Hidden Products

Hidden Products gives you fine-grained control over which products appear in your upsell recommendations. Hide specific products, or hide all products with certain tags, types, or vendors to exclude unwanted items from automatic and collection-based recommendations.

desc - Control which products appear in upsells by hiding specific items, tags, types, or vendors.

Description

Filter out unwanted products from recommendation systems with precision. Hide individual products, or use bulk filters to hide all products with specific tags, types, or vendor names. Multiple filters can be combined for powerful exclusion logic. Applies to automatic and collection-based recommendations to exclude out-of-season items, low-margin products, or products that shouldn't be upsold.

How It Works

Hidden Products works as an exclusion layer on top of your product recommendation sources. When products are selected by your chosen recommendation source (Automatic, Collections, AI, etc.), the filtering system removes any products that match your exclusion rules before displaying them to customers.

Filter Types

Hide Individual Products

Select specific products by name or ID to exclude them from all recommendations.

Best for:

• Removing problematic products
• Ensuring gift cards are not upsold
• Excluding specific SKUs
• Temporary removal of products

Example:

Hide Products:
- Product ID: 12345678 (Defective Batch - Blue Widget)
- Product ID: 87654321 (Discontinued Red Gadget)

Hide by Product Tags

Exclude all products that have specific tags applied in Shopify.

Best for:

• Bulk exclusion of product categories
• Managing seasonal products
• Excluding entire product groups

Example:

Hide Products with Tags:
- "clearance" (exclude all clearance items)
- "discontinued" (exclude discontinued products)
- "low-margin" (exclude low-profit items)
- "out-of-season" (exclude winter items in summer)

Hide by Product Type

Exclude all products of a certain product type.

Best for:

• Category-level exclusions
• Preventing certain product types from appearing together
• Strategic product category management

Example:

Hide Product Types:
- "Gift Cards" (don't upsell gift cards)
- "Sample Products" (exclude samples from recommendations)
- "Accessories Only" (if promoting main products)

Hide by Vendor

Exclude all products from specific vendors.

Best for:

• Managing supplier relationships
• Excluding drop-ship only items
• Strategic vendor management

Example:

Hide Vendors:
- "Acme Supplies" (slow fulfillment)
- "Budget Brand Co" (low quality concerns)
- "Seasonal Imports LLC" (out of season)

Combining Filters

Multiple filters can be combined for sophisticated exclusion logic. All filters work together with OR logic - if a product matches any filter, it will be hidden.

Example: Complete Filtering Strategy

Individual Products Hidden:
- Product #12345 (Recalled Item)
- Product #67890 (Out of Stock Long-term)

Tags Hidden:
- "clearance"
- "final-sale"
- "damaged"

Product Types Hidden:
- "Gift Card"
- "Sample"

Vendors Hidden:
- "Problem Supplier Inc"

Result: Any product matching ANY of these criteria will be excluded from recommendations

Use Cases

Exclude Clearance Items

Scenario: Don't want to upsell clearance items as they're already discounted

Solution:

Hide by Tag: "clearance", "final-sale", "as-is"

Hide Low-Margin Products

Scenario: Focus upsells on profitable products only

Solution:

Hide by Tag: "low-margin", "cost-plus-only"

Setup: Tag low-margin products in Shopify with "low-margin" tag

Filter Out-of-Season Products

Scenario: Don't recommend winter coats in summer

Solution:

Hide by Tag: "winter-only", "cold-weather"

Strategy: Tag seasonal products, update filters seasonally

Exclude Certain Categories

Scenario: Don't upsell gift cards or digital products

Solution:

Hide by Product Type: "Gift Card", "Digital Download"

Manage Supplier Issues

Scenario: Temporarily exclude products from supplier with fulfillment delays

Solution:

Hide by Vendor: "Slow Ship Supplies"

Note: Easy to re-enable when supplier resolves issues

Configuration

Setting Up Filters

1. Navigate to Settings > Product Filtering in Checkout Components dashboard
2. Choose your filter type (Products, Tags, Types, or Vendors)
3. Select or enter items to exclude
4. Save filter configuration
5. Filters apply immediately to all upsell components using automatic or collection-based sources

Filter Management

• Add Filters: Click "Add Filter" and select criteria
• Remove Filters: Click X next to any filter to remove it
• Edit Filters: Modify filter criteria at any time
• Test Filters: Use preview mode to see which products are excluded

Best Practices

1. Start Conservative

Begin with obvious exclusions (broken products, gift cards) and expand gradually based on performance data.

2. Use Tags for Flexibility

Tag-based filtering is most flexible - you can quickly add/remove products from exclusion by changing tags in Shopify.

3. Document Your Strategy

Keep notes on why you're filtering specific items so you can review later.

4. Regular Review

Review filters quarterly to ensure they're still relevant:

• Remove seasonal filters when season ends
• Check if excluded products are fixed
• Verify vendor filters are still needed

5. Monitor Impact

Track how filtering affects:

• Number of products shown in recommendations
• Conversion rates on upsells
• Customer feedback

6. Don't Over-Filter

Filtering too aggressively can result in:

• Too few products to recommend
• Repetitive recommendations
• Missed upsell opportunities

Recommended: Filter 5-15% of catalog, not 30-40%+

Technical Details

Where Filters Apply

Hidden Products applies to:

• ✅ Automatic (Shopify AI) recommendations
• ✅ Collection-based product sources
• ✅ Some AI integration recommendations (depends on integration)
• ❌ Manual product selection (you control products directly)
• ❌ Product Mapping (specific product mappings)

Filter Priority

Filters are applied AFTER products are selected by recommendation source but BEFORE display to customer:

1. Recommendation Source selects products
   ↓
2. Advanced Filtering removes excluded products
   ↓
3. Remaining products displayed to customer

Performance Impact

• Filters have minimal performance impact
• Evaluated server-side before component renders
• No impact on checkout page speed

Limitations

Works with automatic and collection-based product recommendation sources. Does not apply to manual product selection or product mapping sources where you explicitly choose products.

Examples by Store Type

Fashion Store

Hide Tags: "damaged", "irregular", "sample"
Hide Types: "Gift Card"
Reason: Focus on quality products only

Electronics Store

Hide Tags: "refurbished", "open-box", "clearance"
Hide Vendors: "Budget Tech Co"
Reason: Only recommend new, quality items

Home Goods Store

Hide Tags: "discontinued", "seasonal-clearance"
Hide Types: "Gift Card", "Digital"
Reason: Focus on current inventory