Glossary: Onboarding
B2B portal
A B2B portal is a login area of an online store where approved business buyers see their own prices, place and repeat orders and check their order history. Sellers use it to move routine ordering from email and phone to a self-service site.
In detail
A portal gives each business buyer a page of their own. Instead of searching a public shop, the buyer signs in and sees the products and prices set for their account, the payment terms they have agreed, and the orders they have already placed. The seller's team spends less time re-keying orders and answering price questions.
Common portal features are account-based pricing, a quick order form for entering SKUs and quantities, a reorder button that copies a previous order, order and invoice history, saved addresses, and several users on one company account. Some sellers add quotes and document downloads, such as price lists or certificates.
A portal needs a way in. Sellers usually add a registration form so a business can apply for access, then approve it and tag the account so that the right prices and products unlock. Access can be open to everyone with a login, or limited to approved accounts.
Build the portal around the work buyers repeat, not around a catalog to browse. Measure how many orders come through it, how many buyers reorder without calling, and how many support questions it removes. Start small: pricing, reorder and order history cover most of what a regular buyer needs.
Example
A coffee roaster's café customers sign in, see their wholesale prices, tap Reorder on last month's order and check out on Net 30 terms, with no call to the roaster's sales team.
On Shopify
In Shopify's native B2B, buyers sign in with the email address linked to a company location and a one-time PIN sent to that email. They can view order history and company location information, access saved payment methods, track orders, reorder by duplicating a past order and submit return requests. B2B customers must be set up and linked to a company location first.
Source: Shopify Help Center: Sign-in and customer accounts in B2B (read October 4, 2026).
In BSS B2B apps
On Shopify you can build a portal-style store with BSS apps. BSS B2B Solution adds the registration form, approval and pricing by customer tag. BSS B2B Lock restricts prices, pages and collections to logged-in or tagged buyers, and BSS B2B Quote adds a Quick Order page and a Reorder page, which needs the customer to be logged in.
Related use cases
Learn more
Read the Customer onboarding hub for guides, use cases and setup docs, or the complete Shopify B2B guide.