Setting Up Wholesale on Shopify
Three Ways to Sell Wholesale on Shopify
Option 1: Shopify Plus B2B Channel
Shopify Plus includes a dedicated B2B sales channel that runs alongside your D2C storefront from the same admin dashboard. The B2B channel supports company accounts with multiple buyers per company, custom price lists per customer group, payment terms (Net 15, 30, 60, 90), draft orders and quoting, quantity rules and volume pricing, and a separate B2B-only storefront that wholesale buyers access through a unique login. Both channels share the same product catalog and inventory, so inventory updates apply to both D2C and wholesale simultaneously.
Shopify Plus B2B is the most seamless option if you already sell D2C on Shopify and want to add wholesale without managing a separate platform. The integrated inventory, order management, and reporting reduce operational complexity. The drawback is cost: at $2,300 per month minimum, Shopify Plus is only justified if your wholesale revenue (combined with D2C revenue) supports the expense. For businesses doing under $500,000 per year in total revenue, the standard Shopify plan with a wholesale app is more cost-effective.
Option 2: Wholesale Apps on Standard Shopify
The Shopify App Store includes several wholesale apps that add B2B functionality to standard Shopify plans (Basic at $39, Shopify at $105, or Advanced at $399 per month). The most established wholesale apps include Wholesale Gorilla ($29.95 per month, tiered pricing, custom pricing per customer, minimum order quantities, quick order form), Wholesale Club by Pixel Union ($24 per month, volume discounts, custom pricing, wholesale registration), B2B Wholesale Club ($29.99 per month, net terms, quantity breaks, customer-specific pricing), and SparkLayer ($49 to $199 per month, full B2B ordering portal with rapid reorder, sales agent ordering, and ERP integration).
These apps work by tagging customers as wholesale buyers and displaying different prices and ordering options based on their customer tag. The buyer registers through a wholesale application form, you review and approve the application, and the app automatically shows wholesale pricing when they log in. Most apps support multiple pricing tiers (gold, silver, bronze), per-product quantity breaks, minimum order values, and the ability to hide specific products from wholesale or retail customers.
The advantage is cost: $60 to $200 per month total (Shopify plan plus app) versus $2,300 per month for Shopify Plus. The tradeoff is that third-party apps are less deeply integrated, occasionally conflict with theme customizations, and add another dependency to your technology stack. If the app developer discontinues the product or changes pricing, your wholesale channel is affected.
Option 3: Separate Wholesale Store
Some brands create a second Shopify store exclusively for wholesale (for example, wholesale.yourbrand.com). This store is password-protected so only approved buyers can access it, and it displays only wholesale pricing and ordering options. The advantage is complete separation between D2C and B2B experiences, which simplifies design, pricing, and checkout for each channel. The disadvantage is managing two separate Shopify accounts, inventories, and admin dashboards, which doubles your operational complexity and subscription cost.
A separate store makes sense when your wholesale catalog is significantly different from your D2C catalog (different products, different packaging sizes), when you need a B2B checkout experience that is dramatically different from your consumer checkout, or when you are on a basic Shopify plan and want to avoid app dependencies. For most brands, Option 1 or Option 2 is more practical because shared inventory and unified admin reduce workload.
Step by Step Setup
If you are already on Shopify Plus or your combined revenue justifies the upgrade, use the native B2B channel for the cleanest integration. If you are on a standard Shopify plan and want to keep costs low, install a wholesale app (Wholesale Gorilla and SparkLayer are the most full-featured options). If you have specific reasons for complete channel separation, create a second Shopify store. For the remainder of this guide, we will focus on the wholesale app approach since it is the most common for small to mid-size brands.
Install your chosen wholesale app from the Shopify App Store and configure the core settings: create customer groups (pricing tiers) such as Standard Wholesale, Premium Wholesale, and Distributor, each with different discount levels. Set up the wholesale registration form that buyers fill out to apply for a wholesale account, including fields for business name, resale certificate number, business type, and estimated monthly order volume. Configure your approval workflow so new applications land in your inbox for review rather than auto-approving. Set global minimum order quantities and minimum order values. Enable the wholesale login that shows different pricing to approved buyers versus regular visitors.
Most wholesale apps work by applying a percentage discount or fixed wholesale price to your existing product catalog. Set wholesale prices either as a percentage off retail (for example, 50 percent off for Standard Wholesale, 55 percent off for Premium) or as specific dollar amounts per product. Add case quantity information to product descriptions or use the app's quantity increment feature to force ordering in case packs (multiples of 6, 12, 24, etc.). If certain products are not available for wholesale, exclude them from the wholesale customer view. Update product descriptions to include wholesale-relevant information: case dimensions, case weight, units per case, and suggested retail price.
For payment, configure the options appropriate for wholesale: credit card (standard Shopify checkout), manual payment methods (bank transfer, check) that generate an invoice rather than charging immediately, and if your app supports it, net terms invoicing. For shipping, create wholesale-specific shipping rates that reflect the lower per-unit cost of bulk shipments. Many wholesale Shopify setups use calculated shipping rates based on weight or offer flat-rate shipping tiers (free shipping above $500, $25 flat rate for orders $200 to $499, and so on). Configure your shipping profiles to handle wholesale order weights and dimensions that exceed standard parcel limits.
Before inviting buyers, create a test wholesale account and walk through the entire buyer experience: registration, approval, login, browsing with wholesale prices, adding products to cart with quantity requirements, checkout with wholesale payment and shipping options, and order confirmation. Verify that retail visitors cannot see wholesale pricing, that minimum order enforcements work correctly, and that order notifications and invoices display the right information. Fix any issues before your first real buyer encounters them. Then begin onboarding buyers by sending your B2B storefront link to existing contacts, listing it on your line sheet, and promoting it through your B2B marketing channels.
Tips for Managing Wholesale on Shopify
Keep your D2C and wholesale order workflows separate in your fulfillment process. Tag wholesale orders automatically using Shopify Flow (available on Shopify Plus and Advanced plans) or an order tagging app so your warehouse team can identify and prioritize wholesale orders, which typically require different packaging and shipping methods than consumer orders.
Monitor inventory carefully when running both D2C and wholesale on the same catalog. A viral social media post that sells 200 units to consumers in a day can deplete the inventory reserved for a wholesale order due next week. Consider using Shopify's inventory reservation features or a dedicated inventory management app to allocate stock between channels, especially for products with long restocking lead times.
Use Shopify's discount code feature (separate from the wholesale app pricing) to create promotional offers for wholesale buyers, such as introductory discounts for first orders, seasonal promotions, or volume bonuses. These stack on top of wholesale pricing and give you flexible tools for buyer acquisition and retention without changing your base wholesale price structure.