THE STORY
A Legacy Reimagined in the Mountains
Beeswax Works is a multi-generational journey of craftsmanship, moving from the artisan shores of Vancouver Island to the rugged peaks of Revelstoke, BC. Founded in 1994 by an artisan named Richard, the brand was built on the slow, traditional methods of chandlery—the art of hand-dipping and hand-pouring pure beeswax.
For over a decade, the second owners, Jill Smith and her partner Bruce, nurtured the brand within the vibrant artisan culture of Salt Spring Island and Ladysmith. They perfected the “Pure ~ Simple ~ Light” philosophy, ensuring that every candle remained a two-ingredient masterpiece.
In July 2023, the torch was passed to the third generation. Ron Glave, a dedicated apiarist and founder of BeeKind Honey Bees, took the helm. Ron’s connection to the brand began not as an owner, but as a wholesale partner seeking the finest beeswax for his own honey enterprise. Impressed by the quality, he saw a natural synergy between his love for beekeeping and the heritage of Beeswax Works.
Under Ron’s leadership, the business relocated to Revelstoke, merging the expertise of two distinct yet harmonious worlds:
- BeeKind Honey Bees: The agricultural root, focused on local raw honey, pollinator habitats, and beekeeping education.
- Beeswax Works: The artistic extension, transforming the natural wax from Ron’s own hives and local trusted beekeepers into functional art.
“Our mission is to share the natural treasures of the hive—honey, pollen, beeswax, and propolis—with our customers, offering products that are as pure and simple as they are beautiful.” — Ron Glave, Owner
THE CHALLENGE
Turning manual wholesale processes into a scalable system
As wholesale volume increased, Beeswax Works Wholesale struggled with wholesale processes that had not kept pace with growth.
Customer screening relied heavily on manual review, which made onboarding slower and inconsistent as application volume increased. At the same time, protecting wholesale pricing and trade-only information required workarounds that either restricted storefront visibility or increased risk of exposing sensitive details.
The team needed a better way to segment customer groups and assign them accurate wholesale rules, such as pricing and net terms.
Beeswax Works Wholesale wanted new retailers to be evaluated structuredly while approved partners experienced a professional, self-serve buying flow.
The solution: B2B apps built for Shopify
Beeswax Works Wholesale uses BSS B2B Suite
With access control no longer dependent on manual checks or workarounds, Beeswax Works shifted their focus from website optimization to marketing and promotion. Let’s see how they did it together with BSS B2B Suite.
USE CASE – 01
Streamline new wholesale account screening & onboarding
Wholesale onboarding had relied on manual review and informal checks, which slowed approvals and introduced inconsistency as application volume increased.
By introducing a wholesale registration form with varying fields, Beeswax Works was able to move customer screening upstream, ensuring only qualified retailers gained access while reducing time spent on individual reviews. Onboarding became predictable and repeatable, allowing wholesale growth without adding manual intervention.
“This fixes one of our main issues: new account registration. We can now screen applications before accepting wholesale customers and actively promote a dedicated new account section to drive business.” – Beeswax Works commented about BSS B2B Solution
Once onboarding became structured, Beeswax Works can enable quick ordering and net terms with BSS B2B Quote. The app integrated seamlessly with other apps within the BSS B2B Suite, ensuring a centralized wholesale workflow for the team.
USE CASE – 02
Preserve B2B pricing and trade information’s privacy
“We’re now able to publish our wholesale website without hiding everything behind a Shopify password page.”
For a wholesale-first business, storefront visibility required careful control. Products needed to remain public so prospective retailers could discover offerings, but wholesale pricing, add-to-cart actions, and checkout access had to stay restricted to approved accounts.
Without Shopify Plus, Beeswax Works used to enforce password-protected storefronts, which solved privacy yet blocked discovery and weakened brand awareness.
BSS B2B Lock helped the brand limit pricing visibility and purchasing actions to logged-in wholesale customers, separating the public website from B2B portal without fragmenting the site:
Unapproved customers cannot see prices, add products to cart or reach checkout
“We’re now able to publish our wholesale website without hiding everything behind a Shopify password page.” – said Beeswax Works about BSS B2B Lock
This approach protected wholesale agreements, reduced reliance on manual access control, and allowed discovery to support growth without exposing sensitive B2B information.
THE IMPACT
BSS B2B Suite’s impacts on Beeswax Works Wholesale
“Installation was a breeze with a team of BSS B2B developers writing code and making everything fall into place. Thanks Jonas for the great service.”
This shift changed how the brand manages wholesale in a fundamental way. The impact shows up not only in faster onboarding and better information control, but in how the team continues to scale with BSS B2B Suite after 2 years of use.
Here is what changed:
- Qualified customer registration: New wholesale accounts move from application to approval more quickly without manual back-and-forth
- Stronger access control: Wholesale pricing and trade-only information stay protected while the storefront remains discoverable
- Less administrative effort: Time spent reviewing, correcting, and managing customer access dropped significantly
By formalizing new account screening, as well as separating public website and B2B-only information, BSS B2B Suite replaced old systems with a proper wholesale portal that enforced rules automatically and scaled without ongoing manual work.
“This suite of apps solves so many of our website development issues. Now we’re able to offer our wholesale customers a much better user experience, elevating our brand.”
