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Onboarding new wholesale customers involves repetitive data entry: creating company profiles, setting up locations, assigning pricing, and configuring payment terms. For manufacturers managing dozens of new accounts each month, this manual setup eats into time that could go toward building relationships.
Shopify Sidekick can accelerate this process by filling in admin forms from your instructions, reducing clicks and data entry. This guide shows how to use Sidekick to create B2B company profiles, assign wholesale pricing, and configure credit terms efficiently.
Sidekick speeds up onboarding by interpreting your instructions and populating Shopify admin forms accordingly. Instead of navigating through multiple screens and entering data field by field, you describe what you need and Sidekick fills in the details.
In B2B stores, Sidekick can:
Sidekick doesn't replace your review and approval, it accelerates the data entry portion so you can focus on verification and relationship-building.
Some onboarding tasks require you to complete them directly in the admin:
Think of Sidekick as handling the initial heavy lifting while you handle the configuration decisions.
Before using Sidekick for onboarding, understand how Shopify B2B organizes wholesale customers.
Shopify B2B uses a two-level hierarchy:
When you create a company, Shopify automatically creates one company location for it. Each company can have multiple locations (up to 10,000), and each location can have its own:
This structure supports businesses with multiple facilities, branches, or purchasing departments that need different configurations.
When setting up a new wholesale customer:
Sidekick helps with step 1 and 2 by populating the forms. Steps 3 and 4 require your direct action in the admin.
Start by having Sidekick create the company and its initial location.
Example prompt:
> "Create a B2B company called 'Midwest Industrial Supply' at 1234 Commerce Drive, Chicago, IL 60601. Contact is John Smith, john@midwestindustrial.com."
Sidekick populates the company creation form with the provided information. You then review the details and save.
When prompting Sidekick, include as much as you know:
The more details you provide, the less manual editing you need after Sidekick fills the form.
Sidekick fills forms based on your instructions, but always review before saving:
This review step ensures data quality in your customer database.
After creating the company and location, assign pricing by connecting catalogs to the company location.
Catalogs determine what products a B2B customer can purchase and at what prices:
You can assign multiple catalogs to a single company location. If multiple catalogs contain the same product, the customer sees the lowest price.
In your Shopify admin:
Consider how you structure catalogs for your wholesale customers:
For detailed catalog configuration, see Customer-Specific Pricing on Shopify for B2B.
Configure payment terms so the customer can purchase on credit.
Shopify supports standard B2B payment terms:
Payment terms apply at the company level, so all locations under that company inherit the same terms unless you configure locations differently.
New wholesale customers might start with shorter terms (Net 15 or Net 30) until they establish credit history. Established accounts with strong payment records can receive extended terms (Net 60 or Net 90).
For comprehensive guidance on payment terms configuration, see Net 90, Deposits, and Other Unique Payment Terms on Shopify.
Here's how a typical Sidekick-assisted onboarding flows:
The entire process, from initial request to active account, can happen in a single session.
Manufacturers onboarding multiple accounts weekly can establish standardized workflows.
Before each onboarding session, gather:
Having this information ready makes Sidekick prompts straightforward and reduces back-and-forth.
Create a tiered catalog structure that covers most scenarios:
New customers slot into an existing tier rather than requiring custom catalog creation for each account.
Create internal documentation for your onboarding workflow:
This consistency ensures any team member can onboard accounts efficiently.
Wholesale customers with multiple facilities require additional setup.
After creating the initial company and location:
Each location can have different catalog assignments, allowing you to serve the same company with different product availability or pricing at different facilities.
If different locations within the same company need different payment terms, this requires separate company records rather than multiple locations under one company. Payment terms apply at the company level.
Once accounts are set up, automation helps manage them efficiently.
Use Shopify Flow to create workflows that:
For automation guidance, see Using Shopify Flow to Automate Customer Approval Processes.
Consider requiring order review for new wholesale accounts until they establish a track record:
For order review setup, see How to Set Up B2B Order Review Workflows in Shopify.
Sidekick accelerates data entry but doesn't replace business decisions:
Before extending payment terms, you need a credit review process:
Sidekick can help enter the data, but the decision about what terms to offer requires your judgment.
If pricing requires negotiation beyond your standard catalogs, that happens outside Sidekick. Custom quotes, project-specific pricing, and contract negotiations require direct sales involvement.
For quote workflows, see RFQ Popups and Direct Sales Contact on B2B Shopify.
Begin with a few accounts to refine your workflow:
Sidekick makes the mechanical parts of onboarding faster, freeing you to focus on building relationships with your new wholesale customers.
For a broader overview of B2B capabilities on Shopify, see Essential Shopify Features for B2B.
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