Shopify B2B , Now for Everyone

Wholesale is no longer a Shopify Plus exclusive. Whilst it’s not without limitations, it’s pretty damn good.

For years, if you wanted to run a proper wholesale operation on Shopify without a messy web of tags, custom templates and third-party apps, you had one choice: Shopify Plus.

It was the "enterprise" requirement that often felt like a bit of a barrier for growing brands who aren’t yet ready to commit to the whole Plus eco system.

As of April 2026 though, Shopify has now rolled outnative B2B functionality to every plan - from Basic through to Advanced.

It marks a shift from Shopify being a DTC platform with wholesale "bolted on," to a unified commerce platform where B2B is baked into the core.

But is it as good as the Plus only offering?

In short yes, for all intents and purposes it’s the exact same functionality that you get on the Plus plans. The only limitations are around the number of price books (catalogs) you can have (you’re limited to 3 on all other plans) and without plus, you’re limited to what you can display and communicate in the checkout.

What does this mean?

If you are only offering a simple wholesale price list, with simple payment terms / pay up front, Shopify B2B will work really well.

If you have a large number of trade customers with bespoke pricing and payment terms, an add on app is probably still the way to go for the moment.

Here is a high-level look at what it is, what you get, and how to get it moving.

What is Shopify B2B?

At its heart, B2B on Shopify moves away from the old method of using "customer tags" to gate content. Instead, it introduces the concept of Companies.

In the old world, if three people from the same firm wanted to buy from you, they either shared a login (a security nightmare) or you tagged three separate accounts. With native B2B, you create one Company profile, add as many Locations as needed to the company, and then assign Contacts (the actual humans doing the purchasing) to those locations.

It's a much more "grown-up" way of managing business relationships.

Logically it makes sense, from what we’ve seen in practice though, especially for those with a simler B2B set up, the idea of companies and locations feels a bit counter intuitive. The best way to think about it is a company can have multiple locations and each of those locations can have different terms / prices assigned to them which, longer term will give you a lot more flexibility.

The Core Features

Even on the Basic plan, you’re getting some heavy-hitting features that used to cost £2,800+ a month:

• Company Profiles: Manage multiple buyers, addresses, and tax IDs under one business entity.

• Custom Catalogues: You can create specific product selections and pricing for different customers. (Note: Non-Plus plans are limited to 3 active catalogues, whereas Plus is unlimited).

• Payment Terms: You can finally offer "Net 30" or "Net 15" natively. Your customers can check out without paying upfront, and Shopify tracks the due dates for you.

• Customer Portal: A self-serve area where B2B customers can view their order history, manage their own locations, and reorder in seconds.

• Volume Pricing: Native support for "buy more, save more" tiered pricing (e.g., £10 each, or £8 if you buy 50+), all handled in the same way you manage your price catalogues so no more jumping between multiple apps and interfaces to do something simple.

How to Set It Up

If you’re already on Shopify, you don’t need to install a new app; the tools are already sitting in your admin. Here’s the "Quick Start" path:

1. Create a Company

Go to Customers > Companies in your admin. Add the business name and their primary location. Every company needs at least one location but can have multiple where needed. It’s on the location that you’ll also define the default payment terms (like "Due on receipt" or "Net 30").

2. Build Your Catalogue

Under Products > Catalogues, you can create a new price list. If you’re already selling internationally, the concept here is the same as creating catalogues for your markets.

For the prices themselves you can choose to apply a percentage-based discount across your whole range (much less ongoing admin and management) or set fixed "trade prices" for individual SKUs (best for more granular control)

3. Assign and Invite

Assign your new Catalogue to the Company/location you created. Then, add a Contact (the customer's email address) to that company.

When they log in using Shopify’s passwordless "New Customer Accounts" (this is required for the B2B system), they’ll automatically see their trade pricing and the B2B checkout.

4. Update Your Theme

Most modern Shopify themes (like the Horizon series) now support B2B out of the box. If you’re on an older custom theme, you might need a bit of Liquid work – specifically using the customer.b2b? check – to make sure your "Trade Only" content shows up correctly.

Pro Tip: Customising the B2B Experience with Liquid

While the B2B system works beautifully out of the box, you often want support your B2B customers a little more and show different content to your trade customers than you do to your retail ones.

Because Shopify now treats B2B as a native attribute, you can use a simple check in your theme's Liquid code to toggle content.

This logic can be added to blocks and sections on your site allowing you to visually build the B2B experience in the theme customiser as you do your other pages but, at a code level for example, if you want to show a "Bulk Shipping Note" only to your B2B customers, you can use:

{% if customer.b2b? %}

  <div class="b2b-notice">

    <strong>Trade Account:</strong> Pallet shipping rates apply to orders over £500.

  </div>

{% endif %}

The Verdict: Plus vs Standard

Is there still a reason to go for Shopify Plus? Yes, but the gap has changed.

Standard plans (Basic, Grow, Advanced) are perfect for brands with a straightforward wholesale arm – maybe one "Trade" price list and one "VIP" list. However, if you have 50 different distributors all on unique pricing, you’ll need Plus for the unlimited catalogues.

Plus also still holds the keys to Checkout Extensibility, allowing you to add custom logic or extra T&Cs specifically for B2B buyers during the checkout process.

Want to chat further or have a specific challenge…..give me a shout. Get in touch