Shopify B2B Wholesale: Setting Up a Trade Portal on Shopify Plus

Native B2B on Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus introduced native B2B features in 2022, eliminating the need for third-party wholesale apps for most use cases. Native B2B lets you create company accounts, assign custom price lists per company, set payment terms (net 30, net 60), manage purchase orders, and give trade customers a separate login — all without a separate Shopify store or additional app costs.

Setting Up Company Accounts

In Shopify Plus admin, go to Customers → Companies → Create company. Enter the company name, billing and shipping addresses, and contact details. Assign a price list (a custom list you create with wholesale prices or percentage discounts). Set payment terms: Shopify supports Due on fulfillment, Net 15, Net 30, Net 60, and Net 90.

You can create multiple locations per company (for businesses with multiple buying offices) and assign different contacts and price lists per location. A national retail chain with regional buying teams can be managed from a single company account with per-location configuration.

Price Lists for Wholesale

Price lists define what trade customers pay. Create a price list in B2B Settings → Price lists. You can set: percentage discount off retail price (e.g. 40% off for all trade customers), fixed prices per product (e.g. wholesale price £12 regardless of retail price), or tiered pricing by quantity (buy 10+ units at £10, buy 50+ units at £8.50).

Assign different price lists to different company tiers — gold, silver, and bronze trade customers each see different pricing when they log in. This replaces complex discount code systems that were error-prone and hard to manage.

The B2B Checkout Experience

When a trade customer logs in to a B2B-enabled store, they see their custom prices automatically. The checkout flow supports purchase order numbers (required by most trade accounts), company credit limits, and net payment terms. On net terms orders, payment is collected via invoice rather than immediately at checkout.

Trade customers can also use Shopify’s draft order feature — your sales team creates an order on their behalf, sends a payment link, and the trade customer pays via the link. This supports complex order scenarios like bespoke bundles, custom configurations, and negotiations.

Using Third-Party Apps for Standard Plan Wholesale

On non-Plus plans, native B2B features are limited. Third-party options include: Wholesale Club (price tiers and net terms without Plus), Locksmith (password-protect wholesale pages by customer tag), and Wholesale Gorilla (dedicated wholesale store experience). For stores doing less than £50,000/month wholesale revenue, a third-party app on a standard plan is usually more cost-effective than upgrading to Plus solely for B2B.

Minimum Order Rules

Most wholesale operations require minimum order values or minimum quantities. Implement this in Shopify via checkout scripts (Plus) or third-party apps. Display the minimum order requirement clearly on the wholesale portal homepage and product pages. A common approach: “£200 minimum order for trade accounts. Free delivery on orders above £500.” Make the threshold visible before checkout to avoid abandoned trade orders.