B2B on Shopify without Plus: what it means for your trade program

On April 2, 2026, Shopify opened core B2B features to Basic, Grow, and Advanced. Consider a store with three showrooms and 40 design firms on its books: in this example, company buying can live in Shopify without choosing Plus simply to create the accounts.

The useful decision is now more specific. Which firms need company accounts, which pricing groups can share catalogs, and how will the store take money before ordering a custom piece? Shopify’s B2B tools handle the business relationship. Your trade program still needs a deliberate furniture workflow.

Separate the available tools from the job you need done

Shopify’s April 2 announcement lists company profiles, up to three active B2B catalogs assigned through Markets, payment terms, volume pricing, U.S. ACH payments, and vaulted credit cards on Basic, Grow, and Advanced.

Unlimited catalogs, direct catalog assignment to companies and locations, native partial payments, and deposits remain Plus features. This distinction matters when a design studio expects its own price list or a deposit at checkout.

Treat the catalog limit as a design constraint. Three catalogs might suit three broad trade tiers, but that is a possible program structure, not an instruction that every store should invent tiers. If your pricing is negotiated project by project, the catalog count may be less useful than a careful quoting process.

Start with the reason to create a company

A company account is useful when the relationship belongs to a business rather than a single customer contact. Shopify distinguishes the company, its locations, and the individuals who buy for it. Each company location can hold its own addresses, tax details, payment terms, and contacts, as explained in Shopify’s company overview.

That structure can solve a familiar problem: the lead designer opens a project, a purchasing assistant orders, and someone else handles payment. The business remains recognizable even when the person at the counter changes.

A “company location” is a buying unit in that structure. It is not automatically one of your store’s showrooms, nor does every room in a client’s house need its own company location. Define the buyer first. Keep the project reference with the work.

A small designer list does not settle the B2B decision

You do not need B2B simply because you have 20 designers. That number is another example, not a threshold. A small program with individual contacts, reviewed quotes, customer fields, and supported exemptions may work well without company-based online buying.

B2B becomes more useful when you need business accounts with several buyers, consistent catalog access, and agreed terms that follow the company location. Start with those needs and compare them against the native Shopify furniture toolkit.

Avoid creating company records solely to make the customer list look more sophisticated. There is already enough furniture in the store that exists mainly to look impressive.

Give each buyer the right company access

A design firm can have several buying contacts. Shopify lets you assign existing or new customers to company locations and choose permissions for each contact. Its company-contact documentation distinguishes ordering-only access from location administration.

Use the real person’s contact record and assign the company locations that person needs. A buyer who orders for one office does not automatically need every office’s history or the ability to change billing addresses. Make offboarding part of the same procedure, so old contacts do not retain access indefinitely.

Before inviting a firm, agree who orders, who can change addresses, and who receives payment requests. Write that down in your account-opening process. The store should not have to infer purchasing authority from whoever most recently replied to an email.

Use customer accounts for Shopify B2B

Shopify B2B requires customer accounts rather than legacy customer accounts. Shopify’s account comparison identifies B2B support in the current account system, which supports email-code sign-in.

This does not mean every existing customer profile has to be recreated. Existing customers can be assigned to companies through the supported setup. Review the account experience, company access, and any existing storefront customizations before sending invitations.

OrderPilot’s customer portal is a separate experience opened from an emailed link. It gives the recorded customer access to quotes and orders without a storefront login. Do not present that link as a replacement for Shopify B2B authentication or as a company-wide portal automatically shared with every colleague.

Plan the deposit before promising checkout

Furniture often needs money collected before the vendor starts work. Payment terms specify when money is due; a deposit is an amount collected before the remainder. Do not use those phrases interchangeably when explaining the arrangement to a designer.

Shopify’s native B2B deposit announcement describes a percentage of the subtotal required at checkout, configured by company location, with the balance due under its payment terms. The Winter ’26 payment update also describes dynamic payment terms and deposit requirements through Functions-powered apps as Plus capabilities.

OrderPilot offers deposit orders on any Shopify plan: each is a separate Shopify order with its own payment link, created in Admin before the main order is placed. Enable Deposit orders under Settings › Quotes & orders › Delivery & stock. This route excludes tax-split order groups; native percentage terms, POS Take Deposit, partial manual payments on placed orders, and ordinary minimum-deposit requirements need Plus.

The deposit guide by Shopify plan helps the team choose the right route before the customer reaches the payment stage.

Follow a trade order from approval to the balance

Return to the example store. A studio approves a configured table order totaling $8,000. The store agrees to collect $4,000 before placement and the remaining $4,000 under its written balance terms.

On a non-Plus Shopify store, authorized staff can create the OrderPilot deposit order in Admin and send its link. After payment, the recorded deposit counts toward the sale and reduces the balance. Purchasing then reviews the configuration, signature, payment position, and approvals under the store’s release procedure. If the studio changes the finish before paying, settle the revised quote and replace an incorrect unpaid request. If the money has arrived, reconcile the existing payment before requesting more. Do not create another furniture sale merely to make the balance look tidy.

Connect the customer record to the ongoing work

On OrderPilot Growth and Professional, customer records can link a contact to a Shopify B2B company; the customer edit page also supports creating the company. Staff can keep the trade tier and account details near the quote rather than in a separate list. Resale certificates are stored by state with files and validity details. Shopify also has company-location tax settings on B2B-supporting plans. Its tax documentation says customer exemptions take precedence over tax overrides, so review the actual customer and buying context rather than copying settings between records.

Use the resale-certificate workflow when a project changes destination. Keep commercial trade pricing distinct from tax exemption.

For configured quotes, review the price the OrderPilot quote actually carries; do not assume Shopify B2B catalog pricing has flowed into it automatically. The customer can then use the OrderPilot portal to review the agreed pieces, sign, pay when enabled, and follow the order.

Choose the smallest setup that handles the real sale

Before moving the program into B2B, answer these questions:

• Does the firm need several buyers under a shared business relationship?
• Can the program’s catalog structure fit the available assignment model?
• Are company-level terms useful, or is each project individually quoted?
• Which deposit route will the associate explain and the back office operate?
• Who owns tax documentation and buyer-access changes?
• Has someone tested the customer’s sign-in and ordering journey?

If those answers point to companies, set up a representative firm and follow a complete sample sale before rolling out the program. If customer records and reviewed quotes already do the job, keep that simpler structure.

Finish by reviewing customer accounts versus legacy accounts. A clear buying experience matters more than the number of account fields you have filled in.

Sources

1. Key B2B features now available on non-Plus plans — Shopify Changelog, April 2, 2026.
2. Companies and customers in B2B — Shopify Help Center.
3. Creating and managing B2B company contacts using customers — Shopify Help Center.
4. Customer accounts and legacy customer accounts — Shopify Help Center.
5. Collect deposits at checkout — Shopify Changelog, June 21, 2024.
6. Winter ’26: dynamic payment terms and deposits — Shopify Editions, Winter ’26.
7. Tax overrides and exemptions — Shopify Help Center.