How DTC Shopify Stores Add a B2B Channel Without Plus

On April 2, 2026, Shopify made one of its biggest announcements this year. B2B features that were locked behind Shopify Plus at $2,300 per month are now available on every Shopify plan, starting at $39 per month.

If you run a DTC brand and your wholesale buyers have been ordering through email threads and spreadsheets, that just changed. If you have been putting off B2B because the Plus price tag did not make sense yet, the math is different now.

This guide breaks down exactly what you get, what still requires Plus, and how to decide which path makes sense for your business.

What Shopify Actually Announced and What It Means for Your Store

Shopify's VP of Product Samir Pradhan put it plainly when he said the goal is removing the artificial lines between how merchants sell. If your business sells both direct to consumer and wholesale, your software should handle both without forcing you onto the most expensive plan.

The timing is not random. Shopify's B2B gross merchandise volume grew 96% in 2025. The global B2B ecommerce market is projected to hit $36 trillion by 2026. And 73% of B2B buyers now expect the same smooth buying experience they get as regular consumers. The demand was already there. Shopify just removed the paywall.

This is part of Shopify's Winter '26 Edition, which also brought EDI integration, ACH bank payments, and B2B support across all Horizon themes. But the headline is clear: B2B is no longer a Plus-only feature.

Every B2B Feature You Now Get Without Plus

Here is what every Shopify merchant, including those on Basic at $39 per month, now gets at no extra cost:

Company profiles for wholesale buyers. You can create dedicated profiles for each wholesale customer with contact information, shipping addresses, and payment preferences. This replaces the old approach of managing buyer details in spreadsheets or tagging regular customer accounts.

Up to three custom catalogs with tailored pricing. Create separate price lists for different buyer groups. A local retailer and a national chain can see different prices when they log into your store. Three catalogs cover most merchants who are starting out with wholesale.

Volume discounts and quantity rules. Set minimum and maximum order quantities, case pack sizes, and tiered pricing that automatically adjusts as buyers order more. No apps needed.

Payment terms. Offer Net 30, Net 60, or custom payment terms directly through Shopify. Your wholesale buyers can place orders now and pay later, just like they expect from any professional wholesale relationship.

ACH bank payments. For US-based transactions, B2B customers can pay directly from their bank accounts at checkout. Shopify handles the reconciliation automatically. Processing takes up to four business days.

Vaulted credit cards. Wholesale buyers can save their payment methods for faster repeat ordering. Given that B2B relationships are built on repeat purchases, this removes friction from every reorder.

Quick order lists. Built into all Horizon themes, these let wholesale buyers rapidly add multiple products and variants to their cart without browsing through your entire catalog. For buyers ordering 30 or 40 SKUs at a time, this is essential.

Sidekick AI for B2B setup. Shopify's AI assistant can now create B2B companies using natural language. Tell it to set up a new wholesale account with specific payment terms and shipping addresses, and it populates everything. This is available on every plan.

What Still Requires Shopify Plus

Shopify did not make everything free. Here is what stays behind the Plus paywall:

Unlimited catalogs. Standard plans cap you at three catalogs. Plus gives you unlimited. If you need separate pricing for 15 different buyer tiers or regions, you will hit the ceiling on a standard plan.

Direct catalog assignment to specific companies and locations. On Plus, you can assign catalogs directly to individual companies or even specific warehouse locations within a company. Standard plans handle catalog access differently.

Partial payments and deposits. If your wholesale workflow requires collecting a percentage upfront before fulfillment, that is still a Plus feature.

Here is the honest take: most merchants who are adding B2B for the first time will not hit the three-catalog limit. If you have one price list for local retailers, another for online resellers, and a third for large accounts, you are covered. The merchants who need unlimited catalogs typically have the revenue to justify Plus anyway.

The Real Cost Comparison That Nobody Is Breaking Down

Before April 2026, a merchant who wanted native B2B on Shopify had three options:

• Upgrade to Shopify Plus at $2,300 per month on a three-year term or $2,500 per month on a one-year term
• Install third-party B2B apps costing $30 to $200 per month with varying levels of integration quality
• Handle everything manually through email, spreadsheets, and phone calls

Now the math looks different:

Shopify Basic ($39/month) with native B2B: You get company profiles, three catalogs, volume discounts, payment terms, and ACH payments. Total cost: $39 per month. No apps required for foundational B2B.

Shopify Advanced ($399/month) with native B2B: Same B2B features plus better shipping rates, advanced reporting, and lower transaction fees. Makes sense if your B2B volume justifies the operational savings.

Shopify Plus ($2,300/month): Unlimited catalogs, partial payments, direct catalog assignment, plus all the other Plus benefits like Shopify Functions, checkout extensibility, and dedicated support.

The question is not whether Plus is worth it. For high-volume merchants doing millions in B2B, it absolutely is. The question is whether you need Plus to start selling B2B. And as of April 2026, the answer is no.

If your B2B operation is generating enough revenue that three catalogs feel limiting, that is a good problem. It means your wholesale channel is working, and upgrading to Plus becomes an investment in scaling what is already profitable.

How Shopify B2B Stacks Up Against BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce

This announcement changes Shopify's position in the B2B platform landscape significantly.

BigCommerce has historically offered stronger B2B tools on non-enterprise plans. Their B2B Edition includes bulk order forms, purchase orders, quoting, customer groups, and price lists. For years, this was the go-to recommendation for merchants who needed B2B without enterprise pricing. Shopify just closed that gap. The advantage BigCommerce still holds is more granular B2B features at the standard plan level, but Shopify's unified DTC plus B2B admin is hard to beat if you are running both channels.

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) remains the enterprise choice with pricing starting around $22,000 per year and running up to $125,000 or more depending on GMV. They offer hierarchical user roles, shared catalog systems with negotiated contracts, and complex approval workflows. If your B2B operation involves multi-brand distribution with thousands of SKUs and regional pricing across dozens of markets, Adobe Commerce is built for that complexity. But for the vast majority of merchants adding wholesale alongside DTC, it is overkill and overpriced.

WooCommerce handles B2B through plugins like Wholesale Suite and WholesaleX. Total cost can stay under $50 per month, but nothing is native. You are stitching together plugins and hoping they stay compatible. Shopify's native approach means fewer integration headaches and a single source of truth for inventory, orders, and customer data.

The real differentiator for Shopify is running DTC and B2B from the same admin with shared inventory. No syncing between platforms, no duplicate product management, no reconciling orders across systems.

What Merchants Are Actually Seeing in Results

The numbers from merchants already using Shopify B2B tell a clear story.

Snyder Performance Engineering reported a 25% reduction in back-office task time and a 40% increase in average customer spend after moving to Shopify's native B2B tools. That back-office time savings alone changes the ROI calculation for small teams where the founder is still processing wholesale orders manually.

Across the platform, Shopify reports that merchants using native B2B see up to a 4.1x increase in reorder frequency compared to standard DTC orders. Self-serve orders increase by up to 33% within six months. When wholesale buyers can log in, see their negotiated prices, and reorder without calling or emailing anyone, they order more often.

The shift from manual processes to native B2B tools is not just about efficiency. It changes buyer behavior. A wholesale customer who has to email you for a quote and wait for a response might order monthly. The same customer with a self-serve portal and saved payment methods might order weekly.

Who Should and Should Not Use Shopify Native B2B Right Now

This is a strong fit if you are:

• A DTC brand that gets wholesale inquiries but has been turning them away or handling them manually
• A small manufacturer or maker selling to local retail stores
• A regional distributor with fewer than three distinct buyer tiers
• Any merchant spending hours each week on manual B2B order processing
• A brand running on Shopify Basic or Advanced that does not want to jump to Plus just for wholesale

You might need more if you are:

• Running 10 or more distinct price lists for different buyer segments or regions
• Processing complex approval workflows where multiple people within a buyer organization need to sign off
• Relying heavily on EDI with dozens of trading partners (though Shopify now supports SPS Commerce and Crstl integration)
• A large distributor managing thousands of wholesale accounts with unique contract terms

For merchants in that second category, Shopify Plus or a dedicated B2B platform may still be the right call. But for the first group, which represents the majority of Shopify merchants considering B2B, native features on a standard plan are more than enough to start.

What This Means If You Are Already on Shopify Plus

If you upgraded to Plus specifically for B2B features, this announcement does not take anything away from you. You keep unlimited catalogs, partial payments, and direct catalog assignment. What changes is the value proposition of Plus itself.

Plus is now about scale and advanced capabilities, not basic access to B2B. If your wholesale operation genuinely uses unlimited catalogs and partial payment workflows, Plus is still the right plan. But if you upgraded to Plus solely because it was the only way to get company profiles and payment terms, it is worth re-evaluating whether your plan matches your actual usage.

Talk to your Shopify account manager about what you are actually using versus what you are paying for. The answer might save you over $2,000 per month.

The Bigger Picture for Shopify Merchants in 2026

This move signals where Shopify is heading. They are making the platform stickier by ensuring merchants do not need to look elsewhere for foundational commerce features. B2B today. Agentic commerce and AI shopping integrations are already here. The platform is expanding what every plan can do rather than gating features behind the highest tier.

For merchants who have been running their DTC stores on Shopify and managing wholesale on the side through email and spreadsheets, this is the moment to bring everything under one roof. The tools are there, the cost barrier is gone, and the data from early adopters shows it works.

If you have been waiting for the right time to add B2B to your Shopify store, April 2026 just gave you a reason to stop waiting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I still need Shopify Plus for B2B?

No. As of April 2, 2026, core B2B features including company profiles, up to three custom catalogs, volume discounts, payment terms, and ACH payments are available on every Shopify plan starting at $39 per month. Plus is still needed for unlimited catalogs and partial payment collection.

How many catalogs can I create without Plus?

You can create up to three custom catalogs on Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans. Each catalog can have its own pricing tailored to different buyer groups. Shopify Plus gives you unlimited catalogs.

Can I use B2B and DTC on the same Shopify store?

Yes. This is one of Shopify's biggest advantages. You run both channels from the same admin with shared inventory, products, and order management. Wholesale buyers see their negotiated prices while regular customers see your standard pricing.

What are Shopify payment terms for B2B?

You can offer Net 30, Net 60, or custom payment terms to your wholesale buyers. This means they can place orders and pay later according to the terms you set. For US merchants, ACH bank payments are also available with automatic reconciliation.

Is Shopify better than BigCommerce for B2B?

It depends on your setup. BigCommerce still offers slightly more granular B2B features on standard plans. But if you are already running DTC on Shopify or want a unified admin for both channels, Shopify's native B2B is now competitive enough for most merchants. The real advantage is managing everything in one place.

How do I get started with B2B on Shopify?

In your Shopify admin, go to Customers and then Companies to start creating wholesale buyer profiles. Set up your catalogs with custom pricing, configure payment terms, and if you are using a Horizon theme, quick order lists are built in. Our wholesale setup guide walks through the full process.

Need help setting up B2B on your Shopify store? At ExactWhy, we build Shopify stores with wholesale baked in from day one. Whether you are adding B2B to an existing DTC store or building a new hybrid storefront, we handle the technical setup so you can focus on growing your buyer relationships. Get in touch and let us map out the right approach for your business.