Shopify product search and filtering tool June 01, 2021

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

Why we need Shopify product search and filtering tool? Sometimes there is a need to build multifunctional advanced filters based on color or product size. Otherwise, it is quite difficult for customers to look through all products to find what products are available by exact size or color. Unfortunately, it is not a native Shopify function. 

So let’s review more detailed the ways to make this functionality live at your store and compare its pros and cons.

 

Shopify product search and filter tool applications

(available at Shopify app market by the link — https://apps.shopify.com/)

Same for a lot of other functionalities, Shopify suggests a wide range of applications that resolve the problem of product filtering. For example Product Filter & Search by Boost Commerce, which allows you to add the function to your store. Then you will be able to pick up goods by their size, color, and any other characteristic variants.

 

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

 

Product Filter & Search by Boost Commerce

The application suggests extended and customizable filters for collections and search results pages.

Parameters of dynamic search based on collection, vendor, product’s type, variant (e.g. size or color), rating, price, discount, or SKU, and what is very important is that you can also search by tags and metafields.

Also, it makes it easy to change or keep the filter’s menu, improve navigation and interface of your site, providing customers with a possibility to filter goods by type, size or color, brand or price, etc.

There is also a big range of parameters’ types of filters: Box, List, Swatches, Range Sliders.

Analytics is very important for store-owners because working with a big quantity of goods it is necessary to understand how customers use filters and search, popular search requests, and how clients act when they don’t find anything. This and other information you will get using this application.

 

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

 

Smart Product Filter & Search by Globo

Using this application, you can create several products filters for your store depending on goods characteristics and such filters as by:

  • products variant
  • size and color
  • price
  • tags
  • collection
  • vendor
  • brand
  • product type
  • inventory
  • and popularity of goods.

Also, this application allows you to create multiple filters. You can create different filters for different collections and provide clients with an opportunity to share the results of filtering by URL address. This is very important and can save you more conversions on the website. This app has extended a 21-days free trial.

You can learn more about other application here https://apps.shopify.com/search?q=filters

If you need any help with installing, customizing, or using filters, MGroup can help you with this. For more detailed information about all services, you can check our website and contact us there.

Custom Code option by Standard Shopify solution

For developing this option we have to build a valid Product Organization in Shopify. There are 4 ways for organizing goods in Shopify: type, vendor, Collection, and also tags.

Each product can have only one type and one vendor, but it also can have several tags and be a part of several collections. As Shopify allows you to add several tags to each product, we can use this option to create filtration by such attributes as size and color, not using additional applications.

To this method be working, you need to do the correct product organization on the Shopify site.

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

URL Structures

When the product’s structure has been organized properly, you can easily use standard Shopify functionality, building URLs network.

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

All collections will be available by links ‘store/collections/name_collection’. The same logic will work with tags which we put in products — store/collections/name_collection?constraint=name_tag.

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

A disadvantage of this functionality is the fact that multi-select will not work then. For example, we have 2 goods Product_1 which has tags-sizes S, M, L, and Product_2  — S, L without M (it is not available). Then request store/collections/name_collection?constraint=name_S+L show only 1 product in search results.

How to build a perfect product search and filtering tool for your Shopify store

Conclusion

As for collection filters in Shopify, we recommend taking into consideration store needs. If you have a small number of goods and variations you can just use tags which is standard Shopify functionality, but if the structure is more complicated- use applications.

Just remember that when you need help in Shopify development, just send us a message on our website and let’s discuss it!