Shopify Plus B2B: common client questions before implementation

Episode recorded in Polish (English subtitles available on YouTube); this is our edited English translation. Recorded in March 2026 (released 24 March 2026), before Shopify made core B2B features available on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans on 2 April 2026, so Shopify features reflect that time; we've left out a short chat about the new studio at the start of the recording.

Where did these Shopify B2B questions come from?

Tomek: Hi, this is Tomek Runowicz.

Maciek: And Maciek Czerniak.

Tomek: We run wecanfly, an agency that helps established brands with complex migrations to Shopify Plus.

Maciek: And this is Flying with Shopify, the channel where we talk to e-commerce experts and founders. Welcome to another episode.

I had an awkward moment at Starbucks today. It made me realise how time passes, and not in a pleasant way. There are a few people ahead of you, and their policy is to use first names. With everyone, the barista asks: "What's your name?" and so on. Then it's my turn and she asks: "What name should I write on the cup?" You could immediately tell she didn't want to be on first-name terms with an older person. But just like you and me, Shopify is maturing too.

Tomek: Exactly.

Maciek: Especially the B2B functionality we'd like to talk about today.

Tomek: Yes, all the more so because it's a kind of loop in our episodes: from what I checked, it was one of the first topics we recorded, a good two years ago, maybe even a bit more. Back then we talked about how it works, and we were fascinated that it was finally a sales channel that really made it possible to open up wholesale. As you say, Shopify keeps developing, we're all aware of that. We've said several times that for many years they've been betting heavily on B2B and its development.

Today's episode came out of a real need, that is, from what comes up in our projects: our clients' questions and doubts. Given the number of B2B platform implementations, which today is already over a dozen, we decided to gather it all into one set of questions and talk you through it. We'll read out the questions and try to answer them.

Maciek: It's also interesting where these questions came from. We have an internal AI tool that can comb through all our projects, our whole knowledge base, all our internal Slack conversations, the discussions and projects in ClickUp, and all the calls we've recorded in projects. We asked it about the most common cases discussed in projects in the context of B2B: what clients asked about in real implementations, what concerns and doubts they had at the start, and what technical issues came up during delivery. And there have probably been over a dozen Shopify B2B implementations alone in the last two years.

Tomek: A quick note here and a thank-you to Paweł. He'll know who we mean, because he's the author and father of this solution. It helped us a lot in preparing for the episode, because, as you said, it pulled out not only the questions but even specific project situations that had to be addressed.

Maciek, let's go through the questions one by one. We'll try to touch on every area of B2B, so as to cover as many potential doubts as possible. This certainly doesn't exhaust the questions anyone might have, so we encourage you to ask under the episode whatever you need from your perspective when making decisions about Shopify.

Maciek: I think you might also be interested in what a demo of a native Shopify Plus B2B setup looks like. We could do a separate episode on that, more of a how-to or walk-through.

Tomek: Exactly.

Is B2B on Shopify Plus a second store?

Maciek: OK, let's start with the first question, which came up very often during sales conversations and discovery workshops. Does Shopify B2B on Shopify Plus mean a second store, or one shared experience for B2B and B2C users?

Tomek: The answer is that it can mean both. Shopify built the architecture of the B2B channel so that we can set it up as a completely separate storefront, connect it to a separate domain and manage it independently. Then we really do have two completely separate stores. The second form is more native, in line with how Shopify's architecture is built: B2B is simply part of our main B2C channel. As we'll probably say in a moment, we can then separate out the B2B elements and show the wholesale customer a different offer, different prices and different terms of cooperation. So in one case it can mean a completely separate sales channel, if someone prefers that and that's how their business model is set up. In the other, for convenience, it can be the same interface, both in the back end and on the front end for the customer.

Maciek: Exactly.

What does onboarding a business customer look like?

Tomek: The next question is for you, Maciek, very specific and very practical. In a B2B store on Shopify, what should onboarding a business customer look like? How does it actually work?

Maciek: We can take two approaches here. I think the more common one is where the user registers through a form on the website. They apply to become a B2B partner of the brand and have to be approved manually and assigned to a specific B2B catalog or market. That's probably the most common solution, and it stops everyone from getting access to the lower prices. There are also brands for which it's convenient to automate this, so that everyone who signs up automatically lands in the B2B customer group.

Now that I think of it, you could even try a semi-automated model: once all the details are filled in, you do data enrichment with AI, check the company that applied, qualify and score it, and depending on the result decide whether to grant B2B status.

How do you handle a company with several branches and buyers?

Tomek: A follow-up question, because this is a common case, especially with larger companies that have several branches and distributed teams. Purchases in your store may be made by different people in very different locations under the umbrella of one company, say ABC. How can Shopify handle a situation where we have different buyers from different locations? I also assume that in practice each of them has, in some way, individual settlement terms.

Maciek: We can handle it by adding several locations to one customer. Each of them can in fact be a separate company. You can enter separate address or company details for it, of course a tax ID as well, for example a local tax number, and assign commercial terms to individual companies.

Tomek: By commercial terms, do you mean payment terms, for example deferred payments?

Maciek: Exactly. And also various pricing rules. Do you want to add anything?

Tomek: So I understand that if I have three branches, with people in them responsible for purchasing on my platform, I can create company ABC in my B2B platform, then branches ABC 1, 2 and 3, and within them Mr Kowalski, Mr Nowak and someone else. And for each location I can have separate business terms, provided of course I have a signed contract with them.

Maciek: You can, absolutely.

Tomek: Sure.

How do price lists, catalogs and discounts work in Shopify B2B?

Maciek: OK, let's move on. The next question that comes up often: how do price lists, catalogs and discounts work in Shopify B2B?

Tomek: This is a bit connected to what you've already said about locations, but let's explain it. First thing: price lists. They're tied directly to how we set up a company, both at the company level and at the level of an individual location, as you said a moment ago. At that level we decide which terms are assigned to a given company, for example whether the customer gets a 10, 15 or 20% discount on our products.

The second level: our product offer doesn't have to be the same for all buyers. With our whole product base, we create unique catalogs for a given customer. Of course, if we don't have any special arrangements or a limited offer for companies A, B or C, these can be the same products. But we can decide which catalog, with which products, promotions and discounts, applies to a given company.

When it comes to discounts, there are two things. The first is the commercial terms we've just talked about, the price tiers assigned to a given customer and location, and even to each individual buyer. The second is everything Shopify offers as standard in its discounts: promotion rules, product bundles, spend thresholds, which give the customer lower prices, an extra promotion or free shipping.

And one more important thing. Beyond all the top-down arrangements on the terms of cooperation with a given customer, in Shopify B2B we can always manually override the terms for a specific order. In practice: a customer says they want to place an exceptionally large order, or one that's very attractive for us, and they know it, or we want to reward them this way. Then, on top of the agreed terms, we can manually give them an extra discount they wouldn't normally have, or add, for example, free shipping, which in B2B is often a significant part of the order, because large quantities are ordered on pallets. So we still have the freedom to treat the customer very individually. We know how cooperation between our salesperson and the buyer on the customer's side often works today: there are relationships, a phone call and a request: "Mr Krzysztof, could we negotiate something extra?" There's absolutely room for that here.

Maciek: Great.

Can one store show different content to a B2B customer?

Tomek: The next question, Maciek, is more about content. This is how I understand it: if we have two independent stores, B2C and B2B, the problem doesn't exist, because they're two completely separate storefronts. But merging the two sales channels into one and presenting them to the customer as one is used often, because it's certainly convenient. So a very specific question comes up: does Shopify let us have separate content for a business customer and for an individual customer when there's one storefront?

Maciek: Absolutely. We can conditionally display different store features depending on what type of customer is in the store at that moment, to put it simply. One example is a module for ordering multiple units on the product page. Instead of laboriously clicking "add to cart" ten times, you have a list of variants on the product page and quickly type in how many units of a given colour, size or other variant you want to order. You can do the same with any feature: conditionally show extra commercial information for B2B, hide unnecessary information about payment or delivery terms, and so on. So, in short: yes, absolutely.

Can you show a different product range depending on the market?

Tomek: I have one more question that I think touches on the same area, because it's about presenting a different product range. On the one hand it's what I mentioned a moment ago, but there's another very important element: the market or country we operate in. Can we introduce that distinction in Shopify, for example for international sales? If we have a B2B customer in Poland and a trading partner in Germany, can we apply a different product range and show them different content?

Maciek: We can, absolutely. We can assign specific product catalogs, defined differently, to individual markets. And when it comes to showing different content per region or market, there's an option for that too. I even think that in the Customizer there's now…

Tomek: Yes, because it works at the market level. In the Customizer we then have a dropdown where we choose which version we're editing. That's how it works. OK, great.

How does Shopify B2B handle tax numbers, net and gross prices and EU VAT?

Tomek: Right, I'll keep grilling you. Next question: how does Shopify B2B handle tax numbers, and companies and company locations in general? We've already covered locations, so alongside the tax number let's add a related question: net and gross prices and handling European VAT when selling between countries.

Maciek: First of all, this has been added. In the first iterations there was no tax ID. For some time now Shopify has made it available, at users' request, because it's quite an important issue in B2B sales. That also shows Shopify listens to users and responds to what's happening in the market, where it sees gaps. Various tax exemptions are absolutely supported, and you can set different parameters depending on the market. That's the simplified answer.

Tomek: I'd also point out that Shopify, in the B2C model, is geared towards global sales. Let's remember that it has built-in functionality for calculating VAT between the countries of purchase, that is, making sure the VAT applied is the right one for the given country. In B2B, as you said, there's no VAT as such between companies, but that control over international sales is absolutely applied there.

What does the B2B customer journey look like on the site?

Maciek: OK. Something clients often ask about during discovery workshops is the B2B customer journey. What should it look like once they land on the site?

Tomek: It can work in two ways, and it also depends on our policy for accepting new trading partners. Most often it starts with them filling in a form on our website…

Maciek: We've already covered that. The form.

Tomek: …to apply and place an order. If we already have them in our B2B customer base…

Maciek: …and they're approved…

Tomek: …and approved by us, the journey looks a bit different depending on whether we have one merged B2C and B2B store or separate instances. In the first case, when both channels are combined, a customer who comes to the site and isn't logged in is treated as a B2C customer by default. Once they log in, the system recognises the email address and automatically adjusts the product offer, prices and everything else to what's assigned to their profile. So the first step is to log in to the store. Very often a customer visits so frequently and regularly that the login session is kept alive, so even that moment isn't particularly important.

Let's also remember that in Shopify, with the new customer accounts, which are now strongly recommended because the old accounts will be phased out by Shopify in the not-too-distant future, logging in is even simpler: you only enter your email address and then go through two-step verification.

Maciek: Two-factor authentication.

Tomek: So it's even simpler. With two separate instances the situation is similar in that logging in is needed, except that the company can block access to the store or to strictly B2B information. In fact, that's very common practice, and clients ask about it too: can the offer I have for B2B be hidden from B2C customers? "I wouldn't want them to see what discounts I give." That's very simple, because the store can be fully accessible but all prices can be hidden until you log in. If we have a separate instance and we're logged in, we see what's intended for the B2B customer.

Maciek: Exactly. Another practice is to put the store behind a password.

Tomek: It can be. It depends, because sometimes not having a password, letting the store be searchable, is also an incentive for potential new customers.

Maciek: Exactly.

Tomek: They can check what product range I have, roughly what's on offer, and so on. I think it depends on the rule each company follows.

Maciek: Exactly. It potentially gives more visibility in search results.

Tomek: Exactly. We get new URLs indexed, absolutely.

Can you run B2B on a plan below Shopify Plus?

Maciek: Another question that also comes up often, especially for Shopify stores that aren't on the top plan: can you implement B2B on lower plans, the ones that simply aren't Shopify Plus?

Tomek: You're right, we hear it often. The answer is this: natively, Shopify gives us the features we've talked about so far only on the Shopify Plus plan. Then we get the full B2B functionality in the admin, and everything we've talked about is built in natively. But just as Shopify's whole architecture is based on apps that extend functionality, the same goes for B2B. We've delivered projects where, on a regular plan, a separate app had to be installed. We used SparkLayer, which gives the same or very similar features to the native ones on Plus. Of course, you need to know that such an integration is no longer a simple install and basic configuration; it requires some custom work. In short: below Plus it's possible with the support of an external app, and on Plus we have these features natively.

Maciek: Yes. Apart from SparkLayer, which is an external platform you connect to Shopify, there are a number of apps in the Shopify App Store you can add. I think the most popular is Shopify Wholesale B2B, or something like that. We've done a few implementations on it too, and it works sensibly. You can implement all the required features of a basic setup on it, and actually more than basic. In short: yes, you can.

What are the most common limitations of Shopify B2B?

Tomek: Maciek, so far we've been talking about what can be done in Shopify for B2B, what it can do, how convenient it is and how far it meets expectations. We've done quite a few of these projects, and I assume various obstacles came up along the way. So let's answer the question, which was nicely phrased for us: what are the most common limitations of Shopify B2B that a client should know about before launch?

Maciek: I don't know if it's a limitation, but it was certainly a surprise for clients a few times. In the native Plus version, migrating to the new Shopify customer accounts was mandatory, meaning the passwordless login we talked about. That can turn into a mini-project: it's not a simple process and it takes some effort. I believe there were also complications with various UI extensions in checkout. I don't feel up to going into detail, because these were very much…

Tomek: …technical issues.

Maciek: …technical details. But those are the things that come to mind.

Tomek: OK, I'll add one thing, although again the question is whether it's a limitation. The example with the new accounts mainly concerned those who are already on Shopify, are opening the new channel and have the old customer accounts. With clients who migrated from other platforms, we run into a new environment, and you need to be aware of that. The B2B customer's dashboard changes too. It's a bit different both for the customer and for us internally in the organisation. The feedback we got was that getting used to it and learning the new tool, both within the organisation and among external customers, was important. But let's remember that in this area Shopify is seen as the most intuitive, most convenient and very clear tool for day-to-day work. So it's more a switch to something better than learning something unintuitive.

Maciek: I'd treat it more as an organisational challenge than a limitation of Shopify.

Tomek: Yes, I completely agree.

What's the hardest part of a migration to Shopify B2B?

Maciek: OK. I think a good and interesting question is what's actually the hardest part of a B2B migration: Shopify, the data, or the integrations that then sit underneath?

Tomek: I'll answer it this way. In a platform migration, whether it's B2B or B2C, we need to realise that the online store, or in the case of B2B the platform we're moving, is only one element of our business and processes. We're changing the platform, and as for Shopify itself, I don't see any threats or risks that would make the switch dangerous or difficult. A much bigger challenge will always be integration with our external systems: a WMS, a PIM or an ERP, plus accounting and so on. Every company's processes are a bit different.

I see a difference here. With clients migrating a B2C store, it's common practice to launch without a full set of ready integrations and automations with external systems, because the client often says: "Look, at launch I need courier handling so the orders go out, and for now I'll send the accounting documents somewhat manually, by exporting them, or through some middleware." In B2B, though, we notice that the processes are already very tightly bound to these systems. That's why, when planning a migration, we spend a large part of the work on the discovery and workshop stage, to map the processes well, because most often their integration is required from day one.

Sometimes there's an extra obstacle. Some clients use, let's call them, fairly aged systems that weren't necessarily built for e-commerce but often for ordinary offline sales. That means there are sometimes gaps in the documentation, or it's missing altogether, and that requires a more custom approach. But it's changing, because we see, and the vendors of these systems see it too, that the shift to online, also in B2B, is forcing them to modernise their systems. So if we're talking about difficulty, the biggest challenges are integrations and the fact that they're very often critical for the client for the channel to work the way they expect.

Maciek: Shopify B2B itself is actually a fairly simple process, because the whole setup can easily be configured with a few clicks. On the development side it's also very well prepared; there's a separate API for B2B, so in terms of integration there's no problem on that side.

Tomek: Exactly.

Maciek: The challenges usually come up where you connect to the ERP, WMS, OMS and so on.

Quick-fire: will Shopify handle B2B?

Maciek: Tomek, I think we've covered the most common issues. Let's sum it up in simple words, answering the questions you hear directly. Quick-fire: will Shopify definitely handle it?

Tomek: As for whether it will handle the B2B channel, let's remember above all that Shopify stands out from the competition in being able to handle practically any traffic, whether it's a spike during big events and occasions or the approaching peak season. For B2B I really wouldn't see any concerns here. I don't think it's even questioned.

Maciek: No challenge at all.

Is B2B just a few price lists?

Maciek: Doesn't it sometimes turn out that B2B isn't really a separate channel, just a few price lists?

Tomek: Yes, that's a concern that came up a few times with clients for whom we built a merged store, meaning one interface, because the first impression may be that the B2B customer simply has a slightly different price. But the answer is more complex, because in my opinion it depends above all on how we've set up this model in our company. There are companies for which wholesale comes down to this: you buy larger quantities regularly, so you get 20% off everything, and that's it. That's a very simple system, and then the question is very valid, because that's the only difference. In that situation we don't necessarily need to set up a whole B2B platform anyway.

But if the system is set up in a much more complex way, as we've discussed today, meaning companies with various branches, very individual price lists per branch or per buyer, more advanced logic for calculating promotions, or trade agreements that go beyond price alone… Let's remember that in B2B we also have various commercial terms: payment terms, deferred payments, 14 days for some, 30 or 60 for others, trade credit. That's no longer classic price reduction. What you get on the Shopify B2B platform will mirror your model, the one you have in your company. If it's very simple, the impression will be that we're only lowering prices. If it's more complex, which is what we see more often, the B2B platform and Shopify's features give you far more than promotions on product prices.

Maciek: It's good to make it clear that we can adapt Shopify to the way you do business, not the other way round.

Will a random customer see wholesale prices?

Tomek: And now over to you, Maciek. A concern that came up very strongly with one of our clients, maybe because in their case it was particularly important, but I think it's a common question: will the wholesale price offer I have for businesses be visible to everyone? That's a bit like revealing a trade secret, the terms on which I work with my distributors, and as a result the end customer might complain that the distributor adds too much on top. So the question, or rather the concern, directly: won't a random customer see the wholesale offer?

Maciek: They won't. Unless we want to show it openly and make the prices public, in which case fine. Whether it's a blended store or separate instances, we can either password-protect the whole store, show prices to B2B customers only after they log in, or simply display the right components when they're needed. There's no problem here at all.

Will invoices and shipping labels be issued correctly?

Tomek: One more question and concern from my side. Will company details, invoices and shipping labels, the key elements of the order process on the Shopify B2B platform, be issued correctly and be consistent with what…

Maciek: Absolutely. All the data we enter when creating a company can later be used in orders and passed on to the systems that send these documents. There's no…

Tomek: I'd add, because it just occurred to me, that when we create an entity in Shopify, that is, a company, we define its VAT number already at the account creation level. So the risk that someone enters an incorrect VAT number at checkout or makes a mistake in it disappears, because it's assigned to that user and their location anyway.

Maciek: At checkout there's no longer even a question about it.

Tomek: Then that question is gone. In my opinion that further reduces the risk.

Will discounts and prices work the way they do today?

Maciek: OK, the last two points. Will discounts and prices work exactly the same way as in our B2B trade today? That's how it's phrased.

Tomek: I think it's a slightly broader question: can I replicate in Shopify the way my B2B channel works today, meaning the commercial terms with my distributors, the discounts I've given them, and even individual discounts for a specific person?

Maciek: The discount policy.

Tomek: Everything we've explained today is absolutely possible to build and apply in Shopify. The only thing we need to do, at the process-mapping stage, that is, at the first stage of the cooperation, is to have it very clearly specified and described: our customers' pricing, the types of customers, the discounts we give them and the commercial terms we have with them. That simply has to be replicated in Shopify, but it's absolutely basic configuration of the platform.

Won't the ERP and warehouse integrations fall apart?

Maciek: Exactly. And the last point: won't it all fall apart on integrations, warehouses, fulfilment, ERPs and so on?

Tomek: Again, that's a concern that comes up practically always in any migration, broadly speaking. We're moving from one environment to another. I think we've already talked about it today: what will be the biggest challenge during a migration? Integrations with external systems are always an element that raises the risk, and they need to be taken care of. First, more and more systems are already prepared for integration with Shopify, and it's done very smoothly. But it's one of the key, basic elements of the whole migration process, so it will certainly be described: the requirements will be written down, and the process and how it should work will be described. The whole thing will be tested before it goes live, because we don't skip that element. In such migrations, especially when working with agencies like ours that take care of the whole process, which also matters, we aim to hand the client a product that sits in an environment they know, so that they know the integrations and the flow of information are preserved, meaning business continuity hasn't been interrupted.

Maciek: Unless someone runs B2B sales on an ERP in the form of a whiteboard plus a little bell for announcing wins.

Tomek: Yes.

Maciek: Then we'll take a closer look at it.

Tomek: Of course. We'll think about it.

Maciek: Via MCP, or maybe it can be integrated with Claude Code somehow.

Summary

Tomek: OK, Maciek, I think that's more or less where we wrap up today's episode. As we said at the beginning, even though we tried to pick questions from different areas of the B2B platform, they in no way exhaust the topic. We'll be happy to talk to you or simply answer the questions going through your heads, so we encourage you to ask them in the comments and, of course, to get in touch by email. I think today's episode showed that the B2B platform on Shopify is something we can safely take seriously when migrating. With it we get the whole ecosystem, and if we think of our buyer, even a wholesale distributor, as a customer who wants to shop in convenient online stores because they're used to it, Shopify fits this model perfectly and will let the channel work effectively.

Maciek: It's worth adding that Shopify keeps investing heavily in developing its B2B functionality. These are huge budgets, and with every Shopify Edition new features come out that you already have included in the price and can switch on as soon as they appear. You don't have to pay extra for them or hire a team of developers to keep adding modules. I think this is a good moment to finish.

Tomek: Exactly. Thank you very much, Maciek. And thank you too, as always.

Maciek: Thanks.

Tomek: See you in the next episodes.