Can Zoho Commerce Run a B2B Wholesale Portal?

Does Zoho Commerce support B2B wholesale?

Zoho's knowledge base states that B2B and B2C selling take place in the same Zoho Commerce store. Consumer selling is on by default, and wholesale features such as price lists and credit limits require the Premium plan or higher. If you want trade and retail kept apart, Zoho says you can run a separate B2B store with its own domain and branding.

Zoho's B2B page describes credit-enabled buying for approved customers, quote requests that convert into orders, and buyer accounts for managing orders, quotes and reorders. Plan names and features can differ by region, so check the official Zoho pricing page for your region.

How do you set up wholesale pricing in Zoho Commerce?

Price lists are off by default. The steps below follow Zoho Commerce help and Zoho's academy article on price lists.

1. 1Turn on price lists under Settings, Items, General.
2. 2Create an All Items list to apply one markup or markdown percentage, with optional rounding.
3. 3Or create an Individual Items list with unit pricing, one fixed rate per item, or volume pricing, a rate per quantity range.
4. 4Set the currency of the list, and a discount if line-item discounts are enabled.
5. 5Ask trade customers to register on your store, then map each one to the right price list.
6. 6Set minimum and maximum order quantities on items that sell in cartons or pallets.
7. 7Log in as a test buyer and confirm the custom prices appear only after login.

Price lists can be imported and exported as CSV, TSV or XLS, which helps when you maintain hundreds of trade prices. Zoho notes you cannot delete a price list that is associated with an item, so mark old lists inactive instead.

How do quotes and credit terms work for trade buyers?

Once Quote Requests is enabled in Online Store Preferences, buyers can request a custom quote from the storefront. Requests appear under Pending Quote Requests, where you accept or reject them. When a buyer accepts a quote, you can convert it into a sales order with its details carried over.

For credit, Zoho Inventory, which can be integrated with Zoho Commerce, lets you enable credit limits under Settings, Preferences, Customers and Vendors. You choose whether exceeding a limit blocks the invoice or only warns, and whether open sales orders count towards the limit.

One gap to test early: a Zoho Community user asked how to show net-terms payment to some buyers and card payment to others at checkout, and the thread had no published staff answer. Ask Zoho to demonstrate your exact checkout rules before you commit. Our Zoho Commerce implementation for B2B stores starts with exactly that kind of fit check.

When is a Zoho Inventory or Zoho Creator portal a better fit?

Zoho Commerce is a storefront. Some wholesalers need something closer to an account portal or a custom ordering app, and Zoho has two honest alternatives.

• Zoho Inventory customer portal: Zoho's help describes customers viewing sales orders, viewing and paying invoices, tracking payments and downloading statements. It does not describe customers placing new orders, so treat it as an account and payment portal.
• Zoho Creator portal: you build the ordering screens yourself. Portal permission sets control which forms, reports and fields each buyer sees, and buyers can be limited to their own records. Portal permissions need a paid Creator plan, and Creator would push orders to Zoho Inventory or Zoho Books through an integration.

What tax and invoicing points apply to B2B sales by market?

Wholesale sales are mostly business-to-business, so tax identifiers and exemptions matter more than in retail. Confirm the detail with your adviser.

• USA: trade buyers often buy for resale and give exemption certificates. Zoho Inventory's US Sales Tax Automation supports customer exemptions, so collect certificates before the first order.
• Canada: record each buyer's province and GST/HST number, because the rate depends on the delivery province.
• UK and EU: capture VAT numbers at registration. Cross-border B2B sales within the EU often fall under the reverse charge.
• UAE and Gulf: tax invoices to VAT-registered buyers show their tax registration number. Zoho's Saudi edition states support for ZATCA e-invoicing.
• India: B2B invoices need the buyer's GSTIN, and businesses above the e-invoicing turnover threshold must report through the Invoice Registration Portal. The threshold has been lowered in phases, so check the current limit.

What should you plan before launching a B2B portal?

Start with how trade customers order today and work back from there.

• Who approves new trade accounts, and how they are mapped to price lists
• How many price tiers you really need, and who maintains them
• Which customers pay by card and which get terms
• Minimum order quantities, carton sizes and delivery charges
• How orders reach the warehouse and invoices reach Zoho Books

Write these rules down before anyone opens the settings. A one-page summary of account approval, price tiers, payment methods and order limits lets you test each rule in a trial store and shows quickly whether Zoho Commerce covers your process or whether a Creator portal is needed for one or two gaps.

Also plan the launch to customers: invite a few loyal trade buyers first, collect their feedback for two or three ordering cycles, then move the rest across.

How can Flowpeak help you build a wholesale ordering portal?

Flowpeak is a registered Zoho partner with Zoho certified consultants, founded in Chennai in July 2024 and delivering remotely to clients in the USA, Canada, the UK and Europe, the Gulf and India. Founder Harikrishnan has more than ten years in Zoho and has been involved in over 600 implementations. We test your B2B rules against Zoho Commerce first and recommend a Creator portal only where Commerce falls short. Work is quoted in writing after a free scoping call. Book a free call to discuss your trade ordering process.

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