How to temporarily hide a product on Shopify?

If you run an e-commerce store, at some point in time you might have wanted to temporarily hide a product on your Shopify store. There could be many reasons for doing this, such as creating a sense of exclusivity by showing certain products only to specific customers, managing your inventory more effectively, setting up time-limited sales for events like flash sales or festive promotions, updating product descriptions or prices, or conducting tests on your store’s layout and product placements.

Being able to temporarily hide products on Shopify offers significant flexibility. It allows you to adjust your store’s offerings without permanently deleting any items.

In this guide below, we’ll see instances where it might be beneficial to hide products on Shopify. We’ll also provide clear, easy-to-follow steps on how to temporarily hide products on Shopify, ensuring you can manage your store efficiently.

When should you temporarily hide a product on Shopify store?

When you run an online store, there are times when it might be a good idea to temporarily hide products on your Shopify store. Here are some scenarios where this approach could be useful:

• Managing Seasonal or Limited-Time Products: On your Shopify store there might be products that are only relevant at certain times of the year so they might need to be temporarily hidden to reduce customer confusion. For example, items sold during the holiday season like Christmas can be hidden after the season ends and then reinstated the following year.
  
  
• Creating a Sense of Exclusivity: Sometimes, you might want certain products to be accessible only to specific customers. This might be a common requirement especially when you sell wholesale on Shopify store. In these cases, you might want to temporarily hide a product from select customers and show it to others.

• Setting Up Flash Sales or Special Promotions: When organizing flash sales or limited-time promotions, you may choose to temporarily hide certain products and collections. This strategy can enhance the impact of the sale and create a FOMO factor and buzz around the event.
  
  
• Updating product details and other changes in the store: When you need to change product information like prices, descriptions, or images, it’s often better to hide the product during updates to ensure customers don’t get incorrect information.

Steps to temporarily hide a product on Shopify without needing a 3rd party app

Follow these steps to temporarily hide a product on your Shopify store

1. Log in to your Shopify store with your admin credentials.
   
   
2. Click on the “Product” section from the sidebar at the left as shown in the image below.
   
   
3. Choose the product you wish to hide and as the next step, you have to click on the three dots located in the right top corner, as illustrated in the below image.
   
   
   
4. Next, from the drop-down menu, select “exclude from sales channel”.
   
   
5. Tick the box next to the online store.
   
   
   
6. Finally, click on the “Exclude products” button to finalize the changes.

That’s it. You have now temporarily hidden your products on your Shopify store. If you want to unhide them again, just follow the same steps, and uncheck on the sales channel from where you removed the product before. 

This way you can temporarily hide products on your Shopify store, but you cannot put advanced filters like hiding products from specific customers based on their login status, tags etc. If you want a more advanced customization option to hide your product follow the below steps. 

Steps to temporarily hide a product on Shopify with Wholesale Lock Manager B2B

Wholesale Lock Manager B2B is a Shopify app that is made to help users easily manage visibility across their Shopify store. This app enables Shopify store owners to temporarily hide products, prices, collections, pages, and the add-to-cart button. They can even hide their entire storefront or secure it with a password.

1. Begin by installing the Wholesale Lock Manager app on your Shopify store.
   
   
   
   
2. Choose the type of content you wish to restrict access to like products, collections, pages, URLs, or even the entire store.
   
   
   
   
3. Select which customers should not see the content. You can do this using customer tags or other criteria, as depicted in the image below.
   
   
   
   
4. You also have the option to set up a passcode that allows only those with the code to access certain content on your Shopify site.
   
   
   
   
   

And you’re set. With apps like the Wholesale Lock Manager B2B, you get an advanced level of access control and decide who sees what on your Shopify store.

Summing up

In conclusion, the ability to temporarily hide products on the Shopify store allows you to enhance your store’s management and marketing effectiveness. Whether it’s for updating product details, managing inventory, creating exclusivity, or setting up special promotions, this feature provides the flexibility needed to adapt to various business needs.

By following the steps mentioned above you can seamlessly control the visibility of your products and collections. This capability simplifies the management of your store and also helps in tailoring the shopping experience to meet the diverse needs of your customer base.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are some of the common reasons to temporarily hide a product on Shopify?
   Sometimes, you might want to hide a product to update its details, manage out-of-stock items, or create exclusivity for special customers. Hiding products can also be useful during seasonal changes or promotional events to keep your store organized and focused.
   
2. Can I hide a product from select customers on Shopify?
   Yes, you can hide products from specific customers. This is done by using customer tags or other criteria to specify who can see the product. This approach is useful for offering exclusive products to certain customers or managing wholesale and retail offerings differently.
   
   
3. How do I hide a product without deleting it from my Shopify store?
   To hide a product without deleting it, you can use the ‘exclude from sales channel’ option in the product settings. This allows the product to remain in your inventory but makes it invisible to customers until you choose to show it again.
   
   
4. Can I set up a password-protected product on Shopify?
   Yes, with apps like Wholesale Lock Manager B2B, you can set up password-protected products or collections. This means only users with the passcode can view or purchase the hidden content.
   
5. What should I do to temporarily hide a product during a flash sale?
   For a flash sale, you can temporarily hide certain products until the sale begins. This strategy helps in building anticipation and can make the sale event more exciting and exclusive.
   
6. How do I bring back a hidden product to my Shopify store?
   To unhide a product, you can go back to the product settings where you originally hid the product and deselect the ‘exclude from sales channel’ option or adjust the visibility settings according to your needs. This will make the product available to your customers again.