What is WooCommerce Trending Products?
When WordPress users need to highlight high-performing items to drive conversions, WooCommerce Trending Products offers a robust solution to showcase best-sellers and popular items dynamically. As an SEO specialist and plugin expert, I often recommend store owners leverage social proof to influence buyer behavior. This plugin allows you to automatically display products based on specific metrics like sales or views, ensuring your visitors see what others are buying right now.
What Makes WooCommerce Trending Products Different
Unlike the default WooCommerce shortcodes that are static and limited, this plugin introduces flexibility in how you curate and display your product catalog. The primary differentiator is its ability to track and display “Most Viewed” products, a feature native WooCommerce lacks without complex customization. Furthermore, it integrates seamlessly with your existing theme by using the standard WooCommerce loop templates, ensuring that your trending products match your site’s design aesthetic without requiring additional CSS or HTML tweaking.
- Automatic sorting based on sales, views, or custom selection.
- Seamless theme integration using default WooCommerce templates.
- Flexible display options including dedicated sliders and grid layouts.
WooCommerce Trending Products Features for WordPress Users
Advanced Sorting Algorithms
The core strength of the WooCommerce Trending Products plugin lies in its versatile sorting logic. You aren’t stuck with just one definition of “trending.” The plugin offers a powerful admin backend that allows you to select products based on Highest Sold, which is perfect for highlighting evergreen best-sellers. Alternatively, you can choose Most Viewed products to create a “Popular Right Now” section that captures user interest even before a purchase is made. Other options include displaying On Sale items to clear inventory or selecting Custom Products manually for marketing campaigns. This granular control ensures that the displayed products align perfectly with your specific sales goals. To learn more about optimizing your sales funnel, check out other WooCommerce plugins available on our site.
Flexible Layouts: Grid and Slider
User experience (UX) is critical for SEO and conversions. This plugin recognizes that by offering two distinct layout modes: Grid and Slider. The Grid layout is ideal for showcasing a large number of products simultaneously, allowing users to scan and compare items quickly. On the other hand, the Slider layout is excellent for saving screen real estate and engaging users through interaction. You can place a slider at the top of your shop page to highlight trending items immediately without pushing other content down. According to Nielsen Norman Group, horizontal scrolling can be effective for showcasing related or featured items without overwhelming the user.
Visual Customization and Badging
Catching the customer’s eye is half the battle. WooCommerce Trending Products includes a robust badging system that lets you attach a visual indicator to trending items. You can fully customize the badge’s text (e.g., “Hot,” “Trending,” “Staff Pick”) and its style to match your brand colors. This visual cue acts as a psychological trigger, leveraging the principle of scarcity and social proof to encourage quicker purchasing decisions. The plugin ensures these badges are responsive and look sharp on all devices, maintaining a professional appearance across your store.
How to Install WooCommerce Trending Products
Quick Installation
- Log in to your CodeCanyon account and download the plugin ZIP file.
- Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Click “Upload Plugin” at the top of the page.
- Select the downloaded ZIP file, click Install Now, and then Activate.
Who Should Use WooCommerce Trending Products?
Fashion and Apparel Retailers
For fashion stores, trends change rapidly. Using the “Most Viewed” feature, these retailers can highlight items that are currently grabbing attention, even if they haven’t sold in high quantities yet. This helps capitalize on the “fear of missing out” (FOMO) phenomenon, which is particularly potent in the fashion industry. By displaying a slider of trending items on the homepage, fashion retailers can guide visitors toward the season’s hottest styles immediately.
High-Volume Electronics Stores
Electronics stores often have massive catalogs. Finding the right product can be overwhelming for customers. By using the “Highest Sold” setting, store owners can act as curators, pointing new visitors toward proven, reliable products that the community loves. This builds trust and reduces decision paralysis. For more strategies on managing large catalogs, visit our blog.
WooCommerce Trending Products vs Alternatives
| Feature | WooCommerce Trending Products | Native WooCommerce Shortcodes |
|---|---|---|
| Sorting Logic | Sales, Views, On Sale, Custom | Best Sellers, Featured, Recent (No Views) |
| Layout Options | Grid & Slider with customization | Grid only (Requires CSS/JS for Slider) |
| Badging | Customizable Trending Badges included | Requires custom coding |
WooCommerce Trending Products Pricing
This plugin is available exclusively on CodeCanyon as a premium product. It typically follows a standard Envato licensing model, offering a Regular License for use on a single end product. The price is a one-time fee which includes lifetime updates and 6 months of support (with the option to extend). This pricing structure is cost-effective compared to subscription-based plugins that offer similar functionality. For official guidelines on licensing, refer to WooCommerce.com.
Pros and Cons
✅ Pros
- Includes “Most Viewed” sorting, missing from native WooCommerce.
- Easy-to-use interface with no coding required.
- Fully compatible with most themes due to standard template usage.
- Shortcode support allows placement anywhere on the site.
❌ Cons
- Premium plugin, not free like some basic alternatives.
- Reliance on theme templates means if your theme has poor design, the plugin inherits it.
- Requires initial setup to configure the preferred sorting method.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I show trending products in WooCommerce?
You can show trending products by installing the WooCommerce Trending Products plugin. Once activated, navigate to the settings panel, choose your sorting preference (e.g., Highest Sold), and use the provided shortcode or widget to display the list on your shop page.
Does WooCommerce have a built-in trending products feature?
WooCommerce has a “Best Selling” shortcode, but it does not natively track “Most Viewed” products or offer dedicated slider layouts for trending items without custom development. This plugin fills that gap efficiently.
Can I customize the look of the trending product badge?
Yes, the plugin allows you to customize both the text and the style of the badge. You can change the background color, text color, and the label itself (e.g., “Hot”, “Trending”) to match your brand identity.
Is this plugin mobile responsive?
Absolutely. Since the plugin utilizes the default WooCommerce loop templates, it automatically inherits the responsive design of your theme. The slider and grid layouts are designed to function smoothly on mobile devices.
Can I display trending products on a specific page only?
Yes, the plugin provides a flexible shortcode. You can paste this shortcode into any page, post, or widget area. You can also use specific settings to show the slider exclusively on the shop page if desired.
Does this plugin slow down my website?
No, this plugin is lightweight. It queries the database efficiently to retrieve product data and relies on your theme’s existing CSS, minimizing the additional code loaded on the frontend.
