Choosing a store type for your B2B business on Shopify

Plan requirement

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

Before you set up B2B on Shopify, you need to decide on what type of B2B store you want to build, a blended store or a dedicated store:

• A blended store lets you manage both your D2C (direct-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) businesses in one Shopify store and admin.

• A dedicated store lets you manage your B2B business in a separate Shopify store and admin.

Caution

You need to make this decision carefully, as it's not easy to change at a later time. If you set up one type of store and then want to switch to the other type, then you'll need to redo most of your setup work, including companies, catalogs, and online store customizations.

Both store types have their benefits. The right choice depends on how you want to run your business on Shopify, your business needs, and your internal processes. Review this article to help determine which option works best for your business.

Blended store for a B2B business

A blended store is a single Shopify store that's used for both B2B and D2C customers. In a blended store, you manage all your operations from a single Shopify admin. A blended store has the following key features:

• One Shopify admin
• One online store for all customers
• The same theme and branding for all customers
• Shared inventory

You can customize many parts of a blended store for B2B and D2C customers, but this might take additional time and resources. You can customize the following elements:

• Products
• Pricing
• Payment methods
• Shipping methods
• Discounts
• Store content
• Tax exemptions

B2B customer information is managed separately from D2C customers using companies. Products and pricing can be customized individually in your Shopify admin or in bulk using CSV in catalogs.

A blended store might be a good fit for your business when you:

• Sell similar products to both B2B and D2C customers.
• Share inventory between your B2B and D2C operations.
• Have the same staff managing both B2B and D2C sales.

To set up a blended store, refer to the Setup checklist for blended B2B stores.

Dedicated store for a B2B business

A dedicated store is a separate Shopify store that's used only for B2B customers. All settings and features automatically apply only to B2B customers. A dedicated store has the following key features:

• Separate Shopify admin
• Separate online store for B2B customers
• Distinct B2B theme and branding
• Separate inventory

A dedicated B2B store requires you to create a net-new Shopify store or adapt an existing expansion store. You also need to reconfigure your existing integrations and manage store settings separately from your other stores.

A dedicated store might be a good fit for your business when you:

• Want a separate B2B experience.
• Need distinct inventory for B2B and D2C operations.
• Want to restrict online store access to B2B customers only (gated store).
• Have different staff managing your B2B and D2C operations.

To set up a dedicated store, refer to the Setup checklist for dedicated B2B stores.

Overview of B2B blended and dedicated stores

Review the following table to learn more about the key differences of blended and dedicated stores.

Overview of key differences of blended and dedicated B2B store

Feature	Blended store	Dedicated store
Admin management	Manage your B2B and D2C customers, orders, and products from a single Shopify admin. All your inventory is shared across B2B and D2C. Most data and store settings are shared across B2B and D2C by default, however much of the experience can be customized for B2B and D2C. Review items in this table for more details on customization options.	Manage your B2B customers, orders, and products in a separate Shopify admin that's dedicated only to B2B operations. You need to create a separate Shopify store for your B2B operations. Inventory, data, and store settings are separate for B2B customers by default.
Analytics	Use reports and analytics for both D2C and B2B customers. You can tailor your reports to a B2B context using the new Shopify Analytics.	All reports and analytics are specific to your B2B operations.
Checkout	The same payment and delivery options are displayed to your B2B and D2C customers at checkout by default. You can use various apps, such as the free Checkout Blocks app, to customize and segment the options displayed to B2B and D2C customers at checkout.	All payment and delivery options are only available to B2B customers at checkout by default. You can use various apps, such as the free Checkout Blocks app, to customize and segment the options displayed to specific B2B customers at checkout.
Customer login and accounts	You need to use customer accounts for B2B. However, you can continue using legacy customer accounts for D2C customers and orders, and have B2B customers and orders go through customer accounts in a blended store. If both B2B and D2C are using customer accounts, then they use the same login page to log in. You can customize the customer accounts experience using the checkout and accounts editor, or third-party apps that leverage Customer Account Extensions. Some features are only available to logged-in B2B customers, such as duplicate past orders to reorder products, pay down past orders, and customer permissions.	You must activate customer accounts for your online store. B2B customers use a dedicated login page to log in to their customer accounts. You can customize the customer accounts experience using the checkout and accounts editor, or third-party apps that leverage Customer Account Extensions. All B2B customers can duplicate past orders to reorder products, pay down past orders, and manage customer permissions.
Discounts	Discount codes apply to both B2B and D2C customers by default. You need to use segmentation to make discount codes available only to B2B or D2C, or specific customers. You need to use a custom or third-party app that leverages Shopify Functions to create an automatic discount that only applies to all or specific B2B customers. Contact Plus Support to activate discounts in your store.	Discount codes apply only to B2B customers. You can use segmentation to make discounts available only to specific B2B customers. You can use a custom or third-party app that leverages Shopify Functions to create an automatic discount that applies only to specific B2B customers. Contact Plus Support to activate discounts in your store.
Inventory	Inventory is shared across B2B and D2C orders and customers. Your inventory can't be allocated based on customer type.	Inventory is separate for B2B orders and customers by default.
Products	All products are available to both B2B and D2C by default. Segment product availability and pricing by customer type using catalogs. You can include or exclude specific products from B2B or D2C customers.	All products are available only to B2B customers. You can segment product availability and pricing for specific B2B customers using catalogs.
Shipping settings and rates	The same shipping settings and rates are available to both D2C and B2B customers at checkout by default. You can customize shipping settings for B2B and D2C, or for specific customers, using third-party apps, such as Shipfy.	All shipping settings and rates are only used for B2B customers by default. You can customize shipping settings for specific customers using third-party apps, such as Shipfy.
Tax settings	Any global tax settings you turn on apply to both D2C and B2B customers. This includes settings, such as including sales tax in product price and shipping rate. You can customize tax exemptions for B2B customers in company and location profiles.	All global tax settings are applied only to B2B customers by default. You can customize tax exemptions for B2B customers in company and location profiles.
Online store branding and content	The same branding is displayed to both B2B and D2C customers, including store theme and brand assets, such as colors and logos. If you use a free Shopify theme (version 11.0+), then you can customize your online store to display different content for B2B and D2C customers using the theme editor. If you use a custom theme or an older version of a Shopify theme, then you can use the customer.b2b liquid variable to edit your theme’s code.	All store branding is displyed only to your B2B customers. You can customize your store's theme, menus, and branding specifically for B2B customers. If you use a free Shopify theme (version 11.0+), then you can customize store content for different B2B markets using the theme editor.
Store gating	Your online store can't be gated to only B2B customers, because your D2C customers couldn't place orders. Only logged-in B2B customers can view B2B prices, products, and account information.	You can gate your online store so that the URL and login page is only accessible to B2B customers.
Gift cards	Gift cards can be used by both B2B and D2C customers at checkout. You can add gift cards to B2B catalogs as a product available for purchase in the online store.	Gift cards can be used by B2B customers at checkout. You can add gift cards to B2B catalogs as a product available for purchase in the online store.
Notifications	Both B2B and D2C customers receive the same types of notifications and abandoned cart emails. You can't send different types of notifications to B2B and D2C customers. However, you can customize the content of notifications based on the customer's context using liquid code.	All notifications and abandoned cart emails are used for B2B customers. You don't need to customize notifications by customer type.
Apps and integrations	You need to set up and pay for apps and integrations only one time, as they don't need to be activated in multiple stores.	Any apps or integrations that you want to use must be set up and paid for again, as this is a new Shopify store.
Shopify Scripts	B2B customers aren't affected by Shopify Scripts that affect line item discounts by default. Activating Shopify Scripts affects both B2B and D2C customers in a blended store.	Shopify Scripts that affect line item discounts affect only B2B customers.
Shopify Functions	Third-party or custom apps that use Shopify Functions can be customized so that their functionality only impacts B2B or D2C customers and orders.	Third-party or custom apps that use Shopify Functions only apply to your B2B business by default. Any apps or integrations that you want to activate must be set up and paid for again, as this is a new store.
Self-serve returns	If you activate self-serve returns, then both B2B and D2C customers can submit return requests in your online store.	If you activate self-serve returns, then B2B customers can submit return requests in your online store by default.