New arrivals and out-of-stock products

Two settings in Sorting rules do most of the everyday merchandising work: pushing sold-out products down and bringing new products up. Both can also be changed for a single collection (see Collection settings).

Push out-of-stock products to the bottom

With Push out-of-stock products to the bottom on (it is by default), products that can’t be bought move below every other product at the next sort. When they’re restocked, they return to their ranked position at the following sort — or within minutes with real-time re-sorting.

What counts as out of stock

• A product is out of stock when none of its variants can be bought.
• Continue selling when out of stock: with Count “continue selling” products as in stock on (the default), a variant that Shopify keeps selling at zero stock counts as available. Turn the option off to treat those products as out of stock when their total inventory is zero.
• Products that don’t track inventory in Shopify are always in stock.

Ordering the sold-out products

Out-of-stock products are ordered among themselves by your main sort order, or by a different one — for example Newest first, so recently added products that sold out are the first of the sold-out group.

Promote new products

Promote new products places new products right after your featured products, for the number of days you choose (1 to 365):

• Count from the date the product was created in Shopify, or the date it was published to your online store. Use the published date if you create products well before they go live.
• Order new products by your main sort order, or a different one such as Newest first.

When the period ends, the product simply drops into its normal ranked position.

Tip: 7 to 14 days works well for most stores. If you add many products at once, use a shorter window or order new products by sales, so the best new products lead.

Treat back-in-stock products as new

Restocked products often deserve a second spotlight. With Treat back-in-stock products as new on, a product that comes back in stock is promoted like a new arrival, for the same number of days. Choose how a restock is detected:

• Total stock — the product’s total inventory rises from below a minimum quantity to at least that quantity, by at least the increase you set.
• Any variant — one variant’s inventory does the same. Useful when single sizes are restocked.

For example, with a minimum quantity of 1 and a minimum increase of 10, a product that goes from 0 to 24 units counts as back in stock, but one that goes from 0 to 2 doesn’t.

Note: Back-in-stock detection uses your store-wide settings, and starts from the moment it’s turned on — earlier restocks don’t count.

Which wins?

A product that is new and sold out goes to the bottom: there’s no point promoting a product nobody can buy. Featured products are the exception — they stay on top even when sold out, so check the recommendations, which flag sold-out featured products.

Plans

Out-of-stock handling is part of every plan. New arrival promotion is part of every plan too; see Plans and billing for details.