How to add product badges to the Horizon theme

Option A: work with Horizon's built-in badges

Horizon shows Sale and Sold out on its own, driven entirely by product data.

1. Set a compare-at price above the selling price, and Horizon shows Sale on the product card.
2. Sell through the stock, and Sold out takes over.
3. Open a collection page and confirm both render where you expect, on desktop and mobile.

The honest virtues: automatic, accurate, zero upkeep. A Sale badge driven by a real compare-at price never lies, and nothing needs taking down.

Where it stops: two words is the whole vocabulary. No "New", no "Low stock", no "Bestseller", no "Staff pick". And no scheduling, because badges follow product state, not your calendar. The weekend you want every gift set wearing a "Holiday pick" label, the theme shrugs.

Option B: the tag-and-code route

Shopify has no native feature for custom badges, and Search & Discovery does not do badges either. The manual route runs through tags and theme code, with a catch: Horizon is brand new, so few tutorials cover its product card internals yet. The route:

1. Tag the products, for example "badge-new".
2. In a copy of Horizon, edit the product card code so it reads the tag and prints a label.
3. Style the label with CSS so it sits alongside Horizon's own badges.
4. Remove the tags by hand when each label should leave.

Credit where due: this costs nothing but time, renders with the page like the native badges, and for a single permanent label, "Handmade", say, a developer can land it in an afternoon.

Where it stops: it is developer work on a theme the guides have not caught up with. The edits live in your theme copy, so every Horizon update means carrying them over. Nothing is scheduled, so "New" stays until someone remembers the tag. Targeting is hand-tagging, product by product. And each new badge is another code change, which is why stores that start here usually stop at one.

Option C: run badge campaigns with Sledge

Sledge treats badges as campaigns: written, aimed, scheduled, and retired on time. No template edits.

1. Install Sledge from the Shopify App Store, start the 14-day free trial, and switch on the app embed.
2. Create a badge campaign: write the label and pick how it looks.
3. Aim it at the products or collections you choose, and set the start and end dates.
4. Publish. Badges land where Horizon's product cards expect them, on collection pages and in search results.

Beyond Options A and B: campaigns retire themselves, so the "Holiday pick" badge leaves with the holiday. Targeting replaces tagging products one at a time. Placement is tuned for Horizon out of the box, no positioning by trial and error. And Sledge A/B tests badges, so "Almost gone" can compete with "Low stock" and the winner is a number, not a hunch.

One rule travels with all of this: badge what is true. "Low stock" should mean it. Shoppers can tell.

Horizon alone, code edits, or Sledge?

The honest read: if Sale and Sold out say everything your store needs to, Horizon already says it. One permanent label and a developer on hand: the code route works, thin tutorials and all. Seasonal campaigns, rotating labels, or badges aimed at whatever sells best this month: that is Sledge.

Related reading

Sledge on Horizon · Product badges · Merchandising · What is a product badge? · What is merchandising?