Shopify B2B with ERP

We have long been missing an opportunity to create B2B webshops with Shopify, but it seems that we do not have to wait any longer. B2B commerce in general is growing, and we are seeing a change in customer expectations, which are rising, with more people wanting to achieve an "e-commerce feeling" rather than using outdated systems and long, manual emails with price lists made in Excel. Shopify's latest addition is "Shopify B2B," which we will explore in this blog post.

The days of dusty user experiences are over, and we have seen several third-party apps and B2B portals emerge over the past few years. It was only a matter of time before Shopify came out with their improved version that provides a great user experience for both retailers and customers.

How to Get Started with Shopify B2B

There are two ways you can set up your new B2B solution. You can create a “mixed” or a “dedicated” solution.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at a “mixed solution,” where you combine everything in one place...

Mixed B2B

Here, your webshop accepts orders from both businesses (B2B) and private customers (B2C). In order for your B2B customers to shop on your webshop, they need to log in to an account, after which they will have access to the wholesale prices and payment terms that you have created for their profile.

One advantage of using this solution is that you have all your data in one place: You only have one place, you have to manage.

The following points apply in general to a “mixed B2B” webshop:

• It is standard, B2B customers cannot use discount codes. If you enable discount codes, both B2B and B2C customers can use the same discount codes.
• It is standard, B2B customers cannot use gift cards. But if you enable gift cards, both B2B and B2C customers can use gift cards.
• It is standard, B2B customers are not affected by Shopify Scripts that influence “line item discounts.” If you enable Shopify Scripts, both B2B and B2C customers are affected.
• B2B and B2C customers see the same webshop and therefore have the same experience. If you make changes to your theme, it applies to both B2B and B2C customers.
• For the more technical: Changes can be made to your theme that only affect your B2B customers by editing the theme code and using the customer.b2b liquid variable.
• Your dashboard combines KPIs from both B2B and B2C. It is only under "sales reports" that B2B and B2C are distinguished.
• If you set up email flows like “cart abandonment,” they will be the same for both B2B and B2C.
• Shipping prices and methods are the same for both B2B and B2C.

Dedicated B2B

If you choose to create a dedicated B2B webshop, as the name suggests, it is a webshop that can only be used by your B2B customers. Here, you can set specific settings for B2B customers in a dedicated webshop.

By creating a dedicated webshop for B2B, you can better segment inventory and business data between your B2B and B2C stores. Additionally, you can use scripts and discount codes without concern, as only B2B customers will be using the store.

A dedicated B2B webshop requires you to create a new webshop for this purpose, and any integrations to 3PL or ERP must be set up again. If you do not need to differentiate between your B2B and B2C customers, you should consider going with a “mixed B2B” solution, as described earlier in the blog post.

Since only B2B customers use your dedicated webshop, you can make changes and settings that affect B2B customers, such as:

• Enable discount codes
• Enable the gift card feature
• Shopify Script affecting line item discounts
• Change your webshop’s theme or navigation
• Your KPIs from your Shopify Dashboard will only cover information from your B2B customers
• Customize your email flows and transactional emails to be tailored to B2B
• Use dedicated shipping methods and rates tailored to B2B

Considerations Before Getting Started with Shopify B2B

Shopify B2B is only available with Shopify Plus, Shopify’s enterprise solution, starting at a monthly price of $2000 USD. If you already have a Shopify Plus webshop, it is easy and quick to get started.

Otherwise, you should be aware of these points:

• Orders have a maximum of 500 line items, which means if an order consists of more than 500 unique products, the order will fail.
• Subscriptions are not compatible with B2B.
• If you already have a webshop built with multiple apps and integrations, you should be aware of whether these work together with B2B.
• As of now, businesses cannot be created via a CSV file upload and must be created manually in Shopify.

The following features are not included as standard for B2B orders. If you need them enabled, feel free to contact us. We can help you set it up:

• Discount codes
• Shopify Script for line item discounts
• Payment with gift cards

The following features are currently not possible for B2B orders:

• Changing the customer on a B2B order
• Activating the option to give tips (tipping) at checkout
• Selling digital products
• Accelerated checkout, meaning payment with payment wallets does not work
• Shopify scripts that affect prices or products (line items)

Note that these limitations are standard. We can usually find a solution that fits your needs, but it often requires a workaround.

Integrations Between ERP and Shopify

When your B2B webshop reaches a certain size, your systems need to work together.

If they do not, you risk having a tech stack that gets in your way, makes life difficult, and forces you to work overtime.

Integrations can, in many cases, remove that frustration, untie the technical knots, and free up your time instead.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into that.

The Benefits of Integrations

Integrations between Shopify and your ERP system can work wonders.

Primarily, integrations build a bridge between your systems, automate previously manual processes, and save you a ton of time and money.

Here are some specific benefits:

An integration is cost-effective:

Yes, it may cost money to develop a custom integration, but it is nothing compared to how much time you could save with the integrated task.

Time is money, and integrations give you time.

An integration is scalable:

You run into a problem if you solely rely on manual labor to maintain your ERP system. One person can only handle one click at a time. Eventually, one person becomes two, and then there’s trouble. An integration is scalable and ensures that the work gets done, no matter how many transactions there are.

Improved communication:

People are unpredictable. We make mistakes, and we forget things. That is how it is, and that is okay.

But when it comes to working with an ERP system, it would be great if everything ran smoothly.

That is what an integration ensures.

The integration is accountable, and everyone has the same data and numbers. This way, the entire company communicates in the same language, based on the same dataset.

Competitiveness:

All the qualities, mentioned above, are ultimately attributes that can significantly strengthen your position in the market.

Integrations can make the work more simple for you and make the buying experience much smoother for your customer.

And that is something our clients use to win the competition.

Which ERP Systems Can Be Integrated with Shopify?

We offer a variety of integrations and specialize in:

• NAV
• 365 Business Central
• TrimIT

These ERP systems are some of the most commonly used in Denmark.

Here are some of the most frequent integration flows in B2B cases:

Product Creation

New products and their variants are retrieved from the ERP. Shopify will create these products via the API. If there are variants, they will also be created and linked to the main product.

Attributes, sales texts, and images will be attached to the products. We find that these can be in the same data source, but ideally, they should be in a PIM (Product Information Management). If a PIM exists, the exercise is to synchronize the product master data from the ERP and other product data and media from the PIM to create the product in Shopify.

Customer and Contact Creation

All customers created and active are transferred from the ERP to Shopify. These are created with all master data linked to a debtor card.

The idea is that we want all transactions to hit this debtor from Shopify to the ERP. On the other hand, we make it easy for the customer so they do not have to enter customer data when ordering products.

The same applies to contacts; these can be created from an ERP so that a contact gets an account instead, which is typical for retail customers. Here, there will be one contact, who is actually a buyer in a store or area.

Price Logic

We will retrieve prices from the ERP, which may include:

• Debtor price groups
• Quantity prices
• Sales prices
• Recommended prices
• Discounts

The prices will be linked to the debtors and contacts based on type. So, upon login, the customer will see the prices that apply to them.

Order Data

All orders placed are automatically transferred to the ERP solution and properly back to complete the order again. Order processing in B2B is usually handled in the ERP.

Inventory Management

This is not just about keeping track of inventory per item and variant, but also being able to allocate these to locations, which the products can be linked to in the ERP. Practically, this is used to allocate customers to the respective markets they belong to.

For example, a customer from Asia could be linked to the nearest location so that all orders are processed from the warehouse to which they are tied.

The same can be done with shipping to streamline the process and reduce sources of errors in each order.

The Importance of Interaction Between Shopify B2B and Your ERP

If you run a serious B2B Shopify webshop, you must realize that your integration with your ERP must work—and preferably run as automatically as possible.

Shopify is continually releasing updates for their new B2B solution. Recently, there was an update to the API for "Business Customer" and the ability to create draft orders at checkout.

We also expect to see updates that can send payment reminders to customers who have not paid invoices, as well as the possibility for customers to adjust their profile to match their branding.