The Ultimate Guide to B2B on Shopify Plus

The Ultimate Guide to B2B on Shopify Plus: Expert Answers

For most brands, B2B doesn’t start as a strategy. It starts as a request.

A retailer reaches out asking to stock your product. A distributor wants a bulk deal. You say yes. You figure out the pricing, build a spreadsheet, and send an invoice.

That works, until it stops working.

Suddenly, you’re managing manual quotes, one-off pricing, and an inbox full of reorder requests. You have one store for retail, another for wholesale. Nothing syncs. Your ops team is tired. Your buyers are frustrated.

And most of it is happening outside the platform that’s already powering the rest of your business.

That’s the real problem: wholesale starts outside Shopify, and stays there. 

But it doesn’t have to.

Can Shopify Actually Support B2B?

Yes. But not with standard Shopify alone.

B2B on Shopify is no longer a workaround or a patchwork of third-party apps. With Shopify Plus, the platform now includes native B2B features built for how wholesale really works.

You can create customer-specific price lists. Offer net payment terms. Let multiple people from the same company place and manage orders. All within one unified Shopify backend, without needing to build and manage a second store.

Your buyers get a private, personalized ordering experience. You get a single source of truth across your B2C and B2B channels.

The key difference. Shopify Plus treats B2B as a core part of commerce, not an edge case.

Personalized, Efficient Buying Experiences

Problem - “Every buyer has different pricing, terms, or products. I’m drowning in spreadsheets, tags, or app hacks just to show the right thing to the right customer.”
Solution - Shopify Plus gives you Company Profiles + Catalogs

You can now create dedicated profiles for each company, including their multiple locations, assigning payment terms, tax exemptions, and custom catalogs per account. You control what each buyer sees, how much they pay, and what checkout experience they go through, all from the core Shopify admin. No discount codes, no duplication, no app gymnastics.

Problem - “I want to offer volume discounts and minimum order sizes, but I have to calculate and apply it manually.”
Solution - Quantity Rules + Volume Pricing take care of that

You can set minimums, maximums, case packs, or buy-in increments per product or variant, so buyers can’t under-order or break your logistics logic. Add volume-based price breaks to incentivize bulk buying and scale average order values, no more emailing spreadsheets back and forth.

Problem - “My wholesale buyers see the same store as retail customers, and it’s confusing for them.”
Solution - Trade Theme + Store Personalization = Wholesale-First UX

With Shopify’s new B2B-optimized Trade theme, your buyers get a store tailored to wholesale from the start, including hidden pricing until login and streamlined layouts for quick orders. You can also surface specific content (products, navigation, messaging) only to B2B customers using Markets and conditional logic, even if you run a blended store.

Problem - “I want to offer a better experience, but the native Shopify theme can’t handle what I need.”
Solution - Go Headless, if you want complete control

Shopify Plus gives you headless APIs and dev tools to build fully custom buyer experiences with your own tech stack. Want a React frontend? A custom login flow? ERP-connected pricing display? All doable — without compromising performance or security.

Smarter Operations & Order Workflows

Problem -  “Sales reps need to manage accounts, but I can’t give them full access to my store.”
Solution - Sales Rep Permissions let you limit what they see

Add reps as staff with permissions scoped only to their assigned companies, so they can manage orders, quotes, or catalogs without touching unrelated data.

Problem - “My buyers often need approval before placing an order, but Shopify checks out everything instantly.”
Solution - Checkout-to-Draft lets you introduce review flows

You can now convert orders to drafts at checkout, allowing your team to review, edit, and approve before fulfillment, ideal for custom quoting, pre-negotiated deals, or budget-controlled clients.

Problem - “Buyers send POs by email, I have to track, match, and reconcile everything manually.”
Solution - PO Numbers are captured directly at checkout

Shopify B2B checkout lets customers add purchase order numbers, which are tracked automatically in the order admin, surfaced in invoices, and available via API for ERP sync.

Problem - “Our buyers re-order the same SKUs all the time. But they have to start from scratch each time.”
Solution - Quick Bulk Ordering + Easy Reorders streamline repeat buys

Buyers can view all product variants in a single table (size, color, etc.) and add to cart in bulk from one place. They can also duplicate past orders with one click inside their customer account, without needing to ask you.

Payment Flexibility Built for Business Buyers

Problem “I need to offer Net 30 terms, but Shopify forces upfront payments.”
Solution - Payment Terms are native to Shopify Plus

Set Net 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 or “Due on Fulfillment” terms per company, including deposit options. Track invoices, send automatic payment reminders, and reconcile payments without third-party invoicing hacks.

Problem - “We need to support card-on-file and PayPal, but securely and at scale.”
Solution - Vaulted Credit Cards + PayPal Support are built-in

Buyers can store their card securely for use at checkout, on draft orders, or to pay invoices later. And now with PayPal support, you offer familiar, frictionless payments, even for wholesale.

Problem - “I want to offer wholesale promotions on top of custom pricing, but discounts break the logic.”
Solution - Custom Discounts can now stack

With Shopify Functions, you can build promotional logic that applies on top of wholesale pricing, without undercutting your margins or manually issuing codes.

Automation & Scale

Problem -  “B2B ops are repetitive, and I’m tired of manually approving forms, sending reminders, tagging orders…”
Solution - Shopify Flow automates all of it

Shopify’s built-in Flow now supports B2B-specific actions, like assigning payment terms, tagging company orders, sending reminders on due dates, or routing new signups to a rep. If it repeats, Flow can do it.

Problem - “I need an onboarding form that routes new buyers for approval and sets them up.”
Solution - Company Account Requests via Shopify Forms

Add a wholesale request form to your site. Once approved, the buyer is automatically created as a company, and can start placing B2B orders with the rules you’ve defined.

Works With Your Systems, Not Against Them

Problem - “Shopify sounds great, but I already have ERP, OMS, CRM tools running the business.”
Solution - Out-of-the-box integrations + API flexibility

Shopify Plus integrates with Acumatica, Microsoft D365, Brightpearl, and others. Or use middleware like Boomi, Jitterbit, Celigo, or build your own via robust B2B APIs. It’s flexible enough to plug into any serious tech stack, and you don’t need to build from scratch.

Why Unifying B2B and D2C on Shopify Isn’t Just Smart, It’s Scalable

Most brands on Shopify don’t start with wholesale.
They begin by selling direct-to-consumer, testing ideas, building traction, and finding product-market fit.

But growth brings new demands.
A retailer shows interest. A distributor wants volume pricing. And just like that, you're running B2B, often on spreadsheets, with manual invoicing, or a second Shopify store to "keep things clean."

Clean becomes clunky, fast.

Two Systems = Twice the Work

When you run B2B and D2C on separate platforms, friction creeps in:

• Inventory sync becomes manual (and risky)

• Customer data gets siloed

• Reporting requires stitching systems together

• Your team wastes time bridging gaps between two stores

Industry reports confirm that this duplication increases operational complexity and leads to missed insights and fulfillment delays.

Today’s B2B Buyers Expect D2C-Like Speed

Modern B2B buyers want:

• Fast, intuitive ordering

• Mobile-friendly experiences

• Transparent pricing and flexible terms

• Self-serve account access and reordering

If your wholesale experience feels like a downgrade compared to your D2C store, that reflects on your brand, no matter how beautiful your product is.

Shopify Plus Is Built to Handle Both, Natively

With Shopify’s native B2B suite (included in Shopify Plus), you don’t need two storefronts to scale both sides of your business.

You get:

• One unified admin for all your orders, products, customers

• Blended or dedicated B2B experiences, both fully supported

• Centralized analytics and automation through Shopify Flow

• Shared inventory and synced systems, no double entry

• Permission-based access for teams, reps, and buyers

This isn’t just about convenience. It’s about building a lean, scalable commerce engine that doesn’t break every time you grow.

One Platform. Two Channels. Zero Fragmentation.

Not every business will run B2B and D2C in one store, and that’s okay.
But for most modern brands, a unified platform reduces costs, increases visibility, and delivers a consistent brand experience across every buyer touchpoint.

And Shopify Plus doesn’t just support this model. It’s purpose-built for it.

Is Shopify Plus Worth It for B2B? A Real-World Decision Guide

Let’s be clear: not every brand needs Shopify Plus to sell B2B.

But if your wholesale channel is growing, or your current setup is creating more problems than it solves, then it’s time to ask:
At what point does staying on regular Shopify cost you more than upgrading?

This isn’t just about features. It’s about what breaks when your business scales.

Signs You’ve Outgrown Workarounds

Here’s what we hear from merchants right before they make the switch:

• “We’re duplicating product data across two stores.”

• “We have 3 apps just to manage wholesale pricing.”

• “Our sales team is manually sending invoices and tracking payments.”

• “Our buyers can’t log in and reorder, every order needs help.”

• “We can’t scale this without hiring more people.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s not just a pain point, it’s a warning sign. You’ve hit the limit of what basic Shopify + plugins can do.

When the Switch Pays Off

You’re likely ready for Plus if:

B2B is (or is about to be) 20–40%+ of your total revenue
You’re managing >50 B2B customers with unique pricing or terms
Sales reps are getting involved in every single order
You’re using 3+ apps just to simulate wholesale workflows
You’ve had a conversation about migrating to another platform
If any of those are true, it’s probably costing you more to not upgrade.
Bottom Line: Shopify Plus isn’t for everyone. But for merchants who take B2B seriously, it’s often the only move that unlocks scale without doubling headcount, tech debt, or frustration.

Common Merchant Questions, Answered

Can I offer both D2C and B2B from one Shopify store?

→ Yes, with Shopify Plus. You can run both channels from a single backend using Shopify’s Markets feature. Each market can have its own pricing, catalogs, and buyer experience.
This means: no duplicate product uploads, no juggling storefronts, and no disconnect between channels.

Can I still use apps I rely on today?

→ In most cases, yes. Shopify Plus doesn’t block app usage, it expands what you can do. But for B2B, many features (like price lists, net terms, logins) can be handled natively on Plus, reducing the need for multiple plugins.
That’s not just cleaner, it’s also faster and more secure.

Is Shopify Plus only for huge enterprise brands?

→ Not anymore.
Shopify Plus is increasingly used by scaling brands, not just enterprise giants. If your business has operational complexity, multiple buyer types, or wholesale ambitions, Plus is a smart foundation to grow on before things break.

Will my ops or sales teams need to change everything?

→ No, but they’ll stop doing things manually.
Shopify Plus automates what’s currently scattered across inboxes, spreadsheets, and tools. Your teams can finally focus on growth, not chasing down payments or managing separate systems.

Is Shopify Plus expensive?

→ It’s an investment, but for most B2B-focused merchants, the ROI is quick.
Consider the hidden costs you're likely carrying today:

• App subscriptions

• Manual hours

• Custom dev for band-aid fixes

• Errors and missed orders

Shopify Plus often replaces all of that with a more stable, scalable system.

Ready to Simplify B2B on Shopify? Let’s Build It Right.

Shopify has evolved. B2B doesn’t have to mean spreadsheets, clunky portals, or workarounds anymore.
If your brand is growing, and your wholesale channel is getting harder to manage, Shopify Plus gives you the infrastructure to scale both sides of your business, in one powerful platform.
But getting it right isn’t just about enabling features. It’s about understanding how your buyers purchase, how your backend runs, and where your business is headed.

That’s where we come in.
At IT Geeks, we don’t just set up Shopify Plus, we design wholesale experiences that actually work, for real teams and real buyers.
If you’re exploring B2B on Shopify, or if you’re already living the pain of managing two systems, let’s talk.
We’ll show you what’s possible, and how to get there without the guesswork.
Book a discovery call or get in touch with our team.