The problem

Hire stores sell time, so every booking is tied to a set of dates. On a recent client's Shopify store, each product was booked through a separate booking platform, which checked availability for the dates a customer chose and handled the checkout. Shopify held the product pages and the catalogue, and the booking platform's widget supplied the add to basket button.

The client wanted to sell kits, such as everything needed for a party or a house move, as one booking. The widget was built for one product per page, so a kit of several items had no way into the basket. Selling each item separately meant customers picked the same dates four or five times, and any one item could be booked out by the time they reached checkout.

What we built

We set up each bundle as its own product in both the booking platform and Shopify, so it has a page, a price and a place in collections like any other item. We then updated the product template so the widget books every item in the bundle together, for the same dates, and stock stays correct for each one.

The page puts the bundle price above the list of what's included, so customers see the total before they scroll through the contents. On product cards across the homepage and collections, we hid the contents slider, so a bundle card reads as cleanly as the single items next to it.

Bundles also needed somewhere to live. They have their own menu entry, an image template so every bundle photo follows the same layout, and an icon that marks them out in a grid. They appear in related products and collections, and run in Google Ads alongside single products.

Make the bundle a product

The fix works because the bundle is a real product in both systems, with its own price, page and booking record. Once the booking platform knows a bundle exists, availability and stock are handled in one place, and the rest of the store, from menus to ads, can treat it like any other item.

Selling kits or bundles through a booking platform on Shopify? Tell us about your project