What is Shopify B2B Commerce? Definition & Comparisons
Have you ever heard of Shopify as an eCommerce platform? Are you wondering whether or not you should try Shopify B2B Commerce? Take a look at the definition and brief comparisons from us!
What is Shopify?
Shopify isn’t simply a store builder. It is a popular eCommerce platform that allows you to easily create your dream business and start online selling to consumers worldwide. It gives you everything you need to start an online store, from setting up the storefront, displaying your products, categorizing product lists to interacting with customers, processing orders and payment, managing shipping methods and more.
If you’re not familiar with eCommerce platforms, consider Shopify as an excellent beginning for your business regardless of its size. With massive documentation available online and an easy-to-use interface, Shopify is simple enough that it won’t scare off newcomers.
Shopify is meant to be adaptable and grow with you, whether your needs are from getting a small store up and running instantly or designing a unique shopping experience for your customers. If you want some customization for better sales performance, the numerous apps on Shopify App Store will quickly satisfy your need.
Don’t you know that you can even improve your management system with the help of API integrations for software like CMS, CRM?
Continue reading if you’re still unsure about what you get when joining up for Shopify.
What is Shopify B2B Commerce?
The term “B2B Commerce” means wholesaling on online platforms and marketplaces, so Shopify B2B Commerce means building a Shopify store for wholesale purposes.
Originally, Shopify isn’t meant for wholesaling. The platform focuses on B2C sellers and small retailers with few to none B2B features. For small wholesalers, Shopify is still a viable option for B2B. Yet, compared to many other platforms like Magento and BigCommerce, it lacks scaling potentials for B2B businesses that already plan on expanding their store.
If you are planning to start or grow your online store, you might need a Shopify Plus development service to help you achieve your goals. Contact BSS Commerce for the best support.
Besides cheap subscription plans that originally means for B2C store owners like “Basic Shopify” and “Shopify,” the platform also offers premium ones with the name of “Advanced Shopify” and ultimately, “Shopify Plus” for corporations and big companies.
With large gaps between price ranges, these editions are still not meant for B2B Commerce since it doesn’t come with wholesale focus features! Yet, it’s an ideal environment for you to build your store upon with advanced features for large companies like advanced reports, third-party calculated shipping rates, international variant prices, automotive processes.
It’s also worth noting that the external transaction fee goes down a bit compared to other plans.
Check out this table below for more information:
Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | Shopify Plus | |
Total price | $29.00 | $79.00 | $299.00 | $2,000.00 |
Annual plan fee | $29.00 | $79.00 | $299.00 | $2,000.00 |
Estimated Fees | ||||
Credit card rate (Shopify Payments) | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.6% + 30¢ | 2.4% + 30¢ | 2.15% + 30¢ |
Credit card rate (w/o Shopify Payments) | 7% + 30¢ | 7% + 30¢ | 7% + 30¢ | 7% + 30¢ |
Transaction fee (Shopify Payments) | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Transaction fee (w/o Shopify Payments) | 2% | 1% | 0.5% | 0.25% |
Features | ||||
Staff accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 | Unlimited |
Product amount | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
File storage | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Shipping discount | up to 64% | up to 72% | up to 74% | Outstanding |
Print shipping labels | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Discount Codes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Fraud analysis (with Shopify Payments) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Fraud analysis (w/o Shopify Payments) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
24/7 support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Website and blog | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Free SSL certificate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Abandoned cart recovery | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Gift cards | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Professional reports | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Advanced report builder | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Third-party calculated shipping rates | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Is Shopify B2B or B2C?
INTERESTED in Shopify and want to start your store. Check out our B2B eCommerce Website Development Service.
As mentioned before, Shopify is usable for both business models. It’s quite handy for whatever your selling purpose is, even though it comes with an exchange at prices since it depends mostly on additional features of marketplace apps.
As a B2C seller, the Basic Shopify plan and “Shopify” plan have many valuable features like abandoned cart recovery, gift card, Shopify POS, and multi-currency pricing support. These are quality-of-life features that fit both types of business models quickly. For example, advanced cart recovery is a premium feature aiming to improve the cart abandonment rate from visited customers.
For B2B, Shopify is only good enough for small to medium-sized wholesale businesses. Just as you wouldn’t go for a run in flip-flops, Shopify could be quite inconvenient in the long term since its native environment lacks lots of B2B-focus features like the one-page checkout, multiple reordering function or company account management.
Unlike Magento or BigCommerce, you might have to pay extra fees and attention just to get these basic B2B features. Or maybe you won’t have to pay a penny by using free apps yet still have to face risking potentials of breaking your site because of the incompatibility between several apps.
Is Shopify Good for eCommerce?
Shopify B2B Commerce is one of the top choices for eCommerce websites or newly opened online stores. The platform is pretty stable with high up-time (around 95-96%), providing an all-in-one kit with a free basic SSL certificate, shipping label customization, unlimited file storage for product uploads, and 24/7 support.
All around, Shopify’s unique point is the massive app marketplace with limitless customizing abilities, an intuitive and straightforward eCommerce system, so we definitely recommend the platform to both newcomers and newly-experienced sellers.
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