Glossary: Basics
B2B ecommerce
B2B ecommerce is the online selling of products or services from one business to another. It differs from consumer ecommerce in who buys, how prices are set and how orders are paid for.
In detail
In B2B ecommerce the customer is a company, and the buyer is often a purchasing manager or an owner placing a repeat order. They know what they need, so they want fast reordering, accurate stock and a price that matches their agreement more than they want browsing and inspiration.
Several features set B2B apart from consumer selling. Buyers have accounts, often tied to a company with several locations and users. Prices vary by buyer group, quantity or contract. Orders are larger and arrive in cases or by the pallet, with a purchase order (PO) number and invoice payment terms such as Net 30. Tax is also different: many buyers are tax exempt or give a tax ID, and invoices must show it.
Sellers run B2B ecommerce in a few ways. They can run a separate B2B-only store, add a wholesale section to a consumer store, or use one store for both and show each buyer the right prices. Access is often gated, so that only approved accounts see wholesale prices.
The sales motion also differs. Many B2B buyers still want to talk to someone, so quotes, sales reps and phone orders sit alongside the online checkout. The strongest B2B stores treat the website as the place for the routine work, which is reordering, price checks and order history, and keep people free for the accounts that need them.
Example
A packaging distributor's customer logs in, sees the account price for a 40-carton order, adds a PO number, chooses Net 30 and places the order in two minutes, with no call to a sales rep.
On Shopify
Shopify's B2B Help Center describes Shopify B2B as a suite of native features for selling business-to-business through the Shopify admin and online store. To use it you must activate customer accounts, and legacy customer accounts cannot be used for B2B customers and orders. Shopify also lists features that do not work with B2B, including accelerated checkouts such as Shop Pay and Apple Pay, local delivery, pickup points, tipping and subscriptions, and an order limit of 500 line items.
Sources: Shopify Help Center: Shopify B2B (read October 4, 2026); Shopify Help Center: Requirements and considerations for using B2B (read October 4, 2026).
In BSS B2B apps
BSS has three apps for a Shopify B2B store: BSS B2B Solution for pricing, registration forms and order rules, BSS B2B Lock to restrict access to prices and pages, and BSS B2B Quote for request for quote, quick order and reorder.
Related use cases
Learn more
Read the Customer onboarding hub for guides, use cases and setup docs, or the complete Shopify B2B guide.