Depict vs Kimonix: Choosing the Right Merchandising Platform for your Fashion or Lifestyle Brand

Why Fashion and Lifestyle Brands Compare Depict and Kimonix

Both platforms help ecommerce teams merchandise collections more efficiently, but they solve different problems, with Kimonix now positioning itself directly against Depict, having published its own comparison.

Kimonix built its reputation as a profit-driven, no-code solution for merchandising Shopify stores, using signals like sales, margin and inventory to automatically sort collections. Its pitch and logos lean toward fashion and apparel, with brands in other categories too. In December 2025 it launched a search and shopping assistant app, and it has since added Kim, an in-app assistant that applies changes on the merchant’s approval.

Depict is built for fashion and lifestyle brands that need to control the visual story of their collection pages, not just the sorting order, while also offering hybrid AI search and recommendations. It supports Shopify, Centra, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and headless storefronts, reflecting how many fashion and lifestyle brands have scaled beyond a singular platform.

If you are currently on Kimonix, and your priority is visual storytelling alongside a platform built to grow with you beyond Shopify, Depict is worth a look.

Depict vs Kimonix at a Glance

Visual Merchandising Capabilities

For fashion and lifestyle brands, the visual presentation of products is crucial to both brand identity and conversion rates. This is an area where the two platforms take contrasting approaches.

Depict’s Fashion and Lifestyle Approach

Depict gives merchandisers the tools to shape brand identity alongside automation that keeps every page optimized:

• Content Cards. Add custom-size images, video and text directly into collection pages.
• Pinned Products. Keep specific products in specific positions, maintaining editorial control without fighting the algorithm.
• Repeated Products. On Shopify, feature the same product across multiple positions with different images to show range and versatility.
• Product Image Selector. On Shopify, choose the exact image (front, back, detail) for each collection context.
• Smart Sorting. Set merchandising rules once, and apply everywhere, boost bestsellers, bury out-of-stock items, while pinned products keep in place.
• A/B Testing. Now rolling out on Shopify. Split shoppers between two versions of a collection and see which did better.

Kimonix’s Signal-Driven Approach

Kimonix merchandises collections primarily through automation and data:

• Collection Sorting. AI-driven sorting across 100+ signals- including sales, margin, variant-level stock, returns and shopper behavior.
• Product Grouping and Pinning. Build shop-the-look product groupings and pin key items on top of automated rules.
• A/B Testing and Merchandising Analytics. Test sorting strategies and measure what lifts conversion.
• Multiple Markets. Geo-merchandise collections and recommendations differently per region.
• No-Code Implementation. Setup happens in the Shopify admin and theme editor, without writing code.

Search and Discovery

The gap between the two platforms has narrowed with search. Kimonix launched its search and shopping assistant app in December 2025. It can now run as the store’s main search or as a floating assistant, and it adds to the cart inside the chat. It is a separate app on a separate bill from merchandising, while Depict’s collections, search and recommendations are one app and one install.

Depict’s search combines AI, keyword matching, and merchandising rules into a singular hybrid approach:

• Hybrid Search. Runs every query through AI, keyword matching, your merchandising rules and automated synonyms, so a shopper searching in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German or English finds the right products.
• Search Everything. One search for products, pages, guides and policies, so shoppers stop leaving for Google for things the site already answers.
• No Empty Search Pages. When nothing matches exactly, search shows the closest right products instead of "no results".
• Searchandising. Boost and bury in search results, with the same rules you use on collections, or a rule set of its own for search.

Kimonix’s assistant is built to close the sale inside the conversation, adding to the cart without leaving the chat. Depict’s search sits across the whole site, applying the same boost and bury rules you use on collections. Recommendation rows have their own filters, pins and hides.

Ease of Implementation

Depict installs from the App Store on Shopify, with visual merchandising, search and recommendations in one app. Centra connects through a setup wizard, headless storefronts through the API and SDKs, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud through the API with connectors built during onboarding, which is useful for fashion and lifestyle brands that have outgrown a single-platform setup. On Shopify the install itself takes minutes and the first useful collections take a few hours, so you are live within hours, not weeks. "Merchandising with Depict takes 75% less time compared to our previous tool," says Benjamin Östgårdh, Head of Ecommerce at Stiga. Multi-market merchandising, and on Shopify multi-store, run on the Custom plan.

Kimonix is Shopify only, with a no-code setup in the Shopify admin and theme editor, which makes it a low-lift install for teams without dev resources. Its own page says it is not built for platforms like Centra. Its headless option is headless Shopify, on the Custom plan.

What Customers Say

Here is what a fashion brand using Depict says about its new search.

"The future of search. Depict's new search is fully intuitive, personalised and intelligent, and our performance from search has increased." - Jamie Evans, Head of eCommerce at Jaded London

A Kimonix customer points to a lift in order value and conversion rate.

"Automating our collections with ‘Category & Collection Sort | KX’ has opened up numerous new use cases and possibilities for our marketing efforts. We’ve seen a significant increase in both our Average Order Value (AOV) and Conversion Rate, all while eliminating the guesswork of manual sorting." - Stay Cold Apparel, Shopify App Store review, September 2024

Pricing in 2026

Depict’s prices are public and based on monthly sessions (checked November 2026). Merchandising is free for up to three collections. Paid plans start at $190 a month for merchandising or search and $110 a month for recommendations up to 50,000 sessions, or $152 and $88 billed annually, with a 10% discount when bundling all three. Custom pricing applies above 500,000 sessions and for multi-market and multi-store.

Kimonix moved to pay as you go in 2026 (checked November 2026). You pay $19 a month, returned as usage credit, then a charge per collection view and recommendation impression, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. Search is a separate app on a separate bill, and a Custom plan adds multiple stores and headless Shopify.

Is Depict Right for Your Fashion or Lifestyle Brand?

Depict is the strongest fit if you:

• Want collection pages built with your own images, video and copy in the grid, rather than automated grids alone
• Want brand-led storytelling as well as performance metrics
• Want collections, search and recommendations in one app and on one bill
• Run on, or are considering platforms other than Shopify- such as Centra, Salesforce Commerce Cloud or headless
• Want to save merchandising time without losing creative control

FAQ

Is Kimonix a good alternative to Depict?

Kimonix is a strong choice for Shopify and Shopify Plus brands wanting automated no-code collection sorting driven by sales and inventory data. It also offers AI search, a shopping assistant and Kim, its in-app assistant. Its pitch and logos lean toward fashion and apparel, and its own comparison page concedes less depth in dedicated visual storefront tooling.

Does Kimonix offer AI Search?

Yes. Kimonix launched its search and shopping assistant app in December 2025, and it can run as the store’s main search or as a floating assistant.

Can Depict be used outside of Shopify?

Yes. Depict runs natively on Shopify and Centra, works with Salesforce Commerce Cloud through the API with connectors built during onboarding, and deploys to headless storefronts through the API and SDKs.

Which platform is better for fashion and lifestyle brands specifically?

Depict is built for brand-led merchants in fashion, lifestyle and beyond, with tools like content cards and image selection by view, and search in the same app. Kimonix also sells to fashion brands ("Built for scaling fashion brands") and leads on margin and inventory-driven sorting.

Choosing Between Depict and Kimonix

Both platforms have strengths and the right choice for your site depends on what your team optimizes for. Depict leads on brand-led visual storytelling, one app across all three products and multi-platform flexibility. Kimonix leads on no-code automation and signal-driven collection sorting, now paired with AI search, a shopping assistant and Kim.

If visual storytelling, search in the same app, and platform flexibility matter most to your brand, Depict is the more specialized option. If you prioritize automation inside Shopify with minimal setup, Kimonix is worth evaluating.

Ready to see how Depict can transform your fashion and lifestyle collections? Book a demo