Shopify Plus for B2B: Building Wholesale Portals That Actually Work

Why B2B on Shopify Plus Now

For years, brands that needed B2B selling alongside D2C had two bad options: bolt a wholesale app onto Shopify (clunky, limited, expensive) or run a separate B2B platform entirely (double the maintenance, double the cost).

That changed in 2023 when Shopify launched native B2B features on Shopify Plus. It's not perfect, but it's now mature enough for serious wholesale operations.

At Mejix, B2B is one of our core industry verticals — it's listed on our Shopify Partner Directory profile because we build these solutions regularly.

Company Accounts & Buyer Permissions

Shopify Plus B2B introduces "Company" as a first-class entity:

• ▸Company profiles — Each wholesale customer is a Company with a name, tax ID, shipping/billing addresses, and payment terms.
• ▸Multiple locations — A single Company can have multiple locations, each with its own shipping address and potentially different pricing.
• ▸Buyer roles and permissions — Within each Company, you assign contacts as buyers with specific permissions.
• ▸Self-serve account management — B2B customers can log in, view order history, reorder, and manage their locations.

Custom Price Lists & Catalogs

B2B pricing is where most generic solutions fall apart. Shopify Plus handles this with Catalogs:

• ▸Price lists — Create fixed prices or percentage adjustments per product/variant.
• ▸Volume pricing (quantity rules) — Set minimum order quantities, maximum order quantities, and quantity increments.
• ▸Catalog assignment — Assign different catalogs to different Companies.
• ▸Currency-specific pricing — Set B2B prices in each customer's local currency.

Net Payment Terms & B2B Checkout

The B2B checkout experience on Shopify Plus is fundamentally different from D2C — because wholesale buying behavior is different.

Payment terms: Offer Net 15, Net 30, Net 60, or custom payment terms per Company.

Draft orders: Your sales team can create orders on behalf of customers.

Valet ordering: For accounts that prefer phone or email ordering, your team can log in as the customer.

Integrating with ERP & CRM for B2B

B2B operations almost always require integration with backend systems:

• ▸ERP integration (NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics) — Sync company accounts, pricing tiers, inventory levels, and order data. Expect $15,000–$40,000.
• ▸CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot) — Sync B2B customer data and track wholesale pipeline.
• ▸PIM integration — B2B adds complexity because you need to sync B2B-specific attributes.
• ▸Accounting integration (QuickBooks, Xero) — B2B orders with net payment terms create accounts receivable entries.

When Headless Makes Sense for B2B

Shopify Plus's native B2B experience uses Liquid themes. For most wholesale operations, this works fine. But there are scenarios where a headless B2B frontend makes sense:

Complex product configuration, custom ordering workflows, or integrated portals.

However, headless B2B adds $80,000–$150,000+ to the project cost. We almost always recommend starting with native B2B features first.

Real Implementation Considerations

After building multiple B2B implementations on Shopify Plus:

• ▸Tax exemption handling — Many wholesale buyers are tax-exempt. Integrate with Avalara or TaxJar for automated validation.
• ▸Minimum order enforcement — Shopify's quantity rules handle per-product minimums, but cart-level minimums need Shopify Functions.
• ▸B2B-specific content — Your product descriptions may differ between D2C and B2B.
• ▸Onboarding workflow — How do new wholesale customers get approved?
• ▸Order management complexity — B2B orders may require partial shipments, backorders, or split fulfillment.

Need a B2B Portal on Shopify Plus?

We build wholesale experiences on Shopify Plus that handle complex pricing, company accounts, and ERP integration. Let's discuss what your B2B channel needs.

Request a Strategy Call