Shopify B2B and wholesale automation in 2026: what native B2B does on each plan, and what to automate around it

Wholesale on Shopify used to mean Shopify Plus or a stack of apps. Since 2 April 2026 that has changed: Shopify brought its core B2B features to the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans at no extra cost. Company profiles, wholesale price catalogues, payment terms and volume pricing are now in the admin of most stores. What is often still missing is Shopify B2B automation: the approvals, reminders, reorders and ERP updates that someone does by hand every week.

This guide is for brands that sell wholesale and direct on the same Shopify store, and for the operations people who run the wholesale side. It covers what native B2B includes on each plan, where a wholesale app still earns its fee, which jobs Shopify Flow can take over, and where a custom integration fits. I build Shopify apps and automation for stores, so it is written from the automation side.

What Shopify B2B includes on each plan in 2026

Shopify's B2B features by plan page is the source of truth. In short:

Feature	Basic, Grow, Advanced	Plus
Companies, locations, per-location buyer roles	Yes	Yes
B2B catalogues assigned to markets	Up to 3	Unlimited, also assignable to a company or location
Quantity rules (minimum, maximum, increment) and price breaks	Yes	Yes
Net terms, payment reminders, vaulted cards, ACH (US only)	Yes	Yes
Deposits, partial payments, payment per fulfilment	No	Yes
Draft order to invoice, checkout to draft, PO numbers, easy reorders	Yes	Yes
Contextual storefront and checkout through Markets	Advanced only	Yes

Three details catch people out. Below Plus, catalogues need the new Shopify Markets. B2B requires the new customer accounts, where buyers sign in with an email linked to a company location and a one-time code. And according to Shopify's B2B developer docs, B2B purchases do not support subscriptions, pre-orders or try-before-you-buy, so a wholesale programme built on those needs another approach.

The catalogue limit is the real dividing line. Three catalogues cover "retail", "wholesale" and "distributor" tiers, not a separate price list for each of forty accounts. For that, the honest answer is Plus, not an app that works around it.

Do you still need a wholesale app?

Most Shopify wholesale apps were built when native B2B was Plus-only. On any plan, the native features now cover the core: who can buy, at what price, in what quantities and on what terms.

Apps still earn their place for richer application forms with conditional questions, bulk order forms for very large catalogues, quotes that go back and forth before an order exists, or tools for sales reps who take orders by phone. If you cannot name the gap in one sentence, you probably do not need the app.

Automating wholesale account approvals

Native B2B now handles applications. With company account requests, you add a form built in the Shopify Forms app to your store. Each submission creates a company, a location and a customer, and the company waits in an "Ordering not approved" tab under Customers, then Companies, until a staff member assigns permissions. Rejecting means deleting the company.

Flow can approve requests too, but Shopify's template, "Allow ordering for companies created by company account requests", approves every submission. Few wholesale programmes want that. A better pattern:

1. Trigger: "Company created".
2. Check: read the form answers stored in metafields, such as tax number, country and expected order size.
3. Route: if the answers match your rules, assign a catalogue with "Add catalog to company location", set terms with "Update company location payment terms" and send "Send B2B access email". If not, email the person who reviews accounts.

Two limits: a request cannot add someone to an existing company, and the form does not work on a dedicated, gated wholesale store.

Net terms and payment reminders

Terms are set per company location or draft order: net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 days, due on fulfilment, or a fixed date (draft orders only). Shopify's payment terms documentation is clear that payment is not captured automatically when terms expire. The order shows as overdue, and someone has to collect.

Flow helps here. The Payment schedule is due trigger fires on the due date and pairs with the "Send payment reminder" action. Shopify ships templates for a reminder on the due date and another after it. From there you can build a simple escalation:

• On the due date: send the payment reminder.
• A week later, still unpaid: tag the order, email the account manager.
• Repeated late payment: use "Update checkout to draft for company location", so that location's new orders arrive as drafts for review instead of going straight through.

Flow also has a "Charge vaulted payment for B2B order" action. Use it only where the buyer has agreed in writing that you may charge their saved card when terms end.

Reorders and account management

Native B2B includes easy reorders in customer accounts and a quick order list in the Trade theme, so the buying side is covered. The selling side is where small automations pay off:

• Large order alerts: on "Order created", if the order was placed for a company and passes a value, notify the account manager.
• First order welcome: tag a company's first B2B order and send your onboarding pack.
• Reorder nudges: remind a buyer when they are later than usual to reorder.

The last one is harder than it sounds. Flow keeps no memory between runs, as I explain in my guide to what Shopify Flow can and cannot do, so "later than usual" needs each account's rhythm stored somewhere. That is a small custom job: read order history each night, work out each location's usual gap and email the buyer or rep when it is overdue.

Syncing Shopify B2B with an ERP or accounting system

Once wholesale grows, the ERP or accounting system usually holds the master data, and Shopify has to agree with it. A typical split:

Data	Usually owned by	Direction
Companies and locations	ERP or CRM	ERP to Shopify
Wholesale prices	ERP	ERP to Shopify catalogues
Stock	ERP or warehouse system	Into Shopify
Orders	Shopify	Shopify to ERP
Invoices and payment status	ERP or accounting	Both ways

The GraphQL Admin API covers companies, locations, contacts, catalogues and payment terms, and Shopify's docs list importing B2B orders placed elsewhere as a supported use case. Several ERPs have connector apps in the Shopify App Store; Oracle NetSuite publishes its own. Try a connector first. Custom work comes in when your rules do not fit its mapping, or when there is no connector at all.

Whichever route you take, decide one owner for each field and write it down. Most sync bugs are two systems both believing they own the price. For the finance side, I cover invoices and payouts in e-commerce accounting automation.

Shopify Flow for B2B: where it stops

Flow is free on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, and it understands B2B objects: triggers such as "Company created", "Company location created", "Company contact created" and "Payment schedule is due", and actions for catalogues, payment terms, company metafields, invoices and reminders.

It stops where it does for any store. "Send HTTP request", which talks to outside systems, needs Grow or above. Triggers and actions added by your own custom app only work on Plus. And there is no queue of failed jobs or check that Shopify and the ERP still agree. For approvals, reminders and alerts, Flow is enough. For anything that keeps two systems in step, plan for a small backend.

A checklist for setting up Shopify B2B automation

1. Write down today's process: who approves accounts, who chases payments, who keys orders into the ERP.
2. Map customers to companies and locations. Three branches are one company with three locations, each with its own terms.
3. Design catalogues within your plan. Three tiers below Plus; per-company pricing means Plus.
4. Turn on the reminder templates and test them with a test company and a fixed-date draft order.
5. Add approval rules, starting with a notification rather than auto-approval.
6. Decide the owner of every field before connecting an ERP.
7. Read Flow's run log weekly for the first month.

What Shopify B2B automation costs: native, apps or custom

Native B2B comes at no extra cost on eligible plans, and Flow is free. That covers more wholesale programmes than most merchants expect, so start there. Apps add a monthly fee for specific gaps.

Custom work is for rules and integrations the native tools cannot express. On my Shopify app plans, all starting prices, the MVP from $2,000 is a custom app for your store with one focused feature, such as approval rules or reorder nudges. The Flexible plan from $4,500 adds admin screens and order and product data kept in sync, the shape of most ERP connections. Every project gets a fixed quote after a short brief, and you own the code and the accounts. See how this fits the rest of a store on the e-commerce automation page, or rank the jobs with my guide to what to automate first.

FAQ

Do I need Shopify Plus to sell wholesale on Shopify?

Not any more. Since 2 April 2026, Basic, Grow and Advanced include company profiles, up to three B2B catalogues, quantity rules, volume pricing, net terms, payment reminders and vaulted cards at no extra cost. Plus is still needed for unlimited catalogues, assigning a catalogue directly to one company or location, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfilment. If each wholesale account needs its own price list, plan for Plus.

Can Shopify send net terms payment reminders automatically?

Yes. Shopify Flow's "Payment schedule is due" trigger fires when a B2B order's payment falls due, and the "Send payment reminder" action sends the buyer a payment reminder. Shopify includes templates for a reminder on the due date and one after it. What Shopify does not do is collect the money automatically when terms end: someone must charge the order, for example against a saved card the buyer has agreed you may use.

Can Shopify B2B sync with my ERP?

Usually, through a connector app or a custom integration. The GraphQL Admin API exposes companies, locations, catalogues, payment terms and B2B orders, and several ERP vendors publish connector apps in the Shopify App Store. Try the connector first. Custom work makes sense when your pricing, credit or approval rules do not fit its mapping, or when your ERP has no connector. Decide which system owns each field before anything syncs.

If your wholesale side still runs on spreadsheets and reminders in someone's head, send me a short brief: your Shopify plan, how many wholesale accounts you have, how you price them, and the job that takes the most time each week. You can start from the Shopify app MVP plan, read about my Shopify store automation service, or see what Shopify Flow can already do before you spend anything.