Category Merchandising gives you more control over which products shoppers see first when they browse category pages.
Boosting Rules let you decide which product qualities should receive the most priority within a category. For example, you could set Boost A to prioritize products with a margin equal to or greater than 40%, Boost B to prioritize products currently on sale, and Boost C to prioritize products with a particular custom-field value.
Products that match higher-priority boosts appear before products that match only lower-priority boosts. Products that do not match any boost still remain on the category page; they simply receive no boost priority. If multiple products have the same boost score, Sort By determines their order. Category Merchandising changes product order but does not change which products belong to the category.
Once you save a rule, Miva applies it automatically to the corresponding category pages. You do not need to add Category Merchandising to a Page Builder component.
On This Page
How Boosting Rules Determine Order
How Category Merchandising Works
Category Merchandising offers two levels of configuration:
The Global Category Rule is the default for category pages.
A category-specific rule takes priority for the selected category and can also apply to its subcategories, allowing the rule to pass down through the category hierarchy. If no category-specific or inherited rule applies, Miva uses the Global Category Rule.
For example, you could create a Global Category Rule that prioritizes products with a margin of at least 20%, then create a rule for Outdoor Clothing that prioritizes sale products and applies to its subcategories. Outdoor Clothing uses its own rule, while a subcategory such as Rain Jackets inherits it unless that subcategory has its own rule. Other categories use the Global Category Rule unless they have a different category-specific rule.
How Boosting Rules Determine Order
A boost is a condition that moves matching products higher on the page. For example, you can boost products that are on sale, have a higher margin, belong to a preferred brand, or have a particular custom-field value.
Boosts are arranged by priority. Boost A has the highest priority, followed by Boost B, Boost C, and the remaining boosts through Z.
A product that matches a higher-priority boost ranks above a product that matches only lower-priority boosts. Sort By determines the order of products with the same total boost score.
Note: Boosting Rules apply when the category page uses its normal product order. If a shopper selects another sorting option, such as Price: Low to High, that selection may override the merchandising order.
Global Category Rule
The Global Category Rule is the default for category pages. Miva uses it when a category does not have its own rule and cannot inherit a rule from a parent category.
You can set the Global Category Rule to prioritize:
Higher-margin products
Products currently on sale
Products from a preferred manufacturer or brand
Products with a particular custom-field value
To configure the Global Category Rule:
Go to Merchandising > Category Merchandising Tab > Click Global Rule.
- Click Add Boosting Rule
- Configure the boosts, Boost Filters, and sorting options and click Apply.
- Click Preview Results to review the product order and click Save.
Create a Category Rule
1. Click Add Category from the Merchandising Dashboard, or go to Merchandising > Category Merchandising and click Add Category.
2. Select the category you want to merchandise.
3. Check the Also Apply to Subcategories box to allow child categories to use the rule.
4. Click Add Boosting Rule to configure the boosts, Boost Filters, and sorting options.
For a complete explanation of boosts, Boost Filters, priority order, and sorting, see the Boosting Rules documentation.
5. Copy from Existing allows you to reuse a rule from another category.
Click Preview Results to review the updated product order and click Save.
After you save the rule, it appears on the Category Merchandising screen. The list shows the category, whether its rule applies to subcategories, and when it was last updated.