One Backend, One Storefront or Two
Brands that sell direct to consumers and to wholesale accounts often assume they need two stores: one retail site and one trade site. When wholesale is a large share of revenue, that split means two catalogs, two sets of prices and promotions, and two order streams to reconcile.
BigCommerce removes the need for a second build. Its own Multi-Storefront page describes one backend serving B2C, B2B or both, with custom pricing built from price lists and customer groups (BigCommerce).
The decision is not “one store or two” but “one storefront or two storefronts on one backend.” If wholesale only needs different prices, one storefront with customer groups and price lists is enough. If wholesale needs its own domain, branding, catalog visibility or buyer portal, a dedicated wholesale storefront under Multi-Storefront is the cleaner fit. Folio3 eCommerce, a certified BigCommerce partner, sets up both architectures.
See also: BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus for hybrid B2B and B2C
What Goes Wrong with Two Separate Stores or One Unstructured Store
Retail checkouts are built for one public price and a fast guest purchase. Wholesale buyers need account-specific prices, restricted products and company-level accounts.
Two separate stores mean every product, price change and promotion is maintained twice, and the two copies fall out of sync.
Trade pricing must only appear to approved accounts. A shared site without account-scoped pricing risks showing wholesale prices to the public.
Separate stores create separate order pipelines and stock records that the team must reconcile with the ERP and warehouse.
Consumers want a quick checkout. Wholesale accounts need company accounts with multiple buyers, quotes and invoices. One generic storefront rarely serves both well.
When One Store Is Enough and When You Need Two Builds
Four questions that decide it.
| Situation | One backend is enough when… | Separate builds are worth considering when… |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog | Wholesale buyers mostly buy the same products as consumers, at different prices. | Wholesale sells largely different products, such as case packs or items consumers never see. |
| Pricing | Price lists and customer groups can express your wholesale tiers. | Pricing logic lives outside the commerce platform and cannot be expressed as price lists. |
| Buying journey | Wholesale needs account-specific prices and a few extra account features. | Wholesale needs a completely separate branded portal, domain and buying experience. |
| Operations | Retail and wholesale share one warehouse, ERP and order pipeline. | Retail and wholesale are fulfilled from different warehouses or run on different ERP workflows. |
Even when the buying experience must differ, Multi-Storefront usually covers it from one backend. Genuinely separate builds are the exception, not the starting point.
Our Approach: Run Retail and Wholesale from One BigCommerce Backend
We run retail and wholesale from one BigCommerce backend, choosing between two native architectures based on how different the wholesale experience must be.
| Factor | Option A: One storefront | Option B: Multi-Storefront |
|---|---|---|
| Best when | Wholesale needs different prices, not a different site | Wholesale needs its own domain, branding, catalog or buyer portal |
| How pricing works | Price lists assigned to wholesale customer groups | Price lists assigned to the wholesale storefront, a customer group, or both |
| What buyers see | Logged-in wholesale buyers see their price list; everyone else sees catalog prices | Retail and wholesale shoppers each use their own storefront |
| Backend | One catalog, one admin | One catalog, one admin, orders tagged by storefront |
BigCommerce price lists can be assigned to a channel, a customer group, or a channel and group together. Only one price list applies at a time, and the platform picks it in this order: channel plus group first, then group alone, then channel alone (BigCommerce Dev Docs). One price list can serve several groups or storefronts, but each group or storefront holds only one active list (BigCommerce Support). For setup steps, see our price list feature in BigCommerce guide.
Products are assigned to storefront channels from one master catalog. On native Stencil storefronts, a product not assigned to a channel is hidden from that storefront, so wholesale-only SKUs stay off the retail site (BigCommerce Dev Docs).
B2B Edition adds Company accounts to each storefront it is activated on. Each Company account can carry storefront-specific price lists, an Origin Channel and Channel Access that control where its buyers can shop. Quotes are tied to a storefront, and orders, quotes and invoices can be filtered by storefront (BigCommerce Support).
BigCommerce advises assigning scripts to the specific site they should render on, so retail and wholesale analytics stay separate (BigCommerce Dev Docs).
Can Shopify Plus or Adobe Commerce Do the Same?
How the main platforms handle retail and wholesale together.
Price lists with customer groups on one storefront, or Multi-Storefront with B2B Edition for a dedicated wholesale site. Multi-Storefront is an Enterprise-plan feature.
Shopify B2B uses catalogs that set which products and prices B2B customers see, and customers must log in to get them. On Shopify Plus, catalogs can also be assigned directly to company locations for customer-specific pricing. On other Shopify plans, catalogs are assigned to B2B markets only.
Adobe Commerce B2B offers company accounts and shared catalogs. It suits complex company structures and negotiated pricing, and typically carries a heavier development and maintenance load.
Not sure which fits? Read our Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce vs BigCommerce B2B comparison or BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus for hybrid commerce.
Platform Considerations
These are the BigCommerce rules that shape a combined retail and wholesale build.
Multi-Storefront is available on BigCommerce Enterprise plans (our Multi-Storefront guide). Confirm price list and B2B Edition entitlements on your contract with BigCommerce.
B2B Edition is disabled by default on new storefronts. BigCommerce must provision it on each storefront through your Customer Success Manager before you can activate it, and activation fails if you exceed the number of provisioned storefronts (BigCommerce Support).
Buyer users use the same email address on every storefront. You can grant one Company or buyer access to several storefronts, but you cannot create separate accounts per storefront with the same email (BigCommerce Support).
If a B2B customer logs into a storefront their Company account is not assigned to, they see the Buyer Portal available to B2C customers (BigCommerce Support).
Price list pricing shows only to shoppers logged into an account in the assigned customer group, and hidden price lists do not apply (BigCommerce Support).
BigCommerce asks app developers to keep orders, customer groups, price lists and scripts channel-aware. Check every installed app for MSF support before launch (BigCommerce Dev Docs).
Business Outcome
Running retail and wholesale from one BigCommerce backend replaces a second build with configuration, and each outcome below follows from a documented platform capability.
| Business Outcome | How BigCommerce delivers it |
|---|---|
| One catalog, maintained once | Products, prices and promotions are managed once in one control panel and pushed to each storefront that needs them |
| Wholesale prices stay private | Price lists apply only to the assigned storefront, customer group or Company account |
| Retail and wholesale reported separately | Orders, quotes and invoices carry their storefront and can be filtered by it |
| One wholesale account, several storefronts | Channel Access lets a Company account buy on more than one storefront |
| Faster expansion | New storefronts are added to the same backend instead of built as new stores |
Which Agencies Can Set Up BigCommerce Multi-Storefront with B2B Edition to Run Retail and Wholesale from One Backend?
Five things to look for before you shortlist an agency.
Live Multi-Storefront builds, not only single-storefront BigCommerce stores.
They can explain how B2B Edition is provisioned per storefront and how Company accounts, Origin Channel and Channel Access are set up.
Price lists scoped by channel and customer group, with a plan for how ERP pricing reaches the storefront.
They audit every installed app and integration for multi-storefront compatibility before launch.
They recommend one storefront when it is enough, and Multi-Storefront only when wholesale needs its own site.
Folio3 eCommerce is one agency that covers these. A combined retail and wholesale store succeeds or fails on its pricing model, catalog rules and account setup, not on the theme. Our team is a certified BigCommerce partner that configures Multi-Storefront setups with localized pricing, separate catalogs and centralized order management, and sets up B2B Edition for wholesale and manufacturing brands (BigCommerce B2B Development). If your team is weighing a second store for wholesale, or maintaining two catalogs today, we can review your pricing tiers, catalog and ERP flows and recommend a single-storefront or Multi-Storefront architecture.
Frequently Asked Questions
For Multi-Storefront, yes: it is an Enterprise-plan feature. If one storefront with wholesale price lists is enough, confirm price list and B2B Edition availability on your plan with BigCommerce.
No, if price lists are assigned correctly. Price list pricing shows only to shoppers logged into an account in the assigned customer group, or on the storefront the list is assigned to.
Yes. In B2B Edition, a Company account has an Origin Channel and a Channel Access setting that grants its buyers access to additional storefronts. Access can also be updated in bulk by CSV import.
Yes. B2B Edition lets you set storefront-specific price lists on each Company account.
The channel-plus-group assignment wins. BigCommerce falls back to a group-only assignment, then a channel-only assignment, and applies only one price list at a time.
Yes. On native Stencil storefronts, a product not assigned to a storefront’s channel is hidden from that storefront.
Rarely. Separate builds are worth considering when retail and wholesale are fulfilled from different warehouses, run on different ERP workflows, or need completely different catalogs and branding. Even then, Multi-Storefront often covers the difference from one backend. Folio3 eCommerce reviews your catalog, pricing tiers and ERP flows before recommending either.
Yes. Shopify B2B uses catalogs to set which products and prices B2B customers see, and on Shopify Plus, catalogs can be assigned directly to company locations for customer-specific pricing. Other Shopify plans assign catalogs to B2B markets only.
Look for an agency with live Multi-Storefront builds, a clear plan for B2B Edition provisioning and Company account setup, and an honest recommendation between one storefront and two. Folio3 eCommerce is one such agency, a certified BigCommerce partner with ERP, pricing and inventory integrations for 150+ B2B brands.
People Also Ask
Weighing a Second Store for Wholesale?
Tell Folio3 eCommerce about your catalog, pricing tiers and ERP flows, and we will recommend a single-storefront or Multi-Storefront architecture.
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