Shopify Wholesale Pricing Strategy: How to Set Prices That Work for B2B

The Fundamentals of Wholesale Pricing

Wholesale pricing needs to serve two goals simultaneously: remain profitable for you (after reduced margin from the discount) and give your retail partners enough margin to price your products at retail and make a profit themselves. Get either wrong and the wholesale channel either isn’t worth running (not profitable for you) or doesn’t grow (no incentive for retailers to stock you).

The Standard Wholesale Formula

The traditional wholesale structure:

• Manufacturing cost (COGS): What it costs you to make or source the product
• Wholesale price: Typically 2–2.5x COGS
• Retail price (suggested): Typically 2x wholesale price (4–5x COGS)

Example: Product costs £5 to make. You wholesale at £10–£12.50. Retailer sells at £20–£25. You make £5–£7.50 gross margin at wholesale (50–60% gross margin). Retailer makes £7.50–£12.50 margin (37–50% retail margin). Both are viable.

This structure assumes your retail price is correctly set. If your direct-to-consumer Shopify price is too close to wholesale price, retailers won’t stock you (no room for their margin). Your DTC price should be your retail price — not a discounted price below what a stockist charges.

Tiered Wholesale Pricing

Incentivise larger orders with tiered pricing:

• Tier 1 (minimum order, e.g., £250): Standard wholesale rate (45% below RRP)
• Tier 2 (£500+): 5% additional discount (50% below RRP)
• Tier 3 (£1,000+): 10% additional discount (55% below RRP) + free delivery

Tiered pricing rewards loyalty and high-volume retailers while protecting your margin on small orders. It also creates a natural progression path — a new retailer starts at Tier 1 and moves up as the relationship grows.

Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs)

MOQs exist for good reason: small orders often aren’t economically viable when you factor in picking, packing, and the account management overhead of small stockists. Set MOQs that make sense economically:

• Opening order MOQ: The minimum value or unit count for a first order (e.g., £250 minimum, 6 units per SKU)
• Re-order MOQ: Often lower than opening order to encourage repeat restocking (e.g., £150 minimum)
• Per-SKU minimums: For products that come in variants (sizes, scents, colours), require a minimum quantity per variant

Payment Terms

Standard trade payment terms:

• Proforma: Payment before dispatch. Common for new accounts. No credit risk.
• Net 30: Payment within 30 days of invoice. Common for established retail accounts.
• Net 60: Large retailers often request 60-day terms. Consider carefully — your cash flow needs to support this.
• 50% deposit, 50% on dispatch: Good compromise for larger orders from newer accounts.

Start new wholesale accounts on proforma. Move to net-30 after 2–3 successful orders. Only offer net-60 to established accounts with a reliable payment history.

Protecting Your DTC Price

Include a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy in your wholesale terms. MAP specifies the lowest price a retailer can publicly advertise your product. Without MAP, a retailer could discount your product heavily and undercut your own Shopify store — confusing customers about your pricing and devaluing your brand.

MAP is the advertised price, not the sale price. A retailer can sell below MAP in-store or in a members-only sale, but can’t publicly list below MAP on their website or in marketing. Enforcing MAP protects your brand value and your DTC channel.

Need help setting up Shopify B2B wholesale with proper tiered pricing, MOQs, and payment terms? OneOnic’s Shopify development team can configure everything technically and help structure your wholesale terms for growth.