Stores can create a "Hidden Store" through SHOP Builder, add hidden products to the page, and provide page links to specific customers, allowing customers to browse and purchase all hidden products. This article will cover:
⚠️ Before you begin:
- SHOP Builder currently only supports Ultra Chic, Kingsman, Varm, and Philia theme templates.
- After creating a page using SHOP Builder, the page can still be displayed even if you switch to other theme templates, but it cannot be edited, and the layout may be messed up. Please take note of this before publishing the page.
1. Setup Steps
Step 1. Create the "Hidden Store" page
The "Hidden Store" page is created with the "Advanced Page". Proceed to the SHOPLINE Admin > [Online Store Design] > [Pages] to create the advanced page or edit the existing advanced page.
Step 2. Add hidden products category
Enter SHOP Builder and click the + Widget button, add a "Product List" or "Product Slider" widget.
Select the category with hidden products. Please note that you need to set the hidden products to be in the same product category before you can successfully add all hidden products to the page. If your store has not created hidden items, please refer to Hidden Products.
After adding a hidden product category, be sure to switch on the "Show Hidden Products" toggle at the bottom left, otherwise the page will not be able to display hidden products. Click Save to check whether your hidden items were successfully added on the right.
Step 3. Set the page as a "Hidden Store"
Click "SEO Settings" on the left, and turn off the "Searchable on search engines" toggle. Your page will no longer be searchable on the search engine.
*Note: Do not add this page to the menu navigation, otherwise all customers can enter and purchase the hidden products on this page.
Once you have saved your settings, the system will exclude this page from being searchable through the search engine. Click Save and Publish to create the hidden store.
Please note: If you are creating a new advanced page, this page
will not appear in the search engine results. If you change the
existing advanced page to a hidden store, you
will need to wait for the search engine to update
for this page not to appear in the search results
(generally, search engines such as Google will spend 2-4 weeks to
update the database), or apply to the search engine for removal.
2. Retrieve the "Hidden Store" URL
In the SHOPLINE Admin, go to [Online Store Design] > [Page] and find out your hidden product show page. Then click the icon next to the page title and enter the page in a new tab. Copy the link in the new tab.
We would suggest that you name "Hidden Store" for the page title for easy identification and to avoid misplacement in the online store directory, footer, etc.
After entering the "Hidden Store", customers can browse and purchase all hidden products. When a customer wants to browse other hidden products, they will need to return to the "Hidden Store" page first to browse other hidden products. Customers cannot find hidden items from the storefront.
3. Notes
- After switching on "Show Hidden Products", please do not add this page to the menu navigation, otherwise all customers can enter and purchase the hidden products on this page. You can add "Hidden Store" or related words in the "Title" to make it easier for you and your customers to identify this hidden store.
- If you have uninstalled "Hidden products" in [Apps] > [My Apps], it will no longer display in the storefront.
- Once you have enabled this feature, please pay attention to the following:
- If you create a "new" advanced page to create a hidden store, this page will not appear in search engine results.
- If you are editing an "existing" advanced page to create a hidden store, after enabling this feature, you will need to wait for the search engine's database to be updated before this page will not appear in the search results. Generally, search engines such as Google will take 2-4 weeks (or longer) to update their databases. You can also use this guide to link webmasters and submit Sitemaps to speed up search engine crawling: Verify Google Search Console and Submit Sitemap
- After you switch off the "Searchable on search engines" toggle in the SEO settings, the page will be excluded from the search results. If there are no hidden products on the page, do not turn off the "Searchable on search engines" switch.
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