Understanding Custom Sorting in Shopify Collections for Store Owners

In the world of e-commerce, presenting products in an organized and user-friendly manner is crucial for success. Shopify, one of the leading e-commerce platforms, offers various ways to sort and display products within collections. However, some aspects of collection sorting can be confusing for store owners and developers alike. This blog post aims to clarify the misconceptions surrounding Shopify’s collection sorting capabilities and provide practical solutions for implementing custom sorting options.

The Limitations of Shopify’s Collection Sorting

Understanding the sort_by Property

Many Shopify users assume that the sort_by property of a collection can be easily manipulated to change the sorting order of products. However, this is not the case. The sort_by property is actually a read-only string, which means it cannot be directly modified through Liquid code.

Liquid’s Role in Shopify

It’s important to understand that Liquid, the templating language used in Shopify themes, is not a full-fledged programming language like PHP. Liquid is designed to be a simple and secure templating engine with a specific scope. Its primary function is to read and display data provided by the Shopify system, not to modify backend behavior.

Read-Only Nature of Shopify Objects

In Liquid, almost all objects and properties are read-only. While you can create variables and change their values, you cannot modify the underlying Shopify objects themselves. For example, you can’t alter the actual product object on a product page, even if you create a variable named “product” and assign it different values.

Available Sorting Options in Shopify

Despite these limitations, Shopify does provide several built-in sorting options for collections. These include:

• Price (ascending and descending)
• Title (A-Z and Z-A)
• Creation date (ascending and descending)
• Best-selling
• Manual (as set by the store owner)
• Inventory

Additionally, you can sort by product ID, which can be useful in certain scenarios.

Implementing Custom Sorting in Shopify Themes

Client-Side Sorting with URL Parameters

The most effective way to implement custom sorting in Shopify is through client-side sorting using URL parameters. This method allows users to change the sort order without modifying the backend collection settings.

Creating a Sort Picker

To implement a sort picker in your theme, you can follow the example set by Shopify’s Dawn theme. Here’s a simplified version of how you might structure your sort picker:

<select name="sort_by" class="sort-by">
  {% for option in collection.sort_options %}
    <option value="{{ option.value }}" {% if option.value == collection.sort_by %}selected="selected"{% endif %}>
      {{ option.name }}
    </option>
  {% endfor %}
</select>

This code creates a dropdown menu with all available sorting options for the collection.

Handling Sort Changes

When a user selects a new sorting option, you’ll need to update the URL with the new sort_by parameter. This can be done using JavaScript:

document.querySelector('.sort-by').addEventListener('change', function() {
  var url = new URL(window.location.href);
  url.searchParams.set('sort_by', this.value);
  window.location = url.href;
});

This script listens for changes to the sort picker and updates the URL accordingly, triggering a page reload with the new sorting applied.

Server-Side Sorting Options

While client-side sorting is flexible, there are cases where you might want to set a default sort order for a collection on the server-side. Here are a few options:

Changing Collection Settings

As a store owner or administrator, you can change the default sort order for a collection in the Shopify admin panel. This is useful for setting a consistent sorting method across your store.

Duplicating Collections

If you need different sort orders for the same products, consider duplicating the collection and setting different sort orders for each. This allows you to maintain multiple versions of the same collection with different sorting.

Using Shopify Apps

There are various Shopify apps available that can extend the sorting capabilities of your store. These apps often provide more advanced sorting options and can be a good solution if you need functionality beyond what’s available out-of-the-box.

Best Practices for Collection Sorting

Consistency Across Your Store

Maintain a consistent sorting approach across your store to provide a better user experience. If you use custom sorting options, make sure they are available and work the same way on all relevant pages.

Performance Considerations

Be mindful of the performance impact of complex sorting operations, especially for large collections. Client-side sorting can be resource-intensive, so consider implementing pagination or lazy loading for better performance.

Clear User Instructions

If you implement custom sorting options, provide clear instructions to your users on how to use them. This can be in the form of tooltips, help text, or a dedicated FAQ section.

Testing and Monitoring

Regularly test your sorting functionality across different devices and browsers to ensure it works as expected. Monitor user behavior to see which sorting options are most popular and consider optimizing your default sort order based on this data.

By understanding the limitations of Shopify’s collection sorting and implementing the solutions outlined in this post, you can create a more dynamic and user-friendly shopping experience for your customers. Remember that while Liquid may have its constraints, creative use of client-side technologies and Shopify’s built-in features can help you achieve the desired product organization for your online store.