Native Shopify B2B vs. wholesale apps: what to use in 2026

How wholesale used to work

Before native B2B reached the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, most wholesale on Shopify ran through apps that tagged customers (for example “wholesale”) and swapped prices with discounts, draft orders or theme scripts. It worked, but it was fragile: prices could flash, discounts stacked badly, and payment terms required manual invoicing.

What native B2B does better

• Prices come from catalogs and price lists, so buyers see the right price everywhere, including checkout.
• Payment terms (Net 30 and others) and vaulted cards are built into checkout.
• Quantity rules and volume pricing are native.
• Companies with multiple locations and contacts are modeled properly.
• Buyers can request an account through Shopify's free company account request form (Shopify Forms).
• No theme code is needed for pricing.

What you still need an app for

• Credit limits enforced at checkout, and blocking orders while invoices are overdue.
• A receivables aging view across companies.
• Approval rules and automatic setup of the B2B market or catalog, payment terms and tax exemption when you approve a buyer.
• Specialist needs such as quotes or complex shipping rules.

A pragmatic migration path

1. Recreate your wholesale prices as B2B catalogs. On Basic, Grow and Advanced you get up to 3 active B2B catalogs, attached through B2B markets.
2. Import existing wholesale customers as companies (Shopify supports CSV import) and add their locations to the right B2B market.
3. Switch your wholesale sign-up to a form that creates native companies: Shopify's company account request form, or an app if you want approval rules and automatic setup.
4. Turn off the old tag-based pricing once buyers can sign in and see catalog prices.