Shopify is betting on B2B business, and merchants of all types are rushing in

It is learned that in addition to D2C as its core business, Shopify is seeking to expand other businesses, and B2B is the main area that Shopify is targeting. After launching various B2B tools and services, D2C sellers on the platform and other platform sellers are considering migrating their B2B businesses to Shopify.

B2B functions are launched one after another, and merchants of all types are pouring in

Last June, Shopify launched its B2B service, allowing ShopifyPlus merchants to conduct both D2C and B2B businesses on the platform, and has launched various B2B tool kits. Last November, Shopify launched a Balance plug-in to help US B2B suppliers make self-service payments.

In January, Shopify opened up its infrastructure capabilities to major enterprise retailers, allowing them to use some of Shopify’s core features, such as payments, and most recently in February, Shopify announced a new set of APIs for B2B merchants.

The B2B space has traditionally been dominated by Shopify’s competitors, such as BigCommerce and Magento, but as Shopify expands its suite of B2B tools, retailers are starting to take an interest.

According to agencies, more and more B2B clients are beginning to ask how to join Shopify. In addition to pure B2B brands, some established D2Cs that have already conducted business on Shopify are also interested in migrating their B2B businesses to Shopify.

Lewis, founder of e-commerce development agency NetalicoCommerce, said that since January, 70% of the B2B sales inquiries he has received have come directly from Shopify, up from 50% last year. Most people want to migrate their existing B2B businesses to Shopify, while fewer and fewer people are inquiring about joining Magento and BigCommerce.

As of now, Shopify now offers many features that other large B2Bs have come standard with, and provides better APIs for their applications to enable these features.

Attracting large merchants to relocate, but there are still many difficulties

According to B2B agency Rashid, Shopify's B2B business is attracting large retailers, such as Glossier, which is one of the Shopify Plus merchants. The agency said that since the end of last year, the company has been actively negotiating with a furniture brand to migrate its B2B business to Shopify Enterprise and Shopify Plus.

Chase Clymer, founder of ElectricEye, an agency focused on Shopify, said that after the release of Shopify's enterprise stack Commerce Components, Shopify's B2B services became a very new and eye-catching presence in this field.

But for B2B retailers, there are many uncertainties in building a B2B business on the Shopify platform, including integration and logistics, and how the entire business will operate. Therefore, many merchants are still waiting and watching.

According to Shopify, B2B retailers are increasingly interested in designing unique buying experiences for their wholesale consumers similar to those of D2C brands, including per-customer pricing, product inventory, bulk buying rules, payment terms and flexible payment options.

“We make the experience feel like D2C, but at the same time allow retailers to bring them together, create orders and send invoices for payment,” said Mani Fazeli, Shopify’s director of product, in an emailed response.

In February, the company reported slower revenue growth and increased losses in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2021, GMV increased by 31% to $54.1 billion (about 7.36 trillion yen), while it increased by 13% to $61 billion (about 300 billion yen), a slower growth rate.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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