Merchandising

Merchandising lets you arrange the order of products within a category and optionally feature that category on your storefront’s front page.

This helps you highlight products you want to prioritize while giving you more control over how selected categories appear on your storefront.

Best for:

• Highlighting bestsellers or high-demand products
• Promoting seasonal or limited-time items
• Prioritizing higher-value or strategic products
• Controlling how products appear within a category
• Featuring selected categories on your storefront’s front page
  

To Access Merchandising
In productAce, click Merchandising from the left sidebar.
If you’re not in the app or need a refresher on navigation, see Access productAce.

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Before you begin #

For Merchandising to work properly, make sure the following are set up in your BigCommerce store.

1. Set Default Product Sort to Featured Items

To set this up:

1. Go to Settings
2. Click General
3. Open Display
4. Go to Category Settings
5. Set Default Product Sort to Featured Items

2. Check if another app controls product sorting

If you’re using a third-party app that controls the category page product sort order, and it does not allow you to set sorting to Featured Items, Merchandising will not work.

In this case, contact the app provider to check if sorting can be set to Featured Items.

3. Hide products from search (optional)

If you want to hide certain products from search results, place them in a hidden category in BigCommerce (for example: hidden-search).

To set this up:

1. Go to Products → Product Categories
2. Create a category named hidden-search
3. Uncheck Visible in menu to hide it from your storefront
4. Assign products to this category

For more details, see Managing Product Availability (BigCommerce Help Center).

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Merchandise Your Products #

Step 1: Select a Category

On the Merchandising page, select the category you want to merchandise.

You can either:

• Select a category from the list.
• Type in the search field to find a specific category.

Once you select a category, the products in that category will load in the Merchandise Products section.

Step 2: Arrange Your Products

Products appear as tiles in a grid. You can arrange them in the order you want them to appear on your storefront.

You can reorder products in two ways:

• Drag and drop — Click and hold a product tile, then drag it to the desired position.
• Manual position — Click the gray number box, enter a position number, then press Enter. The products will reorder automatically.

When you’re satisfied with the arrangement:

• Click Update to save your changes and finish merchandising this category.
• If you want to feature this category on your front page, continue to Step 3 — Show the Category on Your Front Page (Optional).

Step 3: Show the Category on Your Front Page (Optional)

If you’d like to feature the category on your storefront’s front page, follow these steps.

• Turn on Show Category on the Front Page

1. Click Show Category on Front Page (Optional).
2. Turn the Show Category toggle On.

Once enabled, the selected category can appear on your storefront’s front page.

• Customize Your Front-Page Category

Use the following tabs to customize how the category appears:

Properties

Use the Properties tab to add a message for the category and choose where it appears on your front page.

• Add a Category Message

The Category Message section lets you add a heading and subheading to display above the category’s products.

1. Enter your preferred text in Heading Text.
2. Enter your preferred text in Subheading Text.
3. Leave either field blank if you don’t want to add that text.

• Choose the Category Placement

The Category Placement on Front Page section lets you choose where the category appears on your front page.

Select one of the following:

• Below Featured Products
• Above Featured Products
• Above Footer

Design

Use the Design tab to customize the appearance of your category section and choose which product details appear on each product card.

• Choose a Background Color
  Under Category Section Background, click the color field next to Background and choose a color for the category section.
  
• Choose the Number of Products to Display

Under Category Product Count, select how many products you want to display in the category section.

You can choose from:

• 3
• 4
• 8
• 12
• 16
• 20
• 24

• Choose Product Card Elements

Under Product Card Elements, choose which product details and buttons to show on each product card.

You can turn the following options on or off:

• Product Image
• Product Name
• Product Price
• Call-to-Action Button
• Quick View Button
• Gift Certificate Button
• Add to Wish List Button

All options are enabled by default.

Display Schedule

Use the Display Schedule tab to choose when the category appears on your front page.

• Choose When to Display the Category

Select one of the following:

• Show Now — Display the category on your front page immediately.
• Schedule for Later — Choose when you want the category to appear.

If you select Schedule for Later, choose one of these scheduling options from the dropdown:

• Date Range — Set a starting date and ending date for when the category should appear.
• Day of the Week — Set the days of the week when the category should appear.
• Single Date — Set a specific date when the category should appear.

Set the Schedule

The fields shown depend on the scheduling option you selected.

• Date Range — Choose a Starting Date and Ending Date. Click the + button to add another date range if needed.
• Day of the Week — Select the days of the week when the category should appear.
• Single Date — Choose a date when the category should appear. Click the + button to add additional dates if needed.

If available for your selected schedule, turn Repeat Yearly On to repeat the schedule each year.

To remove an added date or date range, click the × button next to it.

When you’re finished, click Update to save your changes.

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Manage Your Featured Categories #

The Front Page Featured Categories tab gives you a quick overview of the categories you’ve added to your storefront’s front page.

Use this page to check which categories are currently live or scheduled, when they will appear, whether their schedule repeats yearly, and where they are placed on your front page.

The table includes:

• Category Name — The category featured on your front page.
• Display Schedule — Shows whether the category is currently live or scheduled.
• Repeat Yearly — Shows whether the display schedule repeats annually.
• Placement — Shows where the category appears on your front page.
• Action — Click the Edit icon to update the category’s front-page settings.

If you click the Edit icon, you’ll return to the category’s Show Category on Front Page settings, where you can update its properties, design, or display schedule.

Edit a Featured Category #

To update a featured category:

1. Find the category you want to update.
2. Under Action, click the Edit icon.
3. Review or update the product order under Merchandise Products.
4. If you want to update how the category appears on your front page, click Show Category on Front Page.
5. Update the Properties, Design, or Display Schedule settings as needed.
6. Click Update to save your changes.