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Creating and managing B2B customers

A customer represents an individual that purchases on behalf of a business in a B2B transaction. You can add existing or new customers to a company or a company location. Customers can make purchases for the company location and view the list of orders that they place.

After you create a catalog and a company, you need to create new customers or select existing customers, and then assign them to company locations before they can place orders in your online store. Customers use their email address to log in and authenticate themselves.

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Considerations for adding B2B customers

Before you add B2B customers, review the following considerations:

  • You can add a customer only to one company, but you can add a customer to multiple company locations within a company.
  • Each company can have a maximum of 10,000 customers assigned to it.
  • A single email address can be used only by one customer. If you have multiple customers that use the same email address, then you need to make an adjustment to the email address to let them log in as unique customers.
  • If your B2B customers already exist in Shopify, then you can migrate existing customers to companies without recreating the customer profile.

Adding a customer to a company

You can add your customers to an entire company with specific location access or add your customers to a single company location. If you add a customer to a company location, then they have access only to that specific company location.

You can select your existing customers or create a new customer from the Companies page. If you choose to add an existing customer, then you need decide whether to migrate their customer order history. You can also upload customers in bulk using the Matrixify app.

When you add customers, you can assign them one of the following permissions:

  • Ordering only: Place orders for the assigned company locations and view own order history.
  • Location admin: Place orders for the company location, view the list of orders that all customers have placed for that location, and edit billing and shipping addresses.

Add a customer to a company from a company page

Desktop

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Companies.

  2. Click the company that you want to add a customer to.

  3. In the Customers section, click ⋮.

  4. Click Add customer.

  5. Add an existing or a new customer to a company location:

  • To add an existing customer to a company location, click the search bar, and then select a customer.
  • To create a new customer profile, click the search bar, and then click Add new customer.
  1. Select the company locations that you want to add a customer to, and then select company permissions next to each company location.
  2. Optional: To migrate your customer's order history to a company location, select Add customer's orders to this location.
  3. Optional: To notify your customer that they can start placing B2B orders, select Notify customer that they can start placing B2B orders.
  4. Click Save.
iPhone
  1. From the Shopify app, tap … > Customers.
  2. Tap Companies.
  3. Tap a company.
  4. In the Customers section, tap … > Add customer.
  5. Add an existing or new customer to a company location:
  • To add an existing customer to a company location, tap the search bar, and then select a customer.
  • To create a new customer profile, tap the search bar, and then tap Add new customer.
  1. Tap the company locations that you want to add a customer to, and then select the company permissions next to each company location.
  2. Optional: To migrate your customer's order history to a company location, select Add customer's orders to this location.
  3. Optional: To notify your customer that they can start placing B2B orders, select Notify customer that they can start placing B2B orders.
  4. Tap Save.
Android
  1. From the Shopify app, tap ☰ > Customers.
  2. Tap Companies.
  3. Tap a company.
  4. In the Customers section, tap … > Add customer.
  5. Add an existing or new customer to a company location:
  • To add an existing customer to a company location, tap the search bar, and then select a customer.
  • To create a new customer profile, tap the search bar, and then tap Add new customer.
  1. Tap the company locations that you want to add a customer to, and then select the company permissions next to each company location.
  2. Optional: To migrate your customer's order history to a company location, select Add customer's orders to this location.
  3. Optional: To notify your customer that they can start placing B2B orders, select Notify customer that they can start placing B2B orders.
  4. Tap ✓.

Add a customer to a company from a company location

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Companies.

  2. Click the company.

  3. In the Locations section, click a company location that you want to add a customer to.

  4. In the Customers section, click ⋮.

  5. Click Add customer.

  6. Add an existing or a new customer to a company location:

  • To add an existing customer to a company location, click the search bar, and then select a customer.
  • To create a new customer profile, click the search bar, and then click Add new customer.
  1. Select company permissions next to each company location.
  2. Optional: To migrate your customer's order history to a company location, select Add customer's orders to this location.
  3. Optional: To notify your customer that they can start placing B2B orders, select Notify customer that they can start placing B2B orders.
  4. Click Save.

Add a customer to a company from a customer profile

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.

  2. Click the customer that you want to add to a company.

  3. In the Customer section, click ⋮, and then click Add to company.

  4. Add a customer to an existing company or a new company:

  • To add a customer to an existing company, click the search bar, and then select a company.
  • To create a new company, click the search bar, and then click Add new company.
  1. Select company permissions next to each company location.
  2. Optional: To migrate your customer's order history to a company location, select Add customer's orders to this location.
  3. Optional: To notify your customer that they can start placing B2B orders, select Notify customer that they can start placing B2B orders.
  4. Click Save.

Removing a customer from a company

You can remove a customer from a company or revoke a customer's permissions from a specific company location.

If you migrated a customer with D2C orders, then you have an option to remove your customer's migrated orders when removing a customer from a company. If you choose this, all of these orders will be saved as D2C orders.

Revoke a customer's permissions for a specific location

You can revoke a customer's permission for a specific company location.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.

  2. Click the customer that you want to remove from a company location.

  3. In the Permissions section, click Manage.

  4. Deselect the company location that you want to remove the customer from. To remove customer permissions from all locations, deselect all locations for that company. The customer's permissions display in the Company page as No access.

  5. Click Save.

Using the same email address for multiple customers

You can create unique customer profiles that share one email address by adding a short suffix to the email. This lets you create separate customer accounts, but you can send all communications, such as login codes, order confirmations, and invoices, to the same email inbox. Each customer maintains their own unique login and order history, and you can create unlimited variations using different suffixes.

Review the following example for how to use the same email address for multiple customers:

After you add the suffixes to customer email addresses, carry out a test with the customer's email provider.

Remove a customer from a company

You can remove a customer from a company. When you delete a customer from a company, the customer's profile isn't deleted. The profile will be stored as a D2C customer.

Steps

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers.

  2. Click the customer that you want to remove from a company.

  3. In the Company section, click ⋮, and then click Remove from company.

  4. Optional: To remove customer's order history from a company, select Remove customer's orders from company. Any orders created after the customer was added to the company can't be removed from the company.

  5. Click Remove from company.

Customizing and sending the B2B access email notification

When you assign a customer to a company or create a new B2B customer profile, you can send an email to invite them to start placing B2B orders in your online store. This notification is optional and can be customized.

Customize the B2B access email

You can customize the email notification template that informs your customers that they have access to B2B in your store.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.

  2. Click Customer notifications.

  3. In the Accounts and outreach section, click B2B access email.

  4. Customize the notification template.

  5. Click Save.

Send the B2B access email notification from a company page

After you have customized your email notification, you can send the email to any new customers you add to a company. You can send the notification to existing customers by performing the following steps:

Steps:

Desktop

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Companies.

  2. Click a company,

  3. In the Customers section, click Send B2B access email.

  4. Select the customers that you want to send the B2B access email to, and then click Preview email.

  5. Preview the email, and then click Send email.

iPhone
  1. From the Shopify app, tap … > Customers.
  2. Tap Companies.
  3. Tap a company.
  4. In the Customers section, tap Send B2B access email.
  5. Select the customers that you want to send the B2B access email to, and then tap Preview email.
  6. Preview the email, and then tap Send email.
Android
  1. From the Shopify app, tap ☰ > Customers.
  2. Tap Companies.
  3. Tap a company.
  4. In the Customers section, tap Send B2B access email.
  5. Select the customers that you want to send the B2B access email to, and then tap ✓.
  6. Preview the email, and then tap ✓.

Send the B2B access email notification from a company location page

You can also send the email notification through a company's location page.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Customers > Companies.

  2. Click a company.

  3. In the Locations section, click a company location.

  4. In the Customers section, click Send B2B access email.

  5. Select the customers that you want to send the B2B access email to, and then click Preview email.

  6. Preview the email, and then click Send email.

Automating the B2B access email notification to new customers

You can automatically send a B2B access email notification to new customers after they have been assigned permissions that allow them to place orders. To automate the notification, use the Send B2B access email to approved customer template in Shopify Flow.

GDPR and US state privacy laws data requests

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and US state privacy laws are laws that affect how you manage your customer's data, including the right of a customer to request their personal data or to request that their data is deleted.

The data related to B2B customers also includes the following data from the company that the customer purchases for:

  • Orders
  • Email addresses
  • Shipping and billing addresses
  • Phone numbers

You can update your privacy policy to clarify how customer information is shared.

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