Sorting on category pages: let shoppers order products their way
Sort controls let shoppers order a category by price, popularity or newest. See which options to offer and how to place the control.
2 min read
Area
CRO & UX
Severity
Medium
Fix effort
Small
Stores failing
Not enough data
A sort control lets a shopper reorder a category by price, popularity, newest or rating. It is one of the quickest ways to cut a long list down to what they care about. This check looks for sorting on the category page.
Why it matters
Shoppers arrive with different priorities. One wants the cheapest option, another the bestseller. A fixed order serves only one of them. Sorting is simple to add and costs nothing in screen space when done as a dropdown.
What the audit looks at
The audit loads a category page and looks for a sort control with at least two options.
What usually causes it
- A theme with sorting switched off
- A collection template that removed the dropdown to simplify the page
- Sorting that only works after a full page reload with no state kept
- A sort control that is hidden on mobile
How to fix it
Add a sort control to category pages. The effort is small, usually a setting or a paste and under 30 minutes.
- Offer at least best selling, price low to high, price high to low and newest.
- Place it above the product grid, visible without scrolling on mobile.
On Shopify
- Online Store > Themes > Customize, open a collection template, select the product grid section and turn on Enable sorting.
On WooCommerce
- The default WooCommerce shop and category pages include a sorting dropdown. If it has disappeared, your theme or a plugin removed it from the shop loop: check the theme options first.
How to check it yourself
- Open a category with many products and try each sort option.
- Check that the order changes and the filters are kept.
- Test on a phone.
Frequently asked questions
Which sort options should I offer?
Best selling, price low to high, price high to low and newest cover most stores.
What should the default be?
Many stores default to best selling. See the default sort guide for why.
Related checks
Check your own store
See whether your store passes this check
Paste your store URL. The audit loads your pages in a real browser and shows the result for this check with the evidence behind it.