Shopify B2B: How to Sell B2B on Shopify in 2025

What is Shopify B2B?

Shopify B2B is the platform’s built-in solution for wholesale and trade selling, available exclusively on Shopify Plus. It enables brands to manage both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and business-to-business (B2B) operations from a single storefront, with features specifically designed for the complexities of B2B ecommerce.

Unlike the now-deprecated Wholesale Channel, Shopify B2B is fully integrated into the core admin experience. Merchants can create company accounts, assign unique price lists, set payment terms, and provide customised purchasing experiences without relying on third-party apps or duplicate stores. This approach simplifies operations while giving trade customers a tailored and efficient buying journey.

Because Shopify B2B sits within Shopify Plus, it shares the same infrastructure, order processing, and inventory management as your DTC business. This unified approach makes it easier to manage both channels without adding technical complexity or overheads. Many brands no longer need a separate wholesale site, which can significantly reduce costs and streamline workflows.

Whether you're creating a private portal for trade buyers or offering exclusive pricing to distributors, Shopify B2B provides the tools to build a scalable wholesale business on the same platform you already trust. You can explore the full feature set on Shopify’s B2B page.

Setting Up a Shopify B2B Store

To use Shopify’s native B2B features, you’ll need an active Shopify Plus plan. These tools are not available on the standard Shopify tiers. If you’re weighing up which version is right for your business, take a look at our comparison of Shopify vs Shopify Plus and the key benefits of Shopify Plus for scaling brands.

Once you’re on Plus, you can enable B2B functionality directly from the admin dashboard, without the need for third-party apps. The setup process focuses on configuring a few core components that define how your wholesale customers interact with your store.

First, you'll create company profiles for each B2B customer. A company can have multiple contacts, associated locations, and custom permissions. This mirrors how larger organisations typically place orders — for example, a head office may approve purchases while branches handle fulfilment details.

Next, set up price lists that apply customer-specific or product-specific pricing. You can offer volume discounts, trade rates, or tiered pricing structures, all controlled within the admin. Each price list can be assigned to one or more companies, giving you total control over visibility and margins.

You’ll then define payment terms such as net 30, due on fulfilment, or pay upfront. These terms are automatically tracked by Shopify, helping you manage outstanding invoices and keep your finance team aligned.

Finally, you can build a tailored B2B storefront. This might include login-gated access, unique templates, or dynamic content that changes based on the customer account. Alternatively, you can run B2B and DTC from a single store, using Shopify’s conditional logic to customise pricing, content, and checkout flows for logged-in trade users.

With these foundations in place, your Shopify Plus store is ready to handle the demands of modern B2B ecommerce — and scale as your customer base grows.

Key Features of Shopify Plus B2B

Shopify Plus offers a suite of native B2B features designed to support the complexity of trade and wholesale selling. These tools are built directly into the Shopify admin and are purpose-built for brands managing multiple buyer types, pricing structures, and order workflows.

Here are the key features that make Shopify B2B a compelling choice for modern ecommerce businesses:

• Company Profiles: Create and manage detailed customer profiles that represent a business, not just an individual. Each company can have multiple locations and contacts with assigned permissions and roles.


• Custom Price Lists: Offer customer-specific pricing across your product catalogue. You can create tiered pricing based on volume, assign different rates to different companies, or apply special discounts to specific SKUs.


• Net Payment Terms: Set flexible payment terms such as 7, 30, or 60 days. These terms are visible at checkout and tracked within the Shopify admin, streamlining invoicing and accounts receivable.


• B2B Checkout: A dedicated checkout experience for wholesale customers, including payment terms, pre-filled customer details, and optional PO numbers. This simplifies the buying process and speeds up order placement.


• Customer-Specific Catalogues: Limit product visibility based on the logged-in company account. This is ideal for brands with exclusive product lines, regional restrictions, or distributor-only SKUs.


• Multi-Location Support: Allow one company to place orders across multiple locations, with separate delivery addresses, buyers, and order histories under a single account.


• Staff Permissions: Give your team precise control over who can manage pricing, approve terms, and fulfil B2B orders.

Taken together, these features give B2B customers a seamless, professional buying experience while giving your team the flexibility and control needed to scale efficiently. They also remove the need for most third-party B2B apps, reducing your tech stack and maintenance overhead.

Customising Your B2B Storefront

While Shopify B2B works out of the box, creating a polished, brand-aligned storefront experience is crucial when selling to trade customers. B2B buyers often expect a more functional and streamlined experience than typical DTC shoppers. With Shopify Plus, you can tailor your store’s design and content to meet those expectations without compromising your existing setup.

You can choose to run a dedicated B2B-only storefront or operate a hybrid model where both DTC and B2B customers use the same site. In either case, Shopify allows you to use customer tags, Liquid logic, and metafields to control what different user groups see. This means you can adjust product visibility, display exclusive content, and show custom messaging to logged-in B2B customers.

For brands operating a private B2B portal, Shopify Plus enables you to gate access behind a login and present a completely separate navigation, design system, or layout if needed. This is especially useful when selling high volumes or complex catalogues that differ from your DTC range.

From tailored homepage banners to modified cart logic and checkout fields, you have full control over the frontend experience. You can even hide certain payment or shipping options, adjust tax display, or offer downloadable resources such as catalogues and spec sheets to logged-in B2B users.

If you're looking to go further, working with a Shopify Plus agency like Charle can help you design and build a completely bespoke storefront experience. Whether you're after a clean and functional portal or a fully branded trade interface, our team delivers custom Shopify web design, advanced Shopify development, and fully tailored theme builds that elevate your B2B experience and meet complex business requirements.

Managing B2B Customer Accounts

Effective customer account management is a cornerstone of successful B2B ecommerce. Shopify B2B introduces company-level account structures that go far beyond the standard customer model used for DTC. This allows you to replicate how real businesses operate, with multiple buyers, branches, and locations under a single organisation.

Each company profile in Shopify B2B can include one or more contact people, each with individual login credentials and permission levels. For example, an accounts manager might have access to view invoices and payment terms, while a buyer can place orders but not manage users or settings. This flexibility allows your wholesale portal to align with your customers' internal processes.

Companies can also have multiple locations linked to a single account. This is particularly useful for distributors, franchise models, or multi-site retailers. Each location can have unique shipping details and purchase histories, while still reporting under a central customer record.

From within the Shopify admin, your team can manage B2B accounts just like DTC customers, editing details, assigning price lists, adjusting payment terms, or viewing order history. You can also filter and segment B2B customers for reporting, CRM syncing, or marketing workflows.

This structured approach brings greater clarity and control to customer management, reducing errors, improving communication, and making it easier to scale your wholesale operations as your trade base grows.

B2B Pricing Strategies & Tiered Pricing

Pricing is one of the most important levers in B2B ecommerce. Unlike DTC, where pricing is typically fixed and public, B2B often requires a more flexible and tailored approach. Shopify B2B provides powerful tools to manage this complexity through native price lists and company-specific pricing rules.

Using price lists, you can assign unique pricing to different companies or customer groups. This allows you to offer wholesale rates, volume discounts, or exclusive trade pricing without relying on third-party apps or discount codes. Each price list can apply to your entire product catalogue or just selected items, giving you full control over margins and visibility.

You can also create tiered pricing structures based on order quantities. For example, a customer might pay £10 per unit when ordering up to 50 items, and £9 per unit when ordering 51 or more. This incentivises higher order values and streamlines negotiations, particularly with high-volume buyers.

Shopify B2B pricing works seamlessly across your storefront and checkout. When a B2B customer logs in, they’ll see the pricing assigned to their company, with no need for manual intervention. This ensures consistency, improves the buying experience, and reduces support requests around eligibility or errors.

For more advanced pricing logic, Shopify Plus also supports the use of custom apps, scripts, or integrations with ERP systems to sync pricing in real time. This is ideal for businesses that need dynamic pricing models or want to unify pricing across multiple sales channels.

By structuring your pricing strategy carefully, you can serve a wide range of B2B customer types while maintaining profitability and operational efficiency.

Inventory Management Best Practices

Managing inventory effectively is essential for B2B ecommerce, particularly when dealing with high order volumes, large SKU ranges, or multiple warehouses. Inaccurate stock levels or delays in replenishment can damage customer relationships and lead to lost revenue. Shopify B2B supports several strategies to help you stay in control.

At the core of Shopify’s inventory system is real-time stock tracking across all products and variants. For B2B, this ensures your trade customers only see products that are available to ship, reducing the risk of backorders and overselling. You can also allocate specific inventory levels to B2B-only products or restrict certain SKUs to wholesale customers using customer tags or product visibility rules.

If you manage stock across multiple locations or warehouses, Shopify allows you to assign fulfilment priorities and automatically route orders based on location availability. This helps optimise delivery times and reduce operational friction as your B2B order volume scales.

For growing brands, integrating Shopify with inventory or warehouse management systems is key to staying efficient. Whether you use solutions like Patchworks, Peoplevox, or a bespoke ERP, syncing inventory between your storefront and backend operations will help reduce errors and keep your customers informed in real time.

Finally, B2B-specific considerations such as minimum order quantities, case pack restrictions, or lead time visibility can all be managed within Shopify or through tailored customisations. A clear and consistent inventory strategy will not only streamline internal workflows but also strengthen trust with your trade customers.

Payment Options & Net Terms

Payment terms play a crucial role in B2B commerce. While DTC customers expect to pay at checkout, trade buyers often require flexibility, such as net terms or invoice-based payment workflows. Shopify B2B makes it easy to configure and manage these requirements without the need for third-party tools.

Within each company profile, you can assign specific payment terms such as due on fulfilment, net 15, net 30, or custom durations. These terms are reflected automatically at checkout, giving B2B customers a familiar and frictionless experience. Shopify also tracks outstanding balances in the admin, so your finance team can stay on top of accounts receivable.

For businesses that require partial upfront payments, Shopify B2B can be configured to support deposit workflows. For example, you may request a 15% deposit at the point of checkout, with the remaining balance due on agreed net terms. This structure is especially useful for made-to-order products, large-volume purchases, or international accounts. With custom scripting or integration, deposits can be automatically recorded and tied to the original order for full visibility and reconciliation.

Shopify also supports standard payment methods such as credit card, PayPal, or manual bank transfer. These can be enabled or restricted based on the customer account, ensuring each buyer sees the payment options relevant to their agreement.

Many merchants integrate Shopify with accounting platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks, or NetSuite to sync payment status and automate invoice reconciliation. This reduces manual work and ensures accurate financial reporting across systems.

Offering flexible payment options not only makes it easier for customers to do business with you but can also be a competitive differentiator. With Shopify Plus, you have the tools to build a payment experience that aligns with your customers’ buying habits while keeping internal operations efficient and compliant.

Shipping Solutions for B2B Orders

Shipping in a B2B context often requires more complexity than standard DTC fulfilment. From pallet deliveries and bulk shipping rates to location-specific carriers and scheduled dispatches, your shipping strategy needs to accommodate the operational realities of wholesale customers. Shopify B2B provides the flexibility to configure and scale these logistics.

Within the Shopify admin, you can define custom shipping rates and rules based on customer tags, order value, or location. This allows you to offer wholesale-specific shipping methods or free delivery thresholds to incentivise larger orders. Many brands also configure flat-rate shipping by region or account type to simplify their pricing models.

If your B2B orders are fulfilled from multiple warehouses, Shopify supports location-based shipping logic. Orders can be automatically split and routed to the appropriate fulfilment centre, reducing delays and improving delivery times for trade customers.

For brands with more advanced requirements, integrating with shipping and logistics platforms such as ShipStation, Shippit, or custom 3PL systems can automate rate calculation, label generation, and tracking updates. These tools are particularly helpful for managing high-volume B2B accounts or coordinating scheduled deliveries with specific carriers.

It’s also important to communicate delivery expectations clearly. You can use metafields or customer-specific messaging to show estimated lead times, handling policies, or shipping documentation at checkout. This not only improves transparency but helps set the right expectations with your trade partners.

Ultimately, your shipping setup should reflect the needs of your B2B customers while keeping your internal processes scalable. Shopify provides the flexibility to meet both goals, whether you’re shipping nationally or managing complex international logistics.

Essential Integrations for Shopify B2B

For B2B ecommerce to operate efficiently at scale, integrations are often just as important as your storefront. Shopify B2B is designed to connect with a wide range of systems, enabling seamless data flow across inventory, finance, customer service, and logistics operations.

ERP integration is often the most critical. Platforms like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, NetSuite, and SAP can be connected to Shopify to sync product data, stock levels, pricing, and customer records in real time. This eliminates manual input, improves accuracy, and ensures that wholesale buyers always see up-to-date information.

CRM tools such as HubSpot or Salesforce can be integrated to support account-based sales workflows and trade marketing. With customer data flowing between platforms, your sales and account management teams can track engagement, manage pipelines, and segment B2B contacts more effectively.

Fulfilment systems, including warehouse management platforms (WMS), 3PL providers, and shipping aggregators like ShipStation or Mintsoft, can help streamline order handling. These tools automate pick, pack, and dispatch processes, reduce shipping errors, and allow for better tracking and reporting across high-volume B2B accounts.

Pricing and payment logic can also be extended via custom integrations. If your ERP or backend system houses complex pricing structures or tiered agreements, Shopify can pull that data directly to display accurate trade pricing per customer, with no need for manual entry.

Finally, integration with accounting software such as Xero, QuickBooks, or NetSuite helps automate invoicing, reconcile payments, and keep your finance operations aligned with B2B payment terms and order volumes.

Choosing the right integrations early on will not only improve operational efficiency but also create a more consistent and professional experience for your customers. As a Shopify Plus agency, Charle regularly supports clients in planning and delivering complex integration projects tailored to their tech stack and commercial needs.

Analytics & Reporting Tools

Strong analytics are vital to understanding and optimising your B2B performance. While many ecommerce platforms fall short when it comes to wholesale reporting, Shopify Plus offers a robust set of tools that give you visibility into how your B2B operation is performing across customers, products, and orders.

Within Shopify’s native analytics dashboard, you can access key metrics such as average order value, customer lifetime value, top-selling SKUs, and sales by customer group. These insights can be filtered by B2B-specific segments, allowing you to isolate trade performance from your DTC data.

Shopify Plus users also gain access to advanced reporting features, including custom report building and the ability to export raw data for deeper analysis. This is particularly helpful for businesses with unique KPIs or those that need to provide internal reports to finance, sales, or operations teams.

For more complex requirements, you can integrate Shopify with platforms such as Google Looker Studio, Power BI, or Glew to build real-time dashboards that track B2B revenue, order frequency, fulfilment speed, and customer segmentation. Many brands also use these tools to monitor sales rep performance or regional order trends across wholesale accounts.

It’s also possible to extend reporting through integrations with CRM and ERP platforms. For example, syncing Shopify order data with HubSpot or Salesforce allows your team to track deal stages, pipeline value, and account activity alongside web analytics and order history.

By investing in the right reporting setup early on, you can make smarter decisions, forecast demand more accurately, and identify high-value customers or underperforming segments with clarity and speed.

Marketing Strategies for B2B Growth

Marketing to B2B buyers requires a different approach from typical DTC campaigns. While consumer marketing often focuses on emotion and impulse, B2B decision-makers are more influenced by long-term value, operational fit, and purchasing efficiency. With Shopify B2B, you have the tools and flexibility to run targeted, effective campaigns that resonate with trade customers.

Email marketing remains one of the most effective channels for B2B ecommerce. Platforms like Klaviyo can be integrated with Shopify to deliver segmented campaigns, automated reorder flows, and personalised product recommendations. You can also trigger content based on company profiles, order history, or account type to ensure relevance at every touchpoint.

Content marketing is another valuable strategy. Educational resources such as buying guides, spec sheets, and case studies can help position your brand as a trusted supplier. You can host these on gated B2B pages, or use them as part of lead generation campaigns aimed at trade buyers searching for solutions online.

LinkedIn Ads, account-based marketing (ABM), and direct outreach are also highly effective in the B2B space. These approaches work well for identifying and engaging high-value customers, especially in niche industries. With Shopify’s integration capabilities, marketing activity can be tracked alongside order data for clearer attribution and ROI reporting.

Additionally, consider using customer-specific incentives such as early access to new products, exclusive pricing tiers, or loyalty-based discounts to retain your highest-value B2B clients. Offering these perks through automated email flows or on-site personalisation helps drive repeat orders and strengthen relationships over time.

When executed correctly, B2B marketing not only drives acquisition but builds brand trust and long-term partnerships. The key is to pair Shopify’s flexible ecommerce tools with the right segmentation, messaging, and outreach channels tailored to your audience.

Limitations & Workarounds

While Shopify B2B has come a long way, there are still some limitations that brands should be aware of. Most can be addressed with workarounds or custom development, but it's important to plan around them during your B2B setup or migration process.

One of the most common challenges is advanced pricing logic. While Shopify's native price lists support tiered and customer-specific pricing, they may not be sufficient for businesses with complex pricing rules based on customer type, contract duration, or real-time market conditions. In these cases, integrating with your ERP or building a custom pricing app can help provide the flexibility required.

Another area where limitations appear is account-level permissions and approval workflows. If your B2B customers require multiple approval steps before placing an order, or if they need to assign spending limits to different users, this functionality is not supported natively. However, it can be achieved through custom storefront logic or third-party apps built for B2B workflows.

Multi-language and multi-currency support is available in Shopify Plus, but it becomes more complex when combined with B2B pricing and catalogue restrictions. For global B2B brands, a multi-store architecture may be the best route, with each storefront tailored to the region’s language, pricing, and tax configuration.

Additionally, while the B2B checkout is streamlined, it lacks deep customisation unless you use Shopify’s checkout extensibility APIs or Shopify Functions. If you need custom fields, dynamic shipping logic, or integration with external payment flows, these will require development work.

For brands with more complex B2B requirements, many opt to use Sparklayer alongside Shopify. Sparklayer enhances B2B functionality with features such as a full quoting engine, order draft tools, and more advanced customer account permissions. It also supports custom catalogue visibility, tiered pricing overlays, and integrations with ERPs. The quoting engine in particular allows sales teams or buyers to generate formal quotes directly within the B2B portal, which can later be converted into orders. For teams seeking more control without heavy custom development, Sparklayer can be a strong middle ground between native Shopify B2B and fully bespoke builds.

Despite these limitations, Shopify B2B remains a strong and scalable option for most wholesale operations. By working with an experienced Shopify Plus agency, you can design workarounds that preserve your customer experience while unlocking the full potential of the platform.

When to Choose Shopify for B2B

Shopify B2B is a powerful option for brands looking to simplify operations, modernise their wholesale experience, and consolidate multiple sales channels into a single platform. With native B2B tools built into Shopify Plus, it’s now easier than ever to manage DTC and trade customers in one unified environment.

Shopify B2B is ideal for businesses that:

• Sell to both trade and DTC audiences and want to manage both from one platform
• Need flexible pricing, customer-specific catalogues, and payment terms
• Are moving away from legacy B2B systems or custom-built platforms
• Want to integrate cleanly with ERPs, CRMs, and fulfilment providers
• Value fast deployment and the ability to customise storefronts as they scale

For brands with more complex requirements such as quoting workflows, advanced customer account permissions, or configurable catalogues, apps like Sparklayer can be layered on top of Shopify to deliver additional functionality. Sparklayer integrates seamlessly with Shopify Plus and offers features such as a dedicated B2B portal, live stock visibility, custom price lists, draft order tools, and a full quoting engine. It gives brands the flexibility to create tailored B2B experiences without needing to move away from the Shopify ecosystem.

With the right architecture and implementation, Shopify Plus can support a wide range of B2B use cases — from simple wholesale portals to highly bespoke trade environments. If you're planning a new B2B store or looking to migrate from an older platform, Shopify is a future-proof choice that balances usability, scalability, and performance.

If you’re unsure how to approach the setup, our team at Charle can help you define the right strategy and build a B2B experience that aligns with your business goals, no matter how complex your requirements may be.

Charle x Shopify B2B

At Charle, we specialise in designing and building exceptional B2B ecommerce experiences on Shopify Plus. From straightforward wholesale portals to complex trade setups with custom pricing, quoting tools, and ERP integrations, we’ve helped brands across fashion, beauty, luxury and B2B industries unlock the full potential of Shopify’s B2B offering.

We don’t just implement — we collaborate. Our team works closely with your stakeholders to understand your workflows, pain points, and customer expectations, then architect a solution that balances performance, scalability, and usability. Whether you're building a B2B channel from scratch or migrating from a legacy platform, we’ll ensure your setup is robust and future-ready.

Explore our full Shopify B2B & wholesale services to see how we support brands just like yours. Or, if you’re ready to discuss a project, get in touch with our team — we’d love to hear what you're building.