Platform Selection
Part of B2B ecommerce platform features
Evaluating company accounts and buying permissions
Check company locations, buyer roles, account visibility and order ownership before choosing a B2B ecommerce platform.
A B2B account must give each person the right access for the right business unit. Draw the company structure first, then check what buyers can see and do when assigned to different locations. A customer labelled “wholesale” does not, by itself, establish address, order-history or purchasing boundaries.
Draw the account before configuring it
Record the customer organisation, its purchasing locations and the people who act for each one. Identify which addresses, catalogues, payment terms and contacts vary by location.
List actions: preparing a basket, placing an order, viewing colleagues’ orders, changing an address and managing other buyers. Define permissions by action rather than job title.
Shopify B2B separates companies, company locations and customers. A location can have its own billing and shipping addresses, pricing and payment terms. Shopify documents two buyer permissions: Ordering only can place orders for assigned locations and view that buyer’s own order history; Location admin can also see all orders for an assigned location and edit its addresses.
One Shopify customer can be assigned to multiple locations within one company, but only one company. Include that limit if a person buys for separate customer organisations. Neither buyer permission, by itself, describes a colleague approval route.
BigCommerce B2B Edition describes business and personal accounts, company registration and approval settings, and company address books; it also separates company accounts from customer groups.
Adobe Commerce B2B supports company accounts with multiple buyers, company structures and configurable user roles and permissions.
Confirm the edition, enabled features and proposed configuration before relying on any documented capability. Assess quote and reorder workflows separately.
Use a permission matrix
| Test person | Expected access | Action to check | Boundary to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location requester | Assigned location | Prepare a request | Cannot change another location’s details |
| Buyer | Assigned locations and terms | Place an authorised order | Cannot manage company-wide permissions |
| Account manager | Locations they manage | Maintain permitted contacts and addresses | Cannot access unrelated customers |
Adapt these illustrative roles to the business. Test staff who place orders on a customer’s behalf separately from customer buyers.
Check access changes and order ownership
For a proposed demonstration, assign one person to two locations and another to one. Sign in separately, switch location where permitted, inspect prices and order history, and attempt an address change.
Record both allowed and denied actions. Then remove a buyer and check that access ends while past orders remain attributable.
Inspect a staff-created order as well. Shopify requires B2B customers to be set up as companies and customer accounts to be activated for B2B. Check that the order records the intended company and location, rather than relying on the storefront price as evidence.
