The Case of Shopify Plus for B2B eCommerce

If you’re selling B2B, you’re probably looking for an eCommerce solution that provides all the essential wholesale features right out of the box. Is that wishful thinking? Actually, no.

We were pleasantly surprised when Shopify announced the Summer Edition 24. It seemed like they were really listening to businesses that wanted to sell B2B on Shopify. 

Their B2B features, available exclusively on the Shopify Plus plan, make it an all-in-one solution for wholesale eCommerce. 

The best part? You won’t need third-party apps for basic B2B functionalities—Shopify Plus comes with these features built-in.

In this post, we’ll dive deep into Shopify Plus to see if it really delivers for B2B eCommerce.

Before we dive in, I want to throw in a quick disclaimer: Although Codup is a Shopify Plus Partner, we’re technology agnostic. Our customers’ needs are always the top priority, and we’ll never recommend a platform or technology that doesn’t fit their business. That’s why we’re not exclusively tied to Shopify. We also partner with other great platforms like BigCommerce and WordPress.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s jump into the Shopify Plus B2B features and break them down one by one.

Shopify Plus B2B Features

Let’s go through the main B2B features in Shopify Plus.

Blended or Dedicated Store

When creating a B2B store on Shopify, you have two options: a blended store or a dedicated store.

A blended store serves both B2B and DTC (direct-to-consumer) customers through a single storefront, while a dedicated store is exclusively used for B2B sales. Each approach has its own pros and cons.

Our Shopify Plus expert, Fahad Sheikh, recommends opening a blended store because it’s less work for the merchant and eliminates the need to manage separate inventories and storefronts. “That’s an advantage you can make use of. For example, if you want to upgrade a DTC customer to B2B, it would be easier to do that on a blended store than on a dedicated store,” he says.

However, the simplicity of a blended store comes with some trade-offs. For instance, it lacks the ability to fully segment business and inventory data between B2B and DTC, which could be a problem for large, data-driven organizations. While the customer experience can be customized for B2B customers using the customer.b2b liquid variable, certain elements—such as notifications, abandoned cart emails, inventory, out-of-stock settings, and shipping rates—cannot be separated between B2B and DTC customers.

These limitations might lead merchants who need more customization and control to opt for a dedicated store, where settings can be tailored specifically for B2B customers. However, this requires setting up and managing a separate store for B2B, which involves more effort.

Companies

The Customers and Company Locations feature in Shopify Plus B2B allows businesses to manage their B2B customers by grouping them under a company profile. 

Each company can have multiple locations, with separate catalogs, payment terms, checkout options, and shipping addresses. B2B customers log in and select the location they’re purchasing for, which tailors the prices, payment terms, and checkout options based on that location.

Merchants can assign B2B customers to specific locations and set their permissions, such as Ordering Only (where the customer can make purchases and view their own orders) or Location Admin (which allows customers to view all orders for that location and edit addresses).

Each company can have up to 10,000 locations and can assign up to 25 catalogs per location.

Catalogs with Custom Pricing

B2B Catalogs in Shopify Plus allow you to customize the products and pricing offered to your wholesale customers. You can control the availability of products by creating catalogs that include all or specific products and apply various pricing rules.

Some key features include:

• Custom Catalogs: Select which products or variants to include in the catalog, and assign them to a company’s location.
• Custom Pricing: Set overall percentage adjustments (price increases or decreases) or apply fixed prices to specific products. Fixed prices override percentage adjustments.
• Quantity Rules: You can define quantity increments, minimum order quantities, and maximum order quantities to control how many items B2B customers can buy at once.
• Volume Pricing: Offer price breaks based on the quantity purchased, allowing customers to get discounts for bulk orders.

You can assign up to 25 catalogs per company location, and the system will display the lowest price for products that appear in multiple catalogs.

Additionally, Shopify Plus allows you to sell in multiple currencies through Shopify Payments, either by setting specific prices for each currency in the catalog or by using automatic or manual exchange rates.

This flexibility in catalogs allows merchants to tailor the shopping experience for their B2B customers, adjusting both the products available and the prices they see based on their company and location.

Payment terms

Payment terms allow you to set a specific time period for B2B customers to pay for their orders. These terms can be applied to individual company locations or to all locations within a company. The types of payment terms include:

• No payment terms: Customers pay immediately at checkout.
• Net terms (e.g., Net 30): Customers have a set period (e.g., 30 days) to pay for their order after placing it. B2B customers can log in, view their orders, and make payments directly through their accounts within the specified payment period.
• Due on fulfillment: Customers pay after all items in the order have been fulfilled.
• Deposits: You can require a deposit for orders by setting a percentage of the total order amount to be paid upfront. Deposits apply to automatically submitted orders, not draft orders.

Draft Orders 

Draft Orders allow merchants to manually create orders for B2B customers who place orders outside the online store, such as via phone or email. These orders reflect the specific prices, payment terms, and checkout options assigned to the customer’s company and location.

Key Features:

• Creating Draft Orders: You can create a draft order by selecting a B2B customer, adding products, and assigning the order to the appropriate company location. You can either collect payment immediately or send an invoice for later payment.
• Payment Terms: If payment terms (e.g., Net 30) are set for the company location, customers don’t need to pay immediately. You can send invoices with due dates based on these terms.
• Requiring Draft Orders: Merchants can configure their store to require customers to submit their orders as drafts for approval before finalizing them.
• Local Currency: Draft orders are created in the customer’s local currency, and exchange rates are fixed at the time of order creation.
• Local Delivery or Pickup: You can preselect shipping methods, including local delivery or in-store pickup, when creating a draft order.

This feature is especially useful for managing orders that don’t go through the regular online checkout process, offering flexibility for both you and your B2B customers.

With the Sales Staff feature, you can control who can have access to which Companies and Company locations. This way only sales reps assigned to that company location can have access to the company’s orders. 

Are There Any Limitations to Shopify Plus B2B?

“As great as technology is, it still has its limitations, because it’s only a frame of the truth.”

So when it comes to selling B2B on Shopify Plus, what are the trade offs? 

Here are some limitations and considerations before you make the move:

• Orders have a maximum of 500 line items; orders exceeding this will fail.
• Certain features are incompatible with B2B orders, including:
  • Accelerated checkouts (e.g., payment wallets)
  • Buy online, pick up in store
  • Checkout customizations via checkout.liquid
  • Local delivery (for regular B2B checkout)
  • Pickup points
  • Tipping options
  • Subscriptions
  • Some third-party apps
  • Store credit
• Local delivery and in-store pickup are compatible only with B2B draft orders.
• B2B customers must log in using new passwordless customer accounts to place orders.
• Each company location can have a maximum of 25 catalogs assigned.

Conclusion: Is Shopify Plus the Right Fit for B2B?

Shopify Plus brings a lot to the table for B2B eCommerce, offering many essential features straight out of the box—no extra apps needed for the basics. Whether you choose a blended store or a dedicated B2B store, Shopify Plus provides flexibility and tools to streamline your wholesale operations, from custom pricing and payment terms to managing multiple company locations.

However, like any technology, it’s not without limitations.

If you’re running a highly complex B2B operation with unique needs, some features like subscriptions, custom checkouts, or advanced store credit might not work for you out of the gate.

That said, for most merchants, Shopify Plus offers a solid, scalable solution for growing their B2B business.

Ultimately, the right choice depends on your business’s specific needs.

And at Codup, we’re always here to help you figure that out—whether it’s Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, or another platform. The goal is to find the best fit for you.

Contact us for B2B eCommerce Development.