Why Shopify Doesn’t Use Parent-Child Categories (And What to Do Instead)

❝Wait… where are my product categories?❞

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If you’ve recently migrated to Shopify from WordPress (or are thinking about it), you’re probably asking yourself:

“Why can’t I just create parent categories and subcategories like I did in WooCommerce?”

You’re not alone! 

This is one of the most common points of confusion for store owners moving to Shopify. And understandably so. In WordPress, you could neatly tuck your products into a deep tree of categories, like:

Clothing > Men > Jackets > Winter Jackets

Simple, right? So why doesn’t Shopify offer this out of the box?

Short answer: It’s intentional. Shopify isn’t broken, it’s just built differently.

And once you understand the why behind Shopify’s category hierarchy (or lack thereof), you’ll see that this “limitation” is actually one of its greatest strengths, only if you know how to work with it.Let’s break it down in simple terms, web dev to business owner, and more importantly, show you how to organize products on Shopify like a pro without needing a traditional category tree.

But first, let’s talk about Shopify’s philosophy ~ Simplicity for the win!

Here’s what many people don’t realize: Shopify wasn’t built to mirror how developers think; it was designed for entrepreneurs.

Think about it.

Not everyone building a store on Shopify is a tech wizard. Many are solo founders, marketers, and product-based business owners who juggle 10 other tasks, needing an intuitive backend and zero guesswork.

That’s why Shopify avoids complex parent-child category hierarchies. It doesn’t mean you can’t organize your store well; it simply means the platform provides tools that prioritize flexibility and simplicity over rigidity.

Shopify categories vs collections: What’s actually going on?

Alright, let’s clear up one of the biggest points of confusion for anyone moving from WordPress to Shopify:

“Where the heck are the product categories?”

You’re not missing anything. Shopify simply doesn’t do categories the same way WordPress does. There’s no “parent-child” structure. No neat little folders. No classic category trees.

But don’t panic, Shopify’s not broken. It just thinks differently about organizing products.

Instead of categories and subcategories, Shopify gives you two tools that do all the heavy lifting:

• Collections
  
• Tags
  

Now, that might sound overly simplified… but stick with me. 

Once you get how these work together, you’ll see how powerful (and frankly, more flexible) Shopify’s system really is.

Collections are Shopify’s version of categories, but with a bit more freedom.

They’re the broad groupings your products live in. Stuff like:

• “Men’s Footwear”
  
• “Home Decor”
  
• “Sale”
  
• “Best Sellers”
  
• “Under ₹1000”
  

You can set them up in two ways:

1. Manual collections, where you handpick the products (great for curated drops or promotions),
   
2. Automated collections, where you set rules, like “Product tag is Summer” or “Vendor is Nike” and Shopify fills the collection for you.
   

So instead of slotting products into a single, rigid category, you can have the same product appear in multiple collections. “Nike Sneakers” could show up under “Men’s Shoes,” “Running,” and “New Arrivals”, without you duplicating anything.

That’s flexibility WordPress just doesn’t offer out of the box.

If collections are your big organizing buckets, tags are the fine-tuning knobs.

Let’s say you’ve got a collection for “Women’s Dresses.” But your customers want to browse just maxi dresses, or maybe only see cotton ones. That’s where tags come in.

You simply tag products with specifics like:

• “Maxi”
  
• “Cotton”
  
• “Formal”
  
• “Sleeveless”
  

Now, with the right filters in place (either through your theme or a filtering app), your customers can slice and dice products their way.

And here’s the kicker, this lets you mimic Shopify categories and subcategories, without ever building a complex category tree.

At first, this might feel like a limitation. But what Shopify’s really giving you is freedom to create your own structure, rather than locking you into theirs.

It’s a cleaner, faster, and more scalable way to organize products. No dealing with broken category links. No need to restructure entire menus when your product line expands.

You can still build out a storefront that looks like it has subcategories ~ “Men > Jackets > Waterproof” through your navigation setup. 

But behind the scenes? It’s way easier to manage.

Why can’t Shopify just let us create parent and child categories like WordPress?”

I get this question all the time, and honestly? It’s a fair one.

If you’ve used WordPress or WooCommerce before, you’re probably used to building neat little folders:
Clothing > Men > Jackets > Winter. Makes sense, right?

But Shopify doesn’t work that way, and that’s not an oversight. It’s on purpose.

1. Because complicated category trees turn into a maintenance nightmare

Look, parent-child structures sound great in theory, but in real life? They get messy.

You start with a clean setup, and six months later, you’ve got:

• Duplicate categories
  
• Broken links
  
• Products that “should be in two places” but can’t be
  
• And a backend that no one on your team wants to touch
  

Shopify avoids that mess altogether by keeping things flat. You use collections and tags instead, which gives you way more freedom without the clutter.

Change your mind about how products should be grouped? Easy, just update the rules or tags. You’re not rebuilding an entire tree.

2. Because sometimes one product belongs in five places (and that’s okay)

Here’s where Shopify actually does you a favor.

Let’s say you’re selling a pair of sneakers. In WooCommerce, you might have to pick one path:
Men > Shoes > Sneakers

In Shopify? That same product can show up in:

• “Sneakers”
  
• “Men’s Footwear”
  
• “Back to School”
  
• “White Shoes”
  
• “Staff Picks”
  

No duplicating products. No awkward workarounds. You just assign it to multiple collections, and that’s it. Clean and flexible.

3. Because product variants already cover what subcategories used to do

Another reason Shopify doesn’t push you into building nested categories is because of how it handles variants.

Let’s take a basic t-shirt. In some platforms, you’d end up with:
T-Shirts > Red T-Shirts > Size M

In Shopify? You just create a single product:
“Cotton Crewneck Tee”, and add variants like:

• Color: Red
  
• Size: Medium
  

Done. One product, all the options. No need to create a subcategory for every size or color.

So yeah, Shopify could have built in parent-child categories. But they didn’t, simply because they’re trying to keep things lean, manageable, and scalable.

And once you start working with their system of collections, tags, variants, you’ll probably realize you don’t need those extra layers anyway.

How to organize products on Shopify like a pro

Alright, let’s make this super actionable. 

Just because Shopify doesn’t have a built-in parent-child category feature doesn’t mean you can’t recreate that experience for your customers. Here’s how to build a smart, intuitive product structure without hacking the system.

1. Use naming conventions that tell a story

Start with how you name your collections. Even if Shopify’s backend stays flat, your naming can suggest hierarchy.

You can try things like:

• “Men’s > Jackets”
  
• “Men’s > Jackets > Waterproof”
  

This makes it easier for your team to manage collections and gives customers a sense of structure when they browse or land on those pages.

2. Build smart navigation menus

Use Shopify’s navigation settings to build dropdowns that feel like category trees.

For example:

Clothing  

├── Men  

│   └── Jackets  

│       └── Waterproof  

Each menu item links to its respective collection, and just like that, you’ve recreated the feel of Shopify nested categories without any backend complexity.
Plus, your URLs stay nice and clean:

/collections/mens-jackets-waterproof

3. Use tags like mini-categories

Tags are your best friend for layering in subcategory logic.

Let’s say you’ve got a “Shirts” collection. You can tag individual products with things like:

• “Slim Fit”
  
• “Linen”
  
• “Button Down”
  

Then, using a filter app or custom theme, customers can sort or filter by those tags within the collection, mimicking the experience of drilling down into deeper levels, just like subcategories.

4. Add filtering power with the right apps

Do you want to give your shoppers an Amazon-style experience? Then, filtering apps are the way to go.

Here are two popular options, you might want to consider:

• Boost Commerce Product Filter & Search
  
• Power Tools Filter Menu
  

These let you build layered filters using tags, product types, price, size, color, you name it.
It doesn’t matter that there’s no category tree under the hood. What your customer sees is a polished, filterable collection that helps them find exactly what they need.

This way, you get the best of both worlds, a backend that’s clean and flexible for you, and a front end that feels beautifully structured for your shoppers.

Shopify navigation vs categories: It’s all about presentation

One thing that trips people up is the distinction between navigation and category structure.

In Shopify:

• Collections control what products are grouped together
  
• Navigation menus control how those collections are presented to the customer
  

That means you can simulate as complex a structure as you want on the frontend, without touching your actual product organization.

But what about SEO? Does a flat structure hurt rankings?

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Traditional SEOs used to love nested categories. Why? Because of internal linking, contextual breadcrumbs, and keyword-rich URLs.

But search engines have evolved. Today, Shopify’s clean, fast-loading pages with semantic URLs and strong internal linking work just as well, sometimes better.

Want that SEO edge?

• Customize your collection URLs (/collections/mens-waterproof-jackets)
  
• Add meta titles, descriptions, and H1s per collection
  
• Use Shopify’s structured data to help Google understand your product relationships
  

Even without “categories,” your store can be crawlable, indexable, and rankable.

Still need that parent-child structure? Here’s what you can do:

If your store really needs a deeply nested system (think B2B, large SKUs, or complex inventory), you have a few options:

Third-party apps

Apps like Product Filter & Search can simulate full-blown category trees.

Custom theme development

With some Liquid magic and metafields, developers can build custom category experiences, breadcrumbs, drilldowns, and all.

Shopify Plus

If you’re on Shopify Plus, you’ve got more power and control over how data flows and can build fully custom navigation frameworks.

TL;DR?! Here’s what you need to remember!

The road ahead

Want to know how Mavlers can help you in your journey with Shopify? Here’s what you may read next ~ How can Mavlers help address your Shopify needs?