How a trend is calculated
Trending is not the same as popular of all time. The trend score is built on relative growth in
activity: an item whose views have risen fivefold in the last six hours outranks a stable hit with
twice the absolute view count.
A typical formula combines several signals with different weights:
trend_score = w1 * views_delta + w2 * atc_delta + w3 * purchases_delta
where each _delta is the increase over the chosen window compared with the preceding window of
the same length.
Where and why to use it
Trending products answer a specific problem: a new or anonymous visitor has no history, so personal
recommendations are unavailable. Instead of a random set or a static popular list, trending gives a
current read on what the audience cares about right now.
Beyond the homepage, trending works well as a Popular in this category widget — it keeps the
shopper on the listing page and helps surface products they were not deliberately looking for.
Tip: scope trends by category. A shopper in the sports section does not benefit from trending
electronics, however popular those items are site-wide.
Common mistakes
- A window that is too short — one hour holds too few events for low-traffic categories. The
result is an unstable list that changes on every page refresh. - No novelty filter — permanent hits that have sold steadily for months occupy every slot.
A threshold is needed: items in the 30-day bestseller top are excluded or deprioritised. - One trend block for the whole site — it ignores page context. A category page should show the
trends of that category, not global ones.