Shopify sub-collections have arrived, here's what you need to know

What this new update means for your Shopify store

If your Shopify store has a large product catalogue, organising collections into a logical hierarchy has traditionally meant relying on workarounds. For years, store owners had to use product tags, complex navigation menus or third-party apps, because Shopify didn't support native sub-collections. That's now changing.

Shopify has rebuilt its collections system for 2026, and native sub-collections are one part of that rebuild. Collections can now be built from multiple sources at once, combining automated rules, manual picks, other collections and even app-provided product groups in a single setup.

Sub-collections sit inside this new model. A collection can now use another collection as one of its sources, so a parent collection stays in sync automatically as its child collections change.

If you've ever wanted a well-structured hierarchy such as Living Room > Sofas > Corner Sofas or Clothing > Men's > Jackets, you can now build it within Shopify. Parent collections automatically reflect the products contained within their child collections, reducing manual management and making large catalogues easier to maintain.

In this guide, we'll explain what Shopify sub-collections are, how the new functionality works, what it replaces, and what you should consider before restructuring your store. If you're planning to improve your store architecture or need help making the most of Shopify's latest features, we can help you implement them effectively.

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What are Shopify collections?

Shopify collections are groups of products displayed together on your storefront. Some call them categories, while collections are the official terminology in Shopify. Instead of customers browsing every product individually, your store's collections help organise your catalogue into meaningful categories that make products easier to find.

Collections can be based on almost anything, including product type, brand, season or a specific range. For example, you might have collections for Living Room Furniture, Sofas, Outdoor Lighting or New Arrivals, each bringing together relevant products on a single page.

For many Shopify stores, product collections form the backbone of the site's navigation. They influence how customers browse your catalogue, how search engines understand your website's structure and how easily new products can be surfaced in the right places.

Until recently, Shopify collections could only exist as standalone groups of products. There was no native way to create parent and child relationships between them, which is why many store owners often turned to navigation workarounds, product tags and third-party apps. The arrival of sub-collections changes that by allowing collections to be organised into a logical hierarchy.

How you could previously organise sub-collections in Shopify

Before native sub-collections were introduced, store owners had to find alternative ways to create a nested category structure. While these approaches could work, they often required additional setup and ongoing maintenance as the product catalogue grew.

One of the most common methods was using tags. Products would be tagged with multiple attributes, allowing automated collections to group related items together. Although effective for smaller catalogues, tag-based structures could quickly become difficult to manage. Inconsistent tagging or missing tags often resulted in products appearing in the wrong collections or not appearing at all.

Many store owners also relied on carefully planned navigation menus to create the impression of sub-categories. A menu might display Living Room, followed by links to Sofas, Corner Sofas and Coffee Tables, even though these collections had no actual parent-child relationship within Shopify itself. This worked for customers, but the underlying collections still had to be managed independently.

Others chose to install third-party sub-collection apps that added hierarchy features on top of Shopify. These apps could simplify navigation, but they introduced another system to maintain, with additional subscription costs, compatibility considerations and potential limitations whenever Shopify released platform updates.

Whichever approach you used, there was usually extra admin involved. Collections had to be updated individually, navigation needed regular maintenance, and any changes to your catalogue often meant revisiting tags, menus or app settings to keep everything organised. Native sub-collections significantly reduce that overhead by allowing collection relationships to be managed directly within Shopify.

How the new Shopify sub-collections work

Under the new collections model, a collection can now be built from several sources at once, and one of those sources can be another collection. Instead of manually recreating the same product groups or relying on tags to connect related categories, you can build a hierarchy by combining existing collections.

For example, you could create separate collections for Corner Sofas, Two Seater Sofas and Three Seater Sofas, then use them as sources for a parent Sofas collection. A simple hierarchy might look like this:

• Sofas
  • Corner Sofas
  • Two Seater Sofas
  • Three Seater Sofas
• Coffee Tables
• TV Units

As new products are added to Corner Sofas, Two Seater Sofas or Three Seater Sofas, the parent Sofas collection updates automatically. This creates a cleaner catalogue structure while reducing the manual administration previously required to keep related collections in sync.

A clearer collection hierarchy can also improve your site's internal linking and help search engines better understand the relationship between different product categories.

While introducing sub-collections isn't an SEO strategy on its own, a logical catalogue structure can support both usability and organic visibility by making it easier for customers and search engines to navigate your store. When combined with well-written collection pages and sensible internal linking, sub-collections can help create a stronger foundation for long-term ecommerce growth.

It's worth knowing this sits within a much wider collections rebuild. The same update also introduced variant-level collections, shareable sources that apps can plug into, and a redesigned admin for managing everything. For most merchants though, the day-to-day win is simpler: organising collections into a logical hierarchy without relying on tags, menu workarounds or third-party apps.

Who will benefit most from Shopify sub-collections?

While any Shopify store owner can use native sub-collections, they're particularly valuable for stores with larger or more complex product catalogues. If customers regularly browse through multiple product categories before finding what they need, a clearer collection hierarchy can improve both navigation and day-to-day catalogue management. This feature is especially useful for businesses selling:

• Furniture: Create logical category structures such as Living Room > Sofas > Corner Sofas.
• Fashion: Organise products by department, clothing type and style without duplicating collections.
• Automotive: Group products by vehicle type, brand or part category, making large catalogues easier to browse.
• Homeware: Build intuitive navigation across rooms, product types and seasonal collections.

For smaller stores with only a handful of collections, the benefits may be less noticeable. However, as your product catalogue grows, sub-collections provide a more scalable way to organise products while reducing the ongoing maintenance that was previously required with tags, manual collections and third-party apps.

The limits you need to know before you start

Native sub-collections in Shopify make organising larger catalogues much easier, but there are firm limits worth understanding before you begin restructuring your store. According to Shopify's own developer documentation, the current limits are:

• Up to 50 collections per store can use another collection as a source (a sub-collection).
• Up to 5 collections per store can exclude products by referencing another collection.
• A single collection can pull from up to 10 sub-collection sources.
• A single source can exclude by referencing up to 5 collections.
• Nesting is limited to one level. A collection can pull members from another collection, but that collection can't itself pull from a further collection. This stops circular references.

These are not store-breaking changes. Existing collections, navigation structures and merchandising workflows continue to work as they always have. Shopify automatically brings existing collections into the new collections experience, so there's no need to rebuild your catalogue simply because these new features are available.

If your store currently relies on tags, complex menu structures or third-party apps to simulate sub-collections, there's no urgency to replace them overnight. Instead, it's worth reviewing your catalogue and deciding whether the native approach could simplify ongoing management while reducing the need for manual maintenance.

What sub-collections won't change on your storefront

Bear in mind, that the new hierarchy lives in the Shopify admin. It doesn't automatically translate into the storefront features you might expect from a nested category structure.

Breadcrumbs are the clearest example. Even if Corner Sofas sits inside Sofas, which sits inside Living Room, Shopify's breadcrumbs will still only show one level. A customer on the Corner Sofas page won't see a trail back through Sofas and Living Room unless your theme has been built to handle it (and even then, it's usually done with custom Shopify development).

The same applies to sub-category navigation. There's currently no way for a theme to read which collections a parent is made from, so you can't automatically display a list or grid of sub-collections on the parent page. This type of layout would need to be built into the collection template if it's not already part of the default theme features.

How will this affect our current Shopify collections setup?

If your store already uses product tags, custom navigation or a third-party app to create sub-categories, there's no need to make immediate changes. Shopify's sub-collections are a non-breaking feature, so your existing product collections and menus will continue to work as they do today.

Instead, think of this as an opportunity to review how your product catalogue is organised. If your current setup is easy to maintain and supports the way customers browse your products, there may be little reason to change it. On the other hand, if you're spending time managing duplicate collections, updating complex tag rules or maintaining an additional app, the native approach could simplify things.

Before deciding whether to migrate, it's worth checking a few areas:

• Are your collections driven by product tags, manual rules or an app? Will existing menus still make sense if you introduce parent and child collections?
• If you're using a sub-collection app, does it provide functionality beyond what Shopify now offers?
• If collection URLs are likely to change, plan carefully to preserve rankings and avoid broken links.
• Would native sub-collections reduce manual work involved in keeping your catalogue organised?
• Do you need breadcrumbs or sub-category listings on the storefront? If so, factor in custom theme development as part of the change, if it's not already a theme feature.

There's no single right answer. A well-maintained existing setup may be worth keeping, while Shopify store owners planning a redesign, catalogue restructure or upgrade to Shopify Plus may find that this is the ideal time to adopt native sub-collections. The best approach depends on how your store is currently organised.

Looking for a UK Shopify agency to implement sub-collections?

Whether you're launching a new Shopify store or reviewing an existing catalogue, we can help you decide if the new collections model is the right fit. We'll assess your current setup, identify opportunities to simplify collection management and ensure any changes support both your customers and your long-term growth.

As a Shopify Partner, we help merchants make the most of new platform features as they become available. From catalogue architecture and theme development to ongoing Shopify optimisation and support, our team can help you implement Shopify's latest capabilities without disrupting your day-to-day operations.

Contact us today to schedule a discovery call or meet with us in our Nottingham office.