diff --git a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/index.js b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/index.js
index f6f56b13ccf..26cbd6cf7f8 100644
--- a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/index.js
+++ b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/index.js
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@
  * Export all autocompleters
  */
 export { default as product } from './product';
+export { default as productCategory } from './product-cat';
diff --git a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product-cat.js b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product-cat.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..704115b77e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product-cat.js
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/** @format */
+/**
+ * External dependencies
+ */
+import apiFetch from '@wordpress/api-fetch';
+
+/**
+ * Internal dependencies
+ */
+import { computeSuggestionMatch } from './utils';
+import { stringifyQuery } from 'lib/nav-utils';
+
+/**
+ * A product categories completer.
+ * See https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/tree/master/packages/components/src/autocomplete#the-completer-interface
+ *
+ * @type {Completer}
+ */
+export default {
+	name: 'product_cats',
+	className: 'woocommerce-search__product-result',
+	options( search ) {
+		let payload = '';
+		if ( search ) {
+			const query = {
+				search: encodeURIComponent( search ),
+				per_page: 10,
+				orderby: 'count',
+			};
+			payload = stringifyQuery( query );
+		}
+		return apiFetch( { path: '/wc/v3/products/categories' + payload } );
+	},
+	isDebounced: true,
+	getOptionKeywords( cat ) {
+		return [ cat.name ];
+	},
+	getOptionLabel( cat, query ) {
+		const match = computeSuggestionMatch( cat.name, query ) || {};
+		// @todo bring back ProductImage, but allow for product category image
+		return [
+			<span key="name" className="woocommerce-search__result-name" aria-label={ cat.name }>
+				{ match.suggestionBeforeMatch }
+				<strong className="components-form-token-field__suggestion-match">
+					{ match.suggestionMatch }
+				</strong>
+				{ match.suggestionAfterMatch }
+			</span>,
+		];
+	},
+	// This is slightly different than gutenberg/Autocomplete, we don't support different methods
+	// of replace/insertion, so we can just return the value.
+	getOptionCompletion( cat ) {
+		const value = {
+			id: cat.id,
+			label: cat.name,
+		};
+		return value;
+	},
+};
diff --git a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product.js b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product.js
index bafa9fb0207..7d688e8c7e1 100644
--- a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product.js
+++ b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/product.js
@@ -7,22 +7,10 @@ import apiFetch from '@wordpress/api-fetch';
 /**
  * Internal dependencies
  */
+import { computeSuggestionMatch } from './utils';
 import ProductImage from 'components/product-image';
 import { stringifyQuery } from 'lib/nav-utils';
 
-const computeSuggestionMatch = ( suggestion, query ) => {
-	if ( ! query ) {
-		return null;
-	}
-	const indexOfMatch = suggestion.toLocaleLowerCase().indexOf( query.toLocaleLowerCase() );
-
-	return {
-		suggestionBeforeMatch: suggestion.substring( 0, indexOfMatch ),
-		suggestionMatch: suggestion.substring( indexOfMatch, indexOfMatch + query.length ),
-		suggestionAfterMatch: suggestion.substring( indexOfMatch + query.length ),
-	};
-};
-
 /**
  * A products completer.
  * See https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/tree/master/packages/components/src/autocomplete#the-completer-interface
diff --git a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/utils.js b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..23d9becb214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/autocompleters/utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/** @format */
+/**
+ * Parse a string suggestion, split apart by where the first matching query is.
+ * Used to display matched partial in bold.
+ *
+ * @param {string} suggestion The item's label as returned from the API.
+ * @param {string} query The search term to match in the string.
+ * @return {object} A list in three parts: before, match, and after.
+ */
+export function computeSuggestionMatch( suggestion, query ) {
+	if ( ! query ) {
+		return null;
+	}
+	const indexOfMatch = suggestion.toLocaleLowerCase().indexOf( query.toLocaleLowerCase() );
+
+	return {
+		suggestionBeforeMatch: suggestion.substring( 0, indexOfMatch ),
+		suggestionMatch: suggestion.substring( indexOfMatch, indexOfMatch + query.length ),
+		suggestionAfterMatch: suggestion.substring( indexOfMatch + query.length ),
+	};
+}
diff --git a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/index.js b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/index.js
index 4abd2869335..935192de415 100644
--- a/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/index.js
+++ b/plugins/woocommerce-admin/client/components/search/index.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
  * Internal dependencies
  */
 import Autocomplete from './autocomplete';
-import { product } from './autocompleters';
+import { product, productCategory } from './autocompleters';
 import Tag from 'components/tag';
 import './style.scss';
 
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ class Search extends Component {
 		switch ( this.props.type ) {
 			case 'products':
 				return product;
+			case 'product_cats':
+				return productCategory;
 			default:
 				return {};
 		}
@@ -119,7 +121,7 @@ Search.propTypes = {
 	/**
 	 * The object type to be used in searching.
 	 */
-	type: PropTypes.oneOf( [ 'products', 'orders', 'customers' ] ).isRequired,
+	type: PropTypes.oneOf( [ 'products', 'product_cats', 'orders', 'customers' ] ).isRequired,
 	/**
 	 * An array of objects describing selected values
 	 */