What is SKU Select

SKU Select gives you precise control over which product variants appear in search results. Instead of returning a generic product, it shows the most relevant SKU based on the shopper's query, applied filters, and catalog configuration. This article explains how SKU Select works and how to configure it to improve the shopping experience.

SKU Select benefits

SKU Select helps you create a more relevant shopping experience by enabling you to:

• Help shoppers find the right variant faster. Shoppers immediately see the most relevant size, color, or style first, so they spend less time clicking through options and more time choosing products.
• Make large assortments easier to navigate. SKU-level filters for attributes like size, color, or material let shoppers quickly narrow thousands of variants down to a focused, relevant set.
• Reduce frustration from out-of-stock items. Shoppers can filter on stock availability using a custom field you send in the catalog, giving them control over whether OOS variants appear in results.

How SKU Select works

Hero SKU

A Hero SKU is the first SKU displayed on the Search Listing Page. The ranking algorithms identify it based on factors such as query relevance, conversion rate, and availability.

Hero SKU selection and ranking

The Hero SKU is selected dynamically by evaluating four factors in priority order:

1. Filter applied by the shopper: The SKU that matches the shopper's active filter ranks first. For example, if a shopper searches for "skirts" and filters by color "black," SKU Select prioritizes that filter and displays the black variant as the Hero SKU. Similarly, if a shopper searches for "red dress" and applies filters for size "S" and material "cotton," only the variant that matches both filters becomes the Hero SKU. If no variant matches all active filters, the system falls back to the next factor in the priority order.
2. Query match: SKU variants that match the search query or its synonyms are ranked next. For example, if the query is "black dress," the black SKU becomes the Hero SKU. If a shopper searches for "large gloves" and a product has three SKUs (medium, large, and extra large), the large SKU ranks first based on query relevance.

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Warning

The query processing mechanism removes special characters from queries before retrieving SKU results. This can cause incorrect Hero SKU matches when queries contain special characters. A fix is in progress.

3. Default SKU: You can define one default SKU per product in your catalog. If all SKUs are equally relevant to the applied filters and query, the default SKU becomes the Hero SKU. Default SKUs are useful for promoting new variants. For example, if you're launching a new black dress, you can set the black SKU as the default so it appears as the Hero SKU when all color variants are equally relevant. To configure which catalog field stores the default SKU flag, contact your Bloomreach representative.
4. Bestseller SKU: If no default SKU is defined for a product, the system selects the bestseller SKU as the Hero SKU.

Filter and display SKU attributes

SKU Select supports displaying and filtering product attributes such as color, size, and material. You can also apply efq (an extra filter query for SKU attributes). To learn more, see the efq with SKU attributes guide.

The system returns products that have at least one SKU matching the applied filters. When more than two SKU-level filters are active, it returns the set of products whose SKUs satisfy those filters. You can then choose whether to display only the matching SKUs on your site or all SKUs for those products.

Filter by SKU attributes

For some products, you may want to return only the variants that exactly match the shopper's filter, since other variants may not be relevant.

For example, a shopper searches for "bulbs," but your catalog contains both dome lights and car tail lights. Adding SKU attribute filters for "dome lights" and "tail lights" lets the shopper narrow results to only the dome lights they want.

Contact your Bloomreach representative to enable this feature.

Show all SKU variants

When a shopper filters by a SKU attribute such as color, the system returns products with a matching variant. You can also show other variants of the same product to give shoppers more options to consider.

For example, a shopper searches for "black dress" and filters by size "S." Your site can still display other color variants of that dress alongside the filtered result.

Handle out-of-stock variants

All product variants — both available and OOS — are indexed by default. You can send stock availability as a custom field in your catalog and use it to filter results as needed.

When SKU Select is enabled, the API returns all indexed SKUs, including OOS variants, and exposes their stock status. Your frontend decides how to display them. For example, you can label them as "Out of stock," grey them out, or hide them.

Use stock availability filters to control whether OOS variants are visible to shoppers:

• Show in-stock only: Hides OOS variants from the results.
• Include OOS: Shows out-of-stock variants alongside available ones.

Limitations

SKU Select currently has the following limitations:

• No SKU-level sorting. Sorting on SKUs isn't supported.
• No facet labeling. Facet labeling using facet.query on the API isn't supported. Facet renaming in the dashboard is supported.

FAQ

How does Hero SKU impact sort?
Hero SKU selection doesn't affect how results are sorted.

Do OOS SKUs still appear in the API response when SKU Select is enabled?
Yes. The API still returns OOS SKUs. For details on how to handle and display them, see the Handle out-of-stock variants section.