Category merchandising

Category merchandising rules let you control how products are ranked and displayed within categories on your storefront. You can boost popular products to the top, bury underperformers, pin specific products to fixed positions, and exclude products from appearing in certain categories.

How merchandising rules work

Merchandising rules are managed in the Experience section under Category Rules. Each rule:

• Targets one or more categories (or all categories if none are specified).
• Applies to one or more markets.
• Contains boost/bury groups that adjust product ranking scores.
• Contains pinned products that are locked to specific positions.
• Contains excluded products that are removed from the category listing.

Category rules list

Navigate to Experience → Category Rules in the sidebar. The list shows all merchandising rules with:

Quick filters

Filter the list by status:

• All — Show all rules.
• Active — Only active rules.
• Inactive — Only inactive rules.

Creating a merchandising rule

1. Go to Experience → Category Rules.
2. Click Create Rule.
3. Fill in the general settings:

4. Click Create Rule.

Boost and bury

Boost and bury controls let you adjust the ranking of products that match certain criteria. Products with a positive boost score appear higher in category listings; products with a negative score (bury) appear lower.

How it works

Boost/bury rules are organized into groups. Each group has:

• Logic — How rules within the group are combined:
  • AND — All rules in the group must match for the boost to apply.
  • OR — At least one rule must match.
• Boost score — A value from -2000 (strong bury) to +2000 (strong boost). Adjustable via slider or number input.
• Rules — One or more conditions that determine which products are affected.

Available filter fields

Rules can target a wide range of product data:

Operators

Predefined value options

Some fields offer predefined options:

• Type — Simple, Variant, Bundle
• Status — Published, Draft, Inactive, Hidden, Archived
• Is discounted — Yes / No
• Select/multiselect attributes — Options from the attribute's option list

Example boost/bury rules

Boost products with high margins:

• Field: Margin % → Greater than → 40
• Boost: +500

Bury out-of-stock products:

• Field: Stock (Main Warehouse) → Equals → 0
• Boost: -1000

Boost discounted products:

• Field: Is discounted → Equals → Yes
• Boost: +300

Managing groups

• Click Add Group to create a new boost/bury group.
• Within a group, click Add Rule to add conditions.
• Use the × button to remove individual rules.
• Use the trash button to remove an entire group.

Pin and exclude

Pin and exclude give you fine-grained control over individual products within a category.

Pinned products

Pinning locks a product to a specific position in the category listing. Use this for:

• Featuring a new product at position 1
• Ensuring best-sellers always appear near the top
• Controlling the exact layout of a curated category page

Each pinned product has:

• Product ID — The product being pinned
• Position — The fixed position in the listing (1 = first)

Excluded products

Excluding removes a product from the category listing entirely, even if it's assigned to the category. This is useful for:

• Temporarily hiding a product from a category without removing its category assignment
• Removing products that don't fit the curated selection

Managing pins and excludes

The pin/exclude view has two panels:

Left panel — lists:

• Pinned products — Shows each pinned product with its position. Click × to unpin.
• Excluded products — Shows excluded products. Click ↩ to un-exclude.

Right panel — product search:

1. Select a category on the rule (required — a warning appears if none is selected).
2. Search for products by name.
3. Click Search or press Enter.
4. Product cards appear in a grid with:
   • Product image
   • Name and SKU
   • PINNED badge (if already pinned)
   • EXCLUDED badge (if already excluded)
   • Pin toggle button
   • Exclude toggle button

Click the pin or exclude buttons to toggle a product's status.

Preview

Before applying merchandising rules, you can preview the impact:

1. In the rule editor, find the Preview card.
2. Select a market (required).
3. Optionally select a specific category to filter.
4. Click Run Preview.
5. Review the product cards showing rank, name, SKU, and price.

The preview shows you exactly how products will be ordered after the rule is applied.

Summary card

The rule editor includes a summary card showing:

• Boost/bury groups count
• Boost/bury rules total count across all groups
• Pinned products count
• Excluded products count

Best practices

• Use boost/bury for dynamic ranking — Let the system handle large-scale ranking adjustments automatically based on data.
• Use pins sparingly — Pinning is powerful but can make the category feel static. Reserve it for truly important placements.
• Test with preview — Always run a preview before publishing changes to verify the expected product order.
• Name rules descriptively — Use names like "Summer 2025 — Swimwear boost" so the rule's purpose is clear months later.
• Scope to specific markets — Different markets may need different merchandising strategies. Use market targeting to customize per region.
• Be patient with propagation — Boost/bury changes can take up to 30 minutes to fully appear on the storefront due to search index caching.