Shopify Featured Collections: How To Add & Customize (2026 Guide)

A featured collection is often the first group of products a shopper sees on a Shopify store, yet the section looks and works differently from theme to theme. This guide shows you how to add one, which settings Dawn and Horizon give you, what to feature, and how to fix a section that won’t show products. I’m Charlie Ngo, Marketing Manager at BOGOS, and I checked every setting below against Shopify’s current Dawn and Horizon themes and the Shopify Help Center.

TL;DR

• A Shopify featured collection is a theme section that shows products from one collection directly on a page, most often the homepage.
• You add it in the theme editor with Add section > Featured collection, then pick a collection and click Save.
• Dawn’s featured collection shows 2–25 products, while Horizon’s shows 1–16 products in a Grid, Carousel, or Editorial layout.
• The section shows products in the collection’s own sort order, so you change the order in Products > Collections.
• Bestsellers, new arrivals, seasonal campaigns, and gift-with-purchase collections are the strongest collections to feature.
• When products don’t appear, check first that they are available on the Online Store sales channel.

1. What is a Shopify featured collection

A Shopify featured collection is a theme section that displays products from one collection directly on a page, with product images, titles, and prices. Shoppers open a product straight from the section, without visiting the full collection page first.

Most merchants place it on the homepage. You can also add it to product pages, collection pages, and custom pages, because sections work on every page except gift card and checkout pages, according to the Shopify Help Center.

The section only displays a collection. You build the collection itself in Products > Collections, where you choose between manual and automated Shopify collections and add your products.

2. Featured collection vs collection list vs featured product

Shopify themes offer 3 sections for showing products on a page: featured collection, collection list, and featured product. Each one sends shoppers to a different place.

Many stores use all 3 on one homepage. One simple layout puts a collection list near the top, a featured collection of bestsellers below it, and a featured product for a new launch further down.

3. Why featured collections matter for sales

Featured collections help sales in 2 ways: they show shoppers what you sell, and they shorten the path to a product page.

Shoppers judge your product range from the homepage. Baymard Institute recommends showing 40–50% of your product types on the homepage, and its benchmark found that 22% of ecommerce sites show too narrow a range.

A narrow homepage costs sales. In Baymard’s testing, shoppers who didn’t see the product type they wanted assumed the store didn’t carry it.

A featured collection also cuts clicks. A shopper goes from the homepage to a product page in 1 click, instead of opening a menu and then a collection page. Removing steps before the product page is one of the simplest ways to lift your Shopify conversion rate.

4. How to add a featured collection in Shopify

Most Shopify themes already include a featured collection section, so you add it in the theme editor without an app or code. Shopify’s free themes, Dawn and Horizon, both include it, and most paid themes on the Shopify Theme Store include one too.

Paid themes often give the section extra layouts or split it into several sections. For example, Stiletto, a $380 theme from Fluorescent, offers a Featured collection grid section and a Featured collection slider section that lets shoppers switch between several collections in one row.

To see which theme you use, go to Online Store > Themes, where Shopify shows your current theme’s name and version. The steps below cover Dawn and Horizon, and most other themes follow the same pattern with their own section names.

Check 2 things before you start:

• The collection must already exist in Products > Collections, with at least 1 product in it.
• Each product must be active and available on the Online Store sales channel. A collection’s visibility doesn’t change the visibility of the products inside it, as Shopify’s collection settings guide explains.

How to add a featured collection in Dawn & Horizon

• Step 1: From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
• Step 2: Click Customize on your Dawn theme.
• Step 3: Use the page selector at the top of the editor to choose a page, such as Home page.
• Step 4: Click Add section in the left sidebar and choose Featured collection.
• Step 5: Click the new section, then select your collection in the Collection setting.
• Step 6: Replace the default “Featured collection” heading with your own text, such as “Shop our bestsellers,” and click Save.

Horizon shows the collection’s own title as the section heading, so a clear collection title saves you an extra edit. Older Horizon versions named this section “Product list,” so look for that name if Featured collection is missing from the Add section menu.

In both themes, drag the section in the left sidebar to move it up or down the page. Placing the first featured collection right below the hero banner lets shoppers see products without scrolling far.

Add more than one featured collection

You add a second featured collection by repeating the same steps and picking a different collection. Each page template holds up to 25 sections, so a homepage has room for several featured collections.

Each section shows 1 collection. A homepage with Bestsellers, New arrivals, and Sale collections needs 3 separate featured collection sections.

Featured collection settings you can change

Dawn and Horizon give you different settings for the same section: Horizon offers more layouts, and Dawn offers more product card checkboxes.

For example, Dawn offers 9 groups of settings for its featured collection. The settings below come from Dawn version 16 – the current versions listed on the Shopify Theme Store in October 2026.

Quick add lets shoppers add a product to the cart from the homepage. The Bulk option lets shoppers choose quantities for several variants at once, such as 3 sizes of one shirt.

Horizon offers 3 layouts for the same section, and each layout fits a different goal.

• Grid shows products in even rows of 1–8 columns. It suits collections that shoppers want to scan quickly.
• Carousel shows one swipeable row with arrow or chevron buttons. It suits pages where you want to save vertical space.
• Editorial places large and small product cards in a staggered layout. It suits small, visual collections, such as a new launch or a gift edit.

5. How to change your featured collection and product order

You change the collection in the theme editor, and you change the product order in the collection itself.

Swap the featured collection

• Step 1: Go to Online Store > Themes and click Customize.
• Step 2: Click the Featured collection section in the left sidebar.
• Step 3: Click the Collection setting and select the new collection.
• Step 4: Click Save.

Swapping the section only changes which collection appears. To rename the collection or add products, edit it in Products > Collections.

Change the product order

A featured collection shows products in the same sort order as the collection. Shopify’s collection layout guide confirms that featured collections follow the sort order you set, and new collections use Most relevant by default.

Shopify offers 6 sort options: most relevant (based on sales performance), best selling, alphabetical, price, product date, and manual. On a new store with no orders, Best selling sorts products from newest to oldest.

To change the order, open the collection in Products > Collections, click the Default sort drop-down in the Collection items section, choose an option, and click Save. With Manually, you drag products into place, so the 4 products your section shows are the exact 4 you choose.

You can also ask Shopify Sidekick to reorder products, with a prompt such as “Move the linen tote to the end of my Summer Sale collection.”

Keep it updated automatically

An automated collection keeps a featured collection current without manual edits. For example, a New arrivals collection with the condition “Tag is equal to new” adds a product the moment you tag it, and sorting by product date puts the newest items first.

Use Shopify smart collections for any featured collection you change often, such as new arrivals, sale items, or a seasonal edit.

6. Which collections to feature on your homepage

The 5 strongest collections to feature are bestsellers, new arrivals, seasonal campaign collections, gift-with-purchase or bundle collections, and high-margin products.

• Bestsellers. Products that already sell well give new visitors a safe place to start. A dedicated Shopify best sellers collection gives you one collection to feature that updates with your sales.
• New arrivals. New products give returning shoppers a reason to scroll. Sort the collection by product date so the newest items lead.
• Seasonal and campaign collections. Campaign collections match what shoppers want that week. Over BFCM 2025, Shopify merchants sold $14.6 billion, and the top categories were cosmetics, clothing, activewear, and fitness and nutrition, according to Shopify’s BFCM 2025 report.
• Gift-with-purchase and bundle collections. A collection of products that unlock a free gift with purchase or a Shopify product bundle turns a homepage section into a live promotion. Promotion apps can mark these products for shoppers, and with BOGOS, for example, the gift icon appears on the product cards inside a featured collection, so shoppers spot the gift before they open a product.
• High-margin or slow-moving products. These products earn more per sale or clear stock that needs attention. Skip items with only 1 or 2 units left, because a shopper who clicks through to a sold-out product leaves disappointed.

Mix product types across your featured collections. Baymard’s 40–50% guideline applies to the homepage as a whole, so 3 featured collections from 3 different categories show more of your range than 3 collections from 1 category.

7. Best practices for featured collections that sell

6 habits help a featured collection drive more clicks and orders: high placement, the right product count, a mobile-first layout, consistent images, quick add, and a visible next reward.

• Place it high on the page. Put your most important featured collection directly below the hero banner, where shoppers see it within the first scroll.
• Show 4–8 products. Four products fill one desktop row at the default 4 columns, and 8 products fill 2 rows. Turn on “View all” so shoppers who want more reach the full collection page.
• Design for mobile first. Use 2 mobile columns or a swipe row. Both themes’ carousels move only when the shopper swipes or taps, which matches Baymard‘s advice to avoid auto-rotating carousels on mobile homepages.
• Use 1 image ratio. Set Dawn’s Image ratio to Square or Portrait so every product card lines up, even when your product photos have different sizes.
• Turn on quick add. Dawn’s Quick add setting and Horizon’s quick buy feature let shoppers add products without leaving the page.
• Show the next reward near the products. Shoppers buy more when they know a gift or discount is close, which is one of the simplest ways to raise your Shopify AOV. Cart progress bar apps, including BOGOS, show shoppers how much more they need to spend to unlock a reward.

8. Featured collection not showing? 6 common fixes

Most featured collection problems come from 6 causes: product availability, an empty section, collection size, sort order, the section’s product limit, and unsaved changes.

• Products are missing from the section. Check that each product is active and available on the Online Store sales channel. Draft and archived products stay hidden from shoppers, even inside a published collection.
• The section shows sample products. Select a collection in the section’s Collection setting. Both themes show placeholder cards until you pick one.
• The “View all” button is missing. Add more products to the collection, or lower the section’s product count below the number of products in the collection.
• Products appear in the wrong order. Change the sort order in Products > Collections, because the theme editor has no product order setting.
• You need more products than the section allows. Dawn stops at 25 products and Horizon at 16. Turn on “View all,” add a second featured collection, or install a custom section from a section app.
• Changes appear in the editor but not on the live store. Click Save, and check that you edited your published theme rather than a draft copy.

Conclusion

A featured collection is one of the simplest ways to put the right products in front of shoppers on your homepage. Pick a collection with a clear goal, check that its products are on the Online Store sales channel, and set the sort order in the collection itself.

Match the setup to your theme. Dawn shows up to 25 products with detailed product card options, and Horizon shows up to 16 products in Grid, Carousel, or Editorial layouts.

Swap in seasonal, gift, and bundle collections before each campaign. Your homepage will keep pointing shoppers to the products that help you increase sales on your Shopify store.

FAQs