On my website, the new arrivals tab was built as a collection, which results in an SEO-unfriendly URL and doesn’t display search filters like color, size, etc. However, I need those filters to show up and the URL to not be a search URL. The justification given was that with collections, VTEX automatically pulls in the latest releases and adds them to the collection, then automatically removes them after 30 days.
I need to confirm whether collections really do remove products after 30 days of registration from the “new arrivals” tab, since this isn’t ideal for my store — we only launch 2 collections per year. If that’s the case, what would be the best solution: creating a new arrivals category, or is there another option?
Good morning Fram, how are you?
Regarding the filters, as far as I know, no collection page natively displays filters — only category and subcategory pages display filters natively in VTEX. However, I think this issue can be resolved with a JS customization. I suggest checking that possibility with an agency.
Regarding the removal of products from a collection, I’m not familiar with that behavior — I’ve always worked with collections in my store and have never experienced that. However, you need to check how you created your collection, specifically whether you set an end date or not. I’ve never used that feature, but I believe that if you specify an end date, the collection will either be deactivated or the products will be removed from it. I’m not entirely sure how that mechanism works, but I imagine it has something to do with what you’re describing.
If you’re creating it through the CMS, there’s also a date option there:
I believe that if you specifically include the products you want in that collection without setting an end date, the removal won’t happen.
Lastly, regarding your report about the link always showing up as a search, you can create friendly URLs for any collection on your site. I didn’t find detailed documentation on this, but I’ll try to show you below how I do it in my store.
First, go to your store’s CMS and create a folder with the name you want for the link. I never use spaces or special characters, and in the folder settings I fill it in as shown in the screenshot below:
After that, I need to create a Layout for that folder:
To configure this layout, you need to click on it and then fill it in as shown below, assigning a template to the folder:
If you don’t have a specific template for this case and you’re unsure which one to use, since it’s a collection, I suggest using the same template used for the Department folder, as it uses a product shelf.
Once that’s done, I save it, wait a little while for the settings to take effect, and then it’s up and running. The URL will always be your site address followed by the name of the folder you created.
I tried to explain in practical terms how I do it here, but if you have more in-depth questions, I suggest opening a ticket requesting more information about creating friendly URLs.
I hope this helped a little.
Big hug!
Nath
Hey, Nath, how’s it going?
Thank you so much for your help. Practical examples are always great for beginners, and your answer gave me such a huge sense of direction!
I can’t thank you enough,
Xoxo
Good to know, Fram — it’s always great to help when you can, because that way everyone ends up learning together. Big hug!
Nat, I have this /outlet folder on my site, but it’s not picking up the department filter. The template I called is the Department one and the products come from a collection.
The search context pulls the filters: Resultado Busca | Lucas Home - Lojas de Colchões
but https://www.lucashome.com.br/outlet doesn’t.
Hey Guilherme, how’s it going?
I’m not sure I fully understood what you meant in your question, but if you’re referring to the department filters not showing up in your friendly URL, even if you chose the department template, they really won’t work.
What happens is that, even if you create a “friendly URL” for a collection, it’s still a collection. Filters are specific to departments or categories, not to product lists created as collections.
If that wasn’t your question, feel free to ask again — if I know how to help, I’m here for you.
Big hug and happy selling!
Thanks for the reply Nat… The only way to have filters then would be to make OUTLET a category/department. And why does the search context, which I sent above, bring up the filters? Would you know?
On this link liquidapw - Polo Wear - Loja Oficial it shows the filter, and it looks like it’s a collection
Guilherme, as far as I know, the filter functionality is restricted to parent and child categories only. For collections, this option is not natively available in VTEX — at least in legacy I’m certain it’s not. There may be a possibility of customizing it via code to make filters work in collections, but I wouldn’t be able to say for sure. In that case, it would be worth consulting a developer.
Guilherme, good morning!
To follow up on my response to your question, the Moletom link you sent me as an example is, as far as I can tell, also a collection, and the filter that appears is the default filter that shows up in collections, which is for sorting by highest or lowest discount, new arrivals, price, etc. — but the size, color, and other filters that are specific to parent and child categories don’t appear.
In the previous examples you had sent me, I was also able to see the same filters — at no point did I get an empty search result as you initially mentioned. It’s possible that you saw an empty search result due to a cache issue, but I believe that if that was the case, it should be back to normal by now.
When I refer to category filters, I’m referring to the filters I’ll show you in the example below:
And the collection filters are only these:
I hope I managed to help clarify things a bit.
Big hug and great sales!
Guilherme, actually when I talk about filters, I’m only referring to the top shelf filters, as shown in the photo below:
Since I don’t work with side filters on my front end, I’m not really in a position to explain them in depth, and VTEX’s help documentation doesn’t have much on them either, but if you want to check it out, here’s the link: Filtros