How does the 'Best Selling' sort option work in collections?

[Ceri-Waters]

Hiya,

Had an interesting query from a client (which surprinsgly I didn't know the answer to!)

With regards to Collection Sorting, what algorithim is used for 'Best Selling'. There's nothing in the documentation, and nothing with a solid confirmed answer online.

e.g. is the Time Frame used for 'Best Selling' products over the last 30 days, or the lifetime of the store? Is it how many of those products have been ordered, or just how many orders they've been in?

Thanks in Advance,

Ceri.

[Elias · Accepted solution]

Hey, @Ceri-Waters.

Elias here with Shopify Support. That's a great question!

The algorithm used for determining the 'Best Selling' order is based on the all-time number of orders that include the product. If you'd like to see a breakdown for the sorting options, you can find them on our guide here - Change the sort order for the products in a collection.  

I hope this answers your question! If you have any other questions on this topic, don't hesitate to let me know!

[Ceri-Waters]

Thanks! 🙂

[Egle]

Hello Elias, how to make "Best Selling" sorting based on, let's say the period from the last 7,14,30 days etc.?

[Elias]

Hello, @Egle.

Thank you for joining the thread!

I understand you're looking to sort your collections, specifically for the best selling category, using different time periods. While there isn't a way to do this at the moment, I'd be happy to pass your suggestion along to our development team. If Shopify moves forward with any changes to the way collections can be sorted, then we'll be sure to announce this on the Shopify Changelog. 

That being said, can you share some details on how the best selling sorting option is impacting your business at the moment? Also, what kinds of products are you selling?

[BecNolan]

Hi, I'd also like to request the option to set a time period for the best selling sorting option (past 90 days would be ideal). As our store is 5 years old, our all-time best sellers are not necessarily our current best sellers, although we still offer them in our store. We sell eyewear. Thanks

[Elias]

Hi, @BecNolan.

Thanks for joining the thread and sharing the additional context!

I can see why you'd need to adjust the time frame for Best selling products as your store has been around for 5 years, and I'd be more than happy to add you to this feature request. While I wouldn't be able to provide a timeline for when this feature will become available, we'll be sure to announce any changes or new features in the Shopify Changelog.

If you have any other questions on this topic, then don't hesitate to let me know!

[Maile_Urbancic]

I would also like to request this feature. For stores that have been with Shopify for a long time, it would be incredibly helpful to be able to set a shorter period for "best-seller" sorting. The way it works now makes it hard to promote both popular newer products and popular older products at the same time.

[DOGSHT]

Hello

I have a similar question. How do I sort by best-selling by default without a collection? I've chosen to have my products under the shop now button.

Thank you

Shane

[Elias]

Hello, @DOGSHT.

Thank you for joining the thread!

You can add "?sort_by=best-selling" to the end of your store's URL for the default collection (eg. https://shop.myshopify.com/collections/all?sort_by=best-selling). However, you will also need to change the link for the default collection in your navigation menu in order for this method to wok as opposed to using the preset for All products/All collections.

That being said, it is easier to create a collection for all of your products as this would enable you to change the sort order for products in a collection more easily by choosing from a drop-down of sorting presets (eg. best selling, date added, etc.).

I'd love to hear more about your business! What kinds of products are you selling? Do you have a marketing plan prepared for your store?

[Rhowze]

I already did that changing Featured to Best Selling but I don't know why it keeps going back to Featured.

[Elias]

Hey, @Rhowze.

Thank you for joining the thread.

The sorting presets for the collections doesn't appear to have a Featured option, so I'm not sure if we're referring to the same thing. Here's a screenshot for the list of the sorting presets: 

If you are experiencing an issue with saving changes made to your store, then it looks like we'll need to take a closer look at your account in order to resolve the issue. While we're unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community, we'd be happy to further assist you through live chat. Simply visit the Shopify Help Center and login to your account to create a support request. 

If you have any other questions on this topic, don't hesitate to let me know.

[randipants]

Hi Elias,

Hoping you can help me. I have a Best Sellers collection, which is sorting correctly on the set-up page. However, that sorting order is not displaying on the store page.

Any guidance to you can offer to fix this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Randi

[Elias]

Hey, @randipants.

Welcome to this thread!

If you've just changed the sorting order in the Shopify admin, then it could take a moment for the changes to be reflected on the storefront. Can you confirm whether this issue is still persisting on your end?

If the sorting order isn't reflecting on the storefront, then there could be an issue with the cache or your theme. However, while we're unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community, we'd be happy to further assist you through live chat and take a closer look at your theme. Please visit the Shopify Help Center and login to your account to create a support request.

If you have any other questions on this topic, don't hesitate to let me know!

[kcanderson]

Hi! We have not yet launched our site so the best selling order can't be based on any sales data. If that is absent what is the default sort order? We're trying to influence what shows as representative product on the category landing page and may end of sorting manually but would still like to understand what is driving best selling without any data. TIA

[Ali48]

Selling items