Recommendations

Make discovery useful after the first result.

ParticleSearch recommendations give shoppers a relevant next step across product pages, carts, search, and discovery surfaces, with merchant controls and measurement around each placement.

The discovery moment

Context decides what a helpful recommendation means.

The right strategy depends on what the shopper is doing now, where the block appears, and what action should come next.

Context

Understand

Strategy

Match

Placement

Position

Engage

Interact

Review

Improve

The merchant answer

Recommendations should answer a shopping question, not fill an empty space. A similar item helps comparison, a frequently bought together set helps complete a purchase, and new arrivals or best sellers help a shopper browse when the query is exploratory.

Guides and field notes

Go deeper when the decision needs detail.

These articles stay in the blog and search index, but they work like practical guides: context, merchant decisions, and acceptance tests for the capability you are evaluating.

ParticleSearch recommendations guide

Choose strategies, placement ownership, controls, evidence, and launch acceptance.

Similar products guide

Define credible alternatives from constraints and useful tradeoffs.

Cross-sell guide

Separate frequently bought together, complete the look, and cart jobs.

Recommendation quality guide

Build eligibility, judgement, regression, and measurement checks.

The path

Match the recommendation to the moment.

A useful recommendation starts with context, then chooses a strategy and placement that makes the next action feel natural.

Choose the shopping moment

Decide whether the shopper needs a similar product, an add-on, a cart cross-sell, or a discovery path such as trending or new arrivals.

Place the next step

Use a recommendation block where the shopper can act on it: product detail, cart, search, or another storefront surface.

Review what happened

Measure views, clicks, empty states, and downstream actions. Use that evidence to refine the placement or strategy.

Decision guide

Questions this capability should answer

Use these questions to decide whether this capability is the right next move for your store.

What shopping moment are we supporting?

Choose comparison, basket completion, coordinated purchase, or open-ended discovery before choosing a strategy.

Where should the recommendation appear?

Place it near the product, cart, search, or discovery surface where the next step is easiest to act on.

What does healthy evidence look like?

Review views, clicks, empty states, and downstream context without assuming that more products automatically means more value.

What is included

Recommendation strategies with a job to do

Each strategy carries a different intent. Naming that intent makes the block easier to place, evaluate, and explain to the team managing the storefront.

Built around a merchant decision

Similar products

Help a shopper compare alternatives when the current product is close but not quite right.

Frequently bought together

Surface complementary products when the next useful action is to complete the basket.

Complete the look and cart cross-sell

Support a coordinated purchase or a useful add-on at the moment it makes sense.

Trending and best sellers

Give exploratory shoppers a path into products with demonstrated store interest.

New arrivals

Help returning shoppers discover what changed in the catalog without relying on a precise query.

Placement and experiment context

Review recommendation views, clicks, empty states, and controlled variants alongside the surface where they appeared.

A useful boundary

Good product decisions include what the feature cannot solve.

ParticleSearch gives your team more evidence and control. It does not remove the need for accurate product data, a clear merchandising goal, or a review of the result on your own store.

Recommendations are a discovery aid, not a guarantee of lift. Read the observed engagement and revenue context before drawing a conclusion.
The available products, inventory, market, and placement determine what can be recommended. Empty states are useful evidence, not an error to hide.
Use a strategy that matches the shopping moment. More products is not automatically more helpful.

Keep exploring

See how this fits with the rest of the product.

All capabilities

Storefront search

See the search and product surfaces around the recommendation.

Search analytics

Review engagement and revenue context.

Merchant controls

Use controlled changes when a placement needs refinement.

See it on your store

Give your team a clearer way to improve search.

Start with the storefront experience, then use the merchant workflow to understand what deserves attention next.

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