Wholesale Customer Groups on Shopify: An Easy Setup Guide (2026)

Last updated: November 9, 2026

Key Takeaways

• A wholesale customer group is a set of buyers who share the same prices and buying rules, like retailers, distributors or salons.
• On Shopify you can build groups with customer tags or with native B2B companies. Tags are simpler and work with most wholesale apps.
• Native B2B on Basic, Grow and Advanced gives you up to 3 active catalogs assigned through markets, so it can’t give two groups in the same market different prices.
• Apps like Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B (WPD) let you create unlimited tag-based groups, each with its own prices, minimums and signup flow.
• Keep your wholesale customer groups few and clearly named. Three or four well-defined groups beat ten overlapping ones.

To set up wholesale customer groups on Shopify, tag each wholesale buyer (for example wholesale, distributor or vip) and give each tag its own pricing in a wholesale app. Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B (WPD) supports unlimited customer and tag-based groups on any Shopify plan, starting at $24.99/month.

This guide covers what wholesale customer groups are, the two ways to build them on Shopify, a step-by-step setup, and the mistakes that cause wrong prices at checkout.

What is a wholesale customer group?

A wholesale customer group is a set of buyers who get the same prices and follow the same rules. Instead of setting prices buyer by buyer, you set them once per group.

Most wholesale stores end up with a handful of groups. A skincare brand might sell to salons, spas and online retailers, while a coffee roaster sells to cafés, grocery stores and offices.

Each of those buyer types orders differently, so each becomes one of your wholesale customer groups with its own price level.

Common wholesale customer groups

The table below shows typical groups. The discounts and minimums are examples, not recommendations. Set yours from your own margins.

Two ways to create customer groups on Shopify

Shopify gives you two building blocks: customer tags and B2B companies. Both work. They suit different setups.

Option 1: Customer tags

Tags are labels you add to a customer profile, like wholesale or distributor. On their own, tags don’t change prices. A wholesale app reads the tag and shows that customer the right prices when they log in.

Tags are quick to set up, easy to change and work on every Shopify plan. So they suit stores that are new to wholesale or only have a few buyer types.

Option 2: Shopify B2B companies

Shopify opened its B2B tools to Basic, Grow and Advanced plans in April 2026, so you no longer need Plus to use them. You create a company for each business buyer, add its locations, and assign B2B catalogs with their own prices.

The limit is catalogs. Outside Plus, you’re capped at 3 active B2B catalogs. Those catalogs attach to markets, not to individual companies or locations. So if two groups sit in the same market, native B2B can’t show them different prices.

Shopify Plus removes both limits. Our guide to what Shopify B2B includes on every plan covers the details.

You don’t have to pick one forever. WPD’s Enterprise plan can also create discount groups from Shopify B2B companies, so you can use both.

How to set up wholesale customer groups on Shopify

This walkthrough uses customer tags and WPD, which works on any Shopify plan.

1. Decide your groups. Write down each buyer type, what they pay and any rules (minimum order, payment terms). Start with three or four groups.
2. Pick a tag for each group. Use short, lowercase tags with no spaces, like wholesale, distributor and vip. Consistent tags prevent pricing mistakes later.
3. Tag your existing buyers. In Shopify admin, open each wholesale customer and add their tag. For large lists, use a customer CSV import.
4. Create a group for each tag in WPD. Install Wholesale Pricing Discount B2B, then add a customer group that matches each tag.
5. Set prices per group. Add a percentage discount for the store or specific products. On higher plans you can add quantity tiers and per-customer price overrides. See our guide to tiered and customer-specific pricing.
6. Add minimums. WPD supports order minimums per customer group, so small orders don’t slip through at wholesale prices.
7. Let new buyers apply. Add a wholesale signup form so new buyers can apply, then give them the right tag when you approve them. Our wholesale registration form guide walks through it.
8. Hide wholesale prices from retail shoppers (optional). If you don’t want the public to see trade prices, Wholesale Lock Manager B2B can hide prices, products or pages by customer tag. More in how to add login to view price.
9. Test with a dummy account. Create a test customer for each group, log in, and check product pages, cart and checkout before you invite real buyers.

Example: customer groups for a coffee roaster

This is how a small roaster selling 1kg bags of beans (retail $40) might set up three groups. The prices are an example only.

Each buyer logs in and sees their own price on product pages and in the cart. Home brewers keep seeing $40.

Mistakes to avoid

• Too many groups. Every group is something you maintain. If two groups pay almost the same, merge them.
• Inconsistent tags. If some buyers are tagged wholesale and others wholesale-buyer, half of them won’t match your pricing rule. Pick one tag per group and stick to it.
• One customer in two groups. Decide which price wins before it happens, or keep each buyer in a single group.
• No minimums. Without a minimum order, a buyer can order one item at wholesale price.
• Skipping the test. Theme quirks and discount stacking show up at checkout. Test every group before launch.

Apps for wholesale customer groups

Several Shopify apps support wholesale customer groups and group pricing. Prices below are starting paid plans, checked on November 9, 2026.

For a full side-by-side, see our comparison of the best Shopify B2B and wholesale apps. Not on Plus? Our guide to running Shopify B2B without Plus covers the full setup.

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