Cart recommendations stays hidden whenever it has nothing to show, so shoppers never see an empty box. To find out why it’s empty, add a product to your cart and open your cart page while you’re logged in as a shop manager or administrator: if the row is switched on and has nothing to show, a note there says why.
Check that the row can show #
- The switch is on. Open Tendlio → Storefront, find Cart recommendations on the Recommendations tab, turn on Enable cart recommendations and click Save settings. While it’s off, the row shows nothing, even where you placed its shortcode, and there’s no note either.
- The cart has a product in it. With an empty cart, the row shows nothing, not even the note.
- Your cart page has a spot for the row. The row places itself on the classic WooCommerce cart page, below the list of cart items or in the cart totals area, whichever you chose under Position. If your cart page uses the block Cart, or your theme skips those spots, choose Shortcode only (I’ll place it myself), click Save settings, and add a Shortcode block with
[tendlio_cart_recommendations]to your cart page. While your cart page uses the block Cart, the panel says so.
Read the note on your cart page #
The note starts with “Only you can see this (store admin).” Shoppers never see it. The sentence after that tells you what’s missing:
- “We haven’t worked out which products sell together yet.” Tendlio hasn’t built the lists of products bought together. Click Storefront in the note, and in the Build recommendations panel, click Build recommendations now.
- “Nobody has bought the products in this cart together with anything else yet, or they haven’t sold enough to get their own list of pairs.” The lists exist, but none of them is for the products in this cart. You also see this note when every product paired with the cart is already in it, or is one you’ve hidden from recommendations. A product gets its list once it has sold a few units and has been bought together with other products. To check that the row works, try a cart with one of your best-sellers. For the products in this cart, the row fills in on its own once shoppers buy them together with other products and the lists are rebuilt.
- “Recommendations were found, but none of those products can be shown right now.” The products paired with the cart can’t be offered right now: they’re unpublished or hidden from your catalog, can’t be bought, are sold out, or are in a category you’ve excluded from this row. Sold-out products can appear only if you’ve turned on Show sold-out products in the rows, at the bottom of the Storefront page.
- “The cart is not available on this page yet” or “WooCommerce is not ready on this page yet”. Tendlio couldn’t read a cart on the page where the row ran. Check your cart page itself, in your shop, with a product in the cart.
If Cart outlet picks shows nothing #
Cart outlet picks, the second row on the cart page, shows products on sale. When it has nothing to show, it stays hidden, and there’s no note. Check that:
- Enable cart outlet picks is on.
- Some of your products are on sale, through Auto outlet, Manual outlet or a sale price you set in WooCommerce, and the discount is at least your Minimum discount.
- At least one of them can be shown: the row skips products that Cart recommendations above it already shows, sold-out products, products you’ve hidden from recommendations, and categories you’ve excluded from this row.
- Match breadth isn’t set to Strict: bought-together only (may show nothing) (Advanced mode). With Strict, the row shows only products on sale that shoppers also buy together with the items in the cart.
Why the row hides instead of showing a message #
An empty box or a setup message on the cart page would look broken to shoppers, one step before they pay. So the row stays hidden, and the note goes only to you.
Additional resources #
- How to suggest more products on your cart page: the settings of both cart rows, and the block Cart.
- How to show frequently bought together products on your product pages: where the pairs come from, and how to rebuild them.
- A storefront widget doesn’t show up: when your theme skips the cart page’s spots.
Frequently asked questions #
Why do shoppers see nothing while I see a note? #
The note is for shop managers and administrators only. Shoppers see the row when it has products to show, and nothing otherwise.
Why is the row empty for new products? #
A product gets its list of pairs once it has sold a few units and been bought together with other products. Until then, a cart with only new products has nothing to suggest.