thread Re: Online Similar Items Never Change in Online Store

Online Similar Items Never Change

villagebeer — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:05:43 GMT

The "similar items" on my pages never change. They are always the exact same products. I have one large category and multiple sub-categories under it. I'd like the similar items to reflect the sub-categories and change from time to time. Right now it is static, so a customer who comes to the site frequently never sees anything new.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

Laurie_ — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 05:14:31 GMT

Hi there @villagebeer,

I appreciate you flagging this with us!

This is something I'd like to run by our Square Online team. If you're comfortable sharing, please provide the URL for your site in your reply, along with the list of items that are consistently showing under 'Similar Items', and we'll take a look.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

villagebeer — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:17:55 GMT

https://shop.villagebeerhawaii.com/

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

JJ_ — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:46:05 GMT

Thank you for providing this @villagebeer. I have escalated this internally to get more details on this situation.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

JJ_ — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 17:37:01 GMT

Following up here @villagebeer

Just heard from our team that this is considered a feature request. At this time, the similar product element chooses the similar items in the same category as the item being displayed.

Our engineers recommended considering adding more categories instead of subcategories if you wanted that section to be changed up a bit.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

villagebeer — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 18:22:49 GMT

I'm wondering why it is always the exact same products. They never change. We have hundreds of products, but it's always the exact same ones displayed.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

BernadetteA — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 17:50:15 GMT

Hi @villagebeer

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to have the items rotate, but as JJ_ mentioned above, this is currently a feature request.

In the meantime, I recommend considering his suggestion of putting your items into multiple categories instead of using the subcategories option. Although it won't change the behavior of how the Similar Items feature works, it would give a bit more variety based on the item shown.

Please let us know if you still have additional questions.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

villagebeer — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 19:39:35 GMT

Breaking them out into their own categories would effect our navigation and UI. We need/want the items to be under the main category. Please consider allowing users to add tags to items, categories and subcategories that your system can use to associate similar items.

I'm turning off similar items. It's a completly useless function if it is not dynamic. It being static allows no variation. The point of a feature like this is to guide users to other products to try to get them to add more to their cart. If it is ALWAYS the same items, then they are not shown new items that may get their interest. System needs to be way more dynamic.

Re: Online Similar Items Never Change

BernadetteA — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 21:24:42 GMT

Thank you for your feedback @villagebeer

After reviewing your site again, I do see what you mean with the navigation and design.

I'm sorry this particular feature is not dynamic enough for your website, but I completely agree that there should be more options to control what can be shown, and an option to randomize.

I will make sure to share this feedback with the team so that they can have a better idea of why this would be an important upgrade to the Similar Items option.