Inviting suppliers to connect in the Shopify Collective app

You can invite suppliers that use Shopify to connect with you and start selling their products on your store. Suppliers that you invite need to meet specific requirements. After a supplier accepts your invitation to connect, you receive an email notification.

Suppliers that already use Shopify Collective and have your contact details can invite you to connect.

Tip

You can invite suppliers to sign up for Shopify to work with you. Your suppliers don't need to have their own customer-facing online store on Shopify. They can use their Shopify admin to share products with you, fulfill your orders, and get paid without using an online store.

Requirements for inviting suppliers

A supplier that you invite to connect on Shopify Collective needs to meet the following requirements:

• The supplier needs to have an active Shopify store.
• The supplier's store needs to have Shopify Payments activated in their store.
• The supplier's business must be based in the same country as your business.
• The supplier's store currency must be the same currency as your store's.

Invite a supplier to connect on Shopify Collective

After you invite a supplier to connect with your business, they receive an invitation email to install the Shopify Collective sales channel in their Shopify admin.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. Click Suppliers.

5. Click Invite supplier.

6. Enter the supplier's email address.

7. Optional: Add a message that's displayed in the invitation email to your supplier.

8. Click Send.

Accept an invitation to connect from a supplier

Suppliers that use Shopify Collective can also invite your business to connect on Shopify Collective. Suppliers need to have your contact details to be able to invite you to connect.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. Click Suppliers.

5. Go to the To review tab.

6. Click Accept invitation for the supplier that you want to connect with.

View your connections

After a supplier accepts your invitation or you accept their invitation, that supplier becomes one of your connections in Shopify Collective. You can view their available and imported products, and the supplier's shipping information. You can also view the following information for each connection:

• connected since date
• whether automatic payments are active with the supplier
• details of the policies that you use for the supplier
• total order count
• average order value
• total sales

You can search for individual suppliers by name when you view your connections. You can also sort the order in which your connections are displayed in the following ways:

• By date connected:
  • Oldest to newest
  • Newest to oldest
• By supplier name:
  • A-Z
  • Z-A

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. Click Suppliers.

5. Go to the Connected tab and click the supplier that you want to view.

Onboard suppliers faster with a signup link

You can also invite suppliers to connect by sharing your unique signup link in emails and marketing materials. Suppliers using this link are automatically connected, allowing them to share products with you instantly.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.

2. Click Collective (Retailer).

3. Click Open app.

4. Click Settings.

5. In the Signup link section, confirm that the feature is activated.

6. Click the clipboard icon to copy the link that you can share.