Shopify B2B: The Complete Guide to Wholesale on Shopify (2026)

B2B e-commerce is growing faster than DTC. European brands that once ran wholesale through phone calls, Excel sheets, and emailed PDFs are rapidly moving online — and Shopify has become a serious platform for it.

But B2B on Shopify isn’t plug-and-play. The complexity of wholesale — customer-specific pricing, payment terms, minimum orders, company account management — requires either Shopify Plus with its native B2B features, or a carefully configured app stack on standard plans.

This guide covers both paths, plus everything you need to know about making Shopify work for wholesale in 2026.

The Two Approaches to Shopify B2B

Option 1: Shopify B2B (Plus-Exclusive)

Since 2022, Shopify has been building a native B2B solution, available exclusively to Shopify Plus merchants. It’s now mature enough to replace most third-party wholesale apps for the majority of use cases.

Option 2: Apps on Standard Plans

If you’re not on Plus, third-party apps like Wholesale Gorilla, B2B/Wholesale Solution by BSS Commerce, or Quick Order Form can replicate many B2B capabilities at a fraction of the cost.

We’ll focus primarily on native Shopify B2B, as it’s the more scalable, better-integrated solution for serious wholesale operations.

Shopify B2B: Core Features

Company Profiles & Buyer Accounts

Native Shopify B2B introduces the concept of Companies — entities separate from your standard customer accounts. Under each Company, you can create:

• Multiple Locations (different shipping addresses, warehouses, retail stores)
• Multiple Contacts (buyers, managers, accountants with different permission levels)
• Custom catalogs (which products and prices that company sees)
• Payment terms (net 30, net 60, 50% upfront)

This structure mirrors how real B2B relationships work. Your buyer at a retail chain can place orders, their manager can view order history, and their accountant gets invoices — all under one company account, without sharing credentials.

Customer-Specific Pricing

The most critical B2B feature. With Shopify B2B, you can assign:

• Price lists — percentage discounts off retail (20% for all products)
• Fixed prices — specific prices for specific products for specific companies
• Volume pricing — different rates based on quantity ordered

Price lists are applied at the company or location level. A company in Germany might have different pricing than one in France, and both might have different prices than your standard retail customers.

This replaces the messy workaround of creating hidden variants or separate products for wholesale pricing — a common hack that creates data chaos.

Payment Terms

Standard e-commerce is payment-at-checkout. B2B rarely works that way. Shopify B2B supports:

• Net payment terms: Net 15, Net 30, Net 60, Net 90
• Due on fulfillment: Payment expected when order ships
• Deposit: Partial upfront payment with remainder on fulfillment

Payment term orders go into a “pending payment” status. When the due date approaches, Shopify can send automated payment reminders. Buyers can pay via credit card, bank transfer reference, or other methods you configure.

B2B Checkout Flow

The B2B checkout is separate from your DTC checkout — tuned for wholesale needs:

• Purchase order number field
• Shipping instructions field
• Company and location selection
• Net terms display (not a payment form — invoice-based)
• Minimum order validation (via Shopify Functions on Plus)

The experience is professional enough that buyers recognize it as a legitimate trade portal, not a consumer store with a discount code.

Custom Catalogs

Not every wholesale customer should see your entire product range. A specialty retailer carrying your accessories line doesn’t need to see your full apparel catalog. Shopify B2B’s catalog feature lets you:

• Create curated product sets per company or segment
• Show different prices within each catalog
• Control which product variants are available for wholesale

Shopify Markets: Multi-Currency B2B

If you’re selling wholesale across European markets (NL, DE, BE, FR, ES), Shopify Markets combined with B2B is a powerful combination. Markets lets you:

• Present prices in local currencies (EUR across EU, GBP for UK, CHF for Switzerland)
• Apply market-specific pricing rules
• Handle VAT correctly per market (critical for EU intra-community B2B)
• Configure shipping by market

For B2B specifically, correct VAT handling is essential. EU B2B transactions between VAT-registered businesses are typically zero-rated (reverse charge mechanism). Shopify Markets, combined with the right tax app (Avalara or similar), can automate this correctly.

Order Minimums & Custom Rules

Wholesale inherently involves minimums: minimum order value, minimum quantity per SKU, minimum for free shipping. On Shopify Plus, Shopify Functions lets you build these rules directly into the checkout logic:

• Block checkout if cart total is under €500
• Require minimum quantity of 6 per variant
• Apply bulk discounts automatically when thresholds are hit
• Validate purchase order numbers

Without Plus, these rules are harder to enforce — most app-based solutions can be worked around by determined buyers.

ERP Integration: The Critical Layer

Here’s where most Shopify B2B implementations get complicated. Your B2B orders don’t live in isolation — they need to flow into your ERP, update inventory, generate invoices, sync with your accounting, and feed your logistics.

Exact Online

For Dutch and Belgian businesses, Exact Online is the dominant ERP. Connecting Shopify B2B to Exact Online means:

• B2B orders automatically create sales orders in Exact
• Invoices generated in Exact sync back to Shopify
• Payment status updates in Exact when terms are settled
• Inventory levels sync bidirectionally

This integration is non-trivial — Exact Online’s API has specific requirements around debtor management, VAT codes, and order statuses that need careful mapping. Off-the-shelf connectors exist (Zapier, Prisync) but typically require customization for edge cases.

Duxly’s specialty: We build custom Exact Online ↔ Shopify integrations that handle the full B2B order lifecycle, including net payment terms, VAT handling, and multi-location inventory. This is one of our core services for Dutch and Belgian wholesale brands.

Other ERP Systems

For SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, or NetSuite, similar integration logic applies — the specifics of each API differ, but the architectural approach is consistent: Shopify webhooks → integration middleware → ERP.

Setting Up a B2B Portal: Step by Step

Step 1: Assess Your Requirements

Map your current wholesale process. Questions to answer:

• How many wholesale accounts do you have?
• Do they have different price tiers or custom pricing?
• Do you use payment terms today (net 30/60)?
• Do you need multiple contacts per company?
• Do you have products that are wholesale-only?

Step 2: Choose Your Approach

• Under 50 wholesale customers, simpler pricing → Start with apps on standard Shopify
• 50+ customers, complex pricing, net terms needed → Shopify Plus B2B
• ERP integration required → Custom integration, likely needs a partner

Step 3: Configure Company Structure

Create company profiles for each wholesale account. Assign contacts, locations, price lists, and payment terms. Import via CSV if you have many accounts.

Step 4: Build Your B2B Catalog

Decide which products are wholesale-eligible. Create price lists. Configure minimum quantities and order minimums.

Step 5: Test the Buyer Experience

Log in as a test buyer. Place a test order with net terms. Verify the checkout flow, order confirmation, and invoice generation work correctly.

Step 6: Onboard Your Buyers

Your wholesale buyers are not DTC shoppers — they need clear onboarding: how to log in, how to use the portal, how payment terms work. A simple guide goes a long way.

Common B2B Shopify Pitfalls

Mixing B2B and DTC Inventory Data

If your B2B and DTC stores share inventory (as they typically should), make sure your inventory management system handles both. Overselling due to data lag between channels is a common operational headache.

Underestimating Tax Complexity

EU B2B VAT rules (reverse charge for intra-EU transactions, domestic rates for domestic B2B) are complex. Get this right from day one — retrofitting VAT logic is painful and expensive.

Neglecting the Buyer Onboarding

The most common reason B2B portals fail: buyers don’t use them. The portal needs to be easier than emailing your sales rep. If the buyer experience is clunky, adoption will be low and you’ll end up managing orders through both the portal and manual channels simultaneously.

Not Planning for ERP from the Start

If you’re building a B2B portal without planning the ERP integration, you’re creating future work. Map the data flows early.

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Building a wholesale channel on Shopify? Duxly specializes in Shopify B2B implementations for European brands — including Exact Online integration, Shopify Plus B2B configuration, and custom pricing logic. We’ve built wholesale portals for Dutch, Belgian, and German brands across fashion, homewares, and specialty food. Let’s talk about your B2B setup or explore our Shopify services.