Shopify Plus B2B Features: How to Sell Wholesale?

B2B has grown significantly in recent years, and adding this channel to your Ecommerce business, whether you engage in B2C (business to consumer) or DTC (direct to consumer), will scale your online store by minimizing customer acquisition and increasing order value. 

Wholesale is the type of business that allows customers to purchase in large quantity either directly from a manufacturer or from a distributor.

Shopify built native powerful functions and features to help you quickly launch your wholesale channel. This eliminates the need to invest in custom development or third-party apps.

This article will help you learn how to either launch or boost your existing wholesale business.

1. Overview of B2B on Shopify Plus
2. How to Activate the B2B Channel
3. Adding B2B company profiles
4. Price lists for B2B customers
5. Payment terms for B2B customers
6. Login for B2B customers
7. Best practices for B2B
8. Build your B2B on Shopify Plus

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Overview of B2B on Shopify Plus

Shopify B2B is a new way to offer wholesale pricing on Shopify, offering a wide range of features and functionalities. This includes company profiles, price lists, net payment terms,  and B2B checkout.

How to Activate the B2B Channel

The B2B feature is only available on Plus Shopify plans and does not require any additional setup. It also does not require any third-party app installation. With this option, the online store can accept orders from both DTC (direct to customer) and B2B (business to business) customers.

Note: If you are on a standard non-plus Shopify plan, you can offer wholesale by using third-party apps.

Adding B2B Company Profiles

B2B customers can have “Company” profiles with multiple assigned user accounts. Those accounts can be assigned different permissions.

Payment terms, catalogs, and multiple locations can also be assigned to company profiles.

Price lists for B2B customers

B2B customers can each have dedicated price lists with percentage-off discounts or fixed price discounts. A customer would be able to view their own pricing once logged in.

Payment terms for B2B customers

Payment terms can be added to the company’s profile and are automatically displayed on the Checkout page. The different payment terms are the following:

A) None: B2B customers pay immediately upon checkout
B) Net terms: The available terms are net 7, net 15, net 30, net 60, and net 90. Customers can pay by simply logging in to their account.
C) Due on fulfillment: B2B customers can pay for orders when or before all items are fulfilled in the order. 

Login for B2B customers

Customer accounts allow customers to track orders, view order history, and save addresses for faster checkout.

When activating B2B, the log-in mechanism should change and customers must log in with a one-time code sent to their email. Once logged in, the customer can select the location, edit buyer information, and filter order history.

You will be able to add custom forms to collect data and information from B2B customers before granting access to wholesale pricing. This can be achieved either by custom development or by third-party apps.

Best practices for B2B

B2B (business-to-business) commerce can open a new revenue stream and expand the existing customer base. A proper B2B strategy helps boost conversions in the wholesale channel and reduce reliance on a single revenue stream.

Some best practices when considering B2B includes the following:

A) Develop a clear B2B strategy:

Who are your target customers? What’s your pricing strategy and segmentation

B) Approval process:

It should be user-friendly to get the customers onboard the Wholesale program. This can be done by using custom forms and personalized customer experience.

C) Customer retention:

Offer loyalty and special discounts to retain customers and build a long-term relationships.

D) Evaluate:

A/B testing and analytics will help set the direction and areas of improvement in the process and the design of the B2B Ecommerce website.

Build your B2B on Shopify Plus

If you’re a Shopify Plus merchant or a business looking to migrate to Shopify, the B2B expansion will help streamline the management of wholesaling and will establish a solid B2B customer base.

At Ecommerce Pro, we’ve helped online businesses optimize their B2B wholesale strategy on Shopify by offering full guidance and setup solutions. If you’re looking to explore the B2B channel on Shopify Plus. Reach out to book a free consulting session.