Trending Products on Shopify: How to Showcase Your Best Sellers
Learn the difference between trending products and static best-sellers on Shopify. Covers placement strategy, social proof psychology, seasonal rotation, and performance measurement with real benchmarks.
Muhammed Tüfekyapan
Key Takeaways
- 1 Trending products and best-sellers are not the same. Best-sellers rank by total historical sales. Trending products reflect what is popular right now based on real-time views, add-to-carts, and purchases.
- 2 The homepage is the highest-impact placement for a trending products widget. It signals that your store is active and popular, and helps new visitors discover products without navigating through collections.
- 3 Trending products create genuine social proof through the bandwagon effect. A 'Trending Now' label backed by real customer activity builds trust - unlike manufactured countdown timers with arbitrary deadlines.
- 4 Manual best-seller lists go stale fast. Automated trending systems rotate products with seasonal shifts, promotional spikes, and new launches - no merchant intervention required.
- 5 Track four metrics for your trending widget: impressions, click-through rate (aim for 2-4% on homepage), add-to-cart rate, and attributed revenue. Review performance weekly.
- 6 Growth Suite's Trending Products feature uses real-time trend detection, automatic updates, native theme integration, one-click add-to-cart, and performance reporting - all without manual curation.
Every shopper who visits your store has the same question. "What are other people buying?" Trending products Shopify sections answer that question with real-time data. They show what is popular right now based on actual customer activity - not what sold the most six months ago.
Most stores either have no trending section at all or rely on a static best-seller list that never changes. That is a missed opportunity. A dynamic shopify popular products section creates social proof, drives product discovery, and keeps your store feeling fresh. Walk-away customers who are browsing without strong intent often need one simple signal: "Other people are buying this right now." This guide covers how to show best selling products shopify stores actually benefit from - the dynamic, real-time kind. You will learn where to place them, how to measure results, and how to automate the entire process.
Tip: Trending products are not the same as best-sellers. Best-sellers rank by total historical sales. Trending products reflect what is happening right now - updated in real time based on current views, add-to-carts, and purchases.
Trending vs Best-Selling - The Key Difference
Most merchants use "trending" and "best-selling" interchangeably. They are not the same thing. The difference has a direct impact on what your customers see and buy.
A traditional shopify best sellers display is a ranking based on total historical sales. If your store has sold 500 units of Product A over its lifetime, that product sits at the top. It does not matter if Product A has not sold a single unit this week. It still leads the list.
Trending products Shopify sections work differently. They rank products by recent activity. The items with the most views, add-to-carts, and purchases in the last few hours or days rise to the top. If a new product gets sudden attention, it appears in the trending list immediately.
Why does this matter? Returning visitors see the same best seller section shopify every time they visit. A shopify trending products widget changes with real customer behavior. Each visit feels fresh and current.
Here is a simple example. Winter boots dominate the shopify best sellers display based on total units sold. But in April, nobody is buying boots. They are buying sandals. A trending products Shopify list automatically shows sandals. A best-seller list still shows boots. For stores that want the homepage to reflect what is actually happening, trending is the right approach.
| Factor | Best-Sellers | Trending Products |
|---|---|---|
| Data Source | Total historical sales | Real-time views, add-to-carts, purchases |
| Update Frequency | Weekly or monthly | Continuously (hours/days) |
| Relevance | Backward-looking | Current and forward-looking |
| Seasonal Accuracy | Low (shows old winners) | High (reflects current interest) |
| Manual Effort | Often manually curated | Automated, no merchant input needed |
| Best Use Case | "All-time favorites" section | Homepage, collection page social proof |
Key Insight: A best-seller list tells customers what sold the most in total. A trending list tells customers what is popular right now. For returning visitors, trending is far more relevant because it reflects current inventory and seasonal shifts.
Where to Display Trending Products
A shopify trending products widget is only valuable if shoppers actually see it. Placement determines whether the widget drives clicks or gets ignored. Here are the four locations that matter most.
Homepage
This is the highest-impact placement. The homepage is the first page many visitors see. A dynamic shopify popular products section signals that your store is active, popular, and worth exploring. Place it above the fold or just below the hero banner. Trending products Shopify widgets on the homepage also help new visitors discover products quickly without navigating through collections.
Collection Pages
A "Popular in This Category" section within collection pages helps customers who are browsing but have not committed to a specific product. It narrows the choices. It highlights what other shoppers in that category prefer. This is a strong best seller section shopify replacement that updates automatically.
Product Pages
Shopify popular products widgets work as secondary recommendations on product pages. "Other customers are also looking at..." adds a social proof layer. This is especially useful for walk-away customers who are browsing but not ready to commit. They see what others are buying and feel more confident.
Cart Page or Drawer
Trending items shown in the cart serve as last-chance discovery. A customer who already added something to cart may notice a trending product they missed. This most popular products display placement captures impulse interest at the moment of highest purchase intent.
Mobile Considerations
Use horizontal scroll carousels with 2-3 products visible at a time. Make sure "Add to Cart" buttons are easily tappable in the thumb zone. The shopify trending products widget must load fast on mobile to avoid slowing the page.
Tip: Start with the homepage. It is the highest-traffic page and the first impression for most visitors. Once that is working, expand your most popular products display to collection pages and product pages.
The Social Proof Effect of Trending Products
Social proof is one of the most powerful forces in ecommerce. When a customer sees that a product is popular with other shoppers right now, it changes how they evaluate that product. A well-placed shopify best sellers display powered by real-time data taps directly into this psychology.
This is the bandwagon effect in action. People naturally gravitate toward what others are choosing. A "Trending Now" label acts as a recommendation from hundreds of anonymous shoppers. It says: "You do not have to take our word for it - look at what real customers are doing." That is why how to show best selling products shopify merchants ask about matters so much. The format and data behind the display shape customer perception.
There is an important distinction between shopify popular products based on real data and manufactured urgency. A countdown timer with an arbitrary deadline is manufactured urgency. A trending products Shopify label based on real customer activity is genuine urgency. Customers can tell the difference. Trending products create honest social proof because they are backed by actual behavior, not marketing tactics.
Trending widgets also drive discovery. A shopper who came for a specific product discovers a trending item in a different category. They add it to their cart. This cross-category discovery is nearly impossible with search alone. A shopify best sellers display that updates in real time surfaces products customers would never have found on their own.
For new visitors, a shopify popular products section communicates trust. It shows that real customers are engaging with your store right now. The store feels active, popular, and trustworthy. A static store that looks the same every visit does not send that signal.
Key Insight: Trending products create genuine social proof. When a customer sees that a product is popular with other shoppers right now, it validates their interest and reduces purchase anxiety. This is real urgency backed by real data - not manufactured countdown timers.
Seasonal Trending and Automatic Rotation
Customer interest shifts constantly. What is popular in December is irrelevant in February. What trends during a flash sale disappears the next day. If you want to know how to show best selling products shopify visitors actually care about, you need automation. Manual curation cannot keep pace with these shifts.
Trending products Shopify sections naturally rotate with seasons. Summer items surface in summer. Holiday gift items surface in November and December. Spring collections trend in March and April. This happens automatically when the system tracks real-time activity. No merchant intervention required.
Promotional spikes tell the same story. During a sale event or product launch, certain products see sudden spikes in views and add-to-carts. A dynamic most popular products display captures these spikes immediately and surfaces the products getting attention. A static best seller section shopify list misses this entirely.
Consider Black Friday. On that day, shopify popular products in the trending section reflect the deals customers engage with most. On a regular Tuesday in January, trending products show steady everyday favorites. The same widget displays completely different products based on what is actually happening.
New product launches benefit too. When a new product generates immediate engagement after launch, a trending system surfaces it without any manual promotion. The product earns its spot through real customer interest, not merchant curation. This is how to show best selling products shopify stores should approach product discovery - let the data decide.
Warning: Manual best-seller lists go stale fast. By the time you update them, customer interest has already shifted. Remember the winter boots example: a static list still shows boots in April while your customers want sandals. Automated trending eliminates this problem.
Measuring Trending Product Performance
A shopify trending products widget is only valuable if it drives engagement and revenue. Without measurement, you are guessing whether it works. Here are the four metrics that matter.
Widget Impressions
How many visitors see the trending section? This depends on placement. Above the fold gets more impressions than below. Track this number to understand your shopify best sellers display reach.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of visitors who click on a product in the trending widget. A good benchmark for homepage trending products Shopify widgets is 2-4%. If your CTR is below 2%, the placement may need adjustment. Move the widget higher on the page or try a different layout.
Add-to-Cart Rate
The percentage of clicks that result in an add-to-cart. This measures whether the shopify best sellers display shows genuinely interesting products or just curiosity clicks. High CTR but low add-to-cart rate means the products in your trending section do not match what customers actually want to buy.
Attributed Revenue
Total revenue from purchases that started with a click on the trending widget. This is the ultimate performance metric for any most popular products display. It tells you exactly how much money your trending section generates.
Check your shopify popular products widget performance weekly. Look for patterns. Does performance spike on certain days? Do certain product categories trend more than others? Use this data to optimize placement and display format. Measurement turns a trending products Shopify section from a "nice to have" into a revenue channel you can optimize.
Key Insight: Track where customers click from trending widgets and whether those clicks lead to purchases. A trending section with high views but low clicks may need better placement or a different display format. Aim for 2-4% CTR on homepage widgets.
How Growth Suite Showcases Trending Products
Setting up a real-time shopify popular products section sounds complex. Growth Suite handles the data, the display, and the updates automatically. Here is how it works.
Real-time trend detection. Growth Suite analyzes current store activity - views, add-to-carts, and purchases - to identify products with the highest engagement right now. Products with growing momentum surface automatically. It identifies items with the highest probability of being added to cart and purchased.
Automatic updates. The trending products Shopify section updates continuously without any manual work. No lists to manage. No products to curate. No seasonal adjustments to make. Your shopify best sellers display replacement stays current every single day.
Flexible placement. Add the shopify trending products widget to the homepage, collection pages, or product pages. Each placement is configured independently. You decide where your shopify best sellers display appears.
Native theme integration. The best seller section shopify widget matches your store's design automatically on both desktop and mobile. Full customization is available through the Shopify theme customizer. No coding required.
One-click Add to Cart. Customers can add shopify popular products to their cart directly from the widget. No extra navigation. No friction. One tap and the product is in the cart.
Performance reporting. Track views, clicks, add-to-cart rates, and attributed revenue for every shopify trending products widget placement. See exactly how much revenue trending products generate.
Tip: Growth Suite's Trending Products feature updates in real time based on actual customer behavior. Products with the highest current engagement surface automatically. No manual curation, no stale lists - just real-time data driving product visibility.
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Muhammed Tüfekyapan
Founder of Growth Suite
Muhammed Tüfekyapan is a growth marketing expert and the founder of Growth Suite, an AI-powered Shopify app trusted by over 300 stores across 40+ countries. With a career in data-driven e-commerce optimization that began in 2012, he has established himself as a leading authority in the field.
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