Review of Shop By Brand Magento 2 Extension for Better Store Navigation

Key takeaways

• Shop by Brand (by Amasty) helps customers browse and filter products by their preferred brands, improving store navigation and product discovery.

• The extension lets you create dedicated brand landing pages and add brand information to increase buyer interest.

• It can add a brand slider for quick access and an All Brands listing experience.

• Key features include brand-based filtering/sorting, brand logo display on product pages, and best-sellers highlighting per brand.

• The UX pattern fits shoppers who “start with a brand” (e.g., choosing between Adidas vs Nike first, then the product).

• Availability listed: Magento Open Source 2.1–2.3 and Magento Commerce 2.1–2.3.

• Pricing listed: $139 one-time (includes annual updates + support subscription) and $89/year in subsequent years; optional installation $59.

When this applies

Use this when brands are a major decision driver in your catalog (fashion, luxury, electronics, sportswear) and you want an easy “browse by brand” path that reduces friction on category/search pages and supports brand storytelling with landing pages.

When this does not apply

Skip it if your assortment is not brand-led (private label heavy, few brands, or brand doesn’t influence purchase) or if you can’t maintain clean brand data/merchandising—then “Shop by Brand” becomes another navigation layer that adds clutter without real payoff.

Checklist

1. Confirm that brand is a meaningful browsing dimension for your customers (analytics, on-site search terms, filters usage).

2. Audit your product data: consistent brand attribute values, naming, and spelling across the catalog.

3. Decide your UX entry points: header menu link (“View All Brands”), category sidebar filter, brand slider.

4. Plan brand taxonomy rules (what counts as a “brand,” how to handle sub-brands/collections).

5. Create or map brand landing pages (copy, imagery, featured products, SEO targets).

6. Configure brand listing and sorting behavior (A–Z, featured brands, popularity).

7. Enable brand filtering and test it across key categories with large SKU counts.

8. Decide where to show brand logos (PDP only, listings too, both) and validate visual consistency.

9. Configure “best-selling items per brand” highlights if you want guided discovery.

10. Check theme/layout impact on mobile (slider usability, menu depth, page speed).

11. Validate compatibility with your Magento edition/version (article lists 2.1–2.3).

12. Set tracking: brand page visits, brand-filter usage, conversion rate by brand page, and assisted conversions.

13. Add internal governance: who creates/updates brands, how often brand pages are refreshed.

14. QA edge cases: products with missing brand, multiple brands, discontinued brands, zero-stock brands.

15. Roll out gradually (top 10–20 brands first), measure impact, then expand to the full catalog.

Common pitfalls

• Launching without clean brand data (duplicate brand names, inconsistent spelling), which breaks filtering and SEO.

• Creating brand pages but leaving them thin/empty, resulting in low value for users and search engines.

• Overloading navigation with too many brand links, making menus harder to use instead of easier.

• Showing a brand slider that’s visually heavy or slow on mobile, hurting performance.

• Forgetting merchandising rules (featured brands, best-sellers per brand) so the experience feels generic.

• Not tracking outcomes—without analytics, you can’t prove whether “browse by brand” improves discovery or conversion.