Adobe Commerce Visual Merchandiser: How to Automate Category Product Sorting Using Category Rules

What is a Visual Merchandiser?

The Visual Merchandiser in Adobe Commerce is a powerful tool that allows store administrators and merchandisers to visually organize and manage products within a category.

Instead of manually sorting products through attributes or rules, this feature provides a drag-and-drop interface that helps you arrange products based on strategy, marketing goals, or visual appeal.

Key Benefits of the Visual Merchandiser

1. Drag-and-drop Product Positioning
Easily arrange products within a category using a visual interface, without manually updating sort order values.

2. Combine Manual and Automated Merchandising
You can place specific products at the top and allow Adobe Commerce to auto-sort the remaining products using rules such as price, newness, best sellers, and stock.

3. Rule-based Smart Categories
Create dynamic categories that automatically populate based on product attributes. For example: “Women’s Shoes under $50 in stock.” When new products meet the conditions, they are automatically included.

4. Real-time Preview
Merchandisers can see how the category will appear before saving, which helps with visual balance, seasonal layouts, and campaign planning.

5. Improve Conversion and Customer Experience
By placing best-selling or high-margin products at the top, you can guide customer attention and increase the likelihood of purchase.

6. Time-saving for Large Catalogs
Rules reduce manual work when managing hundreds or thousands of products and keep categories automatically updated.

7. Support for Visual Attributes
You can view thumbnails, stock, price, and other important details while arranging products, making merchandising easier and more informed.

System Requirements

Configure Smart Attributes for Visual Merchandiser

1. Go to Stores → Settings → Configuration → Catalog → Visual Merchandiser

2. Expand the General Options section

Available Settings

• Visible Attributes for Category Rules
  Choose the product attributes allowed for rule conditions, such as Color, Size, or Price.

• Minimum Stock Threshold
  Defines the minimum stock quantity required for a product to appear in the Visual Merchandiser window.

• Color Attribute Code
  Default value is color. Enter a different attribute code if another one is used in the catalog.

• Color Order
  Enter each color value on a new line to control display priority, for example: White, Red, Blue, Black.

Note: Each attribute used in Category Rules must have Use in Product Listing = Yes set in its storefront properties.

Creating and Applying Category Rules in Visual Merchandiser

The Visual Merchandiser allows you to create Category Rules that automatically organize products based on defined conditions. This ensures that categories remain up to date without manual sorting.

Steps to Create a Category Rule

Step 1: Open the Category

• Go to Catalog → Categories

• Select the category to edit

Step 2: Enable Rule-Based Matching

• In Products in Category, set Match products by rule to Yes

• The Automatic Sorting and Condition fields will appear

Step 3: Add Rule Conditions

• Click Add Condition

• Choose an attribute such as Price, Color, Date Created, or Stock Status

• Set an operator (Equal, Not Equal, Greater Than, Contains, etc.)

• Enter the value to match

• Add multiple conditions if needed

Step 4: Define Condition Logic

• Choose AND or OR logic

  • AND: All conditions must be satisfied

  • OR: At least one condition must be satisfied

Example: To list products created between 7 and 30 days ago:

• Date Created < 30

• Date Modified > 7

• Logic: AND

Step 5: Set Automatic Sorting

Note: Sorting options are global and not store-specific.

Step 6: Save the Category

• Click Save Category to apply the rules

• The product list will update automatically

Example: Women → Tops → Jacket

Goal:

• Display products where SKUs contain "ws" and the product name contains "tee"

• Sort them in ascending alphabetical order

Steps

1. Open Catalog → Categories → Women → Tops → Jackets

2. Set Match products by rule to Yes

3. Add conditions for SKU and product name

4. Select Name: A–Z for automatic sorting

5. Save the category
   

Validate on the Storefront

After saving, open the frontend category page and confirm the result.

• /women/tops-women/jackets-women.html

Limitations of Visual Merchandiser

• Products Outside the Category Can Appear
  Category rules do not automatically restrict results to the current category.
  To prevent unrelated products from appearing, add a condition such as
  Categories Equal <Category ID>



• Limited Attribute Support
  Only attributes with Use in Product Listing = Yes can be used in rules.

• Products Do Not Restore After Removing Rules
  When rule-based matching is enabled, manually assigned products are replaced.
  Disabling the rule does not restore the original product list; products must be re-added manually.