How to Take Wholesale Orders for Clothing Stores Without Shopify Plus [2025]

You don’t need Shopify Plus to run a professional wholesale program for apparel and clothing stores. You do need a setup that resonates with how fashion is actually bought: by size runs, colorways, prepacks, and seasonal drops—with quick reorders, volume discounts, payment terms, and complex shipping logics.

Below is a practical plan you can implement on Shopify Stores running on Basic/Grow/Advanced to set up wholesale orders for clothing stores using customer tags, collections, and a few purpose-built Shopify Wholesale and B2B apps. The guide is written specifically for clothing and apparel stores.

Why apparel wholesale is different (and what to plan for)

Selling apparel wholesale or B2B online requires complex setups due to the diversity of products and their color and size subcategories.

• Variants everywhere: sizes (XS–3XL), colorways, inseams, fits. Your bulk buyers would need a matrix view, not one product at a time.
• Size-run logic: orders land in prepack ratios (e.g., 1-2-2-1 S-M-L-XL) or full case quantities.
• Seasonality: FW/SS(Fall Winter Spring Summer) pre-orders, ship windows, and at-once stock during season.
• MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities) that fit the rack: per SKU/per color minimums are normal; overly high MOQs kill new doors.
• Returns & exchanges: size swaps are common—set clear rules early.
• GEO details: UK/EU wholesale is exclusive-VAT; retailers quote inclusive-VAT MSRP. AU/NZ carry GST; US B2B often tax-exempt with resale certs.

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Plan Snapshot To Sell Apparel Wholesale On Shopify

1. Gate your wholesale area so only approved buyers see B2B collections and prices.
2. Attach wholesale pricing at product/variant/collection level (fixed prices, not only % discounts).
3. Enforce MOQs and size-run/prepack ratios per color/SKU.
4. Give buyers a variant matrix (quick order form) so they can fill sizes fast.
5. Offer Net Payment Terms for approved accounts and automate collections.
6. Handle pre-orders & backorders with ship windows.
7. Make shipping, tax, and paperwork simple to understand and follow.

The pieces below map each step to a concrete setup for Shopify stores that are on Non-Plus plans. 

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9 Easy Steps To Take Wholesale Orders for Clothing Stores Without Shopify Plus

1. Gate the wholesale catalog (no Plus required)

Goal: Keep B2B prices and collections private so to run a B2B+B2C setup from a single Shopify store. 

• Create a Wholesale customer tag (e.g., wholesale-approved).
• Use Wholesale Lock Manager B2B to hide B2B collections, prices, products, pages and more until the customer logs in.

• Add a short application form (company, tax ID, resale cert upload). You can then approve these applications and automatically apply the wholesale-approved customer tag. (Use Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B to create a wholesale sign-up form.)

• Build a separate Wholesale navigation: New Arrivals, Core, Denim, Tees, Accessories, Sale.

Why it matters for apparel and clothing stores: Many public product pages share the same SKUs. Locking keeps MSRP for shoppers and wholesale prices for bulk buyers without running a second store.

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2. Attach the right prices (by customer, collection, variant)

Goal: Dealers see their price instantly—no PDFs needed.

• Use Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B to set fixed prices or discount schedules by:
  • Customer group (e.g., “Boutique”, “Key Account”)
  • Collection (e.g., “Core Tees”, “FW25 Jackets”)
  • Variant (size/color specific pricing if needed)
    

• Support tiered pricing (e.g., 1–23 units, 24–71, 72+ per SKU) and order-value breaks (e.g., $2,500+).

Calculation Tip: Use a Free Wholesale Pricing Calculator to determine your profitable wholesale selling price along with pricing tiers. 

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3. Enforce MOQs, case packs, and prepack ratios

Goal: Orders land in the bulk sizes that you want so that you can increase your average order values. 

Common patterns:

• Per color MOQ: e.g., 12 units per color, any size mix.
• Prepack ratio: 1-2-2-1 for S-M-L-XL (6 units), or 2-2-2-2-2-2 for XS–XXL (12 units).
• Case pack: Multiples of 6 or 12 per color/fit.
• Order minimum: e.g., $500 net first order, $300 reorders.

How to implement on non-Plus:

• In Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B, set per-SKU/per-color MOQs and case-pack multiples.
• If a rigid prepack is required, create a Prepack product (e.g., “Tee – Black – 1-2-2-1”) that auto-adds the correct variant quantities to cart.
• For flexible curves (buyer chooses sizes), use the matrix in the next step and validate totals with the app’s min/max rules.

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4. Give buyers a size grid (variant matrix)

Goal: Nobody wants to open 12 variant pages to order a size run. This would take hours for a bulk buyer to purchase from your online store. 

• Install WSH Order Form & ReOrder and enable matrix mode:
  • Rows = Sizes (XS–3XL), columns = colors (Black/Navy/White) or vice-versa.
  • Buyers type quantities across the grid and add all to cart once.
  • Include search by SKU, filters by collection, and saved lists for fast replenishment.

Apparel tip: Show pack size, fabric content, fit notes, and care right below the grid; add a small size chart popover.

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5. Take pre-orders for future seasons (and manage backorders)

Goal: Book FW/SS orders without losing the sale while production is in flight.

• Use Pre Order Helper to:
  • Show Ship window (e.g., “Ships Aug 15–Sep 10”) on each pre-order SKU.
  • Allow deposit now, balance later or pay on terms if approved.
  • Split at-once vs future deliveries in the same cart.
  • Auto-notify when items flip to in-stock.

Why it matters: Bulk buyers want to lock color/size allocations months out, but they’ll still reorder at-once styles in-season. Handle both in one flow.

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6. Offer Net terms and stay sane while collecting

Goal: Extend terms to real wholesale accounts without chasing payments manually.

• With Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B and AReceivables, you can:
  • Set Net 15/30/45, credit limits, and account holds per customer.
  • Send invoices with pay-now links (card/bank).
  • Automate reminders and monthly statements.
  • Track ageing so “friendly” reorders don’t pile up past due.

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7. Shipping, tax, and documents

• Shipping profiles: Split Apparel (parcel) from Outerwear/Footwear (heavier boxes). Publish a prepaid threshold.
• Carton discipline: List carton dims/weights and case counts on wholesale PDPs. It reduces back-and-forth.
• Custom Rates: Use the Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B app to set up custom shipping rates based on factors like freight weight, quantity, etc. 
• Tax handling:
  • US/CA: Collect resale certificates; tag accounts as tax-exempt where appropriate.
  • UK/EU: Show wholesale ex-VAT; retailers quote inc-VAT MSRP; include VAT on invoices where required.
  • AU/NZ: Show GST on invoices.
• Paperwork: Packing slips should show size breakdowns by color, not just totals. Include care and country of origin if your customers need it for customs.

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8. Returns, exchanges, and size swaps (set rules upfront)

• Fit swaps: Accept size exchanges within 7–14 days of receipt; Buyer pays return freight unless it’s your error.
• Defects: Repair/Replace/Credit—pick one path and write it in your sheet.
• Final sale: Underwear, Hosiery, Altered garments, or items with removed tags.

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9. A simple “first order” walkthrough (what your buyer sees)

1. Buyer applies on your site; you approve and tag them wholesale-approved.
2. They log in; a wholesale menu appears.
3. They open Core Tees → See variant matrix for Black/Navy/White, XS–XXL.
4. They fill a 1-2-2-1 curve in two colors; App confirms 12 per color MOQ is met.
5. They add one FW25 jacket marked Pre-order (Ships Aug 15–Sep 10).
6. Cart shows wholesale pricing, one prepaid freight threshold, and Net 30 terms (if approved).
7. Order placed. You pick at-once items now; pre-order ships later. Invoices and reminders run themselves.

Launch checklist for selling apparel and clothing wholesale

•  B2B collections hidden until login; application + approval flow live.
•  Wholesale prices set by collection and variant; tier breaks tested.
•  MOQs/prepacks enforced; matrix ordering enabled and easy to find.
•  Pre-order ship windows are visible on product pages and in the cart.
•  Net terms, credit limits, and ageing rules configured.
•  Prepaid freight threshold and carton specs shown on PDPs.
•  Packing slip shows size-by-color breakdown.
•  UK/EU ex-VAT, AU/NZ GST, US resale certs handled.

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Final Note

Apparel wholesale works when you make buying obvious: a locked B2B catalog, prices that match the way you sell, size-run tools, and clear terms. Do that on non-Plus with a tight set of apps, and your buyers will place orders in minutes—not after a week of emails.

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Frequently Asked Questions