Shopify Unlocks B2B Features for All Plans
Shopify now unlocks B2B features for all plans. Learn how company accounts, catalogs and payment terms can help you grow wholesale sales.
Shopify Unlocks B2B Features for All Plans
B2B buyers don’t shop like regular retail customers. They typically need special pricing, unique product options and payment terms. This means you really need a special workflow for properly handling orders for this segment. For years, Shopify’s strongest native B2B tools were only available for Shopify Plus merchants. If you wanted to sell wholesale, manage company buyers, offer custom pricing or support business payment terms, you had to upgrade to Plus, use third-party apps or build a workaround that added more complexity to your store.
Shopify has now made a big move and opened key B2B features to merchants on Basic, Grow and Advanced plans. This gives you a real path to sell B2B directly inside Shopify using native features such as company profiles, catalogs, payment terms, ACH payments and vaulted credit cards.
This update gives you a way to start a wholesale revenue channel without jumping straight into Shopify Plus. You may not be ready to justify the cost of Plus yet just for B2B so this is the best option. Now, you can start building your B2B operation inside your existing Shopify plan. You don’t have to rely on extra apps or custom workarounds. That doesn’t mean you can avoid Shopify Plus forever. Larger B2B operations may still need Plus for advanced features. But this update gives you a great starting point.
So, what is available to you right now with “B2B for all?” We’ll walk you through some of the key features you can use right away.
Companies and Customer Accounts
One of the biggest changes coming to all Shopify Plans is the support for companies. Instead of treating every buyer like an individual retail customer, Shopify B2B lets you create company profiles and connect customers to those companies.
This is useful because B2B buying often involves more than one person. A company might have an owner, purchasing manager, accounting contact and location manager. Those people may need access to the same company account, but they may have different responsibilities.
With company profiles, you can build a cleaner account structure. You can associate customers with a company, assign contacts, manage company locations and create a more organized B2B buying experience.
B2B Catalogs
B2B catalogs let you control what products a B2B customer can access and what prices they see. You can create one catalog for standard wholesale buyers, another for higher-volume partners and another for top-tier accounts. You can use catalogs to support different pricing levels, product availability rules or volume-based strategies.
Non-plus merchants are subject to a smaller limit on available catalogs. On Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, Shopify allows up to three active B2B catalogs while Shopify Plus supports unlimited B2B catalogs. The Basic, Grow and Advanced plans do not support direct catalog assignment to companies and locations. You will need Shopify Plus to support direct assignment.
That three-catalog limit could be an issue if you need custom pricing for hundreds of individual companies. If your wholesale workflow requires that granular pricing, you may still need to consider Shopify Plus. But if your B2B strategy can work with grouped pricing tiers, this is a good option for you. For example, you could create a tiered (Silver, Gold and Platinum) structure instead of building a separate catalog for every customer.
Payment Terms
Payment terms are a huge part of B2B commerce. Many business buyers do not pay the same way retail shoppers do. They may expect Net 15, Net 30, Net 60 or other payment terms based on your relationship with them. Shopify B2B makes payment terms available as part of the native B2B feature set on non-Plus plans.
This gives you more flexibility in how you sell to business customers. You can support the buying habits they already expect while still keeping the order inside Shopify. That can reduce manual invoicing work and help you move more of your wholesale process online.
Vaulted Credit Cards & ACH
B2B buyers often come back to buy again and again. They may purchase the same products every week, every month or every season. When those buyers have to re-enter payment details every time, it adds friction to the process.
Vaulted credit cards help solve this issue. Your business customers can save a card and use it again for future purchases. Vaulted credit cards as one of the key native B2B features now available to non-Plus merchants. That creates a faster reorder experience. Your customers spend less time checking out and your team spends less time helping them complete routine purchases.
ACH payments are another important part of this release, especially for U.S. merchants. Many business buyers prefer bank-based payments for larger orders or regular account purchases. Shopify’s changelog includes ACH payments in the U.S. as part of the B2B features now available on non-Plus plans.
PO Numbers
Purchase order numbers are a normal part of B2B purchasing. You may need a PO number for internal approval, accounting, receiving or reconciliation. Shopify’s B2B features help support that workflow. This is a small feature that can make a big operational difference. When the PO number is captured with the order, your team has cleaner records and your buyer has an easier accounting process.
Checkout as Draft Order
Some B2B orders should not be accepted instantly. You may want to review large orders, confirm inventory, check pricing, verify account terms or make sure the buyer is approved before the order moves forward.
Shopify’s B2B checkout can support checkout as a draft order. This is a way to let a buyer place an order while still giving your team the chance to review it before accepting the order fully. This is useful if your B2B business still needs human review. It gives your customers an online ordering flow while keeping your team in control of important approvals.
Contextual Checkout Is Available on Advanced and Plus
Contextual checkout is one of the more advanced B2B capabilities. It lets you create a more tailored B2B experience through Shopify Markets, including custom storefront experiences for specific B2B markets. This is useful because B2B buyers may not need the same shopping experience as retail customers. They may want a cleaner order flow, fewer marketing pages and a faster path to the products they buy most often.
There is a plan limit here. Basic and Grow plans do not include contextual checkout. Advanced and Plus plans support contextual checkout. Contextual checkout and online store customization through Shopify Markets, are available on Advanced and Plus.
If your B2B buyers need a highly tailored storefront or theme experience, you may need Advanced or Plus. If you only need the core B2B account, pricing and payment features, Basic or Grow may be enough to start.
What Still Requires Shopify Plus?
Shopify has opened up a lot, but not everything. Plus still matters for merchants with more complex B2B needs. Shopify Plus includes additional B2B capabilities such as:
- Unlimited catalogs
- Direct catalog assignment to companies and locations
- Deposit requirements
- Partial payments
This means you should think about how complex your B2B operation really is. If you only need three pricing tiers, company accounts, payment terms and basic B2B checkout support, you may be able to move forward on a non-Plus plan. If you need customer-specific catalogs, large-scale pricing control, deposits or partial payments, Plus may still be the right path.
The good news is that you now have more flexibility. You can start smaller and grow into Plus only when your operation demands it.
What Is Not Compatible With Shopify B2B?
There are also a few compatibility limits you need to understand before you launch B2B.
- Accelerated checkouts such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay are not compatible with B2B.
- Local delivery and pickup points are also not compatible with B2B.
- Tipping options are not compatible.
- Shopify’s native subscriptions are not compatible with B2B.
- Agentic storefronts are also not compatible with B2B markets at this time.
These limits don’t mean B2B won’t work for you, it just means you need to plan your workflow correctly. If local delivery is important, you may need a third-party app, a custom workflow or a Plus-based checkout customization depending on how delivery needs to appear in the buying process. If subscriptions are important, you may need to review third-party subscription tools and confirm how they fit with your B2B setup.
This is where planning matters. B2B is powerful, but you should not turn it on without mapping the buyer journey, payment process, fulfillment rules and any special requirements your customers expect.
Let Sunrise Integration Help You Launch B2B on Shopify
Shopify’s new B2B access gives you a major opportunity to grow your business and serve wholesale buyers. But like any powerful Shopify feature, the value comes from setting it up the right way.
Sunrise Integration can help you plan your B2B strategy, configure company accounts, build your catalog structure, review payment terms, map your buyer journey and make sure your store is ready to support business customers. We can also help you understand whether your current Shopify plan is enough or whether your B2B needs point toward Advanced or Shopify Plus.
If you want ongoing help, our Shopify Success Plans give you access to continued support, consultation and growth-focused guidance for your Shopify store. We can help you build a better path forward.
Reach out to Sunrise Integration to talk about your B2B goals or ask about our Shopify Success Plans. This update opens the door. We can help you turn it into a real revenue channel.
