Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud vs B2B on Shopify vs Centra: A Side‑by‑Side Comparison

Shopify announced that it would be retiring its current Plus wholesale channel on April 30, 2024. Merchants using this channel will be migrated over to Shopify's new B2B platform. Shopify is offering a migration guide to help sellers move to B2B on Shopify. 

The redesigned B2B platform aims to improve upon the existing wholesale channel features while also introducing new capabilities. Shopify states that B2B unifies wholesale selling into the core Shopify Plus experience, eliminating the need for a separate wholesale store.

The transition aims to provide wholesalers with an improved unified platform tailored for B2B selling. With the retirement of the standalone wholesale channel, Shopify Plus merchants will conduct all their B2B and B2C selling through the core Shopify platform.

Overview of key benefits and features of B2B on Shopify

Shopify Plus allows brands to either build so-called “blended stores” that serve both business-to-business (B2B) and direct-to-customer (DTC) audiences, or dedicated stores that only serve business customers. 

The default experience for both these types of stores is identical. Both use the same discount codes, gift cards, etc. Any modifications, such as theme or navigation adjustments, affect both groups unless the theme code is manually altered, making differentiation challenging. Additionally, most Shopify Plus store analytics don't differentiate between these two groups, except for sales reports. For features like notifications, inventory, and shipping, the settings are uniform for B2B and DTC. Blended stores thus help unify data and settings. But, if distinct experiences are essential, a dedicated store might be a better choice.

B2B ordering process 

The B2B ordering process on Shopify resembles its direct-to-consumer (DTC) ordering flow. While this eases the transition for businesses already familiar with DTC operations, it might not provide the tailored B2B experience that some enterprises seek.

Businesses looking for a straightforward and simple approach may appreciate this setup, though it may not be as seamless as dedicated B2B platforms, potentially leading to inefficiencies for bulk or complex orders.

For B2B clients, Shopify recommends the use of "draft orders." This allows businesses to create a provisional order, providing a level of flexibility before finalizing. This can be useful – but for buyers who prefer invoicing, it might complicate instantaneous placements of orders.

Self-serve purchasing

The B2B on Shopify platform offers purchasing and order tracking features that aim to streamline account management without constant oversight.

Customizable B2B logic

The platform provides the capability for adapting logic during checkout via Shopify Functions to suit various customer needs.

Quantity rules

There are conditional rules available for products and variants which include settings like minimums, maximums, case packs, and increments.

Price lists

The platform allows for the assignment of customer-specific prices directly to company profiles, eliminating the reliance on additional tags or apps.

Net payment terms

B2B on Shopify offers a feature that sets payment terms and monitors order collections as they become due within the admin panel.

Checkout to draft

There are workflows and proposal tools that enable the review and approval of orders within the admin interface.

B2B payments

B2B Shopify merchants can accept credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers and PayPal payments. For high-ticket purchases, Shopify facilitates partial payments, installment plans and payment schedules to better accommodate B2B buying requirements. Custom payment terms, invoices and purchase orders can be enabled based on customer groups and sales channels. 

• Flexible payment terms – Shopify allows businesses to establish varying payment terms, such as 7, 15, 30, 60, and 90 days. This provides both sellers and buyers with flexibility to manage their cash flows and payment schedules.

• Card payments – Payment via card is not just encouraged but is also a streamlined process on Shopify. It's automated with real-time payment status updates, ensuring that both buyers and sellers are in the loop regarding transaction statuses.

• Vaulted credit cards – Customers can securely store their cards at checkout or in customer accounts.

• Non-card payments – While non-card payments are possible, B2B on Shopify relies quite heavily on draft orders for anything non-card payments. Draft orders can lead to complications, making the process potentially challenging for businesses that often deal with non-card transactions.

• Invoicing – Shopify offers invoicing solutions. However, challenges arise especially when businesses are selling in their domestic currency and choose not to use card payments. The intricacies can be cumbersome and demand more time and effort from the admin side.

Catalogs

Shopify's B2B platform has made strides in enhancing the buying experience for businesses, primarily through its B2B catalogs feature. These catalogs are tailor-made, enabling sellers to customize the purchasing landscape specifically for their B2B clients.

• Location-specific products and pricing – Shopify allows sellers to tie specific products and their prices to a particular buyer location. This granularity ensures that businesses can set location-centric pricing or product availability. Set up multiple buyers and locations with unique payment terms and user permissions. Add customer-specific product publishing to offer a curated buying experience with product catalogs assigned to a specific buyer or location.

• Personalized B2B store – Sellers can create a unique buying experience for each customer using the Liquid language for Shopify’s store themes, email templates, and branding.

• Currency preferences – Sellers have the flexibility to set preferred currencies for their B2B catalogs, catering to international clientele or those preferring transactions in a particular currency.

• CSV support – For businesses with expansive product lists or those who manage their inventory outside Shopify, the platform offers a seamless import and export functionality for catalogs via CSV.

• Quantity rules – Shopify's B2B catalogs come equipped with quantity rules, allowing sellers to determine increments, as well as set maximum and minimum order quantities.

• API support – The platform's B2B catalogs are also API-friendly, providing developers with the tools to further customize or integrate the feature with other systems.

Comparing Shopify's B2B catalogs with Centra's offering reveals a few distinctions:

• Collection connectivity – Unlike Centra, Shopify's catalogs are not inherently linked to collections. This means that while product listings are available, the nuanced categorization or bundled product experience might be absent.

• Delivery windows – One of Centra's standout features is its delivery windows, allowing buyers to select specific delivery timelines, helping to avoid overselling and backorders. By using delivery windows, brands can offer pre-orders on their products based on incoming stock. This feature is currently missing in Shopify's B2B offering.

Despite the differences, at their core, both platforms offer a relatively analogous B2B catalog experience. Sellers can expect most of the fundamental features and functionalities to be present across both platforms.

Product Information Management (PIM)

While Shopify does not offer PIM, there are a few options for Shopify merchants to add PIM capabilities:

• Integrate Shopify with a third-party PIM solution like Akeneo, Salsify or Plytix. These PIM tools can sync product data to Shopify.

• Use an app or extension like Product Sync or Bridge by Netalico to connect Shopify to a PIM system.

• For small catalogs, use Shopify's native product management tools to manually upload and edit product info.

• Build a custom integration between Shopify and an existing PIM using Shopify's APIs.

The benefits of adding a PIM to Shopify include centralized product information, easier data management, robust product content, and increased accuracy and consistency across channels.

Order Management System (OMS)

Stores using Shopify’s OMS have the option to use the Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN). The third-party logistics solution natively integrates with the Shopify OMS. Merchants will have their OMS updated with accurate stock levels at each strategically located fulfillment center. 

Reorders and preorders

Shopify's B2B platform does not natively support preordering (it does support reorders though). Product reorders encourage recurring sales by making it easy for customers to reorder frequently.

Customization

With B2B on Shopify, you can cater to wholesale customers around the world by providing localized storefronts, currencies, and tax exemptions. Via Shopify’s App Store, Shopify offers a wide array of apps and a range of functionality. For more specialist services, monthly licensing costs for apps vary from just a few dollars to more standard apps. 

As with most ecommerce platforms, Shopify Plus comes with a variety of built-in integrations and apps that allow you to link your ecommerce website with third-party platforms. 

Security

Shopify Plus is a SaaS e-commerce platform, so merchants don't have to worry about server management, security patches, etc. However, the merchant is still responsible for the security of their storefront and customer data.

In 2018, Salesforce acquired CloudCraze to boost its B2B commerce capabilities. Post-acquisition, the functionalities and features of CloudCraze were incorporated into what Salesforce now calls "Salesforce B2B Commerce," which continues to serve the B2B market with enhanced capabilities and integration with the broader Salesforce ecosystem.

As a robust enterprise-level ecommerce platform built for B2B selling, Salesforce Commerce Cloud offers wholesale businesses capabilities to sell online. In the following sections, we look more closely at the different features of the platform focused on B2B selling.

Overview of key benefits and features of Salesforce Commerce Cloud for B2B

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is designed for the unique needs of companies managing complex B2B wholesale operations:

1. Advanced promotions – Salesforce Commerce Cloud allows businesses to design promotions with volume discounts and customer-specific pricing tailored to business buyers.

2. Strong B2B offering - fully customizable (but not fashion-focused)

3. Contract management – The platform facilitates the creation of customized agreements with customers, detailing pricing, terms, and duration.

4. Unified commerce platform – Salesforce Commerce Cloud provides a comprehensive solution for managing B2B, B2C, D2C, and wholesale operations.

5. Scalability – The enterprise-grade architecture of the platform ensures seamless business growth without disruptions.

6. Agility – The platform allows for swift modifications to sites, channels, promotions, and catalogs as market demands change.

7. Personalization – Salesforce Commerce Cloud customizes offerings based on individual account attributes and behaviors.

8. Integration capabilities – Businesses can seamlessly integrate with systems like ERP and CPQ, along with procurement systems through cXML and OCI standards.

9. Analytics and reporting – Comprehensive insights into wholesale operations are provided, highlighting opportunities, strategies, and key performance metrics.

10. Account-based selling – Salesforce Commerce Cloud supports detailed business customer profile management with features such as credit limits and tiered pricing.

11. Role-based access – The platform ensures tailored data and function access according to user roles, catering to different professional needs.

12. Self-service capabilities – Business buyers can manage their accounts, track orders, and reorder without complications.

Reorders

Salesforce B2B Commerce supports reorders. Built on Salesforce’s Lightning Web Runtime (LWR), a frontend-development tool by Salesforce, Reorder Portal is a dedicated template that allows brands to easily build a streamlined B2B Commerce portal. Buyers can use it to reorder products easily. Embed this experience in sales and service engagements to boost self-service orders. A Sales admin can invite customers to the portal from an Account page or during the Quote to Order generation process as recommended by Einstein Next Best Action. Here are the main features of the portal:

Self-service reorders

The Salesforce B2B Commerce platform allows buyers to view previous orders, adjust quantities, initiate new orders, and monitor order statuses through a streamlined UI.

Sales and service integration

The platform facilitates increased self-service options, potentially reducing the demand on sales and service teams.

Engagement at appropriate instances

The platform offers a feature where buyers might be directed to the reorder site, influenced by the Einstein Next Best Action suggestions.

Development with minimal coding

The platform comes equipped with pre-configured layouts and a selection of components, streamlining the development process.

Guided selling

Salesforce B2B guided selling helps businesses choose the right products for their needs. Since B2B products are often bulky and complicated, guided selling simplifies the process. 

Salesforce B2B Commerce allows brands to create prompts that ask sales reps about the types of products they want when they’re adding products to a quote. Salesforce CPQ reviews their answers and shows the Add Products page with a list of products that match their responses. Salesforce B2B Commerce calls this process “guided selling.”

This prevents businesses from purchasing products that are too complex or create unnecessary hassles.

Managing buyer access

The Salesforce B2B platform provides tools to manage and customize buyer access extensively, including guest buyers. Here are the key functionalities:

• Business account management – Enables the creation of buyers specifically for B2B stores by activating the business account and adding relevant contacts as customer users.

• Person account integration – Allows the creation of individual buyer accounts that can access stores associated with their buyer group.

• Buyer group consolidation – Offers the ability to add multiple accounts under a single buyer group, ensuring shared access to specific stores, price books, and entitlements.

• B2B store and buyer group association – Each store comes with a default buyer group. The products and their prices that a buyer can see are contingent on the buyer group’s associated price books and entitlement policies.

• Address management – Permits setting default billing and shipping addresses for buyer accounts.

• External account access for buyers – Buyers can be granted permission to purchase on behalf of, or manage, external accounts. Buyers with the "Buyer Manager" role can even oversee other buyers in external accounts, including password resets and cart viewing.

• Bulk buyer account activation – Salesforce provides tools like Data Loader, Flow Builder, and the Object API to mass-enable accounts as buyer accounts.

Managing buyer group, entitlement, and pricing strategies

Salesforce B2B offers a versatile platform for tailoring buyer experiences, particularly concerning group setups, entitlements, and price assignments. Based on business objectives, consider the following strategies:

Buyer Tiers Approach

• Aim – Encourage buyer engagement and loyalty.

• Mechanism – Categorize buyers into distinct tiers, with each successive tier offering broader product access or deeper discounts.

• Setup – Each tier should have a unique entitlement policy, price book, and buyer group.

Buyer-Specific Pricing Strategy

• Aim – Achieve maximum profitability.

• Mechanism – Establish a distinct price book for each buyer, allowing for individualized pricing.

• Setup – Create a single buyer group and entitlement policy for all buyers. Individual buyers then get assigned a specific price book and buyer group. This is particularly beneficial for different pricing tiers or groups.

Product-Directed Strategy

• Aim – Direct customers towards specific products.

• Mechanism – Control product visibility based on each buyer's contractual agreement.

• Setup – For every product group, set up a dedicated buyer group and entitlement policy. Link each buyer to the appropriate buyer groups that represent the products they're allowed to access. Note – A single account can be part of up to 20 different buyer groups.

These strategies help businesses optimize their B2B store experiences, ensuring tailored product visibility and pricing for diverse buyer categories.

PIM

PIM systems help centralize, organize and optimize product information like descriptions, images, videos, specs, etc. This product content can then be distributed to various channels like ecommerce stores, apps, catalogs, etc. Salesforce B2B Commerce does not come with a built-in product information management (PIM) system. However, it can be integrated with third-party PIMs to manage product data. Leading PIM vendors like Akeneo, Plytix and Salsify offer connectors and integrations with Salesforce B2B Commerce to bring PIM capabilities.

OMS

B2C Commerce includes Order Management Lite by default, and Salesforce B2B Commerce integration allows full order life cycle capabilities. Moreover, with Omnichannel Inventory and Distributed Order Management, companies gain real-time inventory visibility across all stores and fulfillment centers.

Billing

Salesforce B2B offers strong native support for invoicing and billing. B2B Commerce and the Salesforce Billing package work together after some preliminary setup. To ensure interoperability, product records should contain specific values for fields required by Salesforce Billing.

Running on Centra, you gain a digital wholesale module to help your brand stand out and grow fast without design and technological limitations. You can freely integrate the platform with other IT systems, eliminating the manual labor of transferring data between different systems. 

Also, Centra makes it easier to leverage the personalized digital marketing techniques and merchandising freedom known from B2C ecommerce, further boosting your wholesale channel. 

Overview of key benefits and features of Centra

As its main advantage, Centra gives original brands the possibility to handle B2B wholesale and B2C direct-to-consumer modules in one neat package – and robust support for omnichannel.

Centra aims to simplify B2B wholesale implementation and, with its headless architecture, allows brands to avoid complex, specialized installations and modifications.

Centra offers all the B2B features most lifestyle brands would be looking for, such as:

• Powerful discounting engine

• Strong B2B digital showroom offering 

• Customer groups (for sharing of discounts, pricing, restrictions / eligibility etc)

• Price lists (that can be shared or customer-specific)

• Tiered pricing / volume pricing (as well as customer-specific adaptations)

• Advanced discount management

• Credit limits, payment terms, etc.

• Customer group and customer-level product availability

• Purchasing roles / levels

• Advanced shipment management

• Customizable buyer, agent, and rep views and logins

• Shoppable digital lookbooks

• Individual and tiered pricing

• Advanced product configuration

• Flexible delivery options

• Quotations and purchasing workflows

• Omnichannel order fulfillment

• Customizable Markets

• Control over orders on existing and future inventory with corresponding delivery windows

Let’s now dive deeper into specific features and functionality of Centra in the sections below.

Collaborative digital showroom

Centra makes it easy for brands to digitize their wholesale by offering an out-of-the-box, buyer-friendly and intuitive Showroom module allowing retailers to place preorders, reorders and orders on stock. 

Brands can invite retailers globally to visit their digital showroom, browse online lookbooks and place orders. With Centra’s real-time, collaborative showroom environment, brands can work on multiple orders with multiple buyers simultaneously. Centra’s Showroom supports the business logic of wholesale, personalized pricing, campaigns and more. 

Integrated wholesale and D2C sales

A key advantage of Centra is that it allows lifestyle brands to handle B2B wholesale and direct-to-consumer ecommerce seamlessly from a single platform. The wholesale and DTC modules can coexist, enabling brands to sell through both channels efficiently.

PIM

Out of the box, Centra comes with a lightweight, advanced PIM geared to handle complex fashion and lifestyle products – no extra apps and integrations needed.

OMS

Centra serves as your centralized order management system helping you get your orders shipped out with minimum lead times and reduced working capital needs to boost your profits. Centra helps you optimize fulfillment across multiple channels, including wholesale and direct-to-consumer, from a single admin panel. You can handle complex scenarios such as split orders, backorders, and multi-channel inventory. You can also use built-in ERP for inventory replenishment, keep accurate inventory levels, and automate key processes.   

Supplier management system built in

Centra includes an out-of-the-box supplier management system that integrates seamlessly with the stock management system. This integration enables the creation of "Stock/Link" or "Link" delivery windows, where the stock levels of products are directly linked to incoming deliveries that are confirmed by suppliers but not yet physically received into the warehouse. Through this connection between suppliers and inventory, Centra provides visibility into upcoming deliveries and helps ensure stock levels reflect both on-hand inventory and incoming shipments.

Overstock, overselling and backorders prevention and lower working capital needs

Running on Centra, brands can take orders on incoming stock before it arrives to the warehouse, minimizing working capital needs. Centra helps you remove errors and control all orders on existing and future inventory with corresponding delivery windows. The platform makes it easier to aggregate demand, create forecasts and place orders at suppliers with minimal overstock risk.

Industry-leading handling of fashion product variants

Fashion and lifestyle brands often have more complex, larger catalogs with lots of SKUs for different sizes and colors. Centra offers a bulk uploader, which makes those complicated catalogs a lot simpler. Centra’s multilayer variant handling makes it easy for brands to manage both color variants and sizes, as well as user-defined attributes like in a full-scale PIM.

Integrations that save you time

Centra integrates well with PIM systems such as InRiver, making the platform your complete digital wholesale control room. With all data available in real-time, you can use Centra’s APIs to integrate with various third-party BI tools. 

Centra stores all data in one place, allowing you to create extensive reports or move data into any BI solution of choice. You can use Centra’s back end to integrate with other IT systems, eliminating the manual labor of transferring data between them.

Centra unlocks marketing opportunities and lets brands leverage the personalized digital marketing techniques known from B2C ecommerce to boost the wholesale channel.

The Centra back end dashboard with all important ecommerce KPIs

Centra's industry-specific functionalities, user-centric design, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness make it a compelling choice for businesses in the fashion sector when compared against Salesforce B2B Commerce.

1. User experience – While Salesforce B2B Commerce is an advanced, complex platform designed with a broad array of functionalities, it may require support from IT experts. Centra, on the other hand, is crafted specifically for original fashion brands. Its user-friendly interface streamlines tasks, ensuring that businesses don't get overwhelmed by a plethora of options.

2. Flexibility and integrations – Centra champions flexibility, offering a wide range of integration possibilities with third-party solutions. Salesforce B2B Commerce can sometimes be perceived as a more locked-in solution, potentially limiting adaptability for unique business needs.

3. Industry specialization – Centra stands out with its fashion-centric approach. This focus provides specialized tools tailored for the fashion industry, such as support for sizing, visual merchandising, and influencer collaborations. This kind of niche specialization may not be as pronounced in a platform like Salesforce B2B Commerce.

4. Fashion-specific B2B buyer journey – Centra's B2B buyer process is distinctly designed keeping the fashion industry in mind. Features that support preorders, reorders and delivery windows cater specifically to the needs of fashion brands and their customers, giving Centra an edge in this domain.

5. Order management system (OMS) built in – While many platforms offer order management as a separate module or integration, Centra includes this crucial functionality as part of its core offering, streamlining operations and potentially reducing additional costs. Centra’s order management is suited for managing the lifecycle of each new fashion collection released, from preorders, reorders to end-of-season and clearance sales.

6. Developer-friendly environment – Centra provides businesses with a development and QA environment. This can be vital for businesses aiming to test changes, updates, or new integrations in a secure and controlled environment before they go live.

7. Cost – In terms of pricing, Centra generally offers a more competitive rate when compared to Salesforce B2B Commerce. See Centra’s TCO breakdown in a detailed blog post here.

Shopify’s B2B payments are reminiscent of direct-to-consumer (DTC) setups. While it does encompass most standard B2B mechanisms, it lacks in certain areas that might be very useful for fashion brands wanting to scale internationally.

Businesses prioritizing intricate B2B functionalities might find Shopify's ordering mechanism a bit restrictive.

1. Invoicing – When compared to platforms like Centra, Shopify's invoicing process appears less seamless. This applies not just to the creation of invoices but also from the perspective of both buyers and admins.

2. Dependency on draft orders – A notable aspect of B2B transactions on Shopify is its reliance on draft orders, especially for transactions that aren't card-based. Draft orders allow businesses to set up orders that can be later converted to active ones, but this could add an additional step in the transaction process.

3. Lack of preordering – Unlike Centra, Shopify's B2B platform does not natively support preordering (it does support reorders though). This can limit businesses that rely on forecasting demand or launching products before they are readily available.

4. Lack of collaborative ordering – For businesses that operate with multiple stakeholders influencing purchase decisions, Shopify lacks a collaborative ordering feature, potentially causing inefficiencies or communication gaps.

5. Lack of price negotiation options – In the traditional B2B landscape, price negotiations play a pivotal role. Shopify's B2B platform does not have a built-in mechanism for this, potentially making bulk order discounts or customized pricing discussions more manual.

6. Lack of “save collection” feature – B2B clients often revisit specific collections or products. Unlike Centra, Shopify does not allow these customers to save collections for later, which can lengthen the reordering process.

7. Delivery windows and size localization – Centra provides more advanced order and inventory management capabilities versus Shopify Plus. A key example is Centra's delivery window functionality which enables linking incoming supplier deliveries to stock levels for more accurate visibility.

8. Size variants localization – Centra enables creating size variants with localization - so sizes like S, M, L can be translated and adjusted for different markets. Shopify Plus requires creating each size as a separate product variant, which is less flexible. Centra reduces overhead by consolidating sizes into a single product.

9. No hidden costs – While Shopify Plus offers a wide range of features, many advanced capabilities require installing paid third-party apps and plugins. The fees for these add-ons can quickly scale based on order volumes and other factors. So while Shopify Plus may offer the ability to achieve complex functions, the overall solution cost can grow substantially. Centra includes more robust order, inventory, and supplier management functions as native features of the platform. This reduces potential for hidden costs down the line if business needs change or scale.