Shopify B2B is enough when wholesale is a simple sideline: products that ship from stock, a few customer price lists, net terms and one admin for D2C and trade. A dedicated wholesale ordering platform fits better when you sell pre-orders with delivery dates, size runs and reps, with many price lists in several currencies.
By Till Elsässer, Founder of Order41 · Published Oct 23, 2026 · Last checked Oct 23, 2026
Shopify's own B2B tools are a solid choice for a D2C-first brand that sells to a handful of retailers from stock. They stop being enough when wholesale becomes a business of its own: seasons sold ahead, size runs ordered as a block, price lists per customer and currency, and reps writing orders. Every Shopify fact on this page was checked on Shopify's own pages on 23 October 2026.
Shopify B2B is probably enough if:
Look at a dedicated platform, or a wholesale app, if:
Since 2 April 2026, B2B has been available on Basic, Grow and Advanced as well as Plus, at no additional cost. These are the features that matter for wholesale, as Shopify's help centre lists them.
| Feature | Basic, Grow, Advanced | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Companies, company locations and location permissions | Yes | Yes |
| B2B catalogs (assigned to B2B markets) | Up to 3 active | Unlimited |
| Catalogs assigned directly to a company or location | No | Yes |
| Quantity rules (minimum, maximum, increment) | Yes | Yes |
| Quantity price breaks (volume pricing) | Yes | Yes |
| Net terms and payment reminders | Yes | Yes |
| PO numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Draft order to invoice, easy reorders, quick order list | Yes | Yes |
| Sales staff permissions | Yes | Yes |
| Deposits, partial payments, payment requests per fulfillment | No | Yes |
| Shopify Flow with B2B objects | Yes | Yes |
Two details from Shopify's documentation are worth knowing. To use B2B catalog features on Basic, Grow or Advanced, your store must use new Shopify Markets. And volume pricing lets you add up to 10 price breaks per product.
B2B itself is not a separate charge on Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus. You pay for the plan. These are the headline figures on Shopify's pricing and Plus pricing pages when checked (USD; Shopify says pricing and payment options vary by region):
| Plan | Headline price | B2B catalogs |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $29 a month paying yearly, $39 paying monthly | Up to 3 |
| Grow | $79 a month | Up to 3 |
| Advanced | $299 a month | Up to 3 |
| Plus | From $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term, or a variable platform fee | Unlimited |
Payment processing is separate, and wholesale apps are an extra cost on top. Order41 prices differently: a flat monthly plan, Pro at €65 or Team at €145, with Scale on a yearly custom quote. Buyer accounts are free, and selling needs a paid plan. See pricing.
These are the limits in Shopify's own documentation, and what Order41 does in the same place.
On Basic, Grow and Advanced, three active catalogs are shared across all your B2B markets, and catalogs cannot be assigned to a single company below Plus. To sell in more than one currency with B2B you need Shopify Payments, and a catalog can carry fixed prices in a preferred currency. As an illustration, three currencies plus one key-account price list is already four lists against a limit of three.
In Order41, prices are set on each product variant, per currency, for a customer, for a group or for a drop, and every plan from Pro upward includes unlimited price lists. Order41 does not convert between currencies: a price only changes when you change it. See price lists and currencies and wholesale price lists per customer, in every currency.
Shopify's developer documentation says B2B doesn't support purchase options such as subscriptions, pre-orders and try before you buy. Deposits and partial payments are Plus-only. So selling ahead of production through B2B means an app or a workaround.
In Order41, a drop can be pre-order only, which ignores inventory. Each product variant can carry as many delivery dates as you need, so one drop can mix in-stock and pre-order items. See pre-order and drop.
Shopify's quantity rules apply to product variants. Shopify's own example is a hat in two colours: a customer cannot combine 5 grey and 5 blue to meet a minimum of 10. The B2B documentation we read does not describe selling a fixed set of sizes as one unit.
In Order41, products can be sold in case packs: a fixed set of sizes ordered as one unit, so the size run stays intact through to fulfilment. See size run and pack ratio.
Shopify B2B has sales staff permissions, and a merchant can create draft orders for company contacts to review and approve. That fits a small in-house team. An agency or showroom with several reps covering the same accounts is a different shape.
In Order41, a sales rep is a role: reps invite partners, share links, and create or change orders, and admins decide which partners each rep can access. Rep teams can see each other's drafts, customers and orders, and reps can switch between the brands they represent. Reps count toward staff seats: up to 3 on Pro, 10 on Team, unlimited on Scale. See taking orders as a sales rep.
Shopify B2B sells through catalogs attached to markets. A drop in Order41 is a collection of products shared with specific partners or groups, with its own pricing if you want it, and it can hide products once they are sold out. See products and drops.
For many brands the right answer is neither native B2B nor a new platform, but an app that adds what native B2B lacks while keeping everything in Shopify.
One popular wholesale app, for example, lists a sales rep portal, quoting, unlimited price lists on paid plans, and pre-orders, multi-currency, pack sizes and minimums among its features. Its paid plans cap the number of B2B orders each month and limit sales agents per plan.
What to weigh: you keep one storefront and one inventory, but you pay Shopify plus the app, you depend on a third party's roadmap, and each app has its own order and agent limits. Compare those limits with how many orders you take in a market week. If wholesale keeps growing and the app list keeps growing with it, that is the point to price a dedicated platform.
You do not have to choose. Many brands keep the consumer store on Shopify and run wholesale elsewhere. According to Order41's documentation, the Shopify integration pulls product data from Shopify and syncs back orders, with settings to deactivate the sync of values such as inventory and price, or of orders and order updates. Standard integrations start on the Team plan. Order41 can also export product data as a Shopify-ready CSV. See integrations and API and migrate wholesale from Shopify to Order41.
"Shopify + app" uses one popular wholesale app's public listing as the example. Cells for Order41 come from order41.com.
| Shopify B2B (native) | Shopify B2B + wholesale app (example) | Order41 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Your Shopify admin, next to D2C | Your Shopify admin | A separate wholesale workspace; Shopify integration on Team and up |
| Cost | Included on Basic ($29) to Advanced ($299), Plus from $2,300 (USD) | Shopify plan plus the app's monthly fee | Pro €65, Team €145 a month, Scale on request; buyers free |
| Customer price lists | Up to 3 catalogs on Basic to Advanced, unlimited on Plus | Unlimited price lists on paid plans (listing) | Unlimited from Pro; customer, group, currency and drop prices |
| Prices per currency | Fixed catalog prices need Shopify Payments | Multi-currency listed | Set per currency, no conversion |
| Minimums and increments | Per variant; cannot combine variants | Minimums and pack sizes listed | Case packs sell a fixed set of sizes as one unit |
| Quantity price breaks | Up to 10 per product | Volume rules listed | Not documented on order41.com |
| Pre-orders and delivery dates | B2B does not support pre-orders natively | Pre-orders listed | Pre-order-only drops; several delivery dates per variant |
| Net terms and payments | Net terms, vaulted cards, reminders; deposits on Plus only | Net terms listed | Net terms; card payments via Stripe |
| Sales reps | Staff permissions; draft orders for buyers to approve | Sales Rep Portal on paid plans | Sales rep role, shared rep visibility, multi-brand switching |
| Buyer login | Company accounts, trade theme | Wholesale login, forms | Work email and six-digit code; buyer accounts free |
| Single inventory with D2C | Yes, one store | Yes | Via the Shopify integration, with sync you can limit |
| Finding new retailers | No | No | No: no retailer network, no discovery |
If you are comparing more than Shopify, see Joor alternatives and best B2B wholesale ordering platforms. For the definition, see B2B ordering platform.
Shopify B2B is included at no additional cost on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus plans, and has been on the first three since 2 April 2026. You still pay for your Shopify plan and for payment processing. Shopify's pricing page lists Basic from $29 a month billed yearly, Grow $79 and Advanced $299 (USD, region dependent), and any wholesale app costs extra.
No. B2B works on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. Plus is needed for unlimited B2B catalogs, catalogs assigned directly to a company or location, and deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment. Shopify lists Plus from $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term, or a variable fee.
On Basic, Grow and Advanced you can assign up to 3 active catalogs across all your B2B markets, and assigning 3 to one market uses the whole limit. Catalogs attach to markets, not to individual companies. Shopify Plus has unlimited catalogs and can assign them directly to companies and company locations.
Not natively. Shopify's developer documentation states that B2B doesn't support purchase options such as subscriptions, pre-orders and try before you buy. Merchants add a third-party app, as some wholesale apps list pre-orders as a feature, or use a wholesale platform built around delivery dates.
There is no single best app; it depends on what you need to add. Compare how each handles price lists, pack sizes and minimums, pre-orders, reps and invoicing, and check the order limits on each plan.
Yes. Order41's Shopify integration pulls product data from Shopify and syncs back orders, and you can switch off the sync of values such as inventory and price, or of orders and order updates. Standard integrations start on the Team plan. Order41 also exports product data as a Shopify-ready CSV.
Order41 Pro is €65 a month and Team €145, billed monthly; Scale is a yearly custom quote. Buyer accounts are free, and selling needs a paid plan. Card payments run through your own Stripe account with Stripe's fees plus a 1% Order41 fee on Pro and Team. Shopify B2B has no extra charge but needs a Shopify plan, so it is not a like-for-like price.
Pre-orders, stock orders and reorders in one platform.
Free to start, no credit card required.
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