Shopify supports both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and business-to-business (B2B) merchants. At first glance, the tools look similar. But the workflows behind each channel are not the same. Selling to businesses means bigger orders, unique pricing, and more people involved in the process. Automation is what keeps it all running smoothly.
Let’s look at how Shopify B2B automation differs from DTC, and how the right workflows can help wholesale brands operate efficiently.
What makes B2B automation unique?
B2B operations are more complex than consumer storefronts. Instead of small, frequent transactions, you’re dealing with bulk orders that can involve multiple SKUs, unique terms, and longer fulfillment timelines. Customers may expect invoices, account-based pricing, and support from a dedicated sales rep. Each step has more moving parts — and more opportunities for error if handled manually.
Automation helps by handling segmentation, routing, and communication in the background. It ensures that wholesale accounts are properly tagged, orders are sent to the right fulfillment team, and vendor partners get the information they need on time.
Comparing DTC and B2B workflows
The biggest differences between DTC and B2B show up in four areas: customer management, orders, pricing, and communication.
Customer management
In DTC, automation usually means tagging customers based on purchase history or marketing engagement. You might flag VIPs after three purchases or segment new buyers for an onboarding sequence. For B2B, the logic is more layered. Workflows often tag accounts based on wholesale registration, apply tax exemption rules, or assign accounts to specific sales reps. The goal is not just to market, but to manage the ongoing relationship with each business customer.
Orders and fulfillment
For DTC, speed is the focus. Automation helps fulfill orders faster, reduce errors, and notify customers of shipment updates. B2B workflows are about coordination. Large orders may require splitting across multiple warehouses, notifying vendors about custom SKUs, or alerting operations when an order exceeds a certain volume. Exceptions like backorders or partial shipments are also more common, and automation ensures they’re handled without slowing down the process.
Pricing and product logic
Consumer-facing stores lean on promotions, discounts, and dynamic pricing to drive sales. Wholesale relies on account-specific price lists, custom payment terms, and product visibility rules. Workflows play a role by updating metafields to support pricing displays, managing which customers can see certain products, and ensuring that restricted SKUs are only available to approved buyers.
Communication
In DTC, automated communication usually means marketing campaigns, loyalty reminders, or post-purchase thank-yous. B2B communication is more operational. Workflows trigger vendor notifications, sales rep alerts, or reorder reminders. Instead of broad campaigns, the focus is on keeping the right people in the loop for each account or order.
How Arigato supports B2B automation
Shopify Flow can cover some basic tagging and notifications, but wholesale merchants often need more depth. Arigato gives you the flexibility to build workflows that reflect how B2B actually works.
You can trigger workflows from customer updates, metafield changes, or order contents. That means you can apply tags the moment a wholesale account is approved, notify a rep when their assigned account places an order, or set custom metafields when a product is added to a restricted catalog.
Arigato also supports advanced actions. You can delay workflows, schedule them to run at specific times, or push data into external systems like Airtable, Slack, or Trello. For example, a workflow could email a vendor with a formatted order summary, update your internal sheet for tracking, and notify your team in Slack — all triggered by one wholesale order.
If you’re not sure where to start, the Arigato ecommerce workflow library includes templates tailored to wholesale and B2B use cases, covering segmentation, fulfillment coordination, and account alerts.
B2B automation TL;DR
DTC and B2B may share the same platform, but their automation needs are very different. Wholesale requires more logic, more communication, and more attention to account-specific rules. Without automation, the manual overhead adds up fast.
With the right workflows in place, you can ensure that accounts are segmented properly, large orders are routed to the right teams, and vendors and reps stay informed. Arigato Automation helps you build that automation directly in Shopify — giving you the flexibility to handle B2B complexity without slowing down your team.