Understanding Collections
Collections in Shopify are groups of products that share common characteristics. They help customers browse your catalogue and are essential for organising stores with more than a handful of products.
A single product can belong to multiple collections. For example, a red running shoe might be in "Running Shoes", "Red Shoes", "New Arrivals", and "Sale" all at once.
Common Collection Types
- •Category collections - Group by product type (Dresses, Trousers, Tops)
- •Brand collections - Group by manufacturer or brand
- •Seasonal collections - Summer, Winter, Holiday
- •Promotional collections - Sale, Clearance, New Arrivals
- •Curated collections - Best Sellers, Staff Picks, Gift Ideas
- •Attribute collections - By colour, size, material, or price range
The collections you create should reflect how your customers think about and search for products. Start by analysing your site search data and customer feedback to understand their mental models.
Manual vs Automated Collections
Shopify offers two types of collections, each suited to different use cases. Understanding when to use each type saves time and prevents errors.
Manual Collections
You hand-pick which products belong in the collection. Products stay in the collection until you manually remove them.
Best for:
- • Small, curated selections
- • One-off promotions
- • Collections with complex criteria
- • Staff picks or editorial selections
- • Stores with few products
Automated Collections
Products automatically appear based on conditions you set. New products matching the conditions are added automatically.
Best for:
- • Category collections
- • Brand collections
- • Price-based collections (Under £50)
- • Tag-based organisation
- • Stores with many products
Pro Tip
You cannot convert between manual and automated after creation. If you start with a manual collection and realise you need automation, you will need to create a new automated collection and delete the manual one.
Creating Collections
The process for creating collections is straightforward, but taking time to fill in all fields properly improves both user experience and SEO.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Collection
- 1Navigate to Collections
In your Shopify admin, go to Products → Collections and click Create collection.
- 2Add Title and Description
Enter a clear, descriptive title. Write a description that includes relevant keywords and helps customers understand what they will find.
- 3Choose Collection Type
Select Manual or Automated. For automated, set your conditions (covered in detail below).
- 4Add Collection Image
Upload a high-quality image that represents the collection. This appears on collection listing pages and in navigation menus.
- 5Configure SEO Settings
Scroll to "Search engine listing preview" and click Edit. Customise the page title, meta description, and URL handle.
- 6Set Availability
Choose sales channels where this collection should appear. If selling wholesale, you might hide certain collections from the online store.
Collection Image Best Practices
- •Use landscape images (16:9 or 3:2 ratio works well)
- •Minimum 1200px wide for crisp display on all devices
- •Show representative products or lifestyle imagery
- •Keep consistent style across all collection images
- •Compress images to under 500KB for fast loading
Automated Collection Conditions
Automated collections use conditions to determine which products appear. You can combine multiple conditions with AND or OR logic.
Available Condition Fields
| Field | Example Use |
|---|---|
| Product title | Contains "T-Shirt" |
| Product type | Is equal to "Shoes" |
| Product vendor | Is equal to "Nike" |
| Product tag | Is equal to "new-arrival" |
| Compare at price | Is not empty (shows sale items) |
| Price | Is less than £50 |
| Weight | Is greater than 1kg |
| Inventory stock | Is greater than 0 |
| Variant title | Contains "Large" |
AND vs OR Logic
All conditions (AND)
Products must match ALL conditions to appear.
Product type = "Dress"
AND
Price < £100
Result: Only dresses under £100
Any condition (OR)
Products matching ANY condition appear.
Tag = "bestseller"
OR
Tag = "featured"
Result: All bestsellers and featured items
Pro Tip
Use consistent, lowercase product tags for reliable automation. Create a tagging convention document and follow it. Example: "category-dresses", "colour-red", "season-summer".
Organising Products in Collections
Once products are in a collection, you can control their order and presentation. The default sort order significantly impacts sales.
Sort Order Options
- •Best selling - Prioritises products with most sales. Good for established stores
- •Alphabetically A-Z / Z-A - Useful for brand or category browsing
- •Price low-high / high-low - Helps price-conscious shoppers
- •Date: newest first - Great for New Arrivals collections
- •Manually - You control the exact order
Manual Product Ordering
For manual ordering:
- 1.Edit the collection
- 2.Set sort order to "Manually"
- 3.Drag and drop products in the Products section
- 4.Save the collection
Merchandising Tips
- ✓Put your best-margin products in the top positions
- ✓Feature products with the best photography first
- ✓Rotate featured products periodically to keep collections fresh
- ✓Consider search data when deciding what to prioritise
Collection SEO
Collection pages are often your most important pages for SEO. They target category-level keywords that have significant search volume.
Optimising Collection Titles
- •Include your target keyword naturally
- •Keep under 60 characters for full display in search
- •Make it descriptive and specific
- •Avoid generic names like "Products" or "All Items"
Title Examples
Writing Collection Descriptions
Collection descriptions serve both customers and search engines. Include:
- •Opening paragraph introducing the collection (include main keyword)
- •What customers will find in this collection
- •Key features or benefits of these products
- •Related categories they might want to explore
Aim for 100-300 words. More is better for SEO, but avoid fluff.
URL Handles
- •Keep handles short and descriptive
- •Use hyphens between words (not underscores)
- •Include keywords where natural
- •Avoid changing handles after launch (causes redirects)
Good: /collections/womens-running-shoes
Bad: /collections/womens_shoes_running_category_new
Advanced Collection Strategies
Hidden Collections for Internal Use
Create collections that are not visible in navigation but serve other purposes:
- •Homepage featured - Products to feature on homepage
- •Email campaign - Products for a specific campaign
- •Wholesale only - Products for B2B channel only
Dynamic Sale Collections
Create automated "Sale" collections that update themselves:
Condition Setup
Field: Compare at price
Condition: Is not empty
Any product with a compare-at price will automatically appear in this collection. Remove the compare-at price to remove from sale.
Multi-Condition Collections
Combine tags and product types for complex filtering:
Example: "Gift Ideas Under £30"
Product tag = "gift-idea"
AND
Price is less than £30
AND
Inventory stock is greater than 0
