Building B2B apps
In business-to-business (B2B) commerce, merchants sell directly to other companies. When a company is the customer, there are often multiple contacts and locations, pre-negotiated payment terms, and catalogs to manage. All of these factors complicate expanding a business into the B2B space.
You can use the GraphQL Admin API to build apps and features that help Shopify merchants to manage their B2B commerce. For example, you can build B2B-specific interfaces for managing company locations, draft orders and invoicing, and catalogs.
In this guide, you'll learn how B2B objects work, and how to use the GraphQL Admin API to build common B2B features.
The GraphQL Admin API's B2B resources enable you to do the following tasks:
- Create companies and attach information to the company, such as company contacts and company locations.
- Associate catalogs with company locations to offer exclusive product selections and negotiated pricing levels to contacts at different company locations within a company.
- Query B2B orders and create draft orders to send to company contacts for approval and invoicing.
- Import B2B orders for merchants with B2B operations outside of Shopify.
How it works
Anchor link to section titled "How it works"The GraphQL Admin API provides several company-related objects to help with managing the B2B experience between merchants and their company customers, including the following objects:
| Object | Description |
|---|---|
Company |
Information about the business entity that makes a B2B purchase. A company contains locations and contacts. |
CompanyLocation |
A single location or branch of the company. A company location contains information such as billing addresses and shipping addresses. You can also assign catalogs, tax exemptions, payment terms, and other useful information to a company location. |
CompanyContact |
A person that acts on behalf of the company. A company contact is associated with a retail customer record. |
The following diagram shows how company locations and company contacts relate to a company. A B2B order or draft order can be associated with the company, a specific company location, or a specific company contact. However, catalogs can be assigned only to a company location.
B2B lifecycle
Anchor link to section titled "B2B lifecycle"The following diagram shows an example lifecycle in which merchants, company contacts, Shopify, and apps interact with B2B resources:
- A merchant creates a company, attaching details like company contacts and company locations. A merchant can also create draft orders for company contacts to review and approve.
- A company contact logs in with an account that's attached to a company to select products for purchase, review draft orders, and complete checkout.
- Shopify creates a transaction and an order for the purchase.
- Apps use the GraphQL Admin API to create related integrations, such as order management interfaces, B2B fulfillment solutions, customer loyalty programs, and customer relationship management (CRM) tools.
Limitations
Anchor link to section titled "Limitations"- Only merchants on the Shopify Plus plan can use apps with B2B features.
- Only development stores, Shopify Plus Partners, and Shopify affiliates are able to access the GraphQL Admin API's B2B resources. Shopify Plus Partners need to use a sandbox organization.
- B2B doesn't support subscriptions.
Developer tools and resources
Anchor link to section titled "Developer tools and resources"Explore the following developer tools and resources to learn more about building with B2B.
- Get started building for B2B.