How to Build a Shopify B2B Store Without Plus: The Money-Saving Guide

Shopify B2B doesn't demand the $2,300 monthly Plus subscription many store owners think is mandatory. The platform powers over one million users across 175 countries, generating $319 billion in global economic activity. These numbers prove Shopify offers robust B2B capabilities suitable for businesses at every scale. 

The facts speak volumes - Shopify Plus generates only 25% of Shopify's monthly recurring revenue. This means 75% of merchants succeed without it. You can set up wholesale functionality through third-party apps starting at just $15.99 monthly. Our experience shows building B2B stores without Plus is straightforward with the right toolkit. SparkLayer ($49/month) delivers automated B2B pricing and customer segmentation features, while MGroup Dynamic Price gives you flexible pricing control tailored for business-to-business operations. These solutions have grown increasingly powerful, making wholesale setup on Shopify possible without stretching your budget.

This guide walks you through practical money-saving strategies to build a powerful B2B store without the Plus upgrade. We'll show you exactly how to grow your business without unnecessary expenses.

Why You Don't Need Shopify Plus for B2B

Standard Shopify plans deliver everything most B2B stores need without the Plus price tag. Business owners often think they must spend big on Shopify Plus for wholesale operations. This simply isn't true. Regular Shopify plans pack powerful features that, paired with the right apps, give B2B merchants almost everything they need at a fraction of the cost.

Shopify B2B vs Shopify Plus: Key differences

Price stands out as the most striking difference between standard Shopify and Shopify Plus. Plus starts at $2,000+ monthly while standard plans range from $39 to $399 per month. Businesses save over $19,000 yearly by implementing a few smart workarounds instead of upgrading.

The feature comparison tells an interesting story:

Plus offers native B2B features while standard Shopify needs third-party apps. MGroup Dynamic Price ($14.99/month) lets you create sophisticated pricing rules for your B2B wholesale store. The app handles customer-specific pricing, quantity breaks, and displays different prices based on customer tags—core wholesale requirements for business-to-business operations.

Customer tags on standard Shopify segment business buyers effectively, allowing specialized pricing and products without the Plus cost. This method needs more manual setup at first but delivers nearly identical results.

When Shopify Plus is worth it—and when it's not

Shopify Plus makes sense primarily in these scenarios:

1. High-volume sales - B2B stores processing over $800,000 monthly might offset Plus costs with lower transaction fees.

2. Complex automation needs - Businesses requiring sophisticated automation across multiple sales channels.

3. Custom checkout requirements - Stores needing specialized checkout modifications beyond app capabilities.

4. Enterprise-level support - Companies needing dedicated support and faster response times.

Standard Shopify works perfectly for most B2B operations when:

• Monthly sales fall under $800,000
• Your team can work with third-party apps for wholesale features
• Standard API limits meet your needs
• Basic checkout customization suffices

Setting up wholesale without Plus gives you better expense control as you grow. You select only the apps serving your specific needs rather than paying for bundled features you might never use.

The B2B without Plus strategy lets you start small and build incrementally. Begin with basic customer segments and wholesale pricing, then add more sophisticated features as your business expands and your requirements evolve.

Step-by-Step: How to Build a Shopify B2B Store Without Plus

Setting up B2B on Shopify without Plus requires methodical implementation. Follow these seven key steps to create a functional wholesale storefront that meets business requirements without the premium costs.

1. Enable customer accounts

Activate the new customer accounts feature through Shopify admin under Settings > Customer accounts. This passwordless system lets business customers log in via one-time verification codes sent by email. The newer version supports B2B features and saves payment methods—capabilities the legacy system lacked.

Toggle "Show login links" to display the login option on your storefront. B2B customers need accounts to access wholesale pricing and product catalogs meant specifically for them.

2. Customize registration forms for business buyers

Standard Shopify registration forms lack B2B-specific fields. Third-party apps solve this limitation:

B2B Handsfree provides customizable forms with EU VAT ID validation, automatically tagging business customers and applying proper tax exemptions. The app connects with popular invoicing tools for streamlined operations.

Customer Fields offers another solution, allowing you to build tailored forms capturing company details, tax IDs, and verification documents. Manual approval workflows let you review applications before granting wholesale access.

3. Use customer tags for segmentation

Customer tags organize your B2B buyers effectively. Tags like "Wholesale," "VIP Wholesale," or industry-specific markers segment business customers for targeted pricing and content access.

Apply tags manually in Shopify admin or automatically through registration apps. These tags control wholesale pricing visibility, create pricing tiers, and determine shipping options.

Tagged customers can be filtered for specific marketing campaigns or granted access to wholesale-only collections—a crucial component of your B2B setup.

4. Set up wholesale pricing with third-party apps

Standard Shopify requires third-party apps for wholesale pricing management. MGroup Dynamic Price ($14.99/month) offers pricing control designed for B2B operations. Create customer-specific pricing, quantity breaks, and show different prices based on customer tags.

Other solid options include:

• Wholesale Pricing Discount: Handles percentage discounts, custom pricing, volume pricing
• Wholesale Order Form & ReOrder: Creates one-page forms for bulk ordering
• Wholesale Club: Delivers tiered pricing and volume discounts

5. Create a dedicated wholesale page

Build a wholesale-specific area by modifying your theme code. Edit your theme.liquid file to include conditional statements checking whether pages are tagged "wholesale" and show this content only to properly tagged customers.

For extra protection, create templates with "wholesale-" prefixes for products and collections you want to restrict to business customers only.

6. Customize checkout and payment options

B2B customers need different payment methods than retail buyers. Set up options like:

• Net payment terms (Net 15, Net 30)
• Bank transfers
• Purchase orders
• Credit applications

The Checkout Blocks app helps hide, rename, and reorder payment methods for specific customer groups, ensuring B2B customers see only relevant options at checkout.

7. Test everything before going live

Test your B2B wholesale setup thoroughly before launch. Create test customer accounts with appropriate tags, check pricing displays correctly, and verify checkout functions properly with your selected payment methods.

Testing identifies potential issues before real customers encounter them, ensuring smooth operations when your wholesale store goes live.

Top Apps to Power Your Shopify B2B Store

The right apps bridge the gap between standard Shopify and Plus capabilities. These tools deliver essential B2B features at a fraction of the cost of upgrading.

SparkLayer: All-in-one B2B toolkit

SparkLayer turns your existing Shopify store into a complete wholesale solution without Plus. This app enables customer-specific pricing, net payment terms, and a fully-branded B2B ordering portal. It goes beyond basics with quote-to-order systems, sales agent tools for managing customer accounts, and detailed analytics for tracking B2B performance. SparkLayer works with all Shopify plans and setup takes as little as one day - perfect for quick wholesale deployment.

Wholesale Order Form & ReOrder: Simplify bulk buying

Wholesale Order Form & ReOrder creates a single-page form where B2B customers add multiple items to their cart with minimal clicks. Starting at $12.99/month, this app cuts unnecessary page refreshes and makes bulk ordering fast and efficient. The Professional plan ($19.99/month) adds minimum/maximum quantity settings and product increments. The Enterprise plan ($24.99/month) includes the ReOrder feature for returning customers.

Locksmith: Control access to B2B content

Locksmith gives you precise control over who sees your wholesale content. This versatile app restricts products, collections, pages, or your entire store based on customer tags (like "b2b"), email addresses, passcodes, or location. It works with any Shopify plan, letting you create password-protected wholesale areas without upgrading to Plus.

MGroup Dynamic Pricing: Flexible pricing control

If your business sells wholesale or works with partner programs, you need a flexible solution to offer custom pricing to different customer groups. That’s exactly what the Mgroup Dynamic Price app is built for.

This app lets you set special pricing for logged-in customers based on tags or other rules. For example, you can apply a fixed price to a specific product for wholesale buyers or give a percentage discount to customers tagged as wholesale. Even better, you’re not limited to just lowering prices — you can also increase prices for specific segments if needed (for example, based on region, demand, or account tier). All of this is handled automatically — no Shopify Functions or Plus plan required.

One of the standout features of Mgroup Dynamic Price is how easy it is to use. The interface is clean and intuitive, making it simple for store owners or managers to create and manage pricing rules without technical skills. You can apply rules to individual products, entire collections, or customer tags in just a few clicks.

Beyond price personalization, the app also lets you hide B2B pricing from regular shoppers, showing it only to approved or logged-in users. This is ideal for businesses working with resellers, distributors, or VIP clients who need custom terms. If you’re looking to scale wholesale sales, automate pricing logic, and gain full control over your pricing strategy — Mgroup Dynamic Price is a powerful and affordable solution, even without Shopify Plus.

Common Challenges of B2B Without Shopify Plus

Running a B2B store without Shopify Plus saves money but comes with specific challenges. These hurdles aren't dealbreakers, but they demand careful planning to ensure smooth operations.

Manual setup and maintenance

Standard Shopify lacks Plus's automation features, forcing you to handle many tasks by hand. Customer data and order management quickly become time-consuming. You'll need to:

• Tag customers for segmentation manually
• Update pricing rules across multiple apps
• Process wholesale orders without automated workflows

MGroup Dynamic Price helps manage pricing tiers, but requires initial setup and regular maintenance. The absence of native B2B features means more time spent on admin tasks that Plus handles automatically.

App compatibility issues

Dependence on multiple third-party apps creates technical complexity. During setup, you'll likely discover some apps clash with others. This creates particular headaches for B2B operations that need several specialized apps working together.

App conflicts show up as:

• JavaScript errors affecting your storefront
• Pricing rules that contradict each other
• Features that overlap and cause unexpected problems

Many store owners successfully manage these app compatibility issues through careful research and thorough testing before full deployment.

Limited automation and scalability

Scalability presents the biggest challenge. As your wholesale business grows, certain limitations become apparent. Shopify B2B caps orders at 500 line items, creating problems for businesses with extensive product catalogs.

Performance suffers as you add more apps. Multiple extensions slow your site, hurting customer experience. Complex pricing structures and customer grouping don't function as efficiently without Plus.

Growing businesses often need additional solutions for recurring orders, further complicating your technology stack. While setting up wholesale on standard Shopify is definitely possible, success requires carefully balancing functionality against performance as you scale.

Tips to Optimize Your Shopify B2B Experience

Shopify B2B stores need regular attention after setup. The right optimization strategies keep your wholesale storefront performing well without Plus.

Use lightweight apps to avoid performance issues

Too many apps slow down your store and hurt conversion rates. Skip installing every available B2B tool. Focus instead on multi-functional solutions that combine features. MGroup Dynamic Price ($99/month) handles custom pricing, tiered discounts, and customer-specific catalogs in one package. This approach eliminates the need for multiple pricing apps.

Choose apps with minimal JavaScript impact for your wholesale store. Many developers offer "lite" versions built specifically for performance. Test your store's load time with Google PageSpeed Insights after each new app installation. This simple habit ensures your site stays responsive for customers.

Keep your B2B navigation simple and clear

Clear navigation matters for business-to-business operations. Place your wholesale form prominently in your navigation bar or footer. User data shows this placement significantly increases form submissions.

Build dedicated B2B menus that only appear for logged-in wholesale customers. These menus should feature:

• Wholesale catalogs and pricing
• Bulk order forms
• Account management
• Order history for easy reordering

Shopify's native menu system supports nested navigation up to three levels deep. This gives your wholesale customers organized access without overwhelming them with options.

Regularly review customer tags and pricing rules

Customer tags and pricing rules form the backbone of B2B stores without Plus. Set up a monthly audit process for customer segments and pricing structures. Snap B2B lets you organize customers into groups like "All customers," "Logged-in customers," "Non-logged-in customers," and "Customers with tag." This gives you exact control over who sees what.

Check your original prices against wholesale rates regularly to protect your margins. Snap B2B Wholesale Pricing displays comparison pricing alongside special rates, making it easy to visualize your discount structure across products.

Automate your tagging system where possible using registration forms that apply tags automatically upon approval. This smart approach reduces manual work as your B2B store grows.

Conclusion

Shopify B2B stores without Plus succeed when built with strategic app selection and proper setup. This guide proves standard Shopify plans paired with targeted apps deliver professional wholesale functionality while saving your business over $19,000 yearly.

MGroup Dynamic Price emerges as an essential tool for B2B merchants. Priced at $99/month, this app powers customer-specific pricing, tiered discounts, and volume pricing rules—key features that keep wholesale operations running smoothly without the Plus price tag. Many store owners discover this single app replaces multiple wholesale pricing functions that would typically require Plus.

The combination of SparkLayer, Wholesale Order Form & ReOrder, and Locksmith creates a robust B2B experience. The approach demands more hands-on setup initially, but the financial advantages justify this effort for most growing businesses.

This path comes with its challenges. You'll manage multiple apps, handle certain processes manually, and possibly encounter scaling limitations as your business expands. Regular system reviews become essential — tracking performance, checking customer tags, and assessing whether your current setup still meets your needs.

Shopify B2B without Plus offers a practical solution for businesses needing wholesale capabilities without enterprise-level costs. Start simple, add features as needed, and grow your tech stack alongside your business. This strategy lets you direct resources where they matter most—expanding your customer base and inventory — instead of paying for premium features you might not yet require.

At Mgroup, we specialize in building powerful, scalable B2B stores on Shopify that are tailored to the unique needs of wholesale and professional buyers. From custom registration flows with license verification to gated content, tiered pricing, and seamless integrations with inventory and ERP systems — we provide end-to-end solutions that streamline operations and enhance the buying experience for your business customers. Whether you’re launching a new B2B channel or upgrading an existing one, our team of Shopify experts ensures every feature is optimized for performance, conversion, and long-term growth. Ready to elevate your Shopify store? Contact Mgroup today at mgroupweb.com to learn how we can transform your online business.