Jake Casto, FounderFor Shopify Plus merchants, search and merchandising directly influence profitability. Product catalogs must sync in minutes, AI search must recognize acronyms like “OOTD” for “Outfit of the Day” and implementation has to be sustainable without operational costs that outweigh the software itself.
Layers, the Shopify Plus native search and merchandising platform, is built to address these demands.
Founders Jake Casto and Lukas Tanasiuk developed Layers from deep experience inside enterprise Shopify environments. While leading a New York-based consultancy serving enterprise Shopify brands, Casto repeatedly encountered limitations in search and merchandising systems, including slow catalog syncs, limited query expansion and shallow integration with Shopify’s native metadata.
Lukas Tanasiuk, Co-Founder“Layers was created from years of fixing a series of problems that existing search and merchandising tools couldn’t address on Shopify,” says Casto. “Before we knew it, we developed a proprietary, purpose-built stack designed specifically for the platform.”
Across multiple Shopify Plus deployments, Casto and Tanasiuk observed a consistent structural pattern. Many enterprise search platforms were designed to operate across multiple commerce environments. While flexible, that approach required additional configuration to align fully with Shopify’s native data model. Layers was designed with Shopify as its primary foundation, integrating search and merchandising directly into the platform’s existing data and storefront workflows.
Faster Syncs, Smarter Search and Zero Manual Configuration
How does Layers improve catalog synchronization, search intelligence and operational efficiency for merchants?
The platform unifies search, visual discovery and intelligent merchandising within a single environment connected directly to Shopify’s catalog data. Product catalogs sync in minutes, keeping inventory and pricing changes current during high-volume events like Black Friday sales.
Layers was created from years of fixing a series of problems that existing search and merchandising tools couldn’t address on Shopify. Before we knew it, we developed a proprietary, purpose-built stack designed specifically for the platform.
The AI understands intent without manual rule building. With many legacy systems, merchandising teams maintain synonym libraries and ranking rules to preserve search accuracy. Layers trains its model on live catalog data and query behavior, reducing ongoing rule maintenance while allowing relevance to adjust as catalog and customer patterns evolve.
“Our AI model understands that acronyms like ‘LBD’ mean ‘little black dress’ and automatically delivers the right products,” says Tanasiuk.
Because Layers is self-funded, product updates are tied to measurable performance improvements rather than external release schedules. New AI models are integrated once they demonstrate stronger relevance in live environments. Implementation typically takes days. Merchants can install the Layers connector app directly into their Shopify store and evaluate search performance using live catalog data inside their existing storefront.
Where Merchants See the Difference
How does segmented sorting allow merchandising decisions to reflect real-time Shopify demand signals?
A defining strength of Layers is segmented sorting. This is where search transitions into merchandising control. Ranking, sorting and product visibility respond directly to live Shopify signals rather than static rule structures. Using combinations of Shopify data—geography, cart behavior and customer purchase history—merchants can tailor product discovery to reflect actual demand patterns.
Consider a women’s apparel brand with nationwide distribution. A shopper in Miami sees lightweight styles trending locally while a shopper in North Dakota sees heavier seasonal products. Instead of relying on a single national bestseller list, results reflect regional buying behavior drawn directly from Shopify data.
A fast-growing U.S. jewelry brand leverages Shopify POS data across more than 120 stores. Layers geo-targets shoppers within a defined radius of each location and ranks products based on what is selling in that region. The platform further supports merchandising with tiebreaker sorting. When multiple products share the same price point in a low-to-high sort, a secondary metric such as bestseller rank or review count determines placement, ensuring higher-demand items surface first.
Built for Enterprise Shopify Operations
How does Layers integrate merchandising logic directly within Shopify’s native enterprise data model?
For Shopify Plus merchants, search and merchandising directly shape revenue performance. Layers embeds merchandising logic within Shopify’s native data model, allowing product ranking and discovery to respond to live inventory, POS activity and customer behavior without additional middleware.
With Layers, enterprise teams retain direct control over how products surface and perform inside their existing Shopify environment, with ranking, sorting and personalization driven by live Shopify data.
