You can open a wholesale channel this weekend. The platform work is already finished.
Shopify moved B2B to all plans in Spring 2026: company profiles, per company catalogs, volume pricing, and net payment terms. It used to sit behind the Plus tier, which is why most brands under $20M never seriously considered it. That gate is gone. Graza and Fishwife wrote the playbook everyone is now copying, building demand direct first, then letting retail pull them onto shelves rather than paying for placement.
The setup is closer to a configuration exercise than a build. Your superfans, creators, gyms, cafes, and local boutiques log into the same store you already run. A company profile determines which catalog they see, what price break applies, and whether they get net 30. Orders drop into the same inventory and the same fulfillment flow as retail. Flow charges the card when terms come due. No PDF line sheet, no order forms over email, no rekeying anything into a spreadsheet at month end.
That is also the trap. The technology takes days and the business change takes quarters. Margin drops, order sizes jump, and cash timing shifts because you are now extending credit to small businesses. Somebody has to underwrite terms, chase receivables, and decide who qualifies for which price. None of that lives in the admin.
Channel conflict is the risk people discover too late. A boutique will not stock you if you undercut them on your own site every 3 weeks. Sitewide promos, subscriber discounts, and flash sales all become negotiation points with your stockists. Write the pricing policy first, stand up the portal second, and decide in advance what you will do the first time a retailer sees your product 25% off in a Friday email.
The hard part was never the storefront. It is deciding you are willing to share the customer relationship, then pricing like you mean it.
