Boardwalk Block Guide

Complimentary Products Block

Everything you need to set up and customize the Complimentary Products block — from connecting Shopify's Search & Discovery app to configuring card layout, quick view, and child blocks.

About

Complimentary products are items that pair well with whatever a customer is currently viewing — think of them as "goes great with" suggestions. Showing these recommendations on your product pages helps customers discover related items and can increase your average order value.

In the Boardwalk theme, the Complimentary Products block displays recommended products in a horizontal card layout: the product image sits on the left, with title, price, and other details on the right. Products stack vertically so customers can easily browse through all recommendations. Hovering over a card darkens the image and reveals a magnifying glass icon, and clicking anywhere on the card opens a quick view pop-up where customers can see full product details and add items to their cart — all without leaving the page.

Note: This block pulls its product recommendations directly from Shopify's Search & Discovery app. You do not manually choose which products appear — they are determined by the complementary product relationships you set up in the app.


How to Set Up Complimentary Products

Follow these steps to add complimentary product recommendations to your product pages using the Boardwalk theme.

1
Install the Search & Discovery App

The Complimentary Products block requires Shopify's free Search & Discovery app. If you haven't already installed it, go to the Shopify App Store and add it to your store.

Note: The Search & Discovery app is free and built by Shopify. Without it, the Complimentary Products block will have no products to display.

2
Set Up Complementary Product Relationships

Open the Search & Discovery app from your Shopify admin. Navigate to Product recommendations and select a product. Under the Complementary products section, add the products you want to recommend alongside it. Repeat this for each product where you want complimentary suggestions to appear.

Tip: Complementary relationships work in one direction. If you add Product B as complementary to Product A, it does not automatically add Product A as complementary to Product B. You'll need to set up each relationship individually.

3
Open the Theme Editor

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes, find Boardwalk, and click Customize. Use the page selector dropdown at the top center of the editor to navigate to a Product page.

4
Add the Complimentary Products Block

In the Theme Editor sidebar, locate the product page content area. Click Add block and choose Complimentary products from the list. The block will appear with product cards pulled from your Search & Discovery recommendations.

5
Configure the Block Settings

Click the Complimentary products block in the sidebar. Adjust the maximum number of products to show, image width, content gap, card corner radius, text alignment, and color scheme to match your store's design.

6
Customize the Child Blocks (Optional)

Inside the Complimentary Products block, you can add, remove, and reorder child blocks to control what information appears for each product card. By default, the block includes a product title and price, but you can also add swatches, sale information, text, dividers, and spacers.

7
Save and Preview

Click Save in the Theme Editor. Preview a product page that has complementary products configured in the Search & Discovery app to verify the block displays as expected.


Block Settings

These settings are accessible by clicking the Complimentary Products block in the Theme Editor sidebar. They control the overall layout, card style, and appearance of the block.

Complimentary Products Settings

Layout
Maximum products to show

Controls how many complementary products are displayed. Range: 1 to 8. If fewer complementary products are configured in the Search & Discovery app than this value, only the available products will show.

Content gap

Sets the spacing between child blocks in the content area of each card (the right side with the title, price, etc.). Range: 0px to 24px.

Image width

Controls how much horizontal space the product image takes up within each card. Range: 20% to 50%. A higher value makes the image larger relative to the content area.

Card
Border radius

Rounds the corners of the product image and card. Range: 0px to 24px. Set to 0 for sharp corners.

Text alignment

Controls the horizontal alignment of the content area text. Options: Left, Center, or Right.

Appearance
Card color scheme

Select a color scheme for the product cards. When the card color scheme differs from the parent section's color scheme, extra padding is automatically added around each card so the background color is visible.


Child Blocks

Each complimentary product card contains a content area on the right side of the image. You control what appears in this area by adding, removing, and reordering child blocks inside the Complimentary Products block. The product image is always present on the left and cannot be removed.

Product Media

Displays the product image on the left side of the card. This is a static block that is always present and cannot be removed. You can configure the image aspect ratio and whether a second image appears on hover.

Product Title

Shows the product name. You can customize the font family, weight, size, line height, and letter spacing to match your store's typography.

Price

Displays the product price. When a product is on sale, both the original and discounted prices are shown. You can adjust the font size, line height, and alignment.

Swatches

Shows color swatches when a product has a Color option configured. Swatches let customers see available color variants at a glance.

Note: Swatches only appear for products that have a Color option set up in your Shopify admin under Products → Variants. Products without color variants will not display swatches.

Discount Information

Displays sale or discount details for the product. You can customize the typography settings including font family, weight, size, line height, and letter spacing.

Text

A general-purpose text block for adding custom content to the product card, such as a short description or promotional message.

Divider

Adds a horizontal line between other child blocks for visual separation.

Spacer

Adds empty vertical space between other child blocks. Use this for fine-tuning the spacing within each card's content area.


Product Quick View

When a visitor interacts with a complimentary product card, a quick view pop-up opens so they can explore the product without leaving the current page.

Hovering over any card darkens the product image and reveals a magnifying glass icon, signaling that the product can be previewed. Clicking anywhere on the card — the image or the content area — opens the Quick View modal, a pop-up overlay that displays detailed product information.

Quick View Modal Features

Image gallery

Browse all product images using arrow navigation buttons. The gallery also shows an image counter so customers know how many photos are available.

Product details

Displays the product name, vendor (optional), and current price. If the product is on sale, both the original and discounted prices are shown.

Variant selection

If the product has multiple options (such as size or color), swatches or selection buttons appear so the customer can choose their preferred variant before adding to cart.

Stock level indicator

Shows the current inventory status with a color-coded dot — green for in stock, red for low stock or out of stock, and yellow for backorder items.

Quantity selector and Add to Cart

Customers can adjust the quantity and add the product directly to their cart. The button shows a loading animation followed by a checkmark confirmation when the item is successfully added.

View Full Details link

A link at the bottom of the modal takes the customer to the full product page if they want to see the complete description, additional images, or other information.

Tip: The Quick View modal loads product data in the background without a page reload, so it opens quickly and keeps visitors engaged on the product page.


Built-In Features

The Complimentary Products block comes with features that work automatically — no apps or custom code needed beyond the initial Search & Discovery setup.

Feature Overview

Server-side rendering

Complimentary products load as part of the page itself, so they appear instantly when the page opens — there's no delay or loading spinner while data is fetched in the background.

Hover effects

Hovering over a card darkens the product image, reveals a magnifying glass icon, gently zooms the image, and fades the content area. These effects provide a clear visual cue that the card is interactive.

Quick view integration

Every card is clickable and opens a quick view pop-up where customers can browse images, select variants, and add the product to their cart — all without leaving the current page.

Smart color scheme detection

When the card color scheme is different from the parent section's color scheme, extra padding is automatically added around each card so the card background is visible. When both schemes match, the padding is removed for a cleaner, flush look.

Customizable child blocks

You have full control over what information appears on each card. Add, remove, and reorder child blocks like product title, price, swatches, discount info, text, dividers, and spacers to create your ideal layout.

Responsive layout

On mobile, the image width adjusts automatically and the card gap tightens for a compact layout that works well on smaller screens.

Skeleton loading

While product images are loading, a subtle placeholder animation appears in place of the image to provide a smooth visual experience.

Keyboard accessible

Each product card is keyboard-focusable and can be activated with the Enter or Space key, ensuring customers who navigate with a keyboard can access the quick view just like mouse users.


Admin Steps and Requirements

Some features require action in the Shopify admin before they'll work as expected in your theme.

Before You Begin

Search & Discovery app required

This block depends on Shopify's free Search & Discovery app to provide complementary product data. Install the app from the Shopify App Store if you haven't already.

Complementary relationships must be configured

The block only shows products that have been set up as complementary in the Search & Discovery app. Open the app, go to Product recommendations, select a product, and add complementary products under the Complementary products section.

Products must be active

Complementary products must have a status of Active in your Shopify admin. Products in draft or archived status won't display on your storefront. Go to Products in your admin and make sure each product's status is set to Active.

Product images

Each card displays the product's first image. For the best appearance, make sure your complementary products have at least one image uploaded in the Shopify admin under Products → Media.

Only available on product pages

The Complimentary Products block is designed for product pages only. It reads recommendation data tied to the specific product being viewed, so it won't work on collection pages, the homepage, or other page types.


Frequently Asked Questions

The most common reason is that complementary product relationships haven't been set up in the Search & Discovery app. Open the app from your Shopify admin, go to Product recommendations, select the product you're viewing, and make sure complementary products have been added. Also confirm that the Search & Discovery app is installed — the block depends on it to provide product data.
Not directly in the Theme Editor. The products shown are determined by the complementary relationships you configure in Shopify's Search & Discovery app. To change which products appear, open the app and update the complementary products for the relevant product.
No. The Complimentary Products block is designed specifically for product pages. It reads complementary product data that is tied to the product being viewed, so it requires a product page context to function.
Extra padding is automatically added when the Card color scheme you've selected is different from the parent section's color scheme. This is intentional — it ensures the card background color is visible. If you want a flush, padding-free look, set the card color scheme to match the section's color scheme.
You can display up to 8 products using the Maximum products to show setting. If you've configured fewer complementary products in the Search & Discovery app than this number, only the available products will be displayed.
The Theme Editor preview may not always load complementary product data correctly — especially if the product you're previewing doesn't have any complementary relationships set up in the Search & Discovery app. Try previewing the page on your live storefront (or using the preview link) with a product that has complementary products configured to see the block in action.