Experience tells us that these 4 factors together create the best sorting option:

The data for the Wisdom of the crowd factor can be pulled from Google Analytics. For example 'number of times sold' or 'click through ratio'. Based on these data you can determine how popular a certain product is, which helps to sort products by popularity. Don’t forget to add a parameter for long term as well as short term results. Products that have been live relatively short, haven’t accumulated as much data as a product with a longer live history.

Besides popularity, it is also important to check the availability of the product. This way only products that can actually be sold, will be shown at the top. In fashion, the size chart availability is a good parameter to include in the search option. Click for more information on the size chart availability.

The third factor is actuality. Make sure new products are always placed at the top, push promotions from the latest brochure or newsletter or keep up with certain trends (hay fever or flu season, sporting events or national holidays). And don’t forget to include the weather or seasonal changes in your search option.

The fourth factor is the push factor, which includes any products you prefer to sell. Think about certain brands with higher margins or push products based on their stock values or sales values. You can also push certain product types. When you have main products and accessories, you can make sure the main products are pushed to the top instead of only accessories. These are examples of how to use the push factor.

For sorting options like 'Recommended' or 'Relevant' it is best to use a mixture of all four factors. But you can also create a sorting option based on only one of these factors, for example, the sorting option 'Popular'. For this, you would only use the date from the Wisdom of the crowd factor.