The E-Commerce Wholesaler’s Ultimate Guide to Shopify B2B

So, suppose you own a thriving business selling artisanal coffee beans. Retail customers love your product, but your big break comes when a boutique café chain wants to place bulk orders. Suddenly, your business needs to pivot. 

You have to face and solve multiple challenges, such as handling custom pricing, managing large-scale orders, and extending a personalized experience for your wholesale clients.

However, with the help of Shopify B2B, all the messy, behind-the-scenes tasks can be taken care of—like setting up exclusive pricing, managing bulk orders, and automating workflows—so you can focus on your show-stopping performance: building relationships and growing your business.

We at Mavlers have 12+ years of experience crafting 120+ Shopify websites for 3K+ global clients. In today’s blog, we have Gautam Bhattacharya, our in-house web dev expert, sharing his expert insights on its features and how it can help your B2B business grow. 

Table of contents

• Understanding the basics of Shopify B2B
• Key features of Shopify B2B

By the end of this piece, you will be able to understand the nitty-gritty of Shopify B2B and how it can help you streamline your B2B endeavor. 

Understanding the basics of Shopify B2B

Simply said, Shopify B2B is an enterprise-level solution designed for businesses that want to sell products in bulk to other businesses. 

When a company is a customer, there are often multiple contacts and locations, pre-negotiated payment terms, and catalogs to manage. 

All of these factors complicate expanding a business into the B2B space.

Shopify B2B is a part of the Shopify Plus plan, which comes at a cost of $2,500 per month and provides access to tools that help manage wholesale transactions.

For smaller businesses or those who aren’t ready to commit to the full Shopify Plus plan, there are other options. Shopify’s app marketplace has several third-party apps that provide some of the features of Shopify B2B, such as:

• Wholesale Gorilla

• Sami B2B Wholesale Pricing

• Faire: Sell Wholesale

• Locksmith

• Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B

These apps don’t provide all the features of Shopify B2B, but they can help businesses handle some basic B2B needs, like setting up wholesale pricing and managing customer groups.

Key features of Shopify B2B

Let’s delve into the features that make B2B selling on Shopify simple, streamlined, and tailored to your customers’ needs.

1. Company profiles

In B2B, one company usually has multiple people involved in buying. Shopify’s company profiles help you manage all these buyers under one company account. You can set different permissions for each person, manage payment terms, and handle tax exemptions all in one place. It keeps things organized and helps you easily track company purchases.

2. Customer-specific catalogs

Not all businesses need to see the same products. Shopify enables you to create customer-specific catalogs where you can show certain products to specific customers or locations. 

This translates into businesses only seeing the products they need, which saves them time and creates a more personalized experience.

3. Quantity rules

For B2B customers, buying in bulk is common. Shopify lets you set up quantity rules for products so you can define how many items a customer can buy at a time. You can set rules for things like minimum order amounts or case packs, so everything is customized to meet the needs of your business customers.

4. Volume pricing

When businesses buy in bulk, they often expect discounts. Shopify’s volume pricing allows you to set up discounts based on how much a customer orders. If they buy more, they get a better deal. This feature helps you reward customers for making larger purchases, which can encourage them to buy even more.

5. Store personalization

Every B2B customer is different. Shopify lets you personalize the shopping experience for each one. You can show them products they’re more likely to want and make the store feel more relevant to their needs. This helps build stronger relationships with your customers.

6. Headless storefronts

For businesses that want more control over how their store looks and works, Shopify offers headless storefronts. This feature gives developers the freedom to use Shopify’s APIs to fully customize the site, so it fits exactly what the business needs.

7. Workflow automation

Managing B2B transactions can be complex, with different terms, invoices, and approvals. Shopify’s workflow automation tools help you save time by automating many of these tasks. With Shopify Flow, you can automatically assign terms, send invoices, and approve orders—making everything run more smoothly without the manual work.

8. Company account requests

When a new business wants to start purchasing wholesale, company account requests allow them to sign up directly on your Shopify store. The customer fills out a simple form, and their information is saved as a company profile. Once approved, they can start placing wholesale orders immediately, making the onboarding process quick and easy.

9. Sales rep permissions

If you have sales representatives who work directly with customers, Shopify makes it easy to assign them specific permissions. Sales reps can access only the customers they’re responsible for and help place orders on their behalf. This ensures your team has the tools they need while keeping things organized and secure.

10. Checkout to draft

In B2B, it’s common for orders to go through a review process before they’re confirmed. Shopify’s checkout to draft feature lets customers submit their orders for review. Once you approve it, the order can be fulfilled. This helps ensure that large orders are accurate and gives you control over the final approval.

11. Quick bulk ordering

When your customers need to buy in bulk, Shopify simplifies the process with quick bulk ordering. This feature shows all the products in a simple list, so buyers can easily select sizes, colors, and quantities. Whether it’s for one item or several, customers can quickly place bulk orders without any hassle.

The road ahead

Now that we are clear on the features of Shopify B2B, and you are still considering other options, we suggest reading ~ Magento vs. Shopify: The Ultimate Showdown for Your E-commerce Empire.