Shopify B2B’s transformation: Why enterprises should take a second look
Shopify has evolved to better support wholesale commerce
Shopify has been hard at work updating their B2B commerce functions so that it can fully support large enterprises and more complex B2B operations.
B2B companies need a robust commerce solution to handle their wholesale operations online, with streamlined features for bulk transactions, customer-specific pricing, and order management. As more B2B commerce shifts online, Shopify has been focused on how it can help businesses make the shift, lower their total cost of ownership, and take full advantage of omnichannel growth.
As a Shopify Platinum Partner, Lazer works with global enterprises on their Shopify Plus migrations and implementations in order to manage all their operations, DTC and B2B, in one place. We harness Shopify’s latest features and improvements to bridge the gap between DTC’s traditional dominance of online commerce and the rapidly evolving B2B space.
Don’t assume your enterprise is too complex for Shopify B2B — we’re here to walk you through how they can help. Whether you’re already on Shopify or considering a migration to the platform, we can advise on levelling up your B2B or hybrid storefronts.
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Managing large and enterprise companies
The introduction and expansion of company profiles has consolidated Shopify’s B2B functionalities, allowing for up to 10,000 company locations and customers associated under each company profile. B2B merchants can natively assign customers to their companies, and to multiple locations or branches within those companies.
Enterprise companies can more easily consider migrating to Shopify thanks to the native support for the size and structure of their customers, while growing companies can rest assured that they can scale across regions and currencies.
The Shopify Summer ’25 Edition included updates to Markets that allow merchants to create multiple B2B markets.
They can all be managed in one spot in Shopify admin, and each one can have its own catalogs, currency, and storefront customizations.
Let’s consider manufacturing companies that supply businesses of varying sizes.
Carrier, the leading global building and cold chain solutions provider, serves customers across 180 countries, ranging from dealers and distributors to service technicians and homeowners.
Shopify supports the size and complexity of all of their orders, whether that’s one company ordering parts to be shipped to its individual technicians, or a national business with employees who place orders for regional locations.
Any of these orders can easily be submitted by the customers using Shopify’s intuitive self-serve ordering, when traditionally complex B2B sales had to be handled via calls or emails and entered into the system manually by the merchant.
Personalization in accounts, catalogs, and pricing
B2B customers expect a seamless and personalized shopping experience. Shopify’s B2B features enhance this through:
- Product catalogs and pricing tailored to regions, tiers of customers, or individual companies and locations
- Improved customer accounts that allow repeat customers to access their order history, review draft orders, pay for orders that are due, buy orders again, and manage their profile and saved cards
- Self-serve options, empowering customers to place, track, and manage orders with minimal intervention
With Shopify B2B, merchants can natively set up catalogs with selected products and custom pricing, tailoring their selection to their customer’s needs and interests.
Fragrance brand WHO IS ELIJAH moved to Shopify in order to manage their growing wholesale and retail needs, allowing them easily tailor custom pricing catalogs to their B2B customers.
This was key to their international expansion, where they also needed to customize products and pricing by region.
Merchants can also set volume pricing so customers can save on their wholesale orders.
They can offer price breaks, where the price decreases with the volume, or derive the new price from a percentage markup or markdown of the original price. They can also manually set the price for individual products, setting a location-specific price without relying on discounts.
With all company branches and locations under the same umbrella, it’s easier to customize catalogs and pricing to a specific location. Catalogs could be ideal for a multi-level marketing or direct marketing business model, where a bunch of distributors are buying the product and want to offer B2B pricing and discounts.
Enhancing B2B accounts with native and third-party extensions
When it comes to customization, the new customer account extensions are versatile blocks that can be added to the native customer account pages to enhance functionality for orders, profiles, and more. They can also be used to build custom pages such as draft order trackers and price lists, further enhancing the B2B customer experience. This can help extend personalized pricing, order permissions, and bulk ordering, and create a distinct account experience for your B2B customers in comparison to your D2C ones.
If you’re looking for further customization, there’s a wealth of third-party apps in the Shopify App Store that are easy to click, configure, and deploy through the account editor.
And if you have even more custom needs, Lazer can work with you to build your own Shopify apps from the ground up.
Advanced draft orders and location-based permissions
Shopify B2B can be used to create draft order checkouts for review and this function can be set for each company location. This comes in handy if there are specific company customers whose orders you want to approve before they are placed, or if you’re onboarding new company locations and want to check their orders against inventory before they come through.
Controlling location permissions and adding customers to a company and its locations has to be done on the Shopify admin side, but we hear Shopify will make improvements here in the future.
Having location permissions be configurable really opens up B2B purchasing.
Customers can manage and monitor their orders
Customer account extensibility enables displaying draft orders through customer accounts, which increases visibility and control for the customer managing their orders.
Customers can keep track of their orders, see their statuses, and access links to pay invoices directly from their accounts. They can track whether an order is still in review or the invoice has been sent out, and will know exactly when the order has been placed.
Sales reps can place orders for their customers
It’s common practice in B2B sales for the merchant to place orders on behalf of the customer after a sales call or other outreach.
With Shopify B2B, a sales rep's permissions can also be customized to allow them to place orders and retrieve accurate, customer-specific pricing for their assigned accounts in Shopify admin. The customer can then review the order and receive updates in their customer account.
This streamlining helps the sales team at lab supply company Filtrous save an average of 2 hours per week.
Optimized checkout and bulk ordering
Large-volume orders can slow down the checkout process. Shopify’s native features can help ensure this process is smooth for your customers:
- Bulk ordering tools that allow customers to add multiple SKUs to their cart quickly
- Draft orders, which make it easier for businesses to manage high-value transactions
- Express checkout options, ensuring that repeat customers can complete purchases faster
These features remove friction and create a faster, efficient checkout experience.
Express checkout options for repeat customers
With express checkout, merchants can indicate if a specific customer at a company location is allowed to place orders and skip the draft order status. If you have a repeat customer placing the same order on a regular basis, this can be a great way to streamline that process for them.
Additionally, the "card on file" capabilities also allows any customer representing a location to use a credit card that's managed by an administrator and place orders that require upfront payment easily and securely, with no card detail entry required.
Custom messages and features at checkout
Checkout UI extensions in Shopify allow for personalized experiences tailored to specific customer segments, such as high-value customers. These extensions enable merchants to display customized messages or features during the checkout process based on customer tags or attributes.
For instance, if a customer is tagged as high-value, the checkout can display a message like, “Welcome back! We appreciate your loyalty. A representative will follow up within 24 hours to ensure your satisfaction.”
This personalization can create a more engaging and relevant checkout experience, and can include additional features such as delivery estimates or tailored recommendations.
Advanced integration capabilities
To ensure seamless operations, Shopify has improved its integration capabilities with key business tools, including:
- ERP and CRM integrations, allowing for better management of customer data and inventory
- Automation through Shopify Flow, which helps businesses automate tasks like order approvals, reordering, and customer notifications
- Third-party app support, enabling merchants to connect with tools like QuickBooks, HubSpot, and NetSuite, or with discount apps powered by Shopify Functions
These integrations help businesses reduce manual work, increase efficiency, and improve overall customer experience, and they’re constantly being expanded.
Announced in the Summer ’25 Edition, NetSuite ERP Connector now works with Shopify B2B to sync companies, orders, PO numbers, and payment terms. And Quickbooks users can benefit from Webgility’s out-of-the-box connector, fully updated for B2B.
Shopify Flow now has access to companies, price lists, and catalogs, allowing for dynamic updates. This integration enhances automation capabilities for B2B operations, enabling merchants to streamline processes based on customer behavior and order patterns.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers bi-directional synchronization of customers and companies with Shopify. This facilitates the management of customer data and inventory, making it easier for B2B companies to maintain accurate records and streamline their operations. Microsoft has expanded this integration to include information for all company locations, and to improve order and pricing data.
There’s never been a better time to consider Shopify B2B
Shopify's recent advancements directly tackle those persistent B2B headaches — think seamless scalability to manage hefty order flows and numerous locations, coupled with deep customization that lets you mold your checkout and customer accounts to your precise enterprise requirements.
From what we’ve seen working with top and growing commerce brands, the time for B2B businesses to explore Shopify has never been better. The platform's evolution offers a robust and agile solution ready to meet the complexities of wholesale, as well as an intuitive user experience for both your employees and your B2B customers.
Curious to see how these features can specifically benefit your enterprise?
We encourage you to delve deeper into Shopify's B2B capabilities. And if you're looking for expert guidance in navigating this transition and maximizing your results, don't hesitate to reach out to us here at Lazer. We're always ready to help you unlock the full potential of B2B commerce.
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