How UK wholesalers run B2B: an honest comparison
There are five realistic ways to put trade ordering online, and most comparisons of them are written by someone selling one. This one is too — so it is organised around who each approach is wrong for, including us. Every product claim links to the vendor's own documentation, and the page carries the date it was last checked.
Five ways to put trade ordering online
These are approaches rather than products. Several products exist in each category; the ones named are examples we see most often in the UK mid-market, not an endorsement or a ranking.
1. Shopify's native B2B
Wholesale functionality built into Shopify itself — company accounts, customer-specific catalogues and price lists. Good at: the lowest-friction option if you already run Shopify and your wholesale side broadly mirrors your retail side. Costs you: your commercial rules have to fit the shape Shopify assumes. Wrong for: businesses whose pricing and catalogue logic really lives in an ERP.
2. A B2B app layered on Shopify
An app that overlays B2B behaviour onto an existing store. SparkLayer describes itself as overlaying your existing catalogue with B2B pricing and pack sizes, adding a sales-rep portal and quoting. Good at: speed and low entry cost — published plans start around $49/month. Costs you: you inherit Shopify's model of a product and an order. Wrong for: catalogues or pricing rules the underlying store cannot represent.
3. A standalone ordering portal
A separate trade portal alongside whatever else you run. B2B Wave, for example, offers a customer portal plus a sales-rep portal, custom catalogues and multiple price lists. Good at: getting trade customers self-serving quickly without touching your retail site. Costs you: another system to keep in step with the ERP. Wrong for: anyone wanting one catalogue serving every channel.
4. Your ERP vendor's own webshop
A storefront module sold by the ERP vendor. Good at: data consistency — it is the same system, so nothing has to be synchronised at all. Costs you: storefront capability and flexibility are usually well behind a dedicated ecommerce platform, and you are tied to one vendor's roadmap. Wrong for: businesses where the buying experience is a competitive differentiator.
5. A dedicated integrated platform
A B2B platform built to sit in front of an ERP, with the integration treated as the primary problem. This is what we do. Good at: complicated commercial rules across several channels, with the ERP staying authoritative. Costs you: more up front, and longer to launch than an app. Wrong for: see the next section — it is the important part.
Where we are the wrong answer
We turn work down for these reasons, so they are worth stating plainly rather than leaving you to discover them in a sales process.
You sell one price to everyone
If pricing is not genuinely per customer, most of what a dedicated platform does is solving a problem you do not have. An app or a portal will serve you better and cost far less.
You need to be live in a fortnight
We are not that. The app and portal categories are built for speed and can be trading in days. If the deadline is real, that is the honest route.
Your budget is a subscription, not a project
If the number in your head is tens of pounds a month rather than a project budget, the answer is category 2 or 3. Saying otherwise would waste your time and ours.
You do not run an ERP
Our whole architecture assumes an ERP worth protecting as the system of record. Without one there is no integration problem to solve, and much of the value disappears.
Wholesale is a small side of a D2C business
If trade is a modest fraction of revenue and retail is the main event, extending your existing D2C platform is usually the proportionate answer.
You want the cheapest quote
We will not be it, and we would rather say so early. What a low quote usually defers is covered in the hidden cost of cheap integrations.
The questions that actually decide it
In our experience the decision turns on four things, and none of them are storefront features.
Where does pricing truly live?
If the ERP holds per-customer price lists that change, the storefront has to ask it rather than hold a copy. That single fact eliminates more options than any other.
How many channels must agree?
One trade site is a straightforward problem. Trade plus D2C plus a marketplace, all needing the same stock figure at the same moment, is a different one.
What happens in the awkward cases?
Back orders, credit limits, part-shipped orders, customers who may see only part of the range. Ask any supplier to walk through these specifically — it is where demos stop being smooth.
What does change cost afterwards?
Every option is cheap on day one relative to year three. The cost model sets out which drivers move that number.
How this page is maintained
A comparison written by a vendor is only worth anything if it is checkable, so: every claim about another product on this page links to that company's own published documentation, and nothing here is sourced from a review site or an affiliate roundup.
Last checked: 12 August 2026
Software changes and some of this will go out of date. If you work on one of the products described here and we have something wrong or stale, tell us and we will correct it. Being accurate is worth more to us than being flattering — and a comparison nobody trusts is worth nothing to anyone.
Common questions
Which approach is cheapest?
Layering a B2B app onto an existing Shopify store is almost always the lowest entry cost, and a standalone ordering portal is close behind. Both are subscription products designed to be live quickly. A dedicated integrated platform costs more up front and is only worth it when the integration itself is the hard part. If cost is the deciding factor and your trading rules are straightforward, the app route is the honest recommendation — and it is not us.
When is a dedicated platform actually justified?
When the ERP is genuinely the system of record and the commercial rules are complicated enough that keeping the storefront honest about them is the main engineering problem. Per-customer price lists, catalogue visibility as a contractual matter, back orders, credit terms, and several channels that all have to agree — that combination is what a dedicated platform is for. One or two of those alone usually does not justify it.
Can Shopify do B2B on its own now?
Shopify has native B2B features and has extended their availability across plans. For a brand whose wholesale operation is a straightforward extension of its retail one, that is often enough on its own. The question is not whether the features exist but whether your commercial logic fits the shape they assume — one catalogue, prices as a function of the customer group, and stock as a single number.
What is the most common mistake in this decision?
Choosing on the storefront and discovering the integration afterwards. The storefront is the part everyone can see and evaluate in a demo; the integration is the part that determines whether the thing still works in eighteen months. Teams that pick a platform first and ask how it will talk to the ERP second are the ones that end up paying twice.
How is this comparison maintained, and can we correct it?
Every product claim links to the vendor's own published documentation, and the page carries the date it was last checked. Software changes, so some of it will go out of date. If you work for one of the products described here and we have got something wrong or stale, tell us at enquiries@coretonomy.com and we will correct it — that is a better outcome for us than being wrong.
Not sure which category you're in?
A practical conversation about your current systems and trading rules, and which of the five approaches actually fits. If it is not us, we will tell you which one it is.