Setting up a B2B online shop with Shopify: Here's how it's done

Digital Transformation in B2B E-Commerce with Shopify

Shopify serves as an ideal, high-performance B2B platform for digitizing complex wholesale operations. Setup is highly flexible—whether you use dedicated apps in a hybrid store, operate standalone storefronts, or leverage the native "B2B on Shopify" functionality built for enterprise merchants.

At the latest since the Corona pandemic, not only B2C commerce is booming - the growth trend for B2B online commerce is also accelerating more and more. B2B sales offer companies a great opportunity - you have the chance to increase your revenues, plus the potential to grow in multiple directions. For companies that want to sell their products or services to other businesses, creating an efficient B2B online store is a crucial challenge. But with the right platform, this process can be greatly simplified. Our latest blog post is all about using Shopify as a B2B store solution.

Basically, the setup of a B2B online store is the same as for a B2C store, but merchants need to keep certain points in mind, such as pricing, customer groups, concept, etc. What you have to pay attention to and which solution path is best suited for your B2B store with Shopify, we explain in more detail in the text.

What is the difference between B2C stores and B2B stores with Shopify?

There are some key differences between B2C and B2B online stores that you should take into account when structuring or building your B2B store with Shopify. Let's take a closer look at the individual points:

1. Pricing

Different prices must be offered for private customers and wholesale customers. In a B2C online store, gross prices are displayed including VAT. In contrast, net prices are listed in a B2B online store.

In addition, commercial customers naturally expect different prices than private individuals, since they need a profit margin. In wholesale, there are also various criteria according to which the price is determined, such as individual discounts or graduated prices. It is therefore important to be able to set item prices flexibly for different target groups and also to display only the prices that apply to the respective individuals or companies.

2. Product assortment

There can also be differences in the product assortment. Customers in B2B often get access to products that are not available to private individuals. For traders, you can also offer products directly in denominations (for example, packages of 50 or 100).

3. Shop functions

Your B2B online store may need additional features, such as additional payment methods, minimum order quantity, an order form, re-orders of already ordered items or tax-free shopping within the EU with VAT ID. This is where B2B Shopify apps help, for example the Tax Exempt Manager app.

4. Legal aspects

Another important point is legal issues: Because here, too, separate legal regulations apply to commercial customers and end customers, which must be handled separately within the framework of the GTC and the right of withdrawal.

The key benefits of a digital B2B store solution with Shopify

By relying on a well-thought-out B2B shop solution, you significantly optimize your purchasing and sales processes—saving time, resources, and costs.

• Time Savings & Automation: Ordering processes are simplified, as orders are placed directly online and automatically transferred to your inventory management system. This drastically reduces administrative effort.

• Clarity: Even large and complex product catalogs are presented in a user-friendly manner.

• Growth & Scalability: You tap into new domestic and international markets and target groups quickly and cost-effectively.

• Cost Reduction & Higher Margins: Since fewer intermediaries are needed, your margins increase.

• Customer Retention: A direct, always-available brand presence sustainably strengthens B2B customer loyalty.

Essential B2B Store Features in Shopify To ensure your B2B project is successful, Shopify provides numerous tools. The most important features include:

• Customer Groups & Custom Pricing: Create different customer groups (wholesalers, retailers, etc.) and offer specific pricing structures as well as net price displays.

• Customer-Specific Product Catalogs: Precisely control which products specific customers can see and order after logging in.

• Volume Discounts & Tiered Pricing: Define pricing rules to incentivize larger order volumes.

• B2B Payment Methods & VAT ID Verification: Integrate traditional payment on account (invoicing), flexible payment terms, and tax-free purchasing within the EU.

• Order History & Quick Ordering: Business customers can view past orders and easily repeat them, significantly simplifying the purchasing process.

• International Features: Multilingual stores and multi-currency support help with global expansion.

• Extensive App Integrations: Extend your backend through specialized B2B apps that specifically automate processes.

Shopify B2B: These 3 Concepts Make Implementing Your B2B Online Store Possible

Many merchants mistakenly assume that Shopify B2B is complicated or expensive. In fact, this software offers three excellent concepts for digitizing your sales. Depending on your situation and specific requirements, different strategies are suitable:

Concept 1: B2C and B2B in the Same Store (Hybrid Store)

With this approach, you serve retail customers (B2C) and business customers (B2B) through one and the same Shopify store. The biggest challenge here lies in the clean separation of the different target groups, product lines, and pricing structures.

Technical Implementation:

• Dynamic Price Display (Gross vs. Net): End consumers must legally see gross prices (incl. VAT), while business customers expect pure net prices. VAT is calculated in the checkout via Shopify tax settings. To display net prices, custom discounts, tiered pricing, and minimum order quantities (MOQ) to B2B customers directly in the frontend, a specialized Shopify B2B app (such as Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B) is used.

• Exclusive B2B Products & Access Rights: If you want to make certain products or collections available exclusively to corporate customers, a Shopify B2B plugin for access restrictions (such as Locksmith or MagicPass Wholesale) is used. This unlocks sensitive content or entire category groups only after a merchant login.

• B2B Payment Methods in Checkout: Business customers expect payment methods such as payment on account (invoicing) with custom payment terms. In standard Shopify plans, configured payment methods are generally available to all customers. With Shopify Plus, however, payment methods can be dynamically controlled in the checkout—allowing you to enable payment on account exclusively for commercial customers while hiding it for B2C customers.

Pros and cons at a glance:

Concept 2: Dedicated B2B Online Store

With this concept, you strictly separate your B2C and B2B businesses into two independent Shopify stores. In this standalone Shopify B2B store, end consumers are no longer catered to, giving you maximum freedom to tailor all processes specifically to business customers.

Technical Implementation:

• Closed Merchant Portal & Access Protection: A dedicated B2B store is often operated as a closed system. Using specific Shopify B2B apps or targeted customizations in the B2B Shopify theme, the entire store or the price display is placed behind a login barrier. Only logged-in and manually verified merchants gain access to catalogs, net prices, and conditions.

• Specific B2B Checkout & Legal Texts: Since no B2C customers are served, the theme does not need to compromise on price display. The checkout, payment methods (such as payment on account), and legal texts (terms & conditions, right of withdrawal) are 100% tailored to business customer operations and B2B regulations.

• Inventory Synchronization Between Multiple Stores: If you operate a B2C store in parallel and both stores draw from the same stock, automatic inventory synchronization is mandatory. Specialized apps (such as Syncio or SyncLogic) or integration with a central ERP system keep inventory up to date in real time across both stores during sales, preventing costly overselling.

• Theme & System Maintenance: For the B2B store, you can choose an independent theme or use a customized copy of your B2C theme. Note that design adjustments, products, and apps must be maintained and managed separately in both stores.

Pros and cons at a glance:

Concept 3: Native Features with "B2B on Shopify" (Shopify Plus)

As a user of the enterprise plan Shopify Plus, "B2B on Shopify" (formerly known as the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel) provides you with a highly scalable, native B2B store software solution. With this approach, you manage B2B and B2C operations directly from a single admin area—completely without the use of external third-party apps.

Technical Implementation:

• Company Profiles & Customer Structures: You create detailed company accounts (Company Profiles), assign multiple locations or buyers, and set individual payment terms (e.g., payment on account with payment terms like Net 30 or Net 60).

• Custom Price Lists & Catalogs: Assign specific B2B catalogs to different customer groups. You can set explicit net prices, percentage discounts, volume pricing, and minimum order quantities (MOQ)—directly within the Shopify system.

• Native B2B order processing: B2B orders can enter the admin area as draft orders. This allows you to manually adjust orders before invoicing, add special conditions, or send custom quotes to the customer.

• Protected merchant access: Product catalogs, B2B prices, and terms are password-protected and only become visible after a verified company account logs in.

Pros and cons at a glance:

Guide: How to Create a B2B Store with Shopify in 5 Steps

Has the strategic decision been made? Then it's time to move on to practical implementation. Creating a fully functional B2B online store with Shopify requires thorough planning—from initial concept selection to automated integration into your existing IT landscape.

With this battle-tested 5-step roadmap, we guide you systematically through B2B online store development, helping you avoid common pitfalls and create a seamless buying experience for your business customers from day one:

Step 1: Choose the Right B2B Concept & a High-Performance B2B Shopify Theme

Based on your target audience and system architecture, choose one of the three concepts (hybrid store, separate B2B store, or native B2B features in Shopify Plus). Next, select a specialized B2B Shopify theme designed for large product catalogs, fast loading speeds, flexible filtering options, and B2B functionalities (such as quick-order forms for rapid purchasing).

Step 2: Basic Store Setup & Product Catalog Creation

Set up the foundation in the Shopify admin area, maintain master data, and input your products. Create specific B2B catalogs with tailored net prices and volume discount tiers that only become visible to designated customer groups once unlocked. If you are using Shopify Plus, this is also where you link the company profiles of your business customers.

Step 3: Activate Specific Shopify B2B Plugins & Apps or Plus Features

Now enable the required B2B store features. If you are not using Shopify Plus, install proven Shopify B2B plugins (e.g., for net price displays, minimum order quantities, or customized access permissions). If you use Shopify Plus, configure the native B2B features for payment terms, draft orders, and customer-specific checkouts directly within the system.

Step 4: B2B Online Store Development & Interface Integration (ERP, CRM & Inventory Management)

A B2B store only unleashes its full power through automation. As part of professional B2B online store development, Shopify is connected via APIs or middleware to your ERP system (e.g., SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Xentral), CRM, and inventory management system. This ensures that stock levels, prices, customer data, and orders are automatically synchronized in real time.

Step 5: Quality Assurance, Legal Text Verification & Ongoing Review

Before going live, perform thorough test orders across different customer segments. Verify that B2B legal texts (Terms and Conditions, right of withdrawal) apply correctly and that tax handling (e.g., EU VAT ID logic) operates without errors. Even after the launch, rely on regular post-checks to continuously optimize prices, catalogs, and system integrations.

International sales for B2B companies

Shopify offers a variety of features and tools to help B2B companies expand internationally. Whether you're looking to enter new markets or expand your business globally, Shopify makes it possible to sell internationally efficiently. Here are some of the key ways Shopify helps B2B shops expand internationally:

Multiple currencies and languages

Shopify offers a multicurrency feature that allows B2B companies to display and charge prices to their customers worldwide in their own currency. This is particularly important to ensure a smooth and transparent shopping experience without customers having to manually perform currency conversions.

• Currency conversions: Shopify ensures that currencies are converted automatically, based on real-time exchange rates.

• Shopify Payments: With Shopify Payments, you can accept payments in multiple currencies. Customers can pay in their local currency and the shop owner receives the payment in their preferred currency.

• Multilingual shops: Shopify supports the creation of multilingual online shops so that B2B customers can find and buy products in their preferred language. This is done either via the integrated Shopify translation function or via apps that enable translations for different languages.

International taxes and value added tax (VAT)

Country-specific tax rules are of great importance in international trade. Shopify offers an automatic tax calculation based on the different tax rates worldwide.

• Tax rules and rates: Shopify allows you to set different tax rates depending on the country and region. This feature helps to automatically include VAT or other specific taxes in the order value.

• EU VAT: Shopify offers an EU VAT rule specifically for the European market, allowing merchants to correctly apply the current VAT rate for each country. The One-Stop-Shop (OSS) scheme for reporting and paying VAT for cross-border sales within the EU is also supported.

International shipping options

For international shipping, Shopify offers a variety of solutions that simplify shipping costs and processing:

• Global shipping rates: Shopify seamlessly integrates with shipping carriers such as DHL, UPS and FedEx to display real-time international shipping rates. This allows you to display accurate shipping rates to your B2B customers on the checkout page.

• Customs and import fees: Shopify helps calculate customs fees and import taxes that may apply to international shipments. You can also offer your customers the option to prepay customs fees and taxes to avoid surprises when they receive their goods.

• Shipping zones: Shopify allows you to create different shipping zones that offer different shipping methods and prices depending on the destination region. This makes it possible to set specific prices and options for different countries or regions.

Multi-channel sales

Shopify supports multi-channel selling across multiple channels, which is particularly beneficial for B2B companies that want to offer their products internationally.

• Marketplace integrations: You can connect your Shopify shop to international marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy to expand your reach and attract new customers.

• Social media and online marketing: Shopify offers seamless integrations for social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, which can boost international sales.

International legal requirements and data protection

Expanding into international markets also brings with it legal and data protection challenges. Shopify helps B2B companies to fulfil these requirements:

• Data protection: Shopify is GDPR-compliant and helps you fulfil the data protection requirements of different countries. Especially in Europe, B2B companies must ensure that they process and store customer data securely.

• Legal requirements: Shopify provides legal tools to ensure that your terms and conditions and return policies are internationally applicable. You can add country-specific terms and conditions and customise return and warranty requirements depending on the market.

Shopify Markets

Shopify Markets is a comprehensive solution designed specifically for businesses that operate in multiple countries. With Shopify Markets you can easily manage international markets.

• Global pricing and customisation: Prices and content can be set differently depending on the market. This means you can offer specific prices and discounts for each country.

• Local payment methods: Shopify Markets supports local payment methods such as Klarna or Sofort, which are typical for certain markets.

• Customised marketplace options: You can implement different sales strategies and marketing campaigns for different countries and regions, which is especially helpful for B2B companies serving specialised markets.

B2B Shop with Shopify: Examples from Latori

For Latori, the implementation of high-performance B2B stores is a major focus topic. We have already developed a number of complex B2B stores with Shopify and today we present three of our Shopify projects:

1. Bego

BEGO GmbH & Co. KG from Bremen is one of the leading manufacturers of dental prostheses and implants. With the Shopify Plus B2B Shop, Bego addresses its numerous business customers. This enables dental practices, for example, to purchase the dental products after registration.

2. Selecta

Selecta is the largest provider of food from vending machines. For this large company, we have also enabled sales through a Shopify Plus store. There, Selecta offers business or wholesale customers the opportunity to purchase the well-known products from the vending machines.

3. Neuland

Neuland is a leading provider of learning tools and holistic room concepts. The product catalog includes markers, pens, chalk & more. Neuland's products are sold to B2C customers as well as B2B customers from all over the world.

Conclusion: Shopify is definitely suitable as a solution for B2B sales.

B2B sales is a lucrative growth opportunity for merchants that should not be ignored. Even though a B2B online store increases complexity both technically and organizationally, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. In the long run, stores for commercial customers also have a marketing effect that should not be underestimated and can give the existing B2C online store an additional boost.