What Shopify Plus B2B actually covers
Shopify's B2B features sat behind Shopify Plus for years and were, for a long time, thin. That changed with the B2B on Shopify rebuild, which introduced company accounts, customer-specific catalogs, payment terms and quote flows as native features rather than third-party apps. For a large share of mid-market B2B merchants, this is now a genuinely workable platform.
The honest framing: Shopify Plus B2B handles maybe 70 to 80 percent of Nordic B2B scenarios cleanly. The remaining 20 to 30 percent, where catalogs are deeply configurable, pricing logic spans multiple dimensions, or approval flows are multi-level, is where Shopware and Norce still have structural advantages.
The native B2B features
Company accounts. Buyers are modelled as companies with multiple locations and users, each with roles. A purchaser places orders, a manager reviews, a finance user handles invoices. The hierarchy is built in rather than simulated.
Customer-specific price lists. Every company can have its own price list, linked to the catalog. Discounts, volume tiers and contract pricing sync from the ERP to Shopify and apply automatically at login. For buyers who negotiate, this is the minimum bar.
Invoice payment with net terms. Native payment terms (Net 15, Net 30, Net 60) are supported in the B2B checkout. For actual invoice issuance, credit checks and reconciliation, Briqpay, Svea and Walley all integrate.
Quote flows. Buyers can request quotes, merchants can respond with custom pricing, and the quote converts to an order without re-entry. For buyers who negotiate individual orders, this replaces email-and-spreadsheet workflows.
Catalog access by company. Different customers see different products. A reseller catalog, a distributor catalog, a direct-enterprise catalog, all from the same store with different company account configurations.
The five requirements that decide platform fit
Before committing to Shopify Plus for B2B, test your scenario against these:
1. Pricing complexity. How many dimensions drive price? Customer contract, volume tier, product family, market, promotional period, all active simultaneously? Shopify Plus handles 2 to 3 dimensions cleanly. Beyond that, it gets complicated. Shopware and Norce have more native depth here.
2. Catalog configurability. Products configured by the buyer (technical specs, build-to-order, variant matrices with hundreds of combinations)? Shopify's product model is flatter than Magento's or Shopware's. Possible with apps, but the native experience is thinner.
3. Approval workflow depth. Single-level approvals (buyer, then manager) work natively. Multi-level approvals with budget controls, department routing and escalation paths are where Shopify Plus hits its ceiling.
4. Multi-warehouse inventory. Multi-location is supported, but real-time allocation across warehouses with split shipments and warehouse-specific pricing is lighter than in Shopware or Norce.
5. ERP integration depth. Basic order and stock sync is simple. Real-time credit limit checks, customer-specific pricing sync, invoice status round-trip, multi-warehouse inventory sync, all at once, needs careful integration architecture. See our ERP integration guide for what this actually means.
B2B checkout in detail
The B2B checkout is where Shopify Plus differs most from B2C. What's supported:
Payment terms. Net 15, Net 30, Net 60 are native. The buyer sees the due date, the invoice is generated, and reconciliation happens through the payment provider or the ERP.
PO numbers and reference fields. Standard checkout fields for purchase orders, project references, cost centres. Buyers need these to match orders to internal systems.
Credit checks. Not native, but Briqpay is purpose-built for this. Real-time credit check, decision, and fallback to alternative payment if credit is denied.
Tax handling. VAT exemption for business customers, reverse charge within the EU, and country-specific logic. This requires configuration but the underlying logic is in place.
Company account structure
A company in Shopify Plus B2B contains locations (physical sites or business units), users (buyers, approvers, admins) and permissions. This is the piece that has been weak in competing platforms for years, and Shopify now has a cleaner model than most.
Typical structure: a parent company, with locations for each warehouse or region, and users assigned to locations with role-based permissions. Permissions control who can place orders, who approves, who sees pricing, who manages the account. The whole structure syncs to the ERP as customer records.
ERP integration patterns
Most Nordic B2B on Shopify Plus connects through middleware rather than direct. The typical pattern:
Customer sync. Company accounts in Shopify mirror customer records in the ERP. Creating a new company in Shopify triggers an ERP record, and vice versa.
Price list sync. ERP owns the price lists. A scheduled job or webhook pushes prices to Shopify, where they attach to the company account. Updates can be daily, hourly or real-time depending on need.
Stock sync. For real-time accuracy, stock levels stream from the ERP (or WMS) to Shopify. For lower-volume stores, hourly is usually enough.
Order flow. Orders placed in Shopify create records in the ERP for fulfilment, invoicing and accounting. The return path carries status updates back to Shopify so buyers see order history.
Nordic ERP systems that work well in this pattern include Business Central, Fortnox, Visma.net, NetSuite and SAP Business One.
Self-service portal, what buyers expect
The most profitable part of B2B ecommerce is existing customers placing orders themselves instead of calling or emailing. A good self-service portal on Shopify Plus typically includes quick order forms with article numbers, saved carts, one-click reorder from history, invoices with payment status, delivery tracking, and account admin where companies manage their own users and permissions.
This is where Shopify Plus is genuinely competitive. The native B2B experience is closer to what a custom-built portal delivers than most stock platforms.
When Shopify Plus is not the right B2B platform
Shopify Plus B2B is strong, but not universal. The cases where Shopware or Norce usually win:
Deep multi-warehouse with allocation logic, split shipments across warehouses, and warehouse-specific pricing. Shopware and Norce have more built-in here.
Product configurators with hundreds of options, technical specs, build-to-order scenarios or CPQ-style pricing. Shopify's product model requires apps or custom work; Shopware's is closer to native.
Very deep catalogs (10,000+ configurable SKUs) with complex attribute models. PIM integration helps on any platform, but the native catalog experience in Shopware is stronger.
Multi-level approval flows with budgets, department routing, and audit trails that satisfy finance compliance. Shopify Plus handles single-level approvals well. Multi-level is thinner.
Manufacturing or distribution scenarios where the store is tightly coupled to production schedules, long lead times or project-based ordering. Norce and custom builds on Shopware fit these better than a standard Shopify Plus implementation.
What a Shopify Plus B2B project costs
A straightforward B2B launch on Shopify Plus with a clean catalog and standard ERP integration typically runs €35,000 to €70,000. A more complex setup with custom pricing logic, deep ERP sync, approval flows and migrated data typically runs €80,000 to €180,000. The Shopify Plus licence is separate and priced on revenue.
The cost driver is almost always the ERP integration and the data migration, not the Shopify build. For Swedish market-specific questions — Klarna, Swish, VAT, the accessibility act — see our Shopify in Sweden guide. Contact us for a scoping conversation about your specific setup.