Marketplaces are multi-category environments where shoppers move between fashion, electronics, home goods, and more. Shoppers compare sellers, look for the best deals, and expect fast, relevant results.
This article shows how to use Smart Recommender in Insider One to guide shoppers to relevant options across categories and sellers. It includes an A/B test walkthrough for accessory cross-sells and strategies for each page type.
Before you start: Make sure your product catalog includes the attributes this article filters on, such as Category, Brand, Seller, Phone Model, and Season. Create missing custom attributes on the Product Attributes page and mark them as filterable.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Personalized discovery across categories
Use category and brand affinity to tailor each shopper's homepage.
Marketplace-wide trends
Show "Bestsellers" or "This Week's Top Deals" to give first-time visitors social proof.
Loyalty to sellers and brands
Prioritize products from sellers or brands a shopper has bought from before.
Recently viewed products
Help returning shoppers continue long or interrupted purchase journeys.
Complementary cross-sells
Recommend accessories on product and cart pages to raise average order value (AOV).
Category-specific merchandising
Adapt recommendations to each vertical with category and dynamic filters.
A/B testing
Test logic, placement, and personalization depth by category or seller.
Walkthrough: Boost AOV with accessory cross-sells
Marketplace orders often span several categories, so well-chosen add-ons raise AOV.
This walkthrough tests two cross-sell strategies on smartphone product detail pages:
Variant A: Recommend phone accessories for the same model.
Variant B: Recommend phone warranties.
Step 1: Create the recommendation strategies
Navigate to Recommendation Strategies and click Create. Configure the first strategy as follows:
Select Product Detail Page as the page type.
Select Purchased Together as the algorithm.
Enter the number of products to recommend.
Exclude products purchased in the last four weeks.
Add a filter for the category attribute: Category + is + Phone Accessories. Add a second filter, Phone Model + matches the item they're currently viewing, so only compatible accessories appear.
If you do not have a Phone Model attribute, create it on the Product Attributes page.
Create the second strategy with the same settings and change only the category filter:
Category + is + Phone Warranty. Remove the Phone Model filter if your warranty products do not have Phone Model values.
Note: Keep every other setting identical between the two strategies. If more than one setting changes, you cannot tell which change caused the difference in results.
Step 2: Launch the campaign
Navigate to Web Smart Recommender and click Create.
Select the integration method for the widget.
On the Segments step, select customers with a low AOV under Purchasing Behavior and set your threshold.
On the Rules step, use Page Rules to target the product detail pages of phones.
On the Design step, assign one strategy to each variant and set the traffic allocation for each variant.
Click Edit Design to open the Advanced Product Card Designer and customize your product cards.
Select the locales and stores where the campaign appears.
Review the campaign details, confirm that every setting matches your goal, and click Launch.
Note: Every attribute you show on a product card must exist in your product catalog. To show more information, create custom attributes on the Product Attributes page.
Step 3: Track campaign metrics
Navigate to Smart Recommender Analytics.
Find your campaign in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table. When the test period ends, click the campaign name.
Compare Direct Revenue, Average Order Value (AOV), and Conversion Rate for the two variants. This shows whether accessories or warranties raise AOV more for low-spending customers.
If one variant clearly wins, set its traffic allocation to 100% so every visitor sees the better strategy.
After you find a winner, test other pairings in other categories.
Step 4: Optimize your campaigns
After the campaign has run long enough to collect data, use Smart Recommender Analytics to improve it:
Engagement funnel: Review product impressions, click-through rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate to see where shoppers drop off.
Campaign and variant performance: Compare AOV, Conversion Rate, and Direct Revenue in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table, then refine or scale the winning variant.
Product-level impact: Open Top 100 Product Analytics to see which recommended products perform best. Give extra visibility to strategic products that perform below expectations.
Category trends: Use Category Analytics to find the categories that drive the most conversions, and decide whether to prioritize them or promote weaker ones.
Use cases by page type
Home page
Seasonal highlights
Show the most viewed products for a seasonal moment, such as Back to School.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Add the filter Season + is + Back to School.
If you do not have a Season attribute, create it on the Product Attributes page.
Tip: A/B test the widget placement (hero versus mid-page) or seasonal visuals.
Recently viewed items
Remind returning shoppers of items they explored across categories.
Create a strategy with the Recently Viewed algorithm.
Exclude products the user already purchased.
Target returning users on the Segments step.
Note: Recently Viewed and User Based rely on each user's past behavior. Target returning users so these widgets always have data to show.
Tip: A/B test Recently Viewed against User Based.
Product detail page
Picks based on recent browsing
Show each shopper products that match their most recent interactions, such as laptop sleeves after laptops.
Create a strategy with the User Engagement algorithm.
Exclude recently purchased products.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Picked for You."
More from this brand or seller
Show more products from the same brand or seller.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add two filters: Brand + matches the item they're currently viewing, and Seller + matches the item they're currently viewing. Connect them with an OR connector.
If you do not have a Seller attribute, create it on the Product Attributes page.
Category page
Best deals in this category
Show the most discounted items in the current category.
Create a strategy with the Highest Discounted algorithm.
Add the filter Category + matches + the category they're currently viewing.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Tip: Add badges such as "Up to 60% Off" and A/B test the widget above the filters versus the bottom of the page.
Trending in this category
Show fast-moving products in the current category.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add the filter Category + contains + the category they're currently viewing.
If your categories are hierarchical, select the Expand the category filter to include recommendations from the next category if there aren't enough products to display checkbox, so the widget still fills when the current category has few products.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Cart page
Complete the set
Suggest accessories for the cart, such as chargers with electronics or filters with coffee machines.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Accessories, Add-ons, Care Items.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Recommended for Your Order."
Reach free shipping
Show products that help shoppers reach your free shipping threshold.
Create a strategy with the Checkout Recommendation algorithm and set the spend threshold (for example, 100 USD).
No filters are required. Attribute Affinity is optional.
Tip: If you do not offer free shipping, use Purchased Together instead.