Shopify for B2B: Complete Wholesale Guide

What Is B2B on Shopify?

Shopify B2B is a suite of wholesale commerce features built directly into the platform. It turns your store from a consumer-only shop into an account-based commerce system where business customers get their own profiles, pricing, catalogs, and payment terms.

The single most out-of-date belief about it is that you need Shopify Plus. You don't. Since April 2, 2026 Shopify has extended its foundational B2B features to merchants on Basic, Grow and Advanced at no extra cost, and the help centre now words it plainly: “B2B features are included at no extra cost on the Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Shopify Plus plans.” Starter is not on that list — B2B starts at Basic.

Unlike bolt-on wholesale apps, Shopify's native B2B integrates with the Shopify checkout, admin panel, and APIs at the platform level. This means B2B orders flow through the same order management, inventory, and fulfillment systems as your D2C orders — one admin to run both channels.

The core concept: instead of treating wholesale buyers as regular customers with discount codes, Shopify B2B creates a parallel commerce experience where pricing, products, checkout flow, and payment terms are all tied to the company, not the individual.

Who Needs Shopify B2B?

Every plan from Basic up can switch native B2B on, so the decision is no longer about budget. Here's who genuinely benefits — and where the plan starts to matter:

Native B2B Features

Here's what native B2B gives you on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus alike — no apps, no workarounds, no add-on fee. For a re-platforming-grade view of what Plus adds on top — and its five real gaps — see our B2B on Shopify Plus deep-dive.

Company Accounts & Locations

The foundation of Shopify B2B. Instead of individual customer profiles, you create company accounts representing your business customers. Each company can have:

• Multiple locations — warehouses, offices, retail branches, each with its own shipping address and ordering rules
• Multiple buyers — employees authorized to place orders, each with their own login credentials
• An assigned catalog — its own product selection and prices (a catalog aimed at one specific company or location is a Plus-only capability)
• Custom payment terms — Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 set per company or per location
• Tax exemptions — per-company tax-exempt status with certificate management

Catalogs & Price Lists

Catalogs are curated product collections assigned to your B2B markets, and each one carries a price list that defines custom pricing — either fixed prices or percentage adjustments off your retail price. This is where your plan first bites: the catalog count is capped below Plus.

That quote is the whole plan boundary in two sentences, so read it twice. On Basic, Grow and Advanced you can run three tiers — say “Gold” at 40% off, “Silver” at 25% off and a fixed-price list for distributors — and point as many companies as you like at each of them, because the cap is 3 active catalogs across all your B2B markets, not 3 catalogs per company.

The quote leaves out one condition that sits on the same help page: on Basic, Grow or Advanced, B2B catalog features require your store to be using new Shopify Markets, so check that first — the plan alone does not turn the catalogs on. What you cannot do below Plus is aim a catalog at one named company for customer-level pricing, or open a fourth tier.

Getting those price lists to actually protect margin — models, MAP, MSRP and the math — is its own discipline; see our Shopify wholesale pricing guide.

Net Payment Terms

B2B buyers expect to pay on terms, not at checkout. Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 payment terms are available on every B2B-eligible plan and are set per company or per location. When a B2B buyer checks out, they complete the order without immediate payment. Shopify tracks due dates and sends automated payment reminders. The one carve-out: Shopify states that “deposit requirements are available only on the Shopify Plus plan,” and the same goes for partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment.

Quantity Rules

Set minimum order quantities, maximum quantities, and increments per product or variant at the catalog level. Example: minimum 12 units, maximum 500, in increments of 6 (so buyers can order 12, 18, 24, etc.). These rules enforce your wholesale minimums natively, on any eligible plan — which matters now that Shopify Scripts stopped executing on June 30, 2026 and Ruby-based cart logic is no longer an option for anyone.

Draft Orders for B2B

Draft orders are your power tool for B2B. Staff can create orders on behalf of companies directly in the admin — all pricing, catalogs, and payment terms are applied automatically. Use draft orders for:

• Phone or email orders from wholesale clients
• Custom quotes with negotiated pricing
• Orders requiring a deposit before fulfillment — the standard workaround below Plus, where native deposit requirements aren't available
• Reorders based on a customer's order history

Blended B2B + D2C Store

One of native B2B's strongest capabilities, and it is not tied to a plan tier: running both wholesale and retail from a single store. When a B2B buyer logs in, they see their assigned catalog, its prices, and their net terms. Retail customers see standard pricing. Both share the same product data, inventory counts, and order management system.

High-volume B2B fulfillment also leans on Shopify Shipping's label discounts, which cap at one published ceiling of up to 87% off carrier rates, the same on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. The alternative model — a dedicated B2B-only store — is plan-agnostic too, but it means a net-new store, and the nine included expansion stores are a Plus benefit.

One boundary to know before you plan the checkout: Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps are available only to stores on a Shopify Plus plan, while Thank you and Order status extensions work from Basic up. Aiming a shipping discount at those buyers meets a plan line of its own, with a route below it through a B2B market.

B2B Setup: Step by Step

Here's the practical setup flow. It runs the same way on every eligible plan — the only points where your plan changes the outcome are the catalog ceiling in step 3 and the deposit settings in step 4. If you are still choosing a plan, see our plan selection guide.

B2B Without Shopify Plus

Not ready for Plus? You are not pushed out to third-party apps any more. Shopify's own changelog entry for April 2, 2026 lists what merchants on Basic, Grow and Advanced can use natively: “up to 3 active B2B catalogs (assigned via Markets), company profiles, payment terms, volume pricing, ACH payments (U.S. only), and vaulted credit cards.” Everything in the setup walkthrough above works on those plans — with one prerequisite for the catalogs: Shopify states that to use B2B catalog features on Basic, Grow or Advanced, your store must be using new Shopify Markets.

Source: B2B plan features, Shopify Help Center (verified July 2026). Shopify lists B2B on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus only — Starter is not included.

So the honest answer to “can I do B2B without Plus?” is yes, with one prerequisite and two structural limits: the store has to be using new Shopify Markets for the catalog features, you get three active catalogs, and there is no way to price for one named company. Apps have changed role accordingly — they used to substitute for the platform, and now they fill the holes native B2B still leaves.

B2B vs D2C on Shopify: Key Differences

The blended model is the most powerful option: one store, one admin, one inventory — but two distinct buyer experiences. Your marketing team manages one product catalog while wholesale and retail customers each see their own version of your store. If you are still weighing whether that blend or a dedicated B2B setup fits your business, our B2B vs B2C guide walks through the decision.

B2B Cost Analysis: Which Plan Pays Off?

Because native B2B is included on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, the old “buy Plus to unlock wholesale” calculation is gone. What remains is a plain plan comparison across Shopify's pricing tiers, with an optional app only where Shopify leaves a gap:

Estimates based on $500K annual wholesale revenue processed through Shopify Payments. Plus is priced at the 3-year term rate of $2,300/mo; on a 1-year term it is $2,500/mo, or $30,000/yr. Grow and Advanced subscription prices and the per-plan card rates are US list figures last checked in March 2026 — confirm both in your own admin before budgeting. Actual costs vary.

Source: Shopify Pricing (March 2026). Card fees calculated at plan-specific rates. The app line is an optional gap-filler, not the price of B2B itself — native B2B is included at no extra cost on all three plans.

The math favors Plus when: (1) you need more than three active B2B catalogs, or a price list built for one named company; (2) a buyer's terms depend on deposits, partial payments or payment requests per fulfillment; (3) your wholesale volume is large enough that the card-rate delta is real money, and the operational load of workarounds is costing staff hours. If none of those apply, native B2B on Grow or Advanced does the same job for a fraction of the spend — see our pricing breakdown.

Limitations & Trade-offs

Shopify B2B is powerful, but it's not a full-featured B2B commerce suite like OroCommerce or Magento B2B. These gaps sit on every plan, Plus included:

The honest assessment: Shopify B2B is best-in-class for brands that are primarily D2C and want to add a wholesale channel — and now that it costs nothing extra, the barrier to trying it is close to zero. It's still not a replacement for purpose-built B2B platforms when you need quoting workflows, complex approval chains, or deep ERP integration. If your business is primarily B2B with complex procurement, evaluate Shopify alongside dedicated platforms before committing.

The Bottom Line

Shopify B2B's strength is serving D2C brands that are adding wholesale — not replacing purpose-built B2B platforms for complex procurement workflows.

Start with Shopify's $1/month trial to test your wholesale strategy. Native B2B is there from Basic up, so Plus becomes the answer only when catalogs, per-company pricing or deposits demand it.

Frequently Asked Questions