Recently Viewed Products

Overview

Track which products a shopper views and display them in a "Recently Viewed" widget on product pages, the cart, and the homepage. Uses browser storage for within-session and cross-session history. Product data is always re-fetched from the server to avoid showing stale prices or out-of-stock items.

When to Use This Skill

• When implementing a "Continue where you left off" experience for returning visitors
• When adding a "Recently Viewed" widget to product detail pages or the cart drawer
• When integrating with a personalization engine that requires client-side behavioral data
• When building a headless storefront and need lightweight browsing history without a backend dependency

Core Instructions

Step 1: Determine the merchant's platform and choose the right approach

Platform	Recommended Approach	Why
Shopify	Enable the built-in Recently Viewed section in your OS2.0 theme, or install Also Bought • Related products / LimeSpot Personalizer	Dawn and most OS2.0 themes include a native Recently Viewed section; LimeSpot ($15/mo) adds AI-powered personalization including recently viewed across sessions
WooCommerce	Use WooCommerce's built-in Recently Viewed Products widget or shortcode, or install YITH WooCommerce Frequently Bought Together	WooCommerce includes a recently viewed widget out of the box; place it via Appearance → Widgets or with the [recent_products] shortcode
BigCommerce	Use the Recently Viewed widget in the BigCommerce Page Builder or enable it in the Cornerstone theme settings	Cornerstone and BigCommerce Page Builder both include a native Recently Viewed widget that uses browser cookies automatically
Custom / Headless	Implement localStorage-based view tracking with a server-side batch endpoint to fetch fresh product data	Client-side storage means no server state needed; re-fetching data on display ensures prices and stock are current

Step 2: Enable Recently Viewed on your platform

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Shopify

Using a built-in section (OS2.0 themes — Dawn, Sense, Craft):

1. Go to Online Store → Themes → Customize
2. Navigate to a product page template
3. Click Add section and search for "Recently Viewed" — it appears as Recently viewed products in the section list
4. Configure it:
   • Set Maximum products to show (4–8 recommended)
   • Set the section heading text ("Recently Viewed", "Your Browsing History", etc.)
   • Set product card style: show price, show rating, etc.
5. The section uses JavaScript and browser storage (localStorage) automatically — no additional configuration needed

For the homepage:

1. Go to your homepage template
2. Add a Recently viewed products section in the same way
3. This section will only render content for returning visitors who have previously browsed products

LimeSpot Personalizer (cross-device, AI-powered):

1. Install from the Shopify App Store
2. LimeSpot tracks views server-side (not just in the browser) so recently viewed persists across devices and browsers
3. Configure the Recently Viewed widget placement in the LimeSpot dashboard — it can appear on any page via app blocks

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WooCommerce

Built-in Recently Viewed widget:

1. Go to Appearance → Widgets
2. Find the WooCommerce Recently Viewed Products widget
3. Drag it to your Shop Sidebar or Footer widget area
4. Configure:
   • Number of products to show: 4–6 recommended
   • Show title: Yes/No
5. Alternatively, place the shortcode [woocommerce_recently_viewed_products per_page="4"] directly in a product page template, sidebar, or Gutenberg block

For Classic Editor / Gutenberg:

• In Gutenberg, add a Shortcode block and paste [woocommerce_recently_viewed_products per_page="4"]
• For Elementor: use the Shortcode widget to embed the same code

WooCommerce stores recently viewed product IDs in the visitor's session (PHP session / cookie) — no plugin required. The widget reads from this session automatically.

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BigCommerce

Built-in Recently Viewed widget (Cornerstone theme):

1. Go to Storefront → My Themes → Customize
2. Navigate to a product page template
3. In the sidebar, find the Recently Viewed section and enable it (or adjust its position in the page layout)
4. Set the number of products to display
5. BigCommerce uses browser cookies to track recently viewed products — no app needed

Page Builder approach:

1. Go to Storefront → Page Builder
2. Open any page where you want the widget
3. Drag the Recently Viewed Products widget from the widget panel onto the page
4. Configure display settings in the widget panel on the right

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Custom / Headless

localStorage-based view tracking:

// lib/recentlyViewed.js
const STORAGE_KEY = 'rv_products';
const MAX_ITEMS = 12;
const TTL_MS = 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000; // 30 days

export function recordView(productId) {
  const items = getStoredItems();
  const filtered = items.filter(i => i.id !== productId); // remove existing entry
  const updated = [{ id: productId, viewedAt: Date.now() }, ...filtered].slice(0, MAX_ITEMS);
  try { localStorage.setItem(STORAGE_KEY, JSON.stringify(updated)); } catch {}
}

export function getRecentlyViewedIds(excludeId = null) {
  const now = Date.now();
  return getStoredItems()
    .filter(i => now - i.viewedAt < TTL_MS && i.id !== excludeId)
    .map(i => i.id);
}

function getStoredItems() {
  try { return JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(STORAGE_KEY) ?? '[]'); }
  catch { return []; }
}

Record view on the product detail page:

// In ProductDetailPage.jsx — read localStorage only in useEffect to avoid SSR mismatch
import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { recordView } from '../lib/recentlyViewed';

export function ProductDetailPage({ product }) {
  useEffect(() => { recordView(product.id); }, [product.id]);
  return (
    <div>
      {/* product content */}
      <RecentlyViewedWidget excludeId={product.id} maxItems={4} />
    </div>
  );
}

Widget component — re-fetches fresh product data from the server:

// RecentlyViewedWidget.jsx
export function RecentlyViewedWidget({ excludeId, maxItems = 4 }) {
  const [products, setProducts] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const ids = getRecentlyViewedIds(excludeId).slice(0, maxItems);
    if (ids.length === 0) return;

    fetch('/api/products/by-ids', {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify({ ids }),
    })
      .then(r => r.json())
      .then(data => {
        // Preserve the viewed order (API may return in any order)
        const map = new Map(data.products.map(p => [p.id, p]));
        setProducts(ids.map(id => map.get(id)).filter(Boolean));
      })
      .catch(() => {}); // Non-critical — fail silently
  }, [excludeId, maxItems]);

  if (products.length === 0) return null;

  return (
    <section aria-label="Recently viewed">
      <h2>Recently Viewed</h2>
      <div className="recently-viewed-grid">
        {products.map(product => (
          <article key={product.id}>
            <a href={product.url}>
              <img src={product.image} alt={product.name} loading="lazy" width="150" height="150" />
              <p>{product.name}</p>
              <p>${product.price}</p>
            </a>
          </article>
        ))}
      </div>
    </section>
  );
}

Batch product endpoint (Node.js):

// api/products/by-ids.js
export async function getProductsByIds(req, res) {
  const { ids } = req.body;
  if (!Array.isArray(ids) || ids.length === 0 || ids.length > 20)
    return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Invalid ids' });

  const products = await db.products.findMany({
    where: { id: { in: ids }, published: true },
    select: { id: true, name: true, price: true, image: true, url: true, inStock: true },
  });
  res.json({ products });
}

Best Practices

• Store only product IDs, not full product objects — prices and availability change; always re-fetch from the server when rendering the widget
• Exclude the current product — pass excludeId to prevent showing the product the shopper is already viewing
• Fail silently — the recently viewed widget is non-critical; catch all errors and render nothing rather than breaking the page
• Hydrate after mount — in SSR frameworks, read from localStorage inside useEffect to avoid server/client mismatch
• Respect privacy consent — only write to storage after the user has accepted analytics cookies if your cookie policy requires it
• Consider TTL expiry — purge entries older than 30 days on read to avoid showing discontinued products

Common Pitfalls

Problem	Solution
Hydration mismatch in Next.js / SSR	Read localStorage only inside useEffect, never during render; initialize state as empty array
localStorage throws in private browsing	Wrap all reads/writes in try/catch; fall back to in-memory array for the current session
Widget shows out-of-stock or deleted products	Filter server response to only include published: true products; never trust stored IDs to reflect current catalog state
Duplicate product appears at multiple positions	Before prepending, filter out the existing entry for that product ID
Widget causes layout shift on load	Reserve the widget's height with a min-height skeleton while data loads, or position it below the fold

Related Skills

• @wishlist-save-for-later
• @product-page-design
• @product-comparison
• @storefront-theming