketing Campaigns: Coordinate your merchandising efforts with ongoing marketing campaigns for a unified promotional strategy.
  • Seasonal Adjustments: Update your merchandising to reflect seasonal trends, holidays, or shopping events.
  • Customer Insights: Use customer behavior data to inform your merchandising decisions, ensuring that the most relevant products are highlighted.
  • Balance Manual and Automated Approaches: Use manual pinning for your most important products, and expressions for broader category organization.
  • Test Different Strategies: Experiment with different expression combinations to find what works best for your store.

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Example Scenarios

  • Holiday Season: During the holiday season, pin gift sets at the top, then use expressions to group products by price range (under 25,25, 25-50,over50, over 50).
  • New Collection Launch: Pin featured items at the top, then use expressions to group remaining products by collection theme or color.
  • Sales Promotions: Pin highest-discount items at the top, then use expressions to group products by discount percentage ranges.
  • Category Organization: Use expressions to group products by sub-category, brand, or material while maintaining your best-selling sort order within each group.
By following this guide and utilizing the full suite of merchandising tools available on our platform, you’ll be able to merchandise category pages that not only look great but also drive conversions and enhance the customer shopping experience.