Wholesale & B2B
Creating and managing customer groups
Organize your wholesale customers into groups with different pricing, limits, and payment terms.
What are customer groups?
Customer groups are segments of your wholesale buyers. Each group is linked to a Shopify customer tag—any customer with that tag automatically receives the group's pricing. For example, you might create a "Gold Tier" group with 20% off and a "Silver Tier" group with 10% off. Groups let you offer different pricing, order requirements, and payment terms to different types of wholesale buyers.
Creating a group
Go to Admin → Wholesale → Groups and click Add Group. Fill in the following fields:
Name — A descriptive name for the group (e.g. "Distributor", "Retailer").
Shopify Tag — The customer tag that identifies members of this group. When you tag a customer in Shopify with this value, they'll receive this group's pricing. Tags are case-sensitive.
Description — Optional notes about the group for your own reference.
Priority — A number that determines which group wins when a customer belongs to multiple groups. Higher priority takes precedence.
Name — A descriptive name for the group (e.g. "Distributor", "Retailer").
Shopify Tag — The customer tag that identifies members of this group. When you tag a customer in Shopify with this value, they'll receive this group's pricing. Tags are case-sensitive.
Description — Optional notes about the group for your own reference.
Priority — A number that determines which group wins when a customer belongs to multiple groups. Higher priority takes precedence.
Setting a default discount
Each group has a default discount that applies store-wide to all products. Choose a discount type:
Percentage — A percentage off the retail price (e.g. 20 = 20% off).
Fixed amount — A dollar amount off each item (e.g. 5 = $5 off per unit).
Fixed price — A specific price per unit (e.g. 15 = $15 per unit regardless of retail price).
You can override this default for specific products or collections using pricing rules.
Percentage — A percentage off the retail price (e.g. 20 = 20% off).
Fixed amount — A dollar amount off each item (e.g. 5 = $5 off per unit).
Fixed price — A specific price per unit (e.g. 15 = $15 per unit regardless of retail price).
You can override this default for specific products or collections using pricing rules.
Order limits
Set minimum and maximum requirements for orders placed by this group:
Min Quantity — The minimum total number of items in the cart.
Max Quantity — The maximum total number of items allowed.
Min Order Value — The minimum cart subtotal in dollars.
Min Order Weight — The minimum total weight of the cart in pounds. ShipWave automatically converts between weight units (ounces, grams, kilograms) so this works regardless of how your products are configured.
These limits are enforced at checkout by ShipWave's cart validation function. If a customer's cart doesn't meet the requirements, they'll see an error message explaining what needs to change.
Min Quantity — The minimum total number of items in the cart.
Max Quantity — The maximum total number of items allowed.
Min Order Value — The minimum cart subtotal in dollars.
Min Order Weight — The minimum total weight of the cart in pounds. ShipWave automatically converts between weight units (ounces, grams, kilograms) so this works regardless of how your products are configured.
These limits are enforced at checkout by ShipWave's cart validation function. If a customer's cart doesn't meet the requirements, they'll see an error message explaining what needs to change.
Net terms and tax exemption
Net Terms Days — If your wholesale customers pay on terms (e.g. Net 30), enter the number of days. ShipWave will track invoices and send payment reminders automatically. Leave blank for standard pay-at-checkout.
Tax Exempt — Check this box if the group's members are exempt from sales tax. This works with Shopify's tax-exempt customer setting.
Tax Exempt — Check this box if the group's members are exempt from sales tax. This works with Shopify's tax-exempt customer setting.
Group priority
When a customer has tags matching multiple groups, ShipWave uses priority to decide which group's pricing to apply. The group with the highest priority number wins. For example, if a customer has both "wholesale" (priority 1) and "vip-wholesale" (priority 10) tags, they'll receive the VIP group's pricing because it has the higher priority.
Product locks
Product locks let you restrict access to specific products for certain groups. Go to the group detail page and look for the Product Locks section. There are two lock types:
Exclusive — Only this group can purchase the product. Customers in other groups (or non-wholesale customers) will be blocked from checking out with this item.
Hidden — This group is blocked from purchasing the product. Customers in this group will see an error at checkout if they try to buy it.
Product locks are enforced at checkout by ShipWave's cart validation function. You can lock by product or by collection scope.
Exclusive — Only this group can purchase the product. Customers in other groups (or non-wholesale customers) will be blocked from checking out with this item.
Hidden — This group is blocked from purchasing the product. Customers in this group will see an error at checkout if they try to buy it.
Product locks are enforced at checkout by ShipWave's cart validation function. You can lock by product or by collection scope.
Automatic wholesale tagging
When a customer is added to any wholesale group, ShipWave automatically adds a generic
wholesale tag to their Shopify customer profile in addition to the group-specific tag. This generic tag is used by storefront theme blocks (like the quick order form) to identify wholesale customers regardless of which group they belong to. ShipWave also stores the customer's group membership in a customer metafield, which the Shopify Functions use to resolve pricing at checkout.Activating and deactivating groups
Each group has an Active toggle. When a group is deactivated, its pricing rules and volume tiers are ignored—customers with that group's tag will pay retail prices. This is useful for seasonally disabling a group without deleting its configuration.
FAQs
How do I add customers to a group?
Tag the customer in Shopify with the group's Shopify tag. Go to Shopify Admin → Customers, select the customer, and add the tag. You can also bulk-tag customers using Shopify's bulk actions or import feature. ShipWave will also automatically add a generic "wholesale" tag and sync the customer's group membership to their metafields.
Can a customer belong to multiple groups?
Yes, a customer can have tags for multiple groups. ShipWave uses the group priority setting to determine which group's pricing applies. The highest-priority matching group wins.
What happens if I delete a group?
Deleting a group removes all its pricing rules, volume tiers, and shipping rules. The Shopify tags on your customers are not affected—you'll need to remove those manually if desired. The wholesale discount is automatically re-synced to reflect the change.
More in Wholesale & B2B
- Getting started with wholesale & B2B pricing
An overview of ShipWave's wholesale system and how to activate it for your store.
- Setting up pricing rules
Override default group discounts for specific products, collections, or variants.
- Configuring volume (quantity break) pricing
Offer bigger discounts for larger orders with automatic quantity-based pricing tiers.
- Managing wholesale applications
Review, approve, and manage applications from potential wholesale customers.
- Adding wholesale blocks to your Shopify theme
Install the signup form, volume pricing table, quick order form, and more on your storefront.
- Setting up wholesale shipping rules
Offer free shipping, flat rates, or discounted shipping for your wholesale customer groups.
- Using net terms for wholesale customers
Offer deferred payment terms and track invoices with automated reminders.
- Creating wholesale draft orders
Create orders on behalf of wholesale customers with automatic discount application.
- Importing and exporting wholesale pricing
Bulk manage pricing rules and volume tiers using CSV files.
- Testing wholesale pricing with test mode
Safely verify your wholesale configuration before rolling it out to real customers.
- Migrating from legacy wholesale tiers to v2
Upgrade from ShipWave's original four-category system to the full multi-group pricing engine.