Top 5 Shopify Category Apps [November, 2024]
| Last updated January 25, 2024
This guide helps ecommerce store owners to compare and find the best Category apps for Shopify. Category apps are popular for ecommerce businesses that want to customize and organize their products into different categories or collections. However, with the variety of Shopify apps for Categories, it can be challenging to find the ideal app for store owners’ individual needs.
To help ecommerce store owners make the right choice, the attributes of available Shopify apps have been assessed considering: features, price, free trial availability, app store rating and free app options.
This guide compares five companies for merchants to review and find the optimal Category app for their needs. To help them make an informed decision, a quick comparison table of the best Category Shopify apps is shared below, followed by in-depth reviews and frequently asked questions.
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Quick comparison of the best Shopify Category apps
| # | App Name | Developer Name | Pricing | Rating | Free Trial | Image | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collection Merchandiser: Syncd | Matthew de Noronha | $9.99/month | 4.8/5 ⭐️ | no |  |
Get app |
| 2 | ST: Product & Collection Sort | Green Apple Solutions Pvt Ltd | $19/month | 4.9/5 ⭐️ | yes |  |
Get app |
| 3 | Innovanet Collection Manager | Innovanet Solutions Inc. | $4.65/month | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | yes |  |
Get app |
| 4 | Advanced Collections | Voidworks | $5.99/month | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | yes |  |
Get app |
| 5 | Category & Collection Sort |KX | Kimonix | $19/month | 4.9/5 ⭐️ | yes |  |
Get app |
Top Shopify Category apps reviewed
Table of contents:
Collection Merchandiser: Syncd
The Collection Merchandiser: Syncd app offers a comprehensive set of tools for enhancing the merchandising of category pages in Shopify stores. This app allows store owners to easily organize their collection pages with an intuitive drag and drop feature. Such functionality makes rearranging products in a collection straightforward, improving both the visual appeal and navigability of store pages. In addition to manual sorting, the app also provides an auto sort feature, which can automatically organize products based on predefined criteria. This feature is particularly useful for managing inventory display, as it can automatically push low and out-of-stock products to the bottom of collections or highlight new products by bumping them to the top.
A key aspect of the Collection Merchandiser: Syncd app is its ability to quickly identify products with low inventory and out-of-stock items. This functionality is crucial for store owners who need to keep their inventory display up-to-date and efficient. For those looking for deeper insights into their collection performance, the app offers an Analytics Add-On at $9.99/month. This add-on provides comprehensive collection and product metrics, along with performance scores, helping store owners make more informed merchandising decisions.
Collection Merchandiser: Syncd stands out for its user-friendly interface, which significantly reduces the time and effort required for effective merchandising, especially for stores with large product catalogs or frequently changing inventories. The app’s responsive and helpful support team further enhances its appeal, making it an invaluable tool for Shopify store owners looking to optimize their collection pages. Overall, the app simplifies and streamlines the merchandising process, contributing to an improved shopping experience for customers.
- Free plan available
- Easy viewing of important product data at a glance for efficient management
- Quick identification of low and out-of-stock products
- Intuitive drag and drop feature for easy sorting of collection pages
- Free access to full merchandising features, including drag and drop and auto sort
- Pushes out-of-stock products to the bottom of collections automatically
- Bumps up new products to the top of collections for better visibility
- Analytics Add-On available for advanced collection and product metrics
- Performance scores provided in the Analytics Add-On for informed decision-making
- User-friendly interface for a streamlined merchandising process
- Suitable for stores with extensive inventories or frequently changing product lines
- No free trial
- Analytics only available in the paid plan
ST: Product & Collection Sort
The ST: Product & Collection Sort app, developed by SearchTap.io offers a dynamic approach to organizing Shopify store collections. Launched in January 2024, this app caters to the needs of store owners looking to enhance their store’s navigation and product display.
A key feature of this app is its automated and manual sorting capabilities. Store owners can choose how they want to organize their collections, whether through automated processes based on various criteria such as revenue, inventory, and product views, or manually for more personalized control. The app allows for the pinning of featured products at the top of collections and automatically pushes sold-out items to the bottom. This functionality is crucial for maintaining an engaging and updated product display.
ST: Product & Collection Sort stands out for its customizable merchandising strategies. The app comes with predefined sorting strategies that can be extensively customized to match the specific needs of a store. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for stores with large catalogs, as it enables efficient organization and showcasing of key products.
The app offers advanced merchandising options, including Variant Availability Ratio, Product Capping, and Custom Rules based on product attributes like title, tags, vendor, and more. These advanced features allow store owners to create detailed and targeted sorting strategies.
- 7 day free trial
- Free plan available
- Provides both automated and manual sorting options for flexibility in organizing collections
- Offers a wide range of sorting criteria, including revenue, inventory, newness, tags, vendor, variants, and views
- Enables pinning of featured products at the top of collections
- Automatically pushes sold-out items to the bottom of collections
- Includes predefined and customizable merchandising strategies for tailored product organization
- Suitable for stores with large catalogs, saving time and effort in product organization
- Features advanced merchandising options like Variant Availability Ratio and Product Capping
- Custom Rules allow sorting based on product attributes like title, tags, vendor, and more
- Enhances the shopping experience by effectively showcasing top products and reducing clutter from sold-out items.
- Allows sorting by Google Analytics data, providing insights-driven merchandising
- Offers flexibility in sorting products by revenue or sales data over customizable time periods
- Facilitates the organization of products by created, published, and last updated dates
- Enables sorting by inventory quantity, helping prioritize in-stock items
- Allows sorting by discount percentage or amount, highlighting promotional items
- Provides random order sorting to add variety to product displays
- Customizable sorting rules based on multiple product criteria for precise merchandising control
- Option to restrict the number of products in a bucket, aiding in focused product promotion
- Recognizes and sorts new products based on a customizable definition of 'newness'
- Supports global strategies for storewide application of merchandising rules
- Includes premium features such as dedicated account management and phone support in higher-tier plans
- Paid plan required for most of the key features
- Phone support only available on most expensive plan
Innovanet Collection Manager
The Innovanet Collection Manager app, developed by Innovanet Solutions Inc. is a productivity tool designed to enhance the way Shopify store owners sort and manage their collections. Launched in March 2017, this app introduces several time-saving features that streamline the process of organizing products within collections.
One of the standout features of the app is its intuitive drag and drop sorting. This functionality allows store owners to quickly merchandise their collections, making it easier to arrange products in a desired order. Additionally, the app’s ability to export and import sort orders using Excel or CSV is particularly beneficial for those who prefer to work offline or need to reposition products more efficiently.
Another useful feature is the capability to duplicate collections while maintaining the original sort order. This functionality saves time and ensures consistency across collections that are similar or related. Furthermore, the app accommodates custom feature requests, offering store owners the flexibility to tailor the app’s capabilities to their specific needs.
The app also includes a randomization feature, adding a dynamic element to how products are sorted and presented within collections. This can enhance the customer browsing experience by providing a varied and engaging product display.
- 7 day free trial
- Intuitive drag and drop sorting for quick and efficient collection management
- Export and import sort orders using Excel or CSV, allowing for offline work
- Capability to duplicate collections while maintaining the original sort order
- Accommodates custom feature requests to meet specific needs of store owners
- Randomization feature for dynamic sorting of collections
- Smooth integration with Shopify admin, ensuring ease of use
- Compatible with the latest Shopify themes, maintaining store aesthetics
- Praised for its time-saving capabilities and excellent customer support
- No free plan available
- Issues of the app crashing in the past (no recent reviews about this)
Advanced Collections
The Advanced Collections app, developed by Voidwork, enhances Shopify store owners’ ability to create and manage collections. Launched in May 2019, this app extends beyond Shopify’s default collection settings, offering more sophisticated and flexible ways to organize products.
A key feature of Advanced Collections is the ability to create collections with advanced conditions. This functionality allows store owners to group products more precisely, tailoring collections to specific themes, promotions, or customer preferences. The app provides sophisticated sorting options, enabling users to sort collections by various criteria such as publish date, updated date, or discount percentages. This level of control ensures that products are displayed in a way that aligns with the store’s marketing and sales strategies.
Another significant advantage of Advanced Collections is the inclusion and exclusion of products based on tags, keywords, or specific criteria like price comparisons and discount percentages. This feature helps store owners to dynamically adapt their collections to changing inventory levels or sales trends. Additionally, the app can push products with certain tags or zero inventory to the front or back of a collection, aiding in effective inventory management.
Integration with the Shopify admin is stress free, ensuring that the app functions smoothly without impacting the online store’s speed. The app is available in various pricing plans, starting at $5.99 per month for the Essential Plan, making it accessible for different sizes and types of Shopify stores.
- 7 day free trial
- Creates collections with advanced conditions for more flexibility
- Sorts collections by various criteria, including publish or updated date
- Includes or excludes products based on tags or keywords
- Pushes products with certain tags or zero inventory to the front or back of a collection
- Offers advanced sorting options, like sorting by discount percentages
- Allows the creation of non-sale collections for promotional purposes
- Boosts productivity by simplifying the collection creation process
- Supports different pricing plans for various Shopify store needs
- No free plan available
- Longer loading times for bigger stores
Category & Collection Sort |KX
Category & Collection Sort |KX, developed by Kimonix, is a cutting-edge tool designed to enhance product display and merchandising for Shopify store owners. Launched in May 2020, this app stands out with its advanced features, helping merchants optimize their online storefronts.
A key functionality of the app is the Advanced Collection Manager, which allows store owners to build smart, multi-segment, automated collections. This feature offers a high level of control and customization, enabling merchants to tailor their collections to match specific business strategies and customer preferences. Additionally, the Smart Collection Resort feature uses analytics and personalization to sort collections, thereby improving the shopping experience for customers by showcasing the most relevant products.
The app also excels in AI Product Recommendations, providing 1:1 personalization across the store. This capability enhances product discoverability and relevance, encouraging customers to explore more products and increasing the likelihood of purchases. For stores focused on optimizing conversion rates, the Collection A/B Testing feature is particularly valuable. It allows merchants to test different product sorting strategies and collection setups, helping identify the most effective approaches for engaging customers.
One of the unique aspects of the app is the creation of personalized collection landing pages, specifically tailored for email marketing campaigns. This feature is designed to increase conversions and customer engagement by providing targeted and relevant product selections to potential buyers.
Category & Collection Sort |KX offers multiple pricing plans, starting at $19/month, catering to the needs of various business sizes. The more advanced plans include additional features like A/B testing, AI personalized collection-emails, and more frequent updates, providing even greater flexibility and capability for larger or more complex stores.
- 14 day free trial
- Advanced Collection Manager allows building smart, multi-segment, automated collections
- Smart Collection Resort feature sorts collections using analytics and personalization
- AI Product Recommendations provide 1:1 personalization across the store
- Collection A/B Testing enables testing of product sorting strategies and collection setups
- Creates personalized collection landing pages for targeted email marketing campaigns
- User-friendly interface integrates seamlessly with the latest Shopify themes
- Frequently updates collections, ensuring real-time accuracy and relevance
- Supports white labeling and returns integration in higher-tier plans
- Praised by users for improving conversion rates, driving sales, and managing inventory efficiently
- There are occasional reports of users needing more customization options for specific sorting and merchandising needs
- A few users have reported a learning curve in understanding and utilizing all the app's features effectively
How to Find The Best Category Shopify App?
These five category apps for Shopify are ranked based on the following criteria:
- Features
- Price
- Rating on the Shopify app store
- Free trial availability
- Free app options
- Compatibility with other top apps
- Number of apps the app provider operates
- Pros and cons
- Built for Shopify badge
- Reviews and assessment by AcquireConvert
What are Shopify Category apps?
Shopify category apps are specialized tools that enhance product categorization on Shopify, offering advanced features for more effective management. These apps allow store owners to organize products within categories based on criteria like popularity, newness, and price, improving store navigation and user experience. Automated category assignment is another key feature, where products are automatically placed into categories based on predefined rules or attributes, saving time and effort.
Dynamic product grouping in these apps automatically categorizes products based on changing conditions such as inventory levels or sales trends. Customizing category pages is also possible with these apps, enabling store owners to modify layouts and add promotional content, enhancing the visual appeal and effectiveness of the store.
Integration with other Shopify apps and marketing tools is a significant advantage, creating a cohesive and efficient ecosystem for managing an online store. Shopify category apps are essential for creating a more organized, navigable, and visually appealing online store, playing a crucial role in boosting customer satisfaction and potentially driving higher sales.
How do I organize my items on Shopify?
Organizing items on Shopify effectively involves categorizing products into collections and arranging them within your store for easy navigation and an enhanced shopping experience. Start by creating collections, which are groups of products sharing common characteristics, accessible through the Shopify admin under ‘Products’ and then ‘Collections.’ You have the option to create either manual collections, where you add products individually, or automated collections, where products are automatically grouped based on set criteria such as tags, types, prices, or vendors.
Once you’ve established your collections, organize the products within them. You can set a default sort order, like best selling or alphabetical, or manually arrange them in some themes. Utilize product tags and types for further categorization, as tags help filter products in collections and types assist in creating automated collections. Additionally, ensure each product has a clear title, detailed description, and high-quality images to enhance its presentation and clarity for customers.
The store’s navigation menus are crucial for making these collections easily accessible. You can create dropdown menus to categorize collections, making it simpler for customers to browse your store. Featuring key collections on your store’s homepage, such as new arrivals or bestsellers, also attracts customer attention.
Regular updates to your collections based on seasonality, trends, and sales data keep your store fresh and relevant. For more sophisticated organization, consider Shopify apps that offer advanced features like bulk editing or custom sorting options. By organizing your items thoughtfully, you not only enhance the shopping experience but also make it easier for customers to find and purchase products, ultimately boosting your store’s success.
What is the most selling category on eCommerce?
The most selling category in eCommerce often varies by region and over time, reflecting changing consumer trends and market dynamics. However, certain categories consistently show strong performance across various markets. Fashion and Apparel, for instance, is one of the largest and most popular eCommerce categories globally, encompassing clothing, footwear, and accessories. The diversity of products, the influence of social media on fashion trends, and the frequent introduction of new styles contribute to its widespread appeal and high sales volume.
Electronics and Media is another top-selling category, including consumer electronics like smartphones, laptops, and TVs, along with books, music, and other forms of media. This category benefits from the continuous advancements in technology and the growing consumer interest in digital entertainment and information.
The Health and Beauty sector has also seen significant growth in the online market. This category covers skincare, cosmetics, wellness products, and personal care items. The rise of direct-to-consumer brands and the impact of online beauty influencers have played a key role in boosting sales in this sector.
Home and Garden items, including furniture, home decor, gardening tools, and home improvement products, make up a substantial portion of eCommerce sales. The convenience of shopping online for home-related products has increased their popularity in the eCommerce space. Food and Beverage, including online grocery and gourmet food sales, has rapidly expanded, driven by changing consumer habits and the appeal of home delivery services. Lastly, the Toys and Hobby category, which includes children’s toys, games, and hobby items like craft supplies and sports equipment, maintains a steady demand in the online marketplace.
It’s essential to recognize that the most selling category can shift based on factors such as technological changes, cultural trends, economic conditions, and global events like the COVID-19 pandemic. These elements have a significant impact on consumer buying patterns and preferences, influencing which categories lead in eCommerce sales.
Conclusion: Best Shopify Category Apps
It requires time and effort to compare and evaluate features of the various different Category Shopify apps to find the ideal option.
Shopify store owners must evaluate relevant information to make the optimal choice for their needs.
This guide does the challenging work for merchants by comparing and evaluating the top choices for different Category Shopify apps. The results of our analysis of the best Category Shopify apps are listed below:
