Selling to Businesses Too? What to Know About Wholesale on Shopify

What Does Shopify Provide for Wholesale?

Company accounts — Each wholesale customer gets their own account, with multiple users if needed.

Different prices — You can set up different price lists for different customer groups.

Payment terms — Net 30, net 60, or upfront payment — per customer.

Quick ordering — Wholesale customers can copy-paste SKU lists or reorder from previous orders.

When Are Built-in Tools Enough?

Pricing is simple — All wholesale customers get the same discount, or there are 2-3 price levels.

Wholesale is a small part of the business — If most revenue comes from regular customers, you probably don't need more.

No special rules — No minimum order by category, no approval processes, no integration with another system.

When Do You Need a Custom Solution?

Complex pricing — Price depends on the customer's annual volume, category, order quantity, and promotions. Every customer gets a different price.

ERP integration — Prices and inventory need to sync with another system in real-time.

Approval processes — Large orders need manager approval before they go out.

Industry-specific rules — In fashion, for example, sometimes you must order a complete size set. In jewelry there's minimum order by category.

A Real Example

Note: Client names and some details have been changed to protect confidentiality. The technical challenges and solutions are real.

One client sells mainly to regular customers, with a few steady wholesale accounts. Their wholesale is simple: one wholesale price list, standard payment terms.

We used Shopify's built-in tools. Within days everything worked, no custom development.

Another client, with more complex wholesale operations, needed something different: dynamic pricing that changes based on volume, real-time inventory sync with another system, and different allocation for customers at different tiers. We built them a Laravel system that connects to Shopify and their management system.

The Questions to Ask

1. How much of revenue is wholesale? If it's a small part — built-in is probably enough.

2. How complicated is pricing? If you have 2-3 fixed price lists — enough. If every customer is a different story — you need more.

3. Need to connect to another system? If yes, you probably need a custom solution.

4. Are there approval processes? If orders need approval — built-in tools are limited.

Not Sure What's Right for You?

We'd love to look at your wholesale operations and tell you what will work — sometimes the answer is "what you have is enough."