Shopify B2B now on all plans since April 2026: what it means for brands

On 2 April 2026, Shopify extended foundational B2B features to merchants on Basic, Grow and Advanced plans at no extra cost, ending nearly four years of Shopify Plus exclusivity. For the first time, merchants on non-Plus plans can access native features including company profiles for wholesale buyers, up to three custom catalogues with tailored pricing, volume discounts and quantity rules, vaulted credit cards and payment terms. The move expands native wholesale functionality to millions of smaller brands whilst retaining advanced capabilities on the Plus tier, which starts at $2,300 per month on a three-year term.

What wholesale features are now available on all Shopify plans?

As of 2 April 2026, Basic, Grow and Advanced plans include company profiles, up to three custom catalogues, volume and quantity pricing, payment terms, vaulted cards and a dedicated B2B checkout. That includes company profiles, up to three active B2B catalogues with custom pricing, volume pricing, quantity rules, net payment terms, ACH payments in the US and vaulted credit cards. All plans support self-serve buyer portals, quantity rules and Shopify Flow automations for B2B operations.

The three-catalogue limit applies across all B2B markets rather than per market. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, merchants can use a maximum of three active catalogue assignments across their B2B markets. This allowance is shared across markets rather than provided separately for each one. For brands with simple tiered pricing structures, this constraint may prove sufficient for initial wholesale operations.

What still requires Shopify Plus for B2B?

Plus retains unlimited catalogues, direct catalogue assignment to companies and locations, partial payments and deposits, and the dedicated B2B storefront. As of October 2026, Plus is the only plan with unlimited B2B catalogues, catalogues assigned directly to individual companies and locations, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment. Plus also provides higher API rate limits, expansion stores and dedicated account management unrelated to B2B functionality.

Industry data from Plus-focused B2B agencies places the real operational threshold around 500 active wholesale customers. Below this level, non-Plus B2B features typically suffice for standard wholesale operations. Beyond it, catalogue proliferation, customer-specific pricing complexity and order volume create pressure points that justify the Plus investment.

How does the pricing model work for brands adding wholesale?

Basic ($39/month), Grow ($105/month), Advanced ($399/month) and Shopify Plus (starting at approximately $2,300/month) all include B2B features at no additional cost. The platform pricing tiers reflect broader functionality rather than wholesale capability alone. Brands already operating on Shopify for direct-to-consumer sales can activate B2B features within their existing plan without migration or additional licensing fees.

Shopify moved native B2B onto every paid plan on 2 April 2026 at no extra cost, and reports that merchants using its B2B tools see up to a 4.1x increase in reorder frequency compared with DTC. This data point comes from Shopify's own announcement but provides context on wholesale buyer behaviour versus retail customers.

Where does Shopify B2B fall short for apparel complexity?

Apparel wholesale operations face structural limitations on Shopify that generic B2B features do not address. Shopify's native variant limit caps at 100 per product. For apparel brands with deep size-colour-fit matrices, that creates a real problem. Whilst Shopify increased the total variant limit to 2,048 in October 2025, the constraint remains three options per product, forcing workarounds for complex apparel catalogues.

It does not do size-matrix ordering, seasonal prebooks against inbound production, size-curve allocation or retailer EDI, which is the operational core of apparel wholesale at scale. Apparel wholesale involves selling inventory that exists today alongside inventory that will not exist for months. Managing this dual inventory model creates complexity that generic eCommerce platforms cannot address.

Fashion buyers expect to place orders in size-run grids across multiple colours and delivery windows, often as prepacks or with minimum order quantities per style-colour combination. Shopify's B2B checkout treats each variant as a separate line item rather than enabling matrix input, which slows the ordering process for buyers accustomed to wholesale-specific interfaces.

When should fashion brands choose a specialist wholesale platform?

Where Shopify B2B is strongest: small brands in early stages of wholesale, or DTC-first brands with simple wholesale needs (fixed pricing tiers, straightforward ordering) where the operational complexity of wholesale hasn't yet appeared. Where to look carefully: Shopify B2B is adapted from DTC infrastructure, which means the wholesale-specific workflows such as pre-book, at-once, multi-door programmes, budget-controlled booking and decorated goods are either unsupported or require third-party apps that add cost and integration complexity.

Brands operating seasonal collection cycles, managing pre-production orders against confirmed manufacturing schedules, or selling through department store EDI requirements will encounter friction points. In RepSpark's 2026 State of Wholesale report, a survey of 26 lifestyle apparel brands, 81 percent rated their overall efficiency as good or excellent, yet only 19 percent had fully integrated their B2B platform with their ERP or inventory system, highlighting the integration gap that persists across the industry.

The decision point typically arrives when catalogue complexity, customer count or operational workflows exceed what Shopify's three-catalogue limit and variant structure can accommodate without manual intervention. At that stage, purpose-built wholesale platforms designed for apparel-specific workflows become the pragmatic choice, often running alongside Shopify for retail operations rather than replacing it entirely.

What does the April 2026 change mean for the wholesale software market?

The extension of B2B features to all Shopify plans lowers the entry barrier for brands testing wholesale channels but does not eliminate the need for specialist platforms at scale. The clean way to think about it: native B2B answers can I run wholesale here, and the 2026 answer is yes on any paid plan. Plus answers can I run wholesale at scale with fine grained control, and that remains a real yes only at the Plus tier.

For emerging fashion brands, Shopify's native B2B removes the previous requirement to either pay for Plus or cobble together third-party apps for basic wholesale functionality. Brands can now validate wholesale demand, onboard initial accounts and process orders within their existing Shopify infrastructure before deciding whether growth justifies migration to specialist platforms or upgrading to Plus.

The competitive pressure falls on wholesale software providers to articulate clear value beyond baseline B2B capability. Apparel-specific platforms that handle size matrices, seasonal pre-books, rep workflows, trade show integration and ERP connectivity maintain differentiation, whilst general-purpose wholesale apps face displacement by Shopify's native feature set.