 "Why B2B Is Booming On Shopify Plus")
The latest Shopify Editions Winter 2023 release included even more features and functionality for Shopify B2B. As such, we’re taking a look at what’s happening in B2B eCommerce and how brands have the opportunity to be part of the boom on Shopify Plus. Let’s get started!
Booming B2B combined with changing expectations.
The demand for B2B eCommerce is increasing, with approximately 80% of B2B commerce predicted to happen online by 2025. But there’s more…
In recent years, B2B buying expectations and habits have shifted from a “one size fits all” approach to something more in line with direct-to-consumer (DTC) shoppers. “The B2B Future Shopper Report” showed that 90% of B2B buyers want the same seamless, user-friendly eCommerce experiences that DTC shoppers enjoy. Unfortunately, they found that 52% of buyers are dissatisfied with the B2B buying experience.
So how is Shopify Plus - the most scaled commerce platform on the planet - keeping up with this B2B shift?
Shopify Plus B2B: bringing a brilliant DTC experience to B2B.
In 2022, Shopify launched a raft of new B2B features directly into the Shopify Plus platform, all of which can access Shopify’s customisation features like store themes, discounts, and Functions.
This enables merchants to use the same user-friendly platform to create and manage B2B and DTC stores (no coding experience required). Merchants can opt to run both sides of the business (consumer and wholesale) from a single online store or can create a separate store just for wholesale that’s customised specifically to your B2B business requirements.
Expanding B2B on Shopify Plus 2023.
Despite B2B on Shopify being a relatively new offering, the platform has continued enhancing its offering as demonstrated by the number of changes announced at Shopify Winter Editions 2023.
1. Create quantity rules.
B2B merchants on Shopify can now set quantity rules for products and variants (like minimums and maximums, case-packs, and increments), and create rules for different B2B customers. In more detail, B2B customisation options include:
Adding metafields. Merchants can customise data fields to companies and company locations, enabling them to track unique customer information and simplify administrative tasks.
B2B welcome emails. Directly from the admin, merchants can push customised welcome emails with access and order instructions.
Cohesive checkout branding. Merchants can now implement a cohesive visual experience with consistent branding and design throughout the whole B2B checkout journey.
Custom B2B logic. Merchants can add payment and delivery functions to tailor the checkout to support both DTC and B2C customers with custom logic around company, location, and contact information.
Curated product publishing. Merchants can create customer-specific product selections and catalogs for a tailored shopping experience.
Personalised templates. Using Liquid, Shopify’s easy-to-use programming language, merchants can offer logged-in customers a personalised store theme and email templates.
Simplify reordering. Merchants can boost customer reorders by making it easier for them to buy their favourite items again.
2. Streamline the order process.
Winter Editions also brought changes that streamlined the order process for both merchants and customers. Top changes include draft orders that allow merchants to review and approve before sending, automatic approval of customer orders, and allowing customers to request a quote online. Also, read more about:
invoices for draft orders, and
due-on-fulfillment payment terms.
3. New suite of B2B APIs.
Lastly, Shopify released a suite of B2B API updates to enable developers to build better solutions for B2B merchants. Here’s a round-up:
Company API. This has been updated so you can add metafields to enhance the Company and CompanyLocation resources to add and store additional information.
Catalogs API. New for Winter 2023, this API is a set of rules that fix the availability of products and their prices in various situations. It enables you to offer unique wholesale product offerings and loyalty programmes.
PriceLists API. This enables merchants to link a PriceList with a Catalog to show different prices to different B2B buyers.
Publications API. This allows developers to build integrations with third-party systems and sync what products specific B2B customers can buy.
Order and DraftOrder APIs. These two objects have been updated so merchants can see the difference between DTC (direct-to-consumer) and B2B orders.
Payment Terms API. This allows you to set how long a company has to pay for their order, and it has been updated so you can query the associated Order and DraftOrder from the PaymentTerms object.
Blitzing B2B with Shopify Plus.
So that’s a summary of how Shopify continues bringing its DTC fairy dust to B2B buying!
Want a slice of the B2B action for your own brand? At blubolt, we’ve helped some of the UK’s best-loved brands grow exponentially in both B2C and B2B since 2026.
Using our technical and creative expertise, we've been able to extend the Shopify Plus feature-set to offer a powerful B2B solution, one that ensures all your B2B systems are connected, as well as leading self-service frontend features for your B2B customers. Explore our expert Shopify services and browse our client work for Shopify inspiration. Alternatively, get in touch to discuss your requirements. We would love to help!
