Collections are a powerful tool to create groups of items based on dynamic rules. For instance, one can define the Cyber Monday collection as "the set of all items from the Electronics category which cost less than $200, as well as all laptops that cost less than $800."
Any combination of facets and group ids can be used in the filter expression that defines a collection.
Items can also be manually added to a collection by utilizing the items field.
To serve production end-user collection requests, use the Browse results endpoint to specify the collection's ID: /browse/collection_id/<collection_id>.
Features
- Fast: A new collection can be retrieved by end users in less than 2 minutes after creation. Updates to collection rules are also applied in under 2 minutes.
- Dynamic: Collections are dynamic in nature. When a new item is uploaded, the collection it belongs to does not need to be specified: it will be automatically included in all collections where it matches the defined criteria.
- Personalized: New users that view a collection see the most popular items in the collection first. Returning users see items ranked based on those items most similar to their purchase and view history.
- Searchandisable: Just as search queries can have powerful slotting or boosting rules applied, collections support powerful merchant controls over item ranking.
- Expressive: Collections are defined by a powerful filtering language that allows combining filters in any way you see fit.
For more information on Collections, please see the Learn about Collections resource.
API endpoints
Adding items dynamically
Items are added dynamically with logical operators composed of filters (facets and item groups) via the filter_expression property. For more information on filter expressions, please refer to this resource.
Adding items manually
In addition to dynamic rules, it is possible to manually include specific items (products) in a collection that may not match a set of given set of filters. One example could be a list of promotional products from a Brand partner.
Collections slotting in the searchandising UI allows making these manual additions, and the Add items to a collection endpoint allows for updating via the API.
Adding (or modifying) items added to a collection manually will require an index build before results will be live. Plan updates accordingly, especially when replacing conditions with items.