Selling wholesale on Shopify means serving two fundamentally different customers through one platform: retail buyers purchasing one or two items at full price, and business buyers ordering dozens or hundreds of units at discounted rates. Managing both without confusion, margin erosion, or operational chaos requires the right setup.
In 2026, Shopify has matured its B2B capabilities significantly. Shopify Plus offers a native B2B channel with company profiles, custom price lists, and net payment terms. For merchants on standard plans, a robust app ecosystem fills the gaps. Either way, running wholesale on Shopify is now a legitimate alternative to dedicated B2B platforms.
This guide covers how to set up tiered wholesale pricing, manage B2B customers, and run a dual retail-wholesale operation on Shopify.
How Does Wholesale Pricing Differ From Retail?
Wholesale pricing is not simply "retail price minus a discount." It is a fundamentally different pricing structure with different economics, expectations, and operational requirements.
| Factor | Retail | Wholesale |
|---|---|---|
| Order size | 1 – 5 units | 20 – 500+ units |
| Pricing | Fixed MSRP | Tiered / negotiated |
| Payment terms | Immediate (credit card) | Net 15, 30, or 60 |
| Shipping | Individual parcels | Pallets / freight |
| Customer relationship | Transactional | Ongoing account |
| Order frequency | Sporadic | Recurring (monthly/quarterly) |
| Margin per unit | 50 – 70% | 20 – 40% |
| Revenue per order | $20 – $200 | $500 – $50,000+ |
| Returns | Individual items | Batch / negotiated |
| Sales process | Self-service | Account manager / sales rep |
The wholesale customer compensates for lower margins with dramatically higher volume and predictable reorder cycles. A single wholesale account ordering $5,000/month is worth more than hundreds of individual retail customers.
What Are the Methods for Setting Up Wholesale Pricing on Shopify?
There are three primary approaches, each suited to different business sizes and Shopify plans.
Method 1: Shopify Plus B2B Channel (Native)
Shopify Plus ($2,000+/month) includes a dedicated B2B channel that creates a separate wholesale experience within your existing store.
Features:
- Company profiles with multiple buyer accounts per company
- Custom price lists per company or customer segment
- Quantity price breaks (buy 10+ get 15% off, buy 50+ get 30% off)
- Net payment terms (net 15, 30, 60) with automatic invoice generation
- Minimum order quantities and minimum order values
- Draft orders for sales rep-assisted purchasing
- Separate B2B checkout with company billing
Best for: Merchants doing $500K+/year in wholesale revenue who need enterprise-grade B2B features.
Method 2: Wholesale Apps on Standard Shopify Plans
For merchants on Shopify Basic, Shopify, or Advanced Shopify plans, third-party apps add wholesale functionality.
Wholesale Club by Wholesale Helper ($24–$49/month) — Uses customer tags to display wholesale prices to logged-in wholesale customers. Supports percentage discounts, fixed prices, volume tiers, and minimum order quantities. Retail customers see normal prices.
Bold Custom Pricing ($19.99/month) — Creates custom price rules based on customer tags, product collections, or specific products. Supports both percentage and fixed-price adjustments.
Wholesale Gorilla ($29.95–$49.95/month) — Full wholesale suite with a separate wholesale signup form, order approval workflow, net payment terms, and quick order forms for B2B buyers.
Quantity Breaks & Discounts by Kiwi ($19.99/month) — Focused specifically on volume-based pricing tiers. Displays a quantity break table on the product page showing per-unit price at each tier.
Best for: Merchants testing wholesale or doing under $500K/year in B2B revenue.
Method 3: Separate Wholesale Store
Create a second Shopify store exclusively for wholesale customers. This gives you complete separation between retail and wholesale operations — different products, different pricing, different checkout experiences.
Best for: Merchants who need complete catalog separation or serve wholesale customers in different regions with different pricing.
How Do You Structure Tiered Pricing?
Tiered pricing incentivizes larger orders. The structure needs to reward volume without sacrificing your minimum viable margin.
Volume-Based Tiers
The most common structure. Price decreases as quantity increases.
| Quantity | Unit Price | Discount from Retail | Your Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – 9 (retail) | $40.00 | 0% | 65% |
| 10 – 24 | $32.00 | 20% | 52% |
| 25 – 49 | $28.00 | 30% | 45% |
| 50 – 99 | $24.00 | 40% | 37% |
| 100 – 249 | $22.00 | 45% | 33% |
| 250+ | $20.00 | 50% | 28% |
Setting the floor: Calculate your cost of goods sold (COGS) plus per-unit operational cost (picking, packing, shipping per unit). Your lowest wholesale tier must exceed this number. If your COGS is $14 per unit, your absolute floor price is around $18-20 to maintain a viable margin.
Customer-Tier-Based Pricing
Different wholesale customers get different base pricing based on their relationship level.
- Standard wholesale (new accounts): 20% off retail
- Preferred wholesale (6+ months, $10K+ in orders): 30% off retail
- Key accounts ($50K+/year): 35-40% off retail, negotiated terms
- Distributor pricing: 40-50% off retail, exclusive territory rights
Implement this with customer tags in Shopify. Tag each wholesale customer with their tier, and your wholesale app applies the corresponding price list.
Order-Value-Based Tiers
Instead of per-product quantity breaks, discount based on total order value.
- Orders $500 – $999: 15% discount
- Orders $1,000 – $2,499: 20% discount
- Orders $2,500 – $4,999: 25% discount
- Orders $5,000+: 30% discount
This approach works well when you sell diverse products and per-product quantity breaks do not make sense.
How Do You Set Up Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs)?
Minimum order quantities ensure wholesale orders are profitable after accounting for the discounted pricing and fulfillment costs.
Product-level MOQs: Set minimums per product. Example: "This product is only available in wholesale quantities of 12 or more." Configure this in your wholesale app or through Shopify Scripts (Plus only).
Order-level minimums: Require a minimum total order value. "$250 minimum order for wholesale accounts." This is easier to implement and more flexible than per-product minimums.
Case-pack quantities: Require orders in specific increments. If products ship in cases of 12, wholesale customers must order in multiples of 12 (12, 24, 36, etc.). This simplifies warehouse operations.
Implementation tip: Display MOQs clearly on product pages for wholesale customers. Nothing frustrates B2B buyers more than adding items to cart only to discover at checkout that they have not met the minimum.
How Do You Manage Payment Terms?
Retail customers pay immediately. Wholesale customers expect payment terms — and managing accounts receivable becomes a critical business function.
Net 15/30/60 Terms
The standard in B2B. "Net 30" means the buyer has 30 days from invoice date to pay. Shopify Plus supports this natively through the B2B channel. On standard plans, use draft orders with manual invoicing or an app like Wholesale Gorilla.
Credit checks for new accounts. Before extending net terms, check the business's creditworthiness. Start new accounts on prepay or net 15, and extend to net 30 or net 60 after they establish a payment history.
Early payment incentives. Offer a small discount for early payment: "2/10 net 30" means the buyer gets a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days, otherwise the full amount is due in 30 days.
Overdue payment process:
- Payment due date passes — automated reminder email
- 7 days overdue — personal follow-up from account manager
- 15 days overdue — suspend future orders until payment received
- 30 days overdue — escalate to collections or legal
How Do You Handle the Wholesale Application Process?
Not every customer should get wholesale access. Create a gated application process.
Wholesale application form. Create a page on your Shopify store with a wholesale application form. Collect: business name, tax ID / resale certificate, business type (retailer, distributor, etc.), estimated monthly order volume, how they plan to sell your products, and references.
Verification process. Verify the resale certificate, check the business's online presence, and call references for large accounts. This protects you from individuals trying to get wholesale pricing for personal use.
Account approval workflow:
- Application submitted through Shopify form or wholesale app
- Your team verifies business credentials (1-3 business days)
- Approved: Customer tagged with wholesale tier, welcome email sent with pricing details
- Denied: Professional rejection email with explanation
Automated tagging. Once approved, tag the customer account in Shopify (e.g., "wholesale-tier-1"). Your wholesale app uses this tag to display the correct pricing when the customer logs in.
How Do You Optimize the Wholesale Ordering Experience?
B2B buyers have different UX needs than retail shoppers. They need speed and efficiency, not browsing inspiration.
Quick order form. Wholesale buyers often know exactly what they want. Provide a single-page order form where they can enter SKUs and quantities without clicking through individual product pages. Wholesale Gorilla and Wholesale Club both offer this.
Reorder functionality. Wholesale customers frequently reorder the same products. Give them a "reorder" button that pre-fills their cart with their previous order.
CSV upload. For large orders (100+ line items), let buyers upload a CSV file with SKUs and quantities instead of manually entering each item.
Account dashboard. Show order history, outstanding invoices, payment status, available credit, and shipment tracking in a dedicated wholesale account dashboard.
Your Wholesale Setup Checklist
- Determine your wholesale pricing tiers based on COGS and target margins
- Choose your implementation method (Shopify Plus B2B, wholesale app, or separate store)
- Set up customer tags for each wholesale tier
- Configure price lists with volume-based quantity breaks
- Establish minimum order quantities at the product and/or order level
- Create a wholesale application form and verification process
- Set up payment terms and invoicing workflow
- Build a quick order form or CSV upload capability for B2B buyers
- Create wholesale-specific email templates (order confirmation, invoice, payment reminder)
- Document your wholesale policies and share them with approved accounts
Wholesale on Shopify requires more setup than retail, but the reward is predictable, high-volume revenue from customers who reorder month after month. The infrastructure investment pays for itself with the first few wholesale accounts.