Shopify’s wholesale is an additional sales channel like POS or Amazon and currently consists of two options – the Handshake marketplace or a separate, password-protected store (an extension of your existing online store).
Handshake marketplace is a wholesale marketplace for Shopify merchants to sell with retailers – it’s separate from your existing store, and admin will sit in Handshake as opposed to Shopify admin. With Handshake, it’s harder to reach a broad range of customers and update price lists and payment terms.
As for the separate, password-protected storefront, you can offer custom pricing to wholesale customers and process orders in Shopify admin, but this will look and feel different (in some cases, clumsy) than your D2C store.
With Shopify B2B, rather than an additional sales channel, your B2B offering is built into Shopify admin, so everything you have on your DTC store is also available for B2B selling (see considerations and restrictions). This offers the ability to create a blended storefront that caters to B2B and DTC customers. Ultimately, Shopify B2B is a more user-friendly, elevated experience for your B2B customers and easier to manage for your teams.
Shopify B2B vs Wholesale comparison
