A guide to Magento AI category re-ranking: Features, limitations, and a smarter alternative

Kenneth Pangan
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Kenneth Pangan

Amogh Sarda
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Amogh Sarda

Last edited October 16, 2025

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If you’ve ever spent hours manually setting rules to decide which products show up first on your category pages, you know the pain. It’s a tedious job that often feels like you're just guessing what individual shoppers are actually looking for. The old-school filters don't help much either, and you risk hiding the perfect product from someone's view.

Magento AI Category Re-ranking, which is now a part of Adobe Commerce, offers a fix by using artificial intelligence to sort products on the fly based on shopper behavior. But does it solve the whole e-commerce personalization puzzle, or just one small piece? Let's dig into how it works, look at its limitations, and explore a more connected approach to AI for e-commerce.

What is Magento AI Category Re-ranking?

At its core, Magento AI Category Re-ranking (also known as Intelligent Category Merchandising) is a feature in Adobe Commerce that automatically reorders products on a category page for every single shopper. Instead of a static layout that everyone sees, it uses AI to predict which products a specific person is most likely to click on and bumps them to the top.

This is a world away from manually pinning your bestsellers to the top row and is definitely smarter than basic sorting options like "Price: Low to High." The AI looks at data points like what’s trending across the site, what other people are buying, and a shopper’s own browsing history to build a personalized grid. The whole point is to get people to stick around and buy more by making it easier and faster to find what they want.

Think of it this way: someone lands on a category page. The AI immediately checks out their data, past purchases, items they’ve looked at, and what's popular right now. Based on that info, it rearranges the product grid in real-time, pushing the most relevant stuff to the top so the shopper doesn't have to scroll for days.

How Adobe Commerce handles Magento AI Category Re-ranking

Adobe Commerce, the enterprise platform built on Magento, weaves this feature in through its Live Search tool. The brains behind it all is Adobe Sensei, their AI and machine learning engine. This isn't just a tacked-on feature; it's a central part of their push to make online stores more intelligent.

Adobe Sensei and Live Search: The tech behind Magento AI Category Re-ranking

Live Search essentially swaps out Magento's default search with a much faster, AI-powered system. A big piece of that is "Intelligent Category Merchandising." When a shopper hits a category page, Live Search doesn't just display products; it uses AI-driven rules to figure out the best order to show them. It's built to work instantly, adapting the page as the AI learns more about the shopper during their visit.

A breakdown of the key Magento AI Category Re-ranking algorithms

Merchandisers get a few pre-built AI algorithms to choose from for their category pages. This gives you some control over the strategy without needing to write a single line of code.

AlgorithmHow It WorksBest For
Recommended for YouUses a shopper's personal history and behavior to surface products they'll likely love.Creating a unique, one-on-one shopping experience for your loyal, returning customers.
Most ViewedPushes products to the top that get the most eyeballs across the whole site.Showing off popular items to new visitors who don't have a browsing history with you yet.
Most PurchasedRanks products based on how many times they've been sold.Highlighting your best-sellers and proven hits to build a little trust and confidence.
Most Added to CartBoosts items that are often added to carts, even if they aren't always bought.Spotting high-intent products that might just need a little nudge, like a discount, to convert.
TrendingSurfaces products that are picking up steam with recent sales and views.Jumping on seasonal trends or new product launches that are starting to take off.

Getting your Magento AI Category Re-ranking set up

To get this feature up and running, merchants usually have to install the Live Search extension, tweak settings in the Magento admin panel, and make sure their product catalog is properly indexed and synced up with Adobe's services. While it’s powerful, it often needs a technical eye to make sure everything is working together smoothly.

The hidden challenges of Magento AI Category Re-ranking

While Adobe's AI merchandising is a big improvement over doing things by hand, it has some real limitations that can get in the way of a truly helpful customer experience. The main issue is that the AI works inside a bubble.

A complicated setup and constant upkeep

Turning on Adobe Commerce's AI features isn't as simple as flipping a switch. It involves installing modules, fiddling with settings in different menus, and running a full re-index of your product catalog. Any little change to your products or attributes might mean you have to re-index all over again. This can eat up a lot of time and often means calling in a developer, which makes it less of a tool your business team can manage on their own.

Siloed knowledge means incomplete personalization

The biggest drawback is that Adobe Sensei’s personalization is almost entirely based on what happens on your site and what’s in your product catalog. It has no idea what questions customers are asking your support agents, what answers are in your help center, or what trends are hiding in your old support tickets.

This siloed knowledge setup means the AI is missing a ton of important context. For example, if customers are always asking your support team how to use two products together, a really smart AI would start recommending them as a bundle. Adobe's AI can't do that because it isn't connected to your helpdesk. The result is personalization that feels a bit superficial.

Opaque pricing and enterprise-level costs

Adobe Commerce is an enterprise platform, and it has the price tag to match. You won't find a simple pricing page with neat tiers. Instead, you have to get on a call with their sales team for a custom quote. This makes it tough to budget, and the total cost is often way too high for small and medium-sized businesses.

Beyond Magento AI Category Re-ranking: A unified AI approach for e-commerce

Instead of just re-ranking products, a better approach is to solve the customer's actual problem: finding the right thing and getting their questions answered quickly. This calls for an AI that can connect all of your business knowledge, not just your product list.

This is where a solution like eesel AI comes into the picture. It works like a central AI brain that plugs into all your tools, your helpdesk, internal docs, and e-commerce platform, to deliver a much smarter experience.

Solve the real problem: Answer customer questions instantly

Instead of just hoping a re-shuffled page does the trick, eesel's AI Chatbot can talk directly to customers on your site. It can connect to your Shopify or Magento product catalog to answer pre-sales questions like:

  • "Do you have a blue dress that would work for a summer wedding?"

  • "Is this laptop compatible with my monitor?"

  • "What's your return policy for items on sale?"

By answering these questions on the spot, the chatbot points users straight to the right product or category. It's a far more personal and efficient journey than any re-ranked grid could offer.

Unify all your knowledge for smarter support

The real magic happens when you bring all your knowledge together. eesel AI integrates with helpdesks like Zendesk or Freshdesk, your internal wikis (Confluence or Notion), and your company documents (Google Docs). It learns from your past support tickets to get a handle on common problems and your brand's tone of voice.

This means the AI can tackle both pre-sales and post-sales questions, giving customers consistent, accurate answers every time. It can even automate tasks like tagging tickets or looking up order information, which frees up your human agents to handle the more difficult issues.

This infographic shows how eesel AI unifies knowledge from various sources like Zendesk, Slack, and Google Drive to provide comprehensive answers, overcoming the limitations of siloed Magento AI Category Re-ranking.
This infographic shows how eesel AI unifies knowledge from various sources like Zendesk, Slack, and Google Drive to provide comprehensive answers, overcoming the limitations of siloed Magento AI Category Re-ranking.

Go live in minutes, not months

Unlike the developer-heavy setup for Adobe Commerce, eesel AI is built to be incredibly self-serve. You can connect your helpdesk and other knowledge sources with one-click integrations and have a working AI agent in just a few minutes. There's even a simulation mode that lets you test its performance on your past tickets before you ever show it to a customer, so you can roll it out with confidence.

This workflow illustrates the simple, self-serve setup process for eesel AI, a stark contrast to the complex implementation of Magento AI Category Re-ranking.
This workflow illustrates the simple, self-serve setup process for eesel AI, a stark contrast to the complex implementation of Magento AI Category Re-ranking.

Magento AI Category Re-ranking pricing: Transparency vs. complexity

The difference in approach is also pretty clear when you look at the price.

Adobe Commerce pricing for Magento AI Category Re-ranking

As an enterprise tool, pricing is completely custom and you only get it after talking to their sales team. This model is built for big corporations and usually involves long contracts and a hefty upfront investment.

eesel AI's predictable, transparent pricing

eesel AI has clear, transparent plans based on usage, with no hidden fees for resolutions. You can start with a monthly plan and cancel whenever you want, making it accessible and easy to budget for. This lets you see a return on your investment without getting locked into a massive, long-term deal.

A screenshot of eesel AI's public pricing page, highlighting its transparent, usage-based plans as a clear alternative to the complex pricing of Magento AI Category Re-ranking.
A screenshot of eesel AI's public pricing page, highlighting its transparent, usage-based plans as a clear alternative to the complex pricing of Magento AI Category Re-ranking.
PlanMonthly Price (Billed Monthly)AI Interactions/moKey E-commerce Unlocks
Team$299Up to 1,000Train on your website/docs, AI Copilot for agents.
Business$799Up to 3,000Everything in Team + train on past tickets, custom API actions (like order lookups).
CustomContact SalesUnlimitedAdvanced actions, custom integrations.

Beyond Magento AI Category Re-ranking: The future of e-commerce personalization is unified

Magento AI Category Re-ranking is a handy tool, but it's only one piece of the puzzle. It fine-tunes one page, using one source of data. Real e-commerce personalization comes from understanding the entire customer journey, from their first question to their post-purchase support needs.

Complex, siloed platforms like Adobe Commerce struggle to deliver that kind of holistic experience. The future belongs to flexible, unified AI platforms like eesel AI that connect all your knowledge sources to give instant, accurate, and genuinely helpful answers wherever your customers are. It’s about moving beyond just re-ranking products and starting to build real, intelligent relationships with your customers.

Ready to see what a unified AI can do for your store? Get started with eesel AI for free.

Frequently asked questions

Magento AI Category Re-ranking automatically reorders products on a category page for each individual shopper. It uses AI to predict which products a specific person is most likely to click on, ensuring more relevant items appear at the top. This aims to make it easier and faster for shoppers to find what they want, leading to a more personalized journey.

Adobe Commerce integrates this feature through its Live Search tool, with Adobe Sensei serving as the underlying AI and machine learning engine. Live Search replaces Magento's default search, using AI-driven rules to instantly reorder products based on shopper behavior and learned preferences.

Merchandisers can choose from algorithms like "Recommended for You" (personal history), "Most Viewed" (site-wide popularity), "Most Purchased" (sales volume), "Most Added to Cart" (high intent), and "Trending" (recent momentum). Each algorithm applies a different strategy to rank products based on various behavioral data points.

A significant challenge is its "siloed knowledge"; the AI primarily uses on-site product and browsing data, missing valuable context from support interactions or help centers. This can lead to incomplete personalization and a complicated, developer-heavy setup process.

As part of Adobe Commerce, a large enterprise platform, pricing for Magento AI Category Re-ranking is custom and not transparent. Merchants need to contact their sales team for a quote, which typically involves substantial costs and long contracts, often making it inaccessible for smaller businesses.

While Magento AI Category Re-ranking focuses on reordering products, a unified AI connects all business knowledge, from product catalogs to helpdesks and internal documents. This allows it to answer complex pre-sales and post-sales questions instantly, providing a much broader and deeper level of customer support and engagement beyond just product display.

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Kenneth Pangan

Writer and marketer for over ten years, Kenneth Pangan splits his time between history, politics, and art with plenty of interruptions from his dogs demanding attention.