10 Low-Lift Tweaks to Make to Your Shopify Merchandising Strategy Today

Your Shopify store could actually be working against you.

Not because of your products or pricing, but because of small merchandising decisions that are quietly killing conversions. Decisions that lead to:  

• Bestsellers that take up prime real estate while high-margin products sit buried
• Collections that default to generic Shopify sorts 
• Navigation that sends shoppers down dead ends or puts them off

The good news? 

Most of these profit leaks are actually easier to tweak than you think. And when done right, it can save your merchandising and management teams a lot of administrative hours. 

Where to start? 

Here are the top 10 changes you can make that directly impact discovery, conversions, and profit margins. 

1. Tweak Your Shopify Homepage Layout for Faster Product Discovery

Your homepage is often your most viewed page — and your most misused. 

Shopify stores tend to treat visual merchandising like a branding billboard, but, ideally, you want it to function like a high-converting storefront window that balances brand identity and product discovery. 

And tweaking it for improvement doesn’t have to mean big, expensive design changes. 

Small, targeted layout shifts that prioritize what shoppers want to buy, not just how your store looks, can make a big impact in a short amount of time. A brand that proves that sometimes the simplest homepages can have the most impact is Kimonix customer Bally. 

‍

[Source: Bally] 

What Goes Wrong with Homepage-First Merchandising?

More often than not, it’s that a homepage fails to reflect:   

• Real-time product performance
• Inventory shifts
• And customer intent

This creates a disconnect between what your shoppers want and what you're showing them first. The three biggest culprits for this are: 

• Using static banners that don’t reflect either inventory or intent 
• Prioritizing merch blocks based only on visual balance, and not performance
• Going broad with irrelevant hero sections pushed to all visitors, all the time

How to Improve Your Homepage Layout in Shopify

Your Shopify brand’s homepage should quickly route shoppers into the right discovery paths. That means having collection blocks that are strategically placed, dynamically sorted, and aligned with your goals (not just your visual preferences).  

You also want to make sure you are: 

• Offering quick and easy navigation
• Keeping things simple and clean 
• Making sure you are quality-focused with image, graphics, and videos 

And don’t forget about making a good first impression overall! Optimizing the above-the-fold section goes a long way in doing just that. 

What to Prioritize Above the Fold

Yes, this space feeds first impressions and bounce rates. But it’s also the most important jumping-off point for product discovery. So, instead of generic sliders or over-editorial content, why not lead with: 

• Dynamic product collections 
• Segmentation tiles (e.g., “Shop by Category”) 
• Or campaign-driven blocks that change with buyer behavior or inventory shifts?

This goes for your product discovery landing pages as well.   

2. Auto-Sort Collections Using Profit, Stock, and Performance Data

So many stores stick with default collection sorting (bestsellers, newest, manual) because it’s easy — especially when you are dealing with large catalogs. 

But that simplicity comes at a cost. 

Relying on static logic means your collections don’t adapt to what’s in stock, what’s profitable, or what’s actually converting.

If you want collections to perform like sales engines, they need to be smart, responsive, and goal-driven — not just visually clean.

The fix? Swap static sorting for dynamic logic that reorders collections based on: 

• What’s selling
• What’s in stock
• What needs to move 
• And what’s most profitable 

An example of a brand doing exactly that is Summum. A strategy that, when combined with Kimonix, resulted in a 19% increase in conversions.

‍

Why Static Sorting Costs You Conversions and Profit

Default sorting options in Shopify rarely reflect what’s actually working. And once products are buried in a collection, they stay buried — even if they’re underperforming or need help moving.

This results in:

• High-margin products that are getting overlooked
• Overstocked or slow sellers that are not being seen at all 
• Low-stock items that are sitting in prime spots, driving bad UX

This is a profit killer, especially in fast-moving, larger, or seasonal catalogs.

How to Set Up Dynamic Collection Sorting in Shopify

Shopify doesn’t natively support advanced sort rules. However, tools like Kimonix let you define your own using real-time store data. And you can install it in minutes. 

Once you have signed up for the right Shopify app, you can follow these steps to set up dynamic logic:

• Choose your priority (margin, inventory level, conversion rate, tags, or sales velocity) 
• Create rules that adjust rank based on those factors 
• Apply that logic to automated or manual collections
• Let your store re-rank products automatically as data changes
  

This gives your merchandising real leverage while freeing teams from all the admin work that manual workarounds are causing. 

What Changes When Collection Sorting Is Driven by Business Goals

When you replace default sorting with logic tied to margin, inventory, or sales performance, your merchandising stops being a visual exercise and starts driving outcomes. 

• High-margin products get surfaced more often
• Overstocked items move before they need to be discounted
• Low-stock products don’t create dead ends 

And because collections re-rank automatically, your team spends less time dragging products around and more time focusing on strategy.

3. Clean Up Shopify Navigation and Filters to Improve Findability

Navigation and filtering are often treated as structural tasks that are set once and then forgotten. But your Shopify store navigation has two very important objectives: 

1. Enabling shoppers to quickly narrow down to what they’re looking for 
2. Moving shoppers through your sales funnel and shopping journeys 

Both of which drastically affect just how effective your online merchandising strategy is. The secret to their success is tapping into the shopper's intent. This means: 

• Showing categories, filters, and entry points that reflect how real people shop  
• Prioritizing paths based on what shoppers are likely trying to solve, find, or compare — and removing anything that gets in their way

A good example of a brand winning at navigation is mnml.

How Broken Navigation Hurts Product Discovery

When navigation is built around internal structure instead of shopper intent, it slows down or stops product discovery altogether. Merchandising suffers, and conversions follow.  

Here are some of the most common navigation missteps:  

• Menus organized by product type when users shop by need or use case
• Too many nav options, leading to choice paralysis
• Mobile navigation that hides important collections or categories
• Filters that return no products, break logic, or slow the experience
• Dead-end paths that force users to backtrack or leave

How to Streamline Navigation and Filters in Shopify

You don’t need a full redesign to move your performance needles. Instead, your focus should be on aligning your navigation strategy with merchandising goals and buyer behavior.

Start with:

• Renaming categories to reflect how customers actually search (“Home Gym” instead of “Fitness Equipment”)
• Reordering menu items based on traffic or conversion data
• Removing filters or subcategories that shoppers don’t use
• Consolidating duplicate or confusing filters
• Prioritizing high-intent paths that focus on themes (“Shop by Occasion”)

Filter Logic Tips for Better eCommerce Merchandising

You want to make sure that your Shopify filters reinforce your merchandising strategy — not fight it. They should be helping your shoppers find the right product as quickly as possible, while also guiding them toward high-priority inventory.

To improve filter performance:

• Use clean, standardized tags across your entire catalog
• Eliminate filters that return 0 results or conflict with other filters
• Limit options to only what’s meaningful for each collection
• Avoid overlapping filter values

4. Switch Bestsellers for High-Margin or Best-Converting Products

“Bestsellers” and “New Arrivals” are the two most common default sort options in Shopify — and they’re the least strategic. 

While they’re easy to use and make the page feel dynamic, they rarely reflect your actual business goals. They also get you stuck in the dreaded eCommerce Pareto Cycle, which states the following: 

• 20% of a brand’s products (or sometimes even fewer) generate 80% of its revenue, while the other 80% of products eat the profits. 

If you are only showing your bestsellers, you will only sell your bestsellers, leaving 80% of your inventory on the table. 

The fix for this is about swapping shallow sort logic for smarter prioritization. And you want to start with the products that drive margin and conversions, not just clicks.

What You Lose by Defaulting to Generic Shopify “Bestsellers” or “New Arrivals”

These default options surface products based on past velocity or recency, and not what you want shoppers to buy. 

This is likely to lead to: 

• Low-margin products taking top spots 
• Newly added SKUs being shown first, before they’ve proven themselves
• High-converting products being buried in your collections 
• Repetitive product layouts displayed across collections
• Poor alignment with your actual merchandising goals, like AOVs, CVRs, and sell-through rates

How to Update Sort Order Settings in Shopify

There are three ways you can bypass this product-sorting rut: 

1. Investing in Shopify developers 
2. Tweaking tags manually 
3. Using the right Shopify merchandising technology 

If you want something quick and low-lift, then option 2 or 3 is your best bet. 

The manual fix looks a little something like this: 

• Change collection defaults from “Bestselling” or “Newest” to “Manual” or “Custom”
• Identify your high-converting or high-margin products within each collection
• Reorder products in smaller collections manually, based on performance
• Consider setting logic using tools or metafields for larger catalogs
• Create alternate collections where the sort order aligns with a specific campaign or business goal

However, while this can help in the short term for those who have smaller catalogs, it’s not sustainable long term. 

Larger-catalog stores will need to invest in a tool like Kimonix that does this automatically and allows for long-term growth. 

Which Metrics to Prioritize in Sort Logic

Smart merchandising starts with surfacing products that support the outcomes you care about most. That means using metrics that go beyond what’s trending.

Consider sorting by:

• Gross margin or contribution margin
• Conversion rate or click-through rate
• Inventory status — like prioritizing overstocked or healthy-stock items
• AOV impact or average units per order
• Campaign performance — like paid traffic conversions

These metrics help you build collections that are more than just pretty grids and help them perform like revenue engines. 

[Insert Kimonix backend GIF showing important analytics] 

5. Fix Small Product-Page Issues That Hurt Conversions

You don’t need to redesign your product pages to improve performance. Sometimes the smallest tweak can make a huge difference. For many Shopify stores, conversion blockers are subtle: 

• Missing details
• Bad mobile layout
• Weak merchandising logic
• Or underutilized assets like product tags or badges

The trick is catching the common, fixable issues that derail the decision-making process so that your product pages actually work for your merchandising strategy. 

This doesn’t mean your product pages need to be complicated. Here’s a simple but effective example of a good Shopify Plus store product page.

[Source: Allbirds] 

Which PDP issues silently kill conversions?

Even well-designed product pages can underperform, so you will want your team to watch out for things like: 

• Weak or missing images that don’t show the product in context
• Lack of back-in-stock indicators on low inventory
• Unused badges like “Bestseller,” “Low Stock,” or “New” that would create urgency
• Unclear variant info  
• Unoptimized or personalized recommendations or cross-sells below the fold
• Low visibility for high-value tags  
• Lack of social proof and clear CTAs 
• Unoptimized product descriptions — for humans and bots 
• Not enough product images or videos, or forgetting to show different angles or zooms 

How to Quickly Spot and Fix These Product Page Issues  

The fastest way to catch PDP issues is to look at your pages the way a shopper would — and then check whether the merchandising logic holds up. A short, focused review of key elements that directly impact discovery, trust, and conversions is sometimes all it takes.  

Here are some steps to get you started: 

• Open your best and worst-performing PDPs in Shopify and compare layout, visuals, and copy
• Browse your product pages on mobile and try completing a purchase in under 2 minutes
• Make sure badges (like “Low Stock” or “New”) appear automatically based on product data
• Scan for broken variants, missing sizes, or image gaps
• Confirm that any cross-sell or “related products” block actually reflects the product’s category or tags
• Check that reviews, trust signals, and return/shipping info are visible without scrolling too far

You also want to A/B test your product pages before launching any new layouts or designs. 

What to A/B Test on Your Shopify Product Pages

Even one change at a time can tell you what helps shoppers convert faster and with more confidence. Here are some product page A/B tests worth running:

• Positioning and wording of product badges
• Layout or placement of cross-sell blocks
• Price-per-use vs. bundled pricing logic
• Variant swatches vs. dropdowns
• Trust markers (e.g., “In Stock,” shipping ETA, return policy)
  
  

6. Use Analytics and Search Data to Surface In-Demand Products

One of the fastest ways to improve merchandising performance is by letting your actual store data tell you which products shoppers already want.

Too often, stores bury products that are converting well. Or overlook items that are driving high search volume simply because they’re not part of a campaign or manually featured.

By mining your existing performance and search data to find and elevate those high-demand products that deserve visibility, you can make a big impact on your sales. 

Why In-Demand Products Deserve Priority over Bestsellers

But wait, don’t in-demand products mean “bestsellers”? 

Not really. 

Bestseller logic is more often than not optimized for velocity, not profit or customer experience. 

In-demand products, on the other hand, are those items that shoppers are currently engaging with, searching for, or nearly buying. They may not have high volume yet, but that’s because they are not visible enough, and they signal momentum you can amplify.

Why in-demand products outperform bestsellers for merchandising:

• They reflect active buyer intent, not just past sales
• They tend to be better aligned with current campaigns, seasonality, or stock goals
• They help move underexposed or newly launched SKUs faster
• They let you shift away from overexposed, low-margin products
• They give you the flexibility to respond to real-time shopper behavior

So, it’s more about identifying real bestsellers. And how do you spot them? 

Signals to Look for in Your Analytics and Shopify Search Data

 You want to look out for high-opportunity signals like these: 

• Products with high CTR or cart adds but low visibility elsewhere
• SKUs that perform well in paid campaigns but aren’t featured in organic navigation
• High-inventory products that match trending search terms
• Repeat-visitor behavior around specific collections or product types

And your online merchandising strategy data is a good place to start looking. 

Retail metrics like: 

• New vs. returning traffic 
• Conversion rates
• CTRs (such as add-to-carts) 
• AOVs 
• CACs (customer acquisition costs)  
• Cart abandonment rates 

…can help you find in-demand products in your catalog. 

Even better, if you can combine it with dynamic merchandising data to tweak and optimize your product sorting on an ongoing basis, you can adapt to any market changes in real-time.  

How to Act on Product Performance and Search Trends

Once you identify which products are trending for your shoppers, you can plug them into your key merchandising zones and sort logic. Your strategy could look a little something like this: 

1. Featuring in-demand products in homepage tiles and hero banners
2. Creating a dynamic “Trending Now” or “Most Searched” collection
3. Adding product tags like “Popular Pick” or “High Interest” to boost visibility
4. Adjusting product recommendation and collection sort logic to account for conversion rates, margins, or cart adds
5. Including high-demand SKUs in seasonal or gift-focused landing pages

7. Apply Keyword-Rich, Standardized Tags to Boost Visibility and Fix Broken Filters

Your tagging system doesn’t just support filters, it powers your entire merchandising logic. 

Tags influence which products show up in dynamic collections, how filters behave on collection pages, and even how your products get indexed by search engines. 

But most Shopify catalogs are tagged manually (or inconsistently), which leads to broken filters, misaligned search results, and missed visibility opportunities.

How Poor Tagging Ruins Merchandising Performance

When tags are:

• Inconsistent
• Duplicated
• Or irrelevant

Your filters break down, automated collections stop working, and the wrong products get shown (or don’t show at all). And even more importantly, you lose opportunities to show high-intent products where shoppers expect to find them. 

The side effects? 

• Filter menus that return no products or clutter the UI
• Duplicate or overlapping filters  
• Collection logic that skips over relevant SKUs
• Keyword search that misses product matches entirely
• SEO pages built around a broken tag structure

So, what do you want to do instead? 

How Tags Connect Filters, Collections, and Smart Merchandising

Tags aren’t just organizational. They determine what shows up in collections, filters, search, and automation logic. Clean, consistent tagging unlocks:

• Dynamic collection builds for promotions, seasons, or campaigns
• Accurate filter behavior across categories and product types
• Internal search results reflecting real shopper language
• Cross-sell logic grouping similar or complementary products
• Cleaner URLs and better structured internal linking (boosting SEO) 

That said, manual tagging starts to break down at scale — especially once your catalog hits 200+ active SKUs.

At that point, you run into:

• Hours lost tracking consistency across hundreds of products
• Clutter from old, unused, or inconsistent tags
• Tags not reflective of real-time changes in sales, inventory, or behavior
• Slow merchandising updates across markets or campaigns

If you're working above this threshold — or selling across multiple markets or product types — smart automation becomes essential. And yes, that’s exactly where Kimonix delivers. Here’s just one example of what the right automation can do for your store. 

Davosa USA Decreases Non-Moving Inventory by 16% and Increases Conversion Rates by 32% by Replacing Manual Tagging  

Challenge:

• Davosa USA needed a way to move slow-moving inventory without hurting conversion rates. With a growing catalog, manual sorting and tagging weren’t cutting it. They lacked a dynamic way to prioritize high-performing products while still promoting aging stock.

Solution:

• Using Kimonix, they split products into three segments (Bestsellers, Non-Moving Inventory, and New Arrivals) and applied unique sorting rules to each. Instead of relying on manual tags, Kimonix handled dynamic product rotation and automated the merchandising logic.

Results within one month: 

• 16% drop in non-moving inventory
• 32% lift in overall conversion rate  

How to Tag Consistently Across Your Shopify Catalog

The key is creating naming rules that align with how shoppers search, and how you want to merchandise across collections, filters, and search. 

Here’s how to improve your Shopify tagging: 

• Use consistent tag naming
• Avoid duplicate or overlapping tags
• Stick to lowercase or camelCase, and don’t mix styles
• Create a master tag list to keep track
• Use tags for automation logic 
• Don’t over-tag and limit what’s used in filters, rules, or navigation
• Clean up unused tags regularly to avoid clutter
• Test your tags in live filters to catch any display issues

If you’re on Shopify Plus, then your team will be able to do a lot of this using Shopify Flow. 

Shopify Flow for Shopify Plus 

Shopify Flow is an automation tool available only to Plus stores. It lets merchants create “if this, then that” workflows to automate repetitive tasks. This includes auto-tagging new products based on:

• Collection names
• Product type or vendor
• Keywords in title or description

And helps auto-populate collections or prep for filtering systems.

8. Group the Right Related Products to Drive More Cross-Sells

When related products are grouped thoughtfully and shown in the right places, they can meaningfully raise AOV without slowing the buyer down. 

So, when stores use generic “related items” logic or treat cross-sells like random add-ons, they lose the ability to guide shoppers to “complete the look” or solve their needs. 

Why Disorganized Products Kill AOV Opportunities

When cross-sell suggestions feel generic, irrelevant, or chaotic, they get ignored. Or worse: 

• They introduce decision friction right when the shopper is ready to convert 

This is because they: 

1. Interrupt the buyer’s flow
2. Create decision fatigue
3. And fail to build confidence

Ultimately, disorganized groups without relevancy lead to wasted high-value placements on items with no attach rate and impersonal shopping experiences. They:

• Break the shopper’s rhythm by introducing unrelated products
• Confuse the buying path, especially if products solve different problems or don’t work together
• Force the shopper to re-evaluate their cart instead of moving forward
• Waste high-value placements on items with no attach rate
• Make the store feel generic or untrustworthy

On the other hand, doing it “right” means making your product groupings more intentional — and more profitable.

How to Set Up Smart Cross-Sell Groups in Shopify

Even without cross-selling automation, you can help shoppers build the right cart, faster. Here are some quick tweaks you can test: 

• Tag products with shared use cases (“Gym Essentials”)
• Group items by occasion or problem solved (“Cold Weather Kit”)
• Use manual recommendations for hero SKUs or high-AOV anchors
• Display cross-sells before checkout, on PDPs, in-cart, and even post-purchase
• Prioritize cross-sell groups that have historically driven, multi-item orders
• Group products by relevance, such as by similar features, type, or style

Let’s look at some high-performing cross-sell examples. 

Cross-Sell Combos That Actually Work

The idea is to make sure you are always merchandising with intent. The best cross-sell strategies and logic anticipate what the shopper will want next before they even realize it. They: 

• Complete a solution
• Fit a habit
• Or deepen product engagement

To follow this formula, focus on pairings that feel obvious once seen — not just what’s left in stock. Some examples include: 

• Core product + care/maintenance item (shoes + cleaning kit)
• Wearable + accessory (dress + belt)
• Same category, different format (facial cleanser + travel-size version)
• Starter item + refill (water filter + cartridges)
• Theme-based bundles (“Winter Picks,” “Back-to-School,” “Under $50”)

A brand that is doing everything right is Sporty & Rich. 

9. Run A/B Tests on Merchandising Rules

Merchandising logic (like sort order, layout, and product placement) plays a major role in how shoppers navigate, click, and convert. Yet, so many brands never validate which setups actually perform better.

The thing is: 

• Without A/B testing, you’re basing your merchandising rules on assumptions. And assumptions leave money on the table. 

At the end of the day, what you think drives conversion might actually slow discovery, bury high-performing products, or misalign with how real shoppers browse.

What You’re Guessing at If You Don’t Test

When you don’t test, you’re assuming which: 

• Collection layouts help shoppers find the right product faster
• Default sort logic (bestseller, new, manual, smart) performs best
• Types of blocks or banners create lift vs. friction

Or whether: 

• Product placement impacts conversion or bounce
• Certain segments respond better to different product sequences
• Small Shopify sorting tweaks can improve profitability

And the good news is that you don’t need a full testing platform to start validating merchandising decisions. 

What to Test First? Sort Order, Layout, or Placement?

The goal isn’t just more data — it’s faster clarity on what helps your merchandising strategy drive margin, conversion, or discovery.

So, focus on high-impact variables tied to shopper flow and product visibility by prioritizing tests that affect which products first get seen, clicked, or added to cart. 

This could be: 

• Manual vs. dynamic sort order in top-performing collections
• Hero banner vs. featured products above the fold on the homepage
• “Trending Now” vs. “Bestsellers” in collection logic
• Cross-sell block location (PDP vs. in-cart vs. post-purchase)
• Number of products shown before scroll on mobile

How to Run Merchandising A/B Tests in Shopify

The simplest way to start is to track outcomes based on key metrics like conversion rate, click-through, and AOV. Here are just a few ways you can do it: 

1. Duplicate a high-traffic collection and change the product sort order, items featured, or layout. Split traffic via email or paid channels and compare performance.
   
   
2. Rotate homepage merchandising blocks weekly and track homepage click-through or scroll depth using Shopify metrics or heatmaps.
   
   
3. Use Shopify’s theme preview system to create a test version of your homepage or collection layout. Assign preview links to specific campaigns (like emails) to isolate traffic and test layout changes without publishing them storewide.
   
   
4. Create campaign landing pages with different product placements. Use UTM parameters and compare conversion rates from each variant in Shopify's Reports or GA4.
   
   
5. Track product add-ons and attach rate by testing cross-sell block placement (on PDPs, in-cart, post-purchase). Run one version for a week, then switch and compare.

And if you’re already using a merchandising automation tool…

6. Use built-in testing functionality or create variants tied to different conditions. 

10. Sync Merchandising Updates Across Stores with Shopify Markets

Running multiple Shopify Markets is a powerful way to expand globally. But it adds complexity to how merchandising updates get deployed. 

And without a clear system, collections, sort logic, or product visibility can drift out of sync, creating inconsistent shopper experiences across regions — especially if your shoppers are traveling between devices, currencies, or storefronts. 

Let’s take a closer look. 

Why Global Stores Need Synced Merchandising Logic

Problems that emerge when merchandising logic isn’t aligned include: 

• Hero SKUs that are missing or buried in one market but featured in another
• Sorting rules or badges that are applied unevenly 
• Seasonal or promotional collections that are outdated in one region
• Duplicate work that is needed to update collections manually across stores
• Shoppers returning via search or email who often find mismatched pages and layouts

So, what’s the solution? 

Localizing and Syncing Shopify Collections Across Markets

You have three options to localize and sync your Shopify collection to access markets. They are: 

1. Manual maneuvering
2. Timely (and costly) store development 
3. Plug-and-play automation with a no-code tool 

Let’s first look at manual tweaking. 

While Shopify Markets lets you duplicate collections and content, sync logic (such as order, filters, and product rules) takes some planning. You need to: 

• Use consistent tagging logic across all products, regardless of market (this allows shared rule-based collections)
• Set up shared collection structures and only localize where needed  
• Localize banners and product blocks based on region-specific behavior, but anchor the layout in a shared template
• Keep a central merchandising calendar so campaigns launch and expire at the same time globally, unless deliberately staggered

If it sounds convoluted, it’s because it is. 

For most brands with 150+ SKUs, it’s almost impossible to maintain. And although getting a developer in for customization is a viable option, it's a slow, expensive one — not really a low-lift tweak you can make. 

So, what’s the easiest way? 

With a plug-and-play like Kimonix that lets you automate sort order rules (e.g., by margin, conversion rate) to scale dynamic updates without duplicating effort in a matter of minutes. 

You can read more about product sorting per market in our The #1 Way to Tailor Your Merchandising per Market in Your Shopify Store post. 

[Source: Kimonix Case Study] 

‍

And if your team is using manual and duplication strategies? 

What to Avoid When Managing Multi-Region Stores

It’s easy to over-segment when working across markets, so here are a few things you or your team want to avoid: 

• Creating completely separate collections or navigation menus per region
• Localizing sort order manually — especially if you’re using dynamic logic in your main store
• Forgetting to sync campaign timing
• Hard-coding merchandising blocks instead of using shared templates with conditional content
• Ignoring how product availability or shipping timelines affect regional merchandising priorities

Wrap Up: Automate What You Can, Optimize What You Can't

Not all tweaks are created equal. The right starting point depends on your store size, team bandwidth, and how much manual work you can realistically handle long-term.

If you're running a smaller catalog (under 200 SKUs): 

• Start with the manual fixes that pack the biggest punch, such as cleaning up your homepage layout, fixing broken navigation, and manually reordering your top collections. You can handle tags and cross-sell groups without automation, and the time investment pays off quickly.

If you're managing 200–1,000 SKUs: 

• This is where manual approaches start breaking down. Focus on automating collection sorting and tagging first, as these become impossible to maintain by hand. Then tackle the manual optimizations like fixing product pages and A/B testing your merchandising rules.

If you're above 1,000 SKUs or running multiple markets: 

• Automation isn't optional anymore. Prioritize dynamic sorting, automated tagging, and synced merchandising logic across stores. Save your manual effort for high-level strategy and testing — let technology handle the repetitive stuff.

No matter your size, you want to pick the tweak that directly addresses your biggest pain point right now. 

Buried, high-margin products? 

Fix your collection sorting. 

Shoppers can't find what they want? 

Clean up navigation. 

The goal isn't to implement all 10 tweaks at once. It's to build a merchandising system that works without eating up all your time — whether that's through smart automation, strategic manual work, or a mix of both.

‍