How to Sell Wholesale From Your Shopify Store: B2B Setup Without Shopify Plus

Wholesale is a significant revenue opportunity that many Shopify merchants overlook because they assume it requires Shopify Plus or expensive custom development. It does not. With the right app setup, you can sell to retailers, distributors, and wholesale buyers from your existing store on any Shopify plan.

This guide covers the practical setup options, the key decisions around pricing and terms, and how to create a wholesale experience that professional buyers will respect.

Why Add Wholesale to Your Shopify Store?

Wholesale creates complementary revenue with different economics than DTC:

Lower customer acquisition cost: A single wholesale account can represent recurring orders worth 10-50x your average DTC order, without ongoing advertising expense per order.

Demand validation: If independent retailers are willing to stock your product, it validates market demand and often provides product feedback that improves your DTC offering.

Inventory efficiency: Wholesale orders can absorb slow-moving inventory, provide cash flow between DTC sales cycles, and allow you to place larger manufacturing orders at better unit costs.

Brand distribution: Retail placement creates physical brand touchpoints and potential discovery by customers who then become direct customers.

The trade-off is lower margins per unit (typical wholesale pricing is 50% of MSRP for initial accounts, moving to 35-45% for larger accounts) and longer sales cycles for new wholesale account development.

Option 1: Wholesale App on Your Existing Store (Recommended Starting Point)

Best for: Merchants with moderate wholesale volume (under 100 wholesale orders/month)

Apps to evaluate:

Wholesale Club ($49/month): The most widely used wholesale app for Shopify. Creates a wholesale "portal" within your store accessible by tagged customer accounts. Features:

• Percentage or fixed discounts per customer group
• Custom price lists (specific pricing for specific products per tier)
• Order minimums (cart-level or product-level)
• Net payment terms with invoice generation
• Quick order form for re-ordering
• Password-protected wholesale catalog

Wholesale Pricing Discount ($29/month): Simpler alternative to Wholesale Club. Good for stores that primarily need percentage-based discounts and do not need complex price lists or net terms.

Locksmith ($9/month): A general-purpose access control app that can password-protect wholesale pages. Less feature-rich than Wholesale Club for wholesale-specific needs but very flexible for custom configurations.

Setup with Wholesale Club:

1. Install Wholesale Club from the Shopify App Store
2. Create customer groups with pricing rules:
   • "Wholesale": 40% off all products
   • "Distributor": 50% off all products
   • "VIP": 45% off all products
3. Add a "Wholesale Signup" page to your navigation with an application form
4. When approving wholesale accounts, tag them with the appropriate group
5. Configure minimum order requirements (e.g., $150 minimum cart, or 12 units minimum per product)

Option 2: Password-Protected Wholesale Section

Best for: Merchants who want complete separation between retail and wholesale catalogs

Use Locksmith or your theme's built-in password protection to create a section of your store accessible only to wholesale buyers:

1. Create a separate "Wholesale" collection containing products at wholesale pricing
2. Create separate product entries for wholesale products with wholesale pricing (separate from retail products)
3. Password-protect the wholesale collection using Locksmith or a similar app
4. Provide the password to approved wholesale accounts

Advantages: Complete catalog control, no pricing app complexity Disadvantages: Duplicate product management, two separate product databases to maintain

Option 3: Separate Shopify Store

Best for: Merchants where wholesale is a significant, distinct business channel

Create a second Shopify store on your account ($39/month additional). Configure it entirely for wholesale:

• Wholesale-specific product listings with wholesale pricing
• Net 30 terms as the default payment
• Minimum order enforcement
• Trade/wholesale branding separate from consumer branding

Your fulfillment operations remain the same — orders from both stores route to your same warehouse or 3PL. The two stores share inventory if you use Shopify's inventory management or an inventory sync app.

Advantages: Complete flexibility, no app workarounds, fully custom wholesale experience Disadvantages: Additional Shopify plan cost, managing two admin dashboards

Setting Up Wholesale Pricing

Standard wholesale pricing structure:

The conventional wholesale relationship follows the "keystone" margin principle:

• Your cost of goods: $10
• Wholesale price to retailer: $25 (60% margin for you)
• Retailer sells at MSRP: $50 (keystone: retailer doubles wholesale price)

This structure gives the retailer a 50% gross margin (industry standard for specialty retail) while giving you enough margin to cover operations.

For DTC brands with high-margin products:

If your products sell DTC at $80 and cost $15 to produce, a wholesale price of $35-40 may still provide adequate margins while giving retailers room for their standard markup.

Tiered pricing by volume:

Minimum Order Requirements

Minimums protect your economics — packing and shipping a $40 wholesale order to a retailer may not be worth the operational cost.

Common minimum structures:

• Opening order minimum: $300-500 for first orders (retailers are proving commitment)
• Reorder minimum: $150-200 (established relationship, lower friction)
• Per-product minimums: 12 units per SKU (manages picking and packing efficiency)

Set minimums in your wholesale app or in your wholesale store policies. Communicate them clearly on your wholesale signup page so buyers know what to expect before applying.

Net Payment Terms

Net 30 (payment due 30 days after delivery) is the standard in wholesale, and many retailers will not open an account without it.

Options for net terms on standard Shopify plans:

Wholesale Club's net terms: Allows approved buyers to place orders and receive an invoice rather than paying at checkout. You receive payment when the retailer pays the invoice.

Manual invoicing: Accept orders through Shopify's draft orders feature. Create draft orders for wholesale buyers, email the invoice, and mark as paid when payment is received.

Stripe or PayPal invoicing: Send a separate invoice through Stripe or PayPal with net 30 terms. Log the order manually in Shopify once paid.

Credit application: For large accounts, use a formal credit application (available as a Google Form or through apps) before extending net terms. Collect business references and basic financial information.

The Wholesale Signup and Application Process

Do not make wholesale open to anyone — maintain quality control:

1. Wholesale application page: Include questions about the retailer's business type, location, expected order size, and how they found you. Require a business license or resale certificate.

2. Review applications: Check that applicants have a legitimate retail business. A quick Google search of their store name usually reveals whether they are a real retailer.

3. Approval email: Send a welcome email with login credentials (for password-protected approaches) or a customer account invitation. Include your wholesale terms, minimums, and ordering instructions.

4. Onboarding call (optional but recommended for larger accounts): A 15-minute call with significant first-time wholesale buyers sets the relationship up correctly and often leads to larger opening orders.

Working with Faire for Wholesale Discovery

If your goal is to actively grow your wholesale account base, Faire is the most efficient channel for most DTC brands entering wholesale.

Faire basics:

• Marketplace platform connecting 700,000+ independent retailers with brands
• Faire charges commission (15% for new accounts, 0% for reorders) in exchange for net 60 payment terms
• Faire guarantees payment — if a retailer does not pay, Faire covers it
• Faire handles marketing your brand to appropriate retailers within the platform

Faire vs. direct wholesale: Faire's commission is meaningful but so is the guaranteed payment and buyer access. Many brands run their Faire channel for discovery and new account acquisition, then transition high-volume retailers to direct wholesale ordering (outside Faire, where there is no commission) once the relationship is established.

Protecting Your DTC Brand in Wholesale

A few guardrails to maintain DTC positioning while doing wholesale:

MSRP enforcement: Require wholesale buyers to sell at or above your MSRP. A retailer discounting your products 30% below MSRP undercuts your own DTC store and devalues your brand.

Exclusive products: Consider reserving some products or collections exclusively for DTC. This gives direct customers something they cannot get at retail.

Geographic exclusivity (for physical retail): Some brands grant geographic exclusivity to single retailers in specific areas (one boutique per city) to prevent direct retailer competition.

Product quality integrity: Do not create a wholesale-only product at lower quality to hit lower price points. Inconsistent quality erodes brand trust whether the buyer is retail or consumer.