What "Frequently Bought Together" actually means
Amazon coined the "Frequently Bought Together" label to describe a widget that shows products other customers commonly purchase in the same order. The value proposition is twofold: product discovery (showing items the customer might have missed) and social proof by implication (others who bought this also bought that, implying a logical relationship).
Amazon's implementation is powered by massive co-purchase data across hundreds of millions of transactions. It shows 2–3 products alongside the viewed item, a combined price, and a single "Add all to cart" button. The friction reduction of that single button — versus navigating to each product page and adding individually — is a significant part of the conversion lift.
For Shopify merchants, replicating this requires combining two elements that Amazon handles natively: the product pairing intelligence (which products to show together) and the combined add-to-cart action (ideally with a discount incentive). Different approaches handle these differently.
Option 1: Shopify's native related products (the "You may also like" section)
Shopify's Dawn theme and most modern Shopify themes include a related products section labeled "You may also like" or similar. This is algorithmically generated by Shopify based on product collection membership, tags, and purchase data. It is the closest native equivalent to Frequently Bought Together.
What it does
- Shows 4–8 algorithmically-selected related products on each product page
- Updates automatically based on Shopify's algorithm
- Requires zero setup — it's part of the theme by default
What it doesn't do
- Cannot be manually curated — you can't say "on this product page, specifically show these 3 products"
- No discount incentive — products are shown at full price
- No combined add-to-cart button — customers must navigate to each product and add individually
- No bundle offer — it's a suggestion, not an incentivized multi-item deal
When to use it
Use native related products for passive product discovery on lower-traffic pages where you don't have strong complementary product data. It costs nothing and requires no setup. But don't mistake it for an "FBT feature" — it's a discovery surface, not a conversion tool.
Option 2: Upsell widget apps
Several Shopify apps provide product recommendation widgets with more control than Shopify's native algorithm. These apps let you manually curate which products appear alongside which other products and display them with a custom design. Examples include LimeSpot, Also Bought, and Frequently Bought Together app by Code Black Belt.
What they do
- Manual curation of product pairings — you define which products appear together
- Better UI than the native section (checkboxes for selecting add-on products, combined prices)
- Some apps include one-click multi-item add to cart
- Better analytics on which pairings lead to multi-item orders
What they don't do
- No automatic discount incentive built in — products are shown at regular prices (some apps allow a manual discount configuration, but it's not automatic)
- No collection-based matching for dynamic catalogs
- Typically use script injection (not Theme App Extensions), which can affect page speed
When to use them
Upsell widgets are appropriate when your goal is pure product discovery — showing customers what else you carry that pairs well — and you don't need a discount incentive. They're less effective than bundles when conversion is the primary goal, because showing products without a discount is weaker than showing the same products with a discount.
Option 3: Bundle apps (engineered FBT with discount incentives)
A fixed bundle in a bundle app like EZBundle is, functionally, a manually engineered "Frequently Bought Together" with a discount. You specify exactly which products go together, set a discount for buying them together, and display a widget on the product pages of all included items. The widget shows the bundle contents, the discounted price, and a one-click add-to-cart button.
What bundle apps add over upsell widgets
- Discount incentive — the explicit "save 15% when you buy both" message converts customers who wouldn't have acted on a pure recommendation
- Automatic discount application — the discount code is created automatically and applied via URL, no customer action needed
- Collection-based M&M matching — for stores with many SKUs, M&M bundles automatically match to product pages by collection without per-product configuration
- Theme App Extension delivery — no script injection, no page speed impact
Full comparison: native FBT vs. upsell widget vs. bundle app
| Feature | Native Shopify | Upsell widget app | Bundle app (EZBundle) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual product pairing control | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic discount incentive | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| One-click add-all to cart | ✗ | ~ some apps | ✓ |
| Collection-based M&M matching | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Theme App Extension (no script injection) | N/A | ✗ most apps | ✓ |
| Setup complexity | Zero (automatic) | Moderate (manual curation) | Low (bundle creation) |
| Conversion impact | Low | Moderate | High |
| AOV impact | Minimal | Moderate | 15–30% |
How to build an "FBT" experience with EZBundle fixed bundles
To replicate Amazon's Frequently Bought Together with EZBundle:
Identify your most common co-purchased product pairs
Check your Shopify order history. Filter for orders with 2+ items and look for which products appear together most often. These are your natural FBT pairings — products customers are already buying together. Start with the top 3–5 pairings.
Create a fixed bundle for each pairing
In EZBundle, create a fixed bundle for each pair (or trio). Name it something descriptive ("The Complete Setup," "The Full Kit"). Set a 10–15% discount — enough to reward the combined purchase without significantly impacting margin.
Activate and place the widget
Activate the bundles. EZBundle's widget will automatically appear on the product pages of all included items — so the FBT bundle shows on Product A's page and Product B's page. A customer viewing either product sees the bundle and can add both with one click at a discount.
Add urgency for higher conversion
The difference between a standard FBT widget and a high-converting one is urgency. Use PopBoost's countdown timer above the bundle widget to add "Bundle deal ends in X hours." Customers who were on the fence about the combined purchase often convert when they see a time limit. The social proof popup from PopBoost — "3 people bought this bundle today" — adds a third dimension that pure FBT widgets cannot replicate.
When bundles outperform upsell widgets for FBT
The research on discount incentives in product recommendations is clear: adding a discount to a product recommendation increases conversion more than improving the recommendation algorithm. A "people also buy X" widget at full price converts at 2–5% click-through. The same widget with "buy both for 15% off" converts at 8–15% click-through — a 3–5× improvement from the discount alone.
This means bundles are almost always the superior FBT implementation when:
- Your goal is increasing AOV (bundles directly incentivize larger carts)
- You have strong complementary product pairings where the combination has obvious value
- Your margins can absorb a 10–20% discount on the paired items
- You want to control exactly which products are paired (rather than relying on an algorithm)
Upsell widgets remain appropriate for pure product discovery — helping customers find related products they didn't know you carried — where a discount isn't necessary because the value is in the discovery itself.
Combining FBT bundles with product drops for limited-edition pairing
For a more advanced FBT strategy, combine fixed bundles with limited-time product drops. Launch a new product with a fixed bundle pairing it with an existing bestseller — the bundle gives the new product an immediate AOV lift, and the bestseller lends social proof to the new item. If you run limited-edition drops, EZDrop creates scarcity-driven waitlists around product releases that pair naturally with bundle offers at launch time: "The first 100 customers get the launch bundle at 20% off."
This combination — limited availability (EZDrop waitlist) + bundle pricing (EZBundle) + urgency timer (PopBoost) — is one of the highest-converting product launch frameworks for Shopify merchants with complementary products.
Frequently asked questions about Shopify Frequently Bought Together
Does Shopify have a Frequently Bought Together feature?
Not in a meaningful way as of 2026. Shopify themes include an algorithmic "You may also like" section, but it has no discount incentive, no manual curation, and no combined add-to-cart. For a true FBT experience, use a bundle app like EZBundle to create manually curated product pairings with discounts and one-click cart adds.
What is the best way to add Frequently Bought Together to Shopify?
Create fixed bundles with EZBundle. Each bundle is a manually curated "FBT" pair or trio with a discount incentive. The bundle widget appears on all included product pages with a combined price and one-click add-to-cart. This replicates Amazon's FBT with the addition of a discount that significantly outperforms pure recommendation widgets.
What is the difference between FBT and a bundle on Shopify?
FBT shows product recommendations without a price incentive. A bundle groups products with a discount. The discount is the key differentiator — it turns a passive suggestion into an active incentive. Bundles consistently convert 3–5× better than FBT-style recommendation widgets because the discount creates a reason to act now.
How does Amazon's Frequently Bought Together work?
Amazon uses co-purchase data to identify which products customers commonly buy together and surfaces them with a combined price and single add-to-cart button. Shopify merchants can approximate this using bundle apps: EZBundle's fixed bundles create the same preset pairing, discounted combined price, and one-click add-to-cart behavior.
Can I manually control which products appear in Frequently Bought Together on Shopify?
Not with Shopify's native algorithm — that's automated. To manually control pairings and add a discount, use EZBundle fixed bundles. You specify exactly which products are grouped, set the discount, and the widget appears on all related product pages automatically.
To set up your first FBT bundle, follow the complete Shopify product bundle guide. For advanced conversion tactics around bundle offers, including placement, copy, and urgency pairings, see Shopify Bundle Upsell: How to Present Bundle Offers That Convert. For the AOV case for bundles vs. other tactics, see How to Increase Average Order Value on Shopify: 7 Proven Strategies.