How do I set up recommendation rules for out-of-stock items?

To set up recommendation rules for out-of-stock items, the exact steps depend on the platform you’re using, but the general approach is usually the same:

Common recommendation rule setup

1. Go to your recommendation/personalization settings

   • Look for something like:
     • Recommendations
     • Merchandising rules
     • Search & discovery
     • Product boosts / bury rules
     • Out-of-stock handling

2. Create a rule for inventory status

   • Add a condition such as:
     • stock = 0
     • availability = out_of_stock
     • inventory quantity <= 0

3. Choose the behavior you want Common options:

   • Hide out-of-stock items from recommendations
   • Push them to the bottom of recommendation lists
   • Replace them with similar in-stock items
   • Show them only if no alternatives exist
   • Exclude them from “frequently bought together” or “related products” widgets

4. Set fallback logic

   • If there aren’t enough in-stock items to recommend, define what should happen:
     • show back-in-stock items
     • show bestsellers
     • show category-relevant items
     • show “out of stock” with a notify-me option

5. Test the rule

   • Preview recommendations on products with:
     • in stock
     • low stock
     • out of stock
   • Make sure the ranking and fallback behavior look right.

6. Publish or activate

   • Save and enable the rule in your live environment.

Best practices

• Don’t fully remove out-of-stock items if they’re coming back soon; sometimes it’s better to demote them instead.
• Use real-time inventory syncing so recommendations update quickly.
• Pair with “notify me when back in stock” or a substitute suggestion.
• Track performance to see if hiding out-of-stock items improves conversion.

If you’re using a specific tool

If you tell me which platform you mean — for example:

• Shopify
• Amazon Personalize
• Algolia
• Bloomreach
• Nosto
• Dynamic Yield
• Adobe Target
• a custom site/app

—I can give you the exact steps or code/configuration for that system.