Add Clickable Vendor Names to Shopify Product Pages

Hey fellow store owners! Ever found yourself browsing a product page and wishing you could just click the brand name to see everything else they offer? It’s a super common desire for customers, and a fantastic way to boost discoverability and cross-selling on your own Shopify store. At Shopping Cart Mover, we constantly see merchants looking for ways to optimize their store's user experience, and this is a prime example.

Recently, a store owner named hamdykp sparked a great discussion in the Shopify Community about exactly this: how to add a clickable vendor name, linked to all their products, right above the product title on their Horizon theme. Hamdykp was looking for a built-in solution in Horizon 3.5.1 but quickly realized it wasn't quite there by default. This is a familiar story – while Shopify themes are powerful, they can't anticipate every specific feature. That's where a little customization, and the amazing Shopify community, really shine!

The thread brought out a few different ideas, but one solution really stood out as the most direct and effective for creating those dynamic, clickable vendor links. Let's dive into why this feature is crucial and how you can implement it on your own Shopify store.

Shopify theme customizer adding a Custom Liquid block

Why Clickable Vendor Links Matter for Your Shopify Store

Before we get to the 'how,' let's quickly cover the 'why.' Adding a clickable vendor name to your product pages offers several significant benefits:

Enhanced User Experience (UX): Customers who appreciate a specific brand can easily explore more of its products without navigating back to a collection page or using the search bar. This streamlines their shopping journey.
Increased Discoverability: It exposes customers to a wider range of products from a brand they already show interest in, potentially leading to additional purchases.
Boosted Cross-Selling: By making it easy to find other items from the same vendor, you naturally encourage customers to browse and buy more.
Improved SEO: While a small factor, internal linking to vendor-specific collection pages can subtly aid your store's SEO by creating more interconnected content.
Professional Appearance: A well-structured product page with clear brand information enhances your store's credibility and professionalism.

The Go-To Solution: Custom Liquid for Dynamic Vendor Links

The most robust method, detailed by mastroke in the discussion, leverages the 'Custom Liquid' block in your theme editor. It’s powerful because it lets you inject small snippets of Liquid code, Shopify’s templating language, directly into your page layout. This means you can create a link that dynamically pulls the vendor name from the product you're viewing and automatically generates the correct URL to display all products from that vendor.

Step-by-Step: Adding a Clickable Vendor Name Above Product Title

Here's how you can implement this on your Horizon theme (or most modern Shopify themes). Always remember to duplicate your theme before making any code changes, just in case!

Navigate to Your Theme Editor: From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes.
Customize Your Theme: Click on the Customize button next to your live theme.
Select the Product Page: In the top dropdown (usually labeled 'Home page'), click on it and select Products → Default product. This will take you to the product page editor.
Access Product Information Section: On the left-hand sidebar, look for the 'Product information' section. This is where the core elements of your product page (title, price, description, etc.) are managed.
Add a New Block: Within the 'Product information' section, click on “Add block”.
Select 'Custom Liquid': From the list of available blocks, choose Custom Liquid.
Insert the Liquid Code: In the 'Custom Liquid' block settings (usually on the right sidebar), paste the following code:
```
{{ product.vendor }}
```
Position the Block: Drag this newly added 'Custom Liquid' block so it is positioned above the 'Title' block within the 'Product information' section. This ensures the vendor name appears directly above your product title.
Save Your Changes: Click the Save button in the top right corner.

Understanding the Liquid Code

Let's break down that powerful little snippet:

...: This is standard HTML for creating a hyperlink.
/collections/vendors?q={{ product.vendor | url_encode }}: This is the magic part.
- /collections/vendors?q=: This is a standard Shopify URL structure for filtering collections by vendor. When you visit this URL with a query parameter, Shopify automatically displays all products from that vendor.
- {{ product.vendor }}: This is a Liquid object that dynamically outputs the vendor name associated with the current product being viewed.
- | url_encode: This Liquid filter ensures that any special characters in the vendor name (like spaces or ampersands) are properly encoded for use in a URL, preventing broken links.
{{ product.vendor }}: This second instance of the Liquid object displays the actual vendor name as the clickable text.

Alternative Approaches & Considerations

While the Custom Liquid method is generally the best for dynamic links, the community thread also touched on other ideas:

Simple Text Block: If you only want to display the vendor name without a link, you could use a 'Text' block and simply type {{ product.vendor }}. However, this misses the key benefit of discoverability.
Button Block: Mustafa_Ali suggested using a 'Button' block. While useful for static links, it's not ideal for dynamically linking to a vendor's collection page for every product, as it typically requires a manually entered URL or a fixed link.
Metafields or Templates for Complex Scenarios: As Moeed pointed out, if you have very specific requirements for how vendor pages are displayed (e.g., custom layouts for certain brands, or linking to external brand websites), you might need to delve into metafields or custom product templates. However, for the common use case of linking to all products by a vendor within your store, the Custom Liquid solution is perfectly adequate.

Styling Your New Vendor Link

Once implemented, the vendor name will likely inherit your theme's default link styling. If you want to customize its appearance (e.g., font size, color, bolding, or removing the underline), you'll need to add some custom CSS. You can do this by adding a class or ID to your tag in the Custom Liquid block (e.g., ) and then adding corresponding CSS rules in your theme's base.css or theme.css file (found under Online Store → Themes → Actions → Edit code).

Final Thoughts

Implementing a clickable vendor name on your Shopify product pages is a small change with a big impact on user experience and potential sales. It’s a testament to the flexibility of the Shopify platform and the power of its Liquid templating language. By following these steps, you can easily enhance your store's navigation and help customers discover more of what they love.

If you're looking to migrate your store to Shopify or need more advanced customization, the team at Shopping Cart Mover is here to help. We specialize in seamless migrations and expert Shopify development to ensure your online store is optimized for success!

Shopify Product Pages: Make Vendor Names Clickable for Enhanced UX & Sales