Why Too Many Product Carousels Can Hurt Your Shopify Store

Don’t overwhelm your customers with too many product carousels on your eCommerce site. Stick to a few smart ones that recommend the right products for each visitor. Otherwise, your most relevant and highly convertible product, the one most likely to catch that specific user’s attention, could get lost in the clutter and confuse your visitors.

Here are the most optimal product carousel arrangements after running hundreds of tests on Shopify stores to determine which layouts lead to the highest revenue and conversion rates:

Landing Page

• 1 collection carousel (e.g., new-arrivals, womens-denim, etc.), placed directly below the hero image [1].

• 1 best-sellers OR picks-for-you carousel, placed as high up on the page as possible [2].

Product Description Pages (PDPs)

• 1 bundle carousel, placed right below the product description [3].

• 1 similar-products carousel, placed just below the fold.

• 1 cross-sell carousel (optional), placed below the similar-products carousel [4].

Cart

• 1 similar-products or cross-sell carousel.

Less Important Carousel Placements:

these are the touchpoints where we typically do not see significant contributions to revenue and conversion rates unlike landing page, PDPs and cart.

• Checkout page: 1 similar-products or cross-sell carousel

• Empty cart: 1 best-sellers or picks-for-you carousel

• No search results: 1 best-sellers or picks-for-you carousel

• Collection Pages: 1 collection carousel

Footnotes:

[1] It may seem counterintuitive to many Shopify store managers, but personalizing the collection carousel like new-arrivals or womens-denim results in significantly higher revenue and conversions.

[2] When we mention "best-sellers," we’re using it as a general term. This could refer to various product pools, such as top-selling items, most converted, or most engaged products. However, the key is to personalize the selection from these pools for each individual user, ensuring the most relevant products are shown.

[3] Bundles are most effective when limited to three products, including the one being viewed, as showing more decreases engagement.

[4] If your store has more cross-sell opportunities that can’t fit into the bundle carousel, which is limited to three products, you may need an additional cross-sell carousel. For stores with fewer than 100 products, it’s often more efficient to combine the similar-products and cross-sell carousels into one.