B2B buying is changing. Today's B2B buyers—predominantly millennials—prefer to manage their orders and accounts online, seeking purchasing experiences that mirror their personal online shopping. A recent TrustRadius study highlights the shift to online ordering: 100% of B2B buyers want the option to self-serve all or part of the order process online. For B2B businesses, adapting buying experiences to meet these demands is essential for staying relevant in a highly competitive market.
Shopify enables an exceptional self-serve experience through customer accounts. As part of Shopify’s Winter ‘25 Edition, Shopify has introduced Customer Account Extensions. Customer Account Extensions allow businesses to enhance the customer accounts experience using third-party apps from the Shopify App Store, as well as custom apps developed specifically for their shop. With these apps, businesses can introduce new features that help B2B buyers self-serve more of the order process online, saving time on order-related tasks and reducing the need to contact customer service and sales teams for support.
Understanding Customer Accounts in B2B
What Are Customer Accounts?
Customer accounts are a foundational feature of B2B on Shopify, and serve two critical needs for B2B businesses:
- Allow buyers to log in before accessing B2B-specific information, such as products and pricing, ensuring only authorized users see wholesale offerings.
- Enable buyers to see order history and account information, so they can review past purchases, duplicate past orders, and access account information at any time.
Once authenticated, buyers can move from customer accounts to the storefront, to browse products and place orders.
Why Do Customer Accounts Matter?
The demand for self-service among B2B buyers is clear, and customer accounts make self-serve purchasing effortless on Shopify. Buyers appreciate the convenience of managing orders, invoices, payments, and account information independently—without waiting hours or days for sales teams to respond. As a result, sales reps are free to focus more of their valuable in-person time on strategic conversations with their buyers, including product education, market trends, and more.
However, businesses must ensure online ordering is not just an option, but the best one available to buyers, for self-serve purchasing to be introduced successfully. A recent Gartner survey found that 83% of buyers prefer to place their own orders online but will not adopt solutions that complicate the ordering process. The takeaway? Ease of use and overall value of a new solution is essential to facilitate buyer adoption. Buyers will revert to familiar ordering methods if they find new options difficult to navigate or lacking the features they need.
Moreover, orders are placed more frequently in B2B than in direct-to-consumer (DTC). A recent Forrester survey found that over 50% of B2B buyers place an order at least once a day, with 32% placing orders several times a day. Thus, B2B buyers use customer accounts more often since they need to log in to place orders and access account information. Any friction in their experience is likely to be noticed quickly and felt repeatedly if not addressed.
What's Changing?
Shopify addresses most B2B use cases with the out-of-the-box features built into customer accounts. However, some specific requirements cannot be met with these features, and until now, customization options have been limited. Businesses can now create the exact customer account experiences their buyers need, eliminating the need for manual, off-platform processes or multiple systems to achieve the same goal.
What Are Customer Account Extensions, and How Do They Work?
Customer Account Extensions enable businesses to customize customer accounts using apps, so buyers have access to everything they need to effectively self-serve. With these apps, businesses can quickly enable new features across three key areas of customer accounts:
- Orders page
- Order status page
- Profile page
Additionally, apps leveraging Customer Account Extensions can create new pages within the customer account experience for advanced B2B workflows.
For example, with the O: Request a Quote | Hide Price app, businesses can add a new page to the customer accounts experience specifically for quotes. On this page, buyers can easily differentiate between orders and quotes while self-serving quote requests online.
3P Apps Leveraging Customer Account Extensions
As part of the launch of Customer Account Extensions, Shopify has worked closely with a number of partners to ensure their apps are ready for immediate use. Below are a few examples of B2B-specific apps that leverage Customer Account Extensions:
O: Request a Quote | Hide Price
Allow buyers to easily request and negotiate quotes online, simplifying the quote process and centralizing it to a single commerce platform.
Sufio
Give buyers the option to “View invoice” or “Download invoice” for their orders within customer accounts.
The “View invoice” option redirects buyers to an online version of their invoice to download or print. The “Download invoice” option lets them download a PDF version straightaway. Order action links can be translated into one of seven supported languages, based on the buyer’s location.
Upro
Speed up the checkout process for large bulk orders by enabling buyers to upload carts via CSV. Buyers can export assigned catalogs to view available products and quantities. After modifying the spreadsheet with their desired SKUs and quantities, buyers can upload the CSV file to create a cart in customer accounts.
On the Business Portal
Allow buyers to switch the company location they’re purchasing on behalf of within customer accounts. They can create a cart directly from customer accounts, eliminating the need to navigate away to the storefront.
And that’s not all! Discover more third-party apps with the newly introduced Customer Account Extensions App Guide.
App Guides highlight common use cases that can be supported immediately by installing an app from the Shopify App Store. Shopify's partners are also releasing tons of new and updated apps in the coming months that leverage the flexibility of Customer Account Extensions.
Conclusion
As B2B buying preferences shift online, it is critical to offer personalized digital experiences to buyers in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving market. Customer Account Extensions enhance Shopify's B2B self-serve capabilities, delighting buyers and improving operational efficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Customer Account Extensions?
Customer Account Extensions allow businesses to customize the customer accounts experience using third-party applications, adding new features and functionality for a more effective self-service experience for B2B buyers.
Why are self-serve capabilities important in B2B?
B2B buyers prefer to self-serve because it is more convenient to manage their own orders and accounts online, rather than depending on traditional methods like email and phone that require assistance from sales staff.
Can businesses create custom apps for Customer Account Extensions?
Yes, businesses can build custom apps tailored to their specific needs using Customer Account Extensions.
What types of functionalities can be added through Customer Account Extensions?
Many features can be integrated through Customer Account Extensions, with common use cases including invoicing features, quoting tools, and bulk ordering capabilities.
