B2B Pricing Models
The most common B2B pricing approaches are: flat percentage discount off RRP (e.g., all trade customers get 30% off), tiered pricing by volume (higher discounts for larger orders), customer-specific pricing (individual price lists per account), and catalogue pricing (separate wholesale prices for each SKU).
Choose a model that reflects your trade relationships and is practical to administer. Flat percentage discounts are simplest to manage. Customer-specific price lists offer the most flexibility but require more maintenance.
Shopify Plus Price Lists
Shopify B2B on Plus allows you to create price lists with fixed prices or percentage discounts per product or variant. Each price list is assigned to one or more B2B companies (customer accounts). When a B2B buyer logs in, they see prices from their assigned price list rather than retail prices.
Create price lists in Shopify admin under B2B, then Price Lists. Set the name, currency, and tax settings (B2B customers in the UK often purchase ex-VAT). Add products and set fixed prices or discount percentages.
Customer Tag Discounts
On standard Shopify plans, customer tag-based discounts are the most practical B2B pricing approach. Tag wholesale customers with a tag like "wholesale", then use an app to apply automatic discounts based on this tag.
Wholesale Club and Bold Custom Pricing allow automatic price adjustments for tagged customer groups. The customer sees wholesale prices as soon as they log in, with no need to apply a discount code.
App Alternatives
For non-Plus merchants, Wholesale Club, Wholesale Gorilla, and Handshake (Shopify's own B2B marketplace, US-focused) are the main options. Wholesale Club offers a good balance of features and affordability at around £40/month.
These apps create a separate wholesale pricing layer that displays to logged-in wholesale customers, while retail customers see standard prices.
Managing Multiple Price Tiers
If you have multiple wholesale tiers (e.g., Retailer, Distributor, Key Account), create separate price lists or customer tags for each tier. Keep your tier structure simple: 2-3 tiers are manageable, more than that creates significant administrative overhead.
Syncing with ERP
If you use an ERP system (Sage, NetSuite, SAP), B2B prices may live in the ERP and need to be synchronised to Shopify. Integration platforms like Patchworks, Akeneo, or custom API integrations can sync price lists from your ERP to Shopify on a scheduled basis or in real time.
