MixMaxerThe "frequently bought together" row is the Amazon pattern: under the product, two or three items that go with it, one price for the set, one button. On Shopify there are three ways to get it, from free to a bundle app, and the difference between them is not the design. It is where the suggestions come from, whether there is a discount, and whether the customer needs one click or four.
Three ways, compared
| Search & Discovery (free, Shopify) | Theme "related products" section | Bundle app (MixMaxer shown) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source of suggestions | Manual, per product | Theme logic (same collection, tags) | Learned from your store's real orders; manual or fallback picks |
| Discount on the extras | None | None | Optional, percent or amount off, 0 allowed |
| "Add all to cart" button | No | No | Yes |
| Shows the set total | No | No | Yes, updates with variant choice |
| Also in the cart | No | No | "Frequently bought with your items" row in the cart bar |
| Works with a volume tier on the main product | n/a | n/a | Yes, it is an add-on, never a competitor |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free plan (2 live offers), paid from $9.99 |
Option 1: Shopify Search & Discovery (free)
Install Shopify's Search & Discovery app, open Product recommendations › Complementary products, pick up to ten complementary products per product, then add the "Complementary products" block to the product template in the theme editor (most Online Store 2.0 themes, Dawn included, have it).
Good for: a store with a short catalogue and a clear idea of what goes with what. Limits: the picks are manual per product, there is no discount, no set price and no single Add button; the customer adds each item separately. Treat it as a recommendation, not an offer.
Option 2: the theme's related products section
Nearly every theme has a "You may also like" or "Related products" section driven by Shopify's own recommendation API or by collection membership. Zero setup. It is a browsing aid, not a cross-sell: no discount, items open in their own pages, and the picks are often the same-collection neighbours rather than what customers actually combine.
Option 3: a bundle app, with suggestions from your orders
What a good frequently-bought-together offer needs:
- Suggestions from real co-purchases. Your orders already know that the cleanser is bought with the toner and the camera with the 64 GB card, not the 128. An app that learns from orders improves on its own and needs no curation.
- A fallback for a new store. With no order history, hand-picked products or products from the same collection fill the slots, and real pairs replace them as orders arrive.
- An Add-all button and a set total. The customer should see "Add all three, $64" and press once.
- A discount that is an add-on. The extras get 0 to 10% off; the main product keeps whatever other offer it has (a volume tier, for example), without conflict.
- A Function at checkout. The discount on the extras must apply in the checkout, in Shop Pay and in POS, not only in the theme.
Setting it up in MixMaxer
- Offers › Create offer › Frequently bought together (template "Frequently bought together, 5% off the extras").
- Applies to: the main product or products. The row appears on their product pages.
- Source: Automatic (learned from orders; refreshed each time the offer is saved or Re-sync is pressed) or Manual. Add up to four fallback or manual picks.
- Suggestions to show: 1 to 4. Discount on suggested items: percent or amount off each, 0 for none.
- "Fill empty slots with products from the same collection" is on by default, so a new store never shows an empty row. The wizard preview labels each suggestion with its source: orders, manual, or collection.
- Publish. The row appears under the main product with an "Add all to cart" button, and the same pairs feed the "Frequently bought with your items" row in the cart.
Gift cards, sold-out and draft products are never suggested. Full detail: Frequently bought together help article.
Do you need a discount on the extras?
Often not. The row works because it saves the customer a decision, not because the toner is 5% cheaper. Our suggestion:
- Accessories and consumables under about 20% of the main product's price: 0% discount. Test it; the discount rarely changes the attach rate here.
- Extras close to the main product's price: 5 to 10%, enough to read as a set.
- Never more than a third of the gross margin of the extras.
The right way to settle it is a test: variant A with 0%, variant B with 5%, visitors split, each charged what they saw, read-out in profit per visitor. In MixMaxer that is one click on a live offer; the method is in which bundle apps can A/B test an offer.
Where to place the row
Under the price and above or below the buy button on the product page; if your theme has a separate mobile product section, add the block there too. In the cart drawer, a two- or three-item row with single Add buttons is enough; do not put a second big widget there.
Mistakes we see
- Suggesting the same product in a different variant. Customers read it as an error. Automatic mode does not do this; manual picks sometimes do.
- Suggesting a product that is sold out. The widget should hide it; check that yours does.
- A discount on the extras that stacks on a sale price. Switch on "skip items on sale".
- Measuring by "revenue from the row". It counts every order with a suggested item, including ones that would have been bought anyway. Use an A/B test or a holdout group for the real uplift (how to run a holdout on Shopify).
FAQ
Is there a free frequently bought together app for Shopify?
Shopify's own Search & Discovery app is free and shows complementary products you pick by hand, without a discount or an Add-all button. MixMaxer's Free plan includes the frequently-bought-together offer with suggestions learned from orders, a discount on the extras and one-click add, within the limit of 2 live offers.
Can I add frequently bought together on Shopify without an app?
Yes, through Search & Discovery's complementary products block or the theme's related-products section. Neither offers a set discount or a single Add-all button.
Where do automatic suggestions come from?
From your store's orders: products bought in the same order as the main product, ranked by how often. Only product ids are stored. A new store shows fallback picks or same-collection products until real pairs exist.
Does the discount on suggested items combine with a volume discount on the main product?
In MixMaxer yes. The bought-together discount applies to the suggested products while the main product is in the cart; the main product keeps its own tier.
Does it work in Shop Pay and POS?
The discount on the extras is a Shopify Function, so it applies in every checkout flow, including accelerated checkouts and POS.
MixMaxer: frequently bought together with suggestions from your orders, Add-all button, optional discount, and A/B tests to settle the discount question. Install from the Shopify App Store · Help article. Last checked 1 November 2026.