In B2B, a customer is not one person, it is an organization with locations, buyers and rules. Modeling that correctly is the difference between a wholesale store that scales and one that needs constant workarounds. Here is how company account management works on Shopify Plus B2B.
Companies, locations and buyers
The Shopify Plus B2B suite is built around companies. A company can have multiple locations, and each location carries its own catalog, price list, payment terms, tax treatment and addresses. Buyers are attached to locations with permission levels. This hierarchy is what lets a head office and its branches share a company while ordering under different pricing and terms.
Model your real customer structure
The first job is mapping how your customers are actually organized. A single independent shop is one company, one location. A franchise is one company with many locations. A distributor with sub-accounts is a company with a hierarchy. Getting this structure right up front means pricing, terms and permissions all hang off it correctly, rather than being patched later.
Roles and permissions
Within a company, not everyone should do everything. Permission levels control who can place orders, who can only browse, and who manages the account. This matters for larger buyers where purchasing is controlled, and it pairs with draft orders and approval workflows for organisations that need sign-off on purchases.
Location-specific pricing and terms
Because catalogs and terms attach to locations, one company can have different pricing or payment terms per location if the business requires it, for example a national account with regionally negotiated rates. This flexibility avoids forcing complex real-world relationships into a flat structure.
Managing accounts at scale
As the number of companies grows, management has to stay efficient. That usually means driving company, buyer and pricing data from your ERP so the system of record stays authoritative and Shopify reflects it, rather than maintaining hundreds of accounts by hand. Onboarding new companies cleanly is covered in B2B customer onboarding.
Well-modeled company accounts are what make Shopify feel like it was built for your wholesale business rather than adapted to it. The full model is in B2B and wholesale on Shopify.