Shopify Wholesale Channel: How to sell to wholesale customers through your Shopify Plus store.

You would like to expand your business, but currently you do not know exactly how? Then wholesale could be an excellent option for you. Selling products in large quantities allows you to tap into a new target group and thus generate more sales.

The Wholesale Channel from Shopify Plus was designed especially for companies that want to set up a wholesale store. In this article, we'll tell you exactly how this channel works and what options it offers you. We'll also introduce you to Shopify B2B, an alternative to the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel that makes online wholesale even easier.

Shopify wholesale channel: What is it?

If you want to target wholesale customers with your store in the future, Shopify Plus is the right platform for you. It offers you two ways to sell to wholesale customers. As mentioned at the beginning, we will first introduce you to the Wholesale Channel, but will then go into the solution that we now use much more frequently and tell you why.

The Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel is based on your online store, so you can offer the new wholesale customers the same products as your existing clientele - just at different prices and in larger quantities. In addition, of course, you can also offer wholesale items that are only available in the corresponding store, to offer your wholesale customers a wider range of products.

You simply add the wholesale channel to your Shopify admin area and create a separate, password-protected storefront as an extension of the existing store. This way, different credentials are required per store. Your wholesale customers can't access the regular online store, and retail customers can't access the wholesale store. In this way, a tailored selection of products and price structures can be offered to the different target groups. However, as mentioned above, the same products can be sold in the wholesale store as in the web store. To do this, the relevant items simply need to be added to a price list and assigned to the customers on this list.

Shopify B2B Wholesale Channel Features

Now that we know roughly what the Shopify Wholesale Channel is all about, let's dive a little deeper. So, in the following, we'll introduce you to a selection of the features you can take advantage of with Shopify's Wholesale Channel:

• Personalized prices: The Personalized Prices feature is a great way to offer customized prices to wholesale customers. You can set different price points for different products depending on your customers' needs. This makes it easy to offer discounts and incentives to wholesale customers.

• Customer Groups: With this feature, you can easily segment your customer groups based on customer location, order quantity, or other criteria. This allows you to target your marketing and sales efforts to specific customer segments (e.g., wholesale and retail customers).

• Customer dashboard: The customer dashboard allows you to keep track of your wholesale customers. You can review their contact information, orders, and account status in one central location. This makes it easy to stay organized and efficient when dealing with wholesale customers.

• Product Catalog: A product catalog is used to showcase your products to wholesale customers. You can add images, descriptions, and pricing information for each product so your customers can easily find what they're looking for and make a buying decision.

• Order management: Shopify Plus lets you keep track of your wholesale orders. You can view order details, tracking information, and shipping address all in one place. This way, you'll always know about your orders and make sure they're sent to the right address.

• Automatic updates: this feature allows you to keep your wholesale customers informed about your latest products and offers. You can have automatic emails or text messages sent to customers when new products are added to your catalog or special offers are available.

• Integrated Shipping: Integrated shipping is a great feature to save you time and money. You can connect your Shopify account to a shipping company of your choice and have your orders automatically shipped to them. This saves you from manually entering address and tracking information for each order.

• Reports and analytics: using this feature, you can see how many orders you've placed, which products are selling well, and where your customers are located. You can use this information to make decisions about how to grow your business and enter new markets.

How to set up your Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel in 5 steps

Below we provide step-by-step instructions on how to successfully set up your Shopify Wholesale Channel:

Step 1: Set up a wholesale account

To access the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel, you must first create a wholesale account. To do this, go to the Accounts tab in your Shopify dashboard and select Create Wholesale Account. Enter the required information such as name, email address, and address. Once you've created an account, you'll be able to access Shopify's wholesale channel. We are happy to assist you in creating and designing your wholesale store.

Step 2: Add products to your wholesale store

Now that you have created a wholesale account, you can add your wholesale items to your store. To do so, click the Products tab in your Shopify admin panel and select Add Product. Decide on a product you want to add and enter the required information, such as name, price, and description. Once you add your product, it will be displayed in your wholesale store.

Step 3: Manage your inventory

One advantage of Shopify Plus that we mentioned earlier is that you can manage inventory in the wholesale channel separately from your online store. This means you can have different inventory levels for your wholesale and retail products. To manage inventory in the wholesale channel, go back to the Products tab in your admin and select Inventory there. From here you can view your inventory levels and make changes as needed.

Step 4: Set up your prices

The next step is to set up wholesale prices for your products. To do this, go to the Products tab in your Shopify admin area again and select Prices there. Click on the product you want to set up wholesale prices for and enter the new amount. Once you save your changes, the wholesale price will be applied to your product.

Step 5: Create your first wholesale order

Now that you have set up your wholesale store, you can create purchase orders for your wholesale customers. To do this, go to the Orders tab in your Shopify admin area and select Create Order. Click on the customer you want to place an order for and add the products they want to purchase. Once you have added all the items, select Place Order and your wholesale order will be created.

You see, it's quite easy to add Wholesale Channel to your existing Shopify Plus store. You always start in your admin area and perform the further steps from there. Once you've gone through the first 4 steps, you're ready to go. The Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel now allows you to reach a larger audience, save money and generate your first sales quickly and easily.

Tip: To further simplify the processes in your wholesale business, you can turn to solutions from the Shopify App Store. A good example of this is the B2B Wholesale App B2B/Wholesale Solution.

The Shopify Wholesale Channel has these hooks

B2B is now natively built into Shopify Plus, which is why the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel is hardly used by most Shopify Plus merchants. What Shopify B2B is all about and why it is the best alternative to the wholesale channel, we will clarify in the next chapter.

First of all, we would like to show you the disadvantages of the Wholesale Channel:

1. Inaccurate pricing: The Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel (SPWC) only displays prices that include taxes. If prices are to be displayed both with and without taxes, an extension store would therefore be required.

2. No indexing by Google & Co: The SPWC as well as the products listed in it are not indexed by search engines. This means that they do not show up in search results pages, making it impossible for you to attract new customers through search traffic.

3. Minimal customizability: there are no custom themes available in SPWC. Thus, you cannot make any customizations in the design except for the logo and color. However, you can learn about the importance of putting a face to your brand in our post on brand building.

4. Limited functionality: in addition, the SPWC is not compatible with other apps, nor do Shopify scripts, discounts, or API access work. As a result, the shopping experience, customer satisfaction, and therefore your sales can suffer.

The alternative to the Shopify Wholesale Channel: Shopify B2B

We've announced it before - by now there is a very good alternative to Shopify Wholesale Channel: Shopify B2B. This solution is directly integrated with the commerce platform, ensuring access to all of Shopify's powerful customization features, such as custom themes and discounts.

In addition, Shopify B2B brings with it a new feature set. Included in this are special business-to-business features, such as:

• Price lists: This allows B2B customer-specific prices to be created using various discounts. In addition, price lists can be used to easily change currencies and exchange rates for international customers, and even apply multiple lists to a buyer if needed.

• Company profiles: This allows you to connect company locations and create built-in fields for all the important information about your customers (e.g. contact permissions, assigned payment terms, price lists, tax IDs, and tax exemptions).

• Assigned Payment Terms: This feature automates the process of adding payment terms to orders at checkout. It also lets you sort, track, and collect payments when they are due.

• B2B checkout: B2B checkout allows your customers to access specific payment terms, methods, discounts, and prices. For merchants, this feature allows you to create orders for buyers and streamline the checkout process.

• Customer Accounts: This solution allows B2B merchants to independently access important information in real time without having to rely on mails or phone calls. Examples include buyer information and order history. In addition, they can select the company location for which they want to place an order. Customer accounts can also be used as a tool for authentication, so that customers cannot see the wholesale store until they have entered their email address and a code.

Da Shopify B2B ein separater Vertriebskanal innerhalb von Shopify Plus ist, können Sie Ihren Großhandelsshop in der gewohnten Oberfläche einrichten. Sie haben die Möglichkeit, Ihren Shop sowohl für B2B- als auch für B2C/D2C-Verkäufe zu nutzen. Das bedeutet, dass alles innerhalb eines Shops verwaltet werden kann und Sie einen Integrationspunkt für alle APIs, ERPs, CRMs und Anwendungen von Drittanbietern haben. Ihr Geschäft wird dadurch viel einfacher und überschaubarer, das Einkaufserlebnis Ihrer Kunden wird verbessert, und das Erscheinungsbild Ihres Großhandelsgeschäfts kann vollständig an das Corporate Design Ihrer Marke angepasst werden.

Conclusion: Take your online business to the next level with a wholesale store

We conclude by saying that if you want to expand your business and reach a new target audience, wholesale is a great way to do it. With its user-friendly interface and comprehensive B2B features, the enterprise commerce platform makes it as easy as possible to get started in wholesale. Of course, all beginnings are hard, but once you get into selling to wholesale customers, there are many opportunities open to you.

We hope this article was able to answer your questions and make it a little easier to get started.