What Shopify B2B Features Will Help Your Business?

Shopify B2B is Shopify Plus’s native way to run wholesale and business-to-business sales inside the same platform you already use for direct-to-consumer (DTC). If you sell to repeat business buyers, distributors, retailers, corporate accounts, institutional buyers, Shopify B2B gives you the tools to manage price lists, terms, multi-user company accounts, and a checkout built for large orders, without spinning up a second site or stitching together brittle apps.

In this guide, you’ll get a clear, practical look at the features that actually matter day to day, what it takes to set things up, where the limits are, and how to work around them. You’ll also learn how Shopify B2B plays with shipping, inventory, and your existing tech stack, plus when to choose Plus over other plans. No fluff, just the decisions and workflows that move revenue, reduce manual work, and make your B2B operation easier to run. If you need more customization, you can explore solutions through Shopify app development.

What Is Shopify B2B? (Quick Definition & How It Works)

Shopify B2B is a set of native features on Shopify Plus that brings wholesaling into the core admin. You create companies (your B2B customers) and their locations, assign price lists and payment terms (like net 30), and invite company users with roles and permissions. Those buyers log in, see the right catalog and prices, and check out with methods suited to purchase orders and invoice workflows.

Because it’s native, Shopify B2B coexists with your DTC site in one organization. You share products, inventory, analytics, and operations while keeping B2B logic, prices, visibility, and checkout separated by company or segment. That means one platform, two channels, no duplicate data.

Requirements & Setup Considerations

Shopify B2B is available on Shopify Plus. Before you turn it on, get the foundations right. Set up Markets by defining your regions, currencies, and any duties/taxes so international buyers see accurate pricing. Configure Tax/VAT by collecting and validating tax IDs, applying exemptions where needed, and ensuring invoices meet compliance. Map your locations, warehouses, stores, and 3PLs, since B2B orders often ship from multiple nodes or as split shipments.

A simple setup flow looks like this:

1. Enable B2B in your Plus store.
   
2. Create company profiles and add locations.
   
3. Assign price lists (tiers, currencies) and payment terms.
   
4. Invite company users and set roles/permissions.
   
5. Personalize visibility (collections, products, content blocks).
   
6. Test checkout for POs, taxes, and shipping methods with large orders.
   
7. Automate common tasks with Shopify Flow (tagging, notifications, routing).
   

Do this in a staging environment first. Your first five B2B accounts should be a pilot group to validate prices, checkout, and invoicing.

What Are the Key Features of Shopify B2B?

These are the main built-in features that really make a difference. They make buying easier for your customers and cut down on the extra manual work your team would normally have to do.

1. Company Profiles & Multi-User Permissions

Each business customer gets a company record with one or more locations (e.g., warehouse vs. retail). You assign roles to multiple users at that company, such as purchasers, approvers, or accounting staff, so the right people can browse, place orders, or pay invoices. 

This mirrors procurement reality: more than one person buys, approvals may be needed, and shipping addresses differ by location. The result is fewer “can you add me?” emails and cleaner ownership of orders and payments.

2. Customer-Specific Catalogs & Wholesale Price Lists

With Shopify B2B you don’t clone products to set wholesale prices. You use price lists and catalog visibility to show the right SKUs at the right price, by company, segment, region, or currency. This prevents pricing mistakes, keeps merchandising consistent with DTC, and supports tiers (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold) without multiplying your product admin.

3. Custom Discounts & Net Terms

Offer percentage or fixed discounts per company or tier. Attach net terms so buyers can place orders on account. Due dates are calculated automatically; you can align this with credit checks and basic credit control. Terms make reordering habitual, not exceptional, critical for repeat revenue.

4. Dedicated B2B Checkout

B2B checkout reduces friction for large, complex orders. You can expose PO number fields, control tax display, and limit payment methods (e.g., hide consumer wallets for wholesale). Fast, predictable checkout means procurement teams can stick to process while you capture the order without workarounds.

5. Payments & Invoicing (PO, Bank Transfer)

B2B often relies on offline payment methods: bank transfer, wire, or paying invoices after goods ship. Shopify B2B supports this flow, including mapping remittances, marking invoices paid, and syncing status to your accounting tool. Keep a tight loop between orders, fulfillment, and receivables so ops and finance stay in sync.

6. Self-Serve Buyer Portal & Quick/Bulk Ordering

Give buyers tools that respect their time. A buyer portal with order history, reorder, CSV/bulk add, and saved order templates turns a 45-minute manual cart into a 5-minute routine. The faster reorders happen, the higher your reorder rate and the lower your support load.

7. Storefront Personalization

You can hide or show products, prices, and content by company or segment. Welcome messages, banners (e.g., “Contract pricing applied”), and tailored catalog views improve UX and reduce pricing confusion. Personalization is essential when some lines are restricted or contract-only.

8. International Selling with Markets

Shopify Markets combined with B2B lets you run multi-currency price lists, show landed costs (duties/taxes), and meet regional expectations. For cross-border B2B, keep one catalog structure, then localize pricing, tax, and shipping at the market/company level.

9. Automation with Shopify Flow

Collaborate with a Shopify expert to help you remove repetitive tasks:

• Auto-tag new companies by form answers (distributor vs. reseller).
  
• Route large orders to a special review channel.
  
• Notify finance when invoices pass due.
  
• Add internal notes if a buyer exceeds a soft credit limit.

Automation keeps the team lean while scaling volume.

Shipping Solutions for B2B Orders

B2B shipping isn’t as simple as printing a label,  it often involves managing parcel and freight orders, handling pallets or LTL shipments, and coordinating split deliveries across multiple locations.

• Freight vs. Parcel: Large, heavy, or hazardous goods need LTL or FTL with freight class, pallets, and appointment windows. Smaller orders can still use parcel but may require negotiated rates.
  
• Carrier Rates: Use negotiated rates in your shipping stack; wholesale margins depend on predictable logistics costs.
  
• Split Shipments: Multi-location inventory creates split shipments. Communicate this in checkout and notifications to avoid surprise.
  
• Delivery Instructions: Collect dock info, receiving hours, liftgate needs. Save these at the company location level to prevent repeated back-and-forth.
  

Plan for exceptions: damage claims, missed appointments, and customs delays. The fewer emails buyers need to send to learn where the pallet is, the more likely they reorder.

Inventory Management Best Practices

B2B orders are often large and unpredictable, so protecting service levels requires careful planning. Businesses should use multi-location stock with clear rules on which sites fulfill B2B versus DTC orders, maintain safety stock for key SKUs to cover sudden, unforecasted purchase orders, and offer backorders or preorders with honest ETAs, never hiding shortages from wholesale buyers who need to plan shelf space and promotions.

Syncing with an ERP ensures purchase orders and lead times are accurate, so availability and promised ship dates remain believable. Ultimately, treat inventory data as a contract with your buyers; if you can’t keep a promise, be transparent and offer clear alternatives and timelines.

Essential Integrations for Shopify B2B

Shopify B2B is strongest when paired with the right systems:

• ERP/MRP: Centralize inventory, purchasing, and manufacturing. Avoid double-entry and keep ATP (available to promise) real.
  
• CRM: Track accounts, contacts, and opportunities; align sales activity with ordering behavior.
  
• Accounting: Sync invoices, payments, credit notes, and terms aging to keep finance clean.
  
• EDI: For enterprise retailers or distributors that require EDI documents, integrate to prevent manual errors.
  
• Shipping/3PL: Labels, freight quotes, and tracking at scale
  

Integrate for stability first, flexibility second. Over-customization early leads to tech debt.

Analytics & Reporting That Matter for B2B

The right KPIs keep your operation honest. Track the reorder rate by company and SKU, since it shows loyalty and product fit. Watch the average order value (AOV) across companies or segments to measure account growth. Monitor terms aging, current, 30, 60, 90+ days, because rising aging signals cash risk. Measure fill rate and lead time, comparing promised dates against actual performance. Review margin by tier and order type (parcel vs. freight) to catch hidden costs. Finally, analyze time-to-reorder after a stockout, which reveals how service failures affect revenue.

Make these KPIs visible every week, if finance and operations are looking at different truths, you’ll leak margin.

B2B Pricing Strategies & Tiered Pricing 

Shopify B2B gives you the mechanics, but strategy drives profit:

• Tiers vs. Custom Quotes: Start with tiers to keep admin light. Offer custom, contract pricing only for high-value accounts.
  
• MOQs & Volume Breaks: Use minimums and breaks to steer order size and keep freight/unit economics healthy.
  
• Contract Pricing: Lock pricing for a term with review gates; align reviews to cost drivers (inputs, FX).
  
• Channel Conflict: Protect DTC. Keep wholesale discounts away from consumer eyes, differentiate packs, and avoid undercutting your own retail partners.
  
• Promotions: Use time-boxed wholesale promos to move inventory without training buyers to wait for discounts.
  

Price discipline beats “we’ll figure it out later.”

Costs & Pricing for B2B on Shopify

At a high level, Shopify B2B requires Shopify Plus, which means you’re paying for native B2B features, better performance, and advanced admin tools at scale. Beyond the platform itself, you’ll need to budget for apps and integrations like ERP, accounting, EDI, and shipping connectors, plus any middleware needed to keep data flowing smoothly.

There’s also a real total cost of ownership (TCO) that includes implementation time, staff training, and the ongoing operational effort required to run B2B effectively. The ROI, however, shows up clearly: more repeat orders, higher average order values, faster reorders, less manual work from spreadsheets and emails, and cleaner cash collection through structured terms visibility. The key is not to cut corners on integrations that touch money, inventory, or tax, because in B2B, stability pays for itself.

Shopify Plus vs. Shopify Advanced for B2B

If B2B is material to your revenue, Shopify Plus is the clear choice. It’s the only plan that provides all of Shopify’s native B2B functionality, like company profiles, price lists, net terms, and a wholesale-ready checkout, without relying on third-party apps or fragile workarounds. Plus also gives you automation, stronger personalization, and enterprise-level integrations, which are essential once B2B sales start making up a significant share of your business.

Here’s why, if wholesale is more than a side channel, Plus becomes less of an option and more of a necessity.

B2B/Wholesale Capabilities

On Plus, Shopify B2B is native: company profiles, locations, price lists, terms, and dedicated checkout. On non-Plus plans, you’ll try to replicate this with apps and theme hacks. It works for very small wholesale catalogs but doesn’t scale cleanly.

Customization & Flexibility

Plus unlocks deeper personalization and access control for B2B audiences. You can tailor catalogs and checkout behavior per company or segment. On non-Plus, your options are limited or fragile.

Automation & Security

Shopify Flow automation, robust APIs, and advanced permissions reduce manual tasks and operational risk. In B2B, where orders are big and mistakes are expensive, these matter.

When to Choose Shopify for B2B?

If your business processes frequent repeat orders that benefit from self-serve reordering and terms, has a catalog that fits well into Shopify’s model with a single set of SKUs for both DTC and B2B, requires multi-currency, tax, and Markets support without heavy custom compliance, and can integrate ERP, CRM, and accounting systems without rebuilding core commerce, then Shopify B2B is likely a strong fit.

It’s especially pragmatic if your team prefers focusing on growth and operations rather than maintaining custom code, and if speed matters, launching in weeks instead of quarters makes Plus the practical choice.

Conclusion: Is Shopify B2B Worth It?

If B2B is a meaningful part of your revenue, or you want it to be, Shopify B2B on Plus gives you the shortest path to a stable, scalable wholesale channel living alongside DTC. You get company accounts, tailored catalogs, terms, and a checkout designed for large orders, plus the automation and integrations to keep finance and ops clean. It’s not the right tool for every edge case (heavy CPQ, exotic EDI), but for most brands with repeat buyers, it’s the fastest route to real results with the least technical baggage.

If you need help implementing, pricing, or integrating? Medito Digital can map your requirements, stand up Shopify B2B, connect ERP/accounting, and set the analytics that matter, so you stop fighting spreadsheets and start growing repeat revenue. If you’re serious about wholesale, let’s make your store the one buyers prefer to reorder from.