Wholesale customers and customer tags explained
Process Wholesale uses ordinary Shopify customer accounts and marks them with customer tags. An applicant gets the tag B2B_Registeration and waits in the Pending tab of the Customers page; when you approve them, that tag is replaced by B2B and they become a wholesale customer (B2B customer). Discounts are granted by more tags, one per discount. This tag model works the same on every plan, and every approval is made by you: Process Wholesale never approves an application automatically.
At a glance
- Plan: All plans
- Where: Process Wholesale > Customers (Pending and Active tabs), and the customer's tags in Shopify admin
- Pending customer: tagged
B2B_Registeration(the tag is spelled this way) - Wholesale customer: tagged
B2B - Approval: always manual, with Accept B2B
Which customer tags does Process Wholesale use?#
Process Wholesale reads and writes these customer tags. You can see all of them on the customer's page in Shopify admin.
| Tag | Meaning | Added by | Removed by |
|---|---|---|---|
B2B_Registeration |
Pending customer: has applied and waits for review. The tag is spelled Registeration, and it must be typed exactly that way. |
A signup form submission, Import customers, or Return to pending | Accept B2B, Reject B2B, Remove B2B access |
B2B |
Wholesale customer: approved for wholesale prices and wholesale features | Accept B2B | Reject B2B, Return to pending, Remove B2B access |
B2Bnetterms |
The customer can see net payment terms when net terms are limited to specific customers | Settings > Net terms > Select Customers | Saving that selection removes it from every wholesale customer you did not select |
A discount tag, such as gold |
Grants the discount with that name. The discount tag is the name you gave the discount. | Auto assign discount tags (on approval, and on every save of the Settings page to up to 100 existing customers tagged B2B), Manage discount tags, Bulk assign discount |
Manage discount tags, or deleting the discount in Process Wholesale |
pw_loyalty_<discount tag>__<number> |
The loyalty tier the customer qualifies for at the last check | Process Wholesale, automatically, every 2 hours | Process Wholesale, automatically, when the customer moves to another tier or no longer qualifies |
Loyalty tags. A customer gets a pw_loyalty_... tag only when they are a wholesale customer and already carry the loyalty discount's own discount tag. Process Wholesale checks their recent orders every 2 hours and keeps one loyalty tag per loyalty discount, for the tier they reached. Do not edit these tags by hand. See loyalty discounts.
Deleting a discount removes its discount tag from your wholesale customers. Pending customers keep the tag.
How does a customer move from applicant to wholesale customer?#
| State | Customer tags | Where in Process Wholesale | What the customer can do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not wholesale | Neither B2B nor B2B_Registeration |
Not listed on Customers (found in Import customers) | Shop at retail prices. Can fill in the wholesale signup form. |
| Pending | B2B_Registeration |
Customers > Pending | Sees a "your account is under review" message on the signup form. Gets no wholesale discount at checkout. |
| Wholesale | B2B plus discount tags |
Customers > Active | Gets wholesale discounts at checkout and can use the wholesale features of your plan, such as Quick Buy. |
| Rejected | Both status tags removed, discount tags kept | Not listed on Customers | Shops at retail prices again. The Shopify account is not deleted, and the signup form shows again. |
| Removed | Both status tags removed, discount tags kept | Not listed on Customers | Same as rejected, but no email is sent. |
Example. Jane applies through the signup form and is tagged B2B_Registeration. You select Accept B2B. Her tags change from B2B_Registeration, vip to vip, B2B, plus gold if gold is set under Auto assign discount tags. She receives the "Application approved" email if it is turned on.
The steps are covered in approving or rejecting applications and removing wholesale access.
Is wholesale approval automatic?#
No. Every way into Process Wholesale (the storefront signup forms, the signup page in new customer accounts and Import customers) puts the customer in Pending with the tag B2B_Registeration. A customer becomes a wholesale customer only when you select Accept B2B, or when you add the B2B tag yourself in Shopify admin.
Which Process Wholesale features count a customer as wholesale?#
Features do not all read the tags the same way:
| Feature | Who counts as wholesale |
|---|---|
| Wholesale discounts at checkout, checkout rules (such as minimums), Quick Buy | Logged-in customers with the exact tag B2B, in any capitalization (B2B, b2b, B2b, b2B). Pending customers do not qualify. |
| Product Wholesale block, Hide price, the B2B Redirect Block for legacy customer accounts | Logged-in customers with any tag that contains b2b. This includes pending customers tagged B2B_Registeration and customers tagged B2Bnetterms. |
| Lock Content Redirect (default setting) | Logged-in customers with the exact tag b2b, in any capitalization |
| Redirect after login for new customer accounts | Logged-in customers with the exact tag B2B, in any capitalization |
| Wholesale signup form | B2B shows the "logged in to your wholesale account" message; B2B_Registeration shows the pending message |
What happens if I edit tags directly in Shopify admin?#
The storefront and checkout read the tags, so a tag you change in Shopify admin takes effect for those features. What does not happen is everything Process Wholesale does as part of an action on the Customers page:
- Adding
B2Bby hand makes the customer a wholesale customer at checkout and in the storefront, and they appear on the Active tab. No approval email is sent, no Auto assign discount tags are added and the tax exemption setting is not applied. - Adding
B2B_Registerationby hand puts the customer on the Pending tab. No "Application received" email is sent. - Removing
B2Bby hand ends wholesale pricing at checkout. No email is sent. - Adding a discount tag by hand works when the tag matches a discount's name exactly. Using Manage discount tags avoids typing mistakes.
How do I email only my wholesale customers?#
Select customers by the tag B2B in Shopify admin or in your email marketing tool. Process Wholesale tags every customer you approve with B2B, so that tag identifies your wholesale customers. The exact setup depends on your email tool.
Frequently asked questions#
How does Process Wholesale know which customers are wholesale customers?#
By the Shopify customer tag B2B. Process Wholesale adds it when you select Accept B2B on a pending customer, and checkout discounts apply only to logged-in customers who have it.
Why is the tag spelled B2B_Registeration?#
That is the exact tag Process Wholesale uses for pending customers. Type it as B2B_Registeration whenever you search or tag by hand, or the customer will not appear on the Pending tab.
Can a customer be pending and wholesale at the same time?#
No, not through Process Wholesale. Accept B2B replaces B2B_Registeration with B2B, and Return to pending does the reverse.
Does Process Wholesale store wholesale status anywhere besides tags?#
No. The application state lives in the customer's tags, and the answers from the signup form are saved in the Shopify customer note. Approving or rejecting changes only the customer in Shopify.
Do customers need a separate wholesale login?#
No. Wholesale customers log in with their normal Shopify customer account. The B2B tag is what gives them wholesale prices.