Checkout and accounts in B2B

Plan requirement

The B2B feature is available only to stores on the Shopify Plus plan. For information about Shopify Plus plan pricing, contact us.

Business-to-business (B2B) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) customers can have different customer accounts in your online store. There are two versions of customer accounts: legacy customer accounts and customer accounts. B2B customers must log in to customer accounts to place B2B orders, access catalogs reflected in the online store, and access company and location information in their account. DTC customers can log in to either legacy or customer accounts to manage their orders.

Setting up B2B customer login

B2B customers must log in using the new version of customer accounts, which is a version of customer accounts where customers log in using a 6-digit verification code sent to their email address. DTC and B2B customers can both log in to customer accounts. The customer experience depends on the type of customer profile that their email is associated with:

• If a customer's email address is associated with a B2B customer profile, then the customer gains access to the B2B customer experience.
• If a customer's email address is associated with a DTC customer profile, then the customer gets the DTC customer experience.
• If a customer's email address isn't associated with an existing customer profile, then a new DTC customer profile is created.

You can choose how to offer your B2B customers access to customer accounts:

• Set up customer accounts in settings
• Manually add the URL to your online store navigation
• Share the login URL directly with your B2B customers
• Send a B2B access email

Set up customer accounts in settings

When you select customer accounts in your settings, both DTC and B2B customers are affected.

If you have existing DTC customers that use legacy customer accounts, then they can log in to customer accounts instead with a 6-digit verification code sent to their email address. DTC customers can review their order history in their customer account. DTC customers won't be able to access their legacy customer account if you change your settings to customer accounts. All links to legacy customer accounts will redirect to customer accounts. Learn more about upgrading to customer accounts.

Customer accounts don't currently support Multipass. Learn more about the differences between legacy customer accounts and customer accounts.

If you have a dedicated B2B store or a blended store for both B2B and DTC customers that doesn't rely on legacy customer account features, then update your settings to use the new version of customer accounts.

If your store relies on legacy customer account features, then consider choosing one of the other options for allowing B2B customers to log in.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer accounts.

2. To display a login link on your online store, in the Login links section, turn on the Show login links toggle button. The login link is usually located in your store's header, but the placement might vary depending on your theme. A login link also displays on the checkout page.

3. In the Choose which version of customer accounts to link to section, select Customer accounts.

4. Click Switch to customer accounts.

5. Create a subdomain based on your third-party domain name that points to the customer account.

6. Optional: If you want to require all customers to log in before checkout, then configure your customer contact method settings.

Note

In your Shopify admin at Settings > Checkout, the Customer information section doesn't apply to B2B customers. The settings in the Customer information section apply only to DTC customers, and are ignored for B2B customers. B2B customers aren't required to enter the following, even if they're required for DTC customers:

• Company name
• First name
• Last name
• Address line 2
• Phone number

Manually add the URL to your online store navigation

If you don't want to update your settings to use the new version of customer accounts, but you want to provide B2B customers a place to log in from your online store, then add the URL for customer accounts elsewhere in your online store navigation and label it specifically for B2B. For example, add a Wholesale link to the footer of your online store that links to customer accounts.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer accounts.

2. In the URLs section, copy the URL for Customer accounts.

3. Add a menu item to your online store navigation that uses the URL for Customer accounts.

Share the URL directly with your B2B customers

You can share a link to customer accounts in direct communications with your B2B customers, or in any resources that you create for them.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer accounts.

2. In the URLs section, copy the URL for Customer accounts.

3. Share the URL with your B2B customers.

Send a B2B access email

You can send a B2B access email to a B2B customer at any time. This email includes a link for B2B customers to log in to customer accounts.

Placing an order

The customer selects products to add to their cart as usual, with the exception that the prices offered are those that you specified in your catalog for that company.

Note

When a B2B customer goes through the checkout, some information is pre-filled. This information can't be edited during the checkout process. If a customer needs to change their shipping or billing addresses, then they can do so before checking out in their account page if they have the Location admin permission.

To place an order, the customer goes through the following process:

1. The customer navigates to your online store and clicks the login button.
2. The customer enters their email address. After they receive an email with their six-digit login code, they enter this code to access their account.
3. In their account, the customer clicks Go to store.
4. The customer selects a company location to buy for.
5. In your online store, the customer selects products and adds them to the cart. The prices offered are those that you specified in your catalog for that company location.
6. When the customer clicks Checkout to complete their purchase, they're taken to a payment page. In the payment page, the shipping and billing addresses are pre-filled according to the information in the company profile. Customers will have the option to enter a purchase order number for the order. Customers don't need to enter any information other than payment details.
   • If the company location payment terms are set to No payment terms, then the customer enters their credit card information. After reviewing their order, they click Pay now to complete the order.
   • If the company location payment terms are set to a net term, then the customer clicks Submit. The order is displayed in your Orders page, and the payment status of the order is set as Payment pending.
   • If the company location has net terms with a deposit set up, then the customer clicks Submit now and pays the deposit amount immediately. The order is displayed in your Orders or Draft orders page depending on your order submission settings. Your order payment status is set as Partially paid or Payment pending depending on whether the payment was captured automatically or manually.
   • If the company location orders are set to Only allow draft orders at checkout, then the customer clicks Submit for approval. The order is displayed in your Drafts page, and is complete only when you click Create order on the draft order page, or when the customer submits payment after you send them an invoice.

After completing the checkout, the customer is taken to an Order status page. If the company location has net periods set, then the due date is displayed. Customers can also view the purchase order number for the order, if one was entered at checkout.

Reviewing orders

After a customer places an order, they can track the order in their customer account and filter their orders by the order date.

If a B2B customer places an order with payment terms, then they can choose to pay before the invoice is due.

Steps:

1. The customer navigates to your online store and clicks the login button.
2. The customer enters their email address. After they receive an email with their login code, they enter their six-digit number to access their account.
3. In their account, the customer clicks on the order to be paid.
4. On the order page, the customer clicks Pay now.
5. The customer enters their payment information and clicks Pay now.

Updating account information

Steps:

1. The customer navigates to your online store and clicks the login button.
2. The customer enters their email address. After they receive an email with their login code, they enter their six-digit number to access their account page.
3. In their account page, the customer clicks Account, and then clicks Account information.
4. To edit their name, the customer clicks Edit in the Profile section. Only the name can be updated. The email address the customer uses to log in can't be changed from the account page.
5. To review company location information, the customer chooses a location from the menu in the Location section.
6. To edit addresses, the customer clicks Edit in the Addresses section. Editing an address requires the Location admin permission. Permissions, other B2B customers, and payment terms for the selected location are displayed, but can't be changed.