Yes, you can run wholesale and retail on one Shopify store in Dubai and the GCC. Shopify’s native B2B tools give each trade buyer a company profile with locations, its own catalog and prices, quantity rules, volume pricing and payment terms such as net 30. Since April 2026 the core B2B features also work on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, so Shopify Plus is now about scale rather than access: unlimited catalogs, catalogs per company location, deposits and partial payments.
We are a Shopify and Shopify Plus agency based in Dubai, and B2B setups for UAE and Saudi brands are a regular part of our work. This article is general information, not tax or legal advice; confirm the VAT treatment of your trade orders with your accountant or a registered tax agent.
Key takeaways
- B2B is no longer Plus-only. Basic, Grow and Advanced include companies, up to three catalog assignments, quantity rules, volume pricing and net terms.
- Plus is for scale. Unlimited catalogs, catalogs per company location, deposits and partial payments stay on Plus.
- Each company location carries its own tax ID, tax setting, terms and catalog, which fits GCC groups with branches in several countries.
- Capture the trade licence and TRN before you approve a buyer. Shopify will not check a UAE TRN for you.
- Shopify applies the tax setting you choose, not the law. 5% UAE VAT, 15% Saudi VAT, zero-rating and the reverse charge need rules your adviser signs off.
Do you need Shopify Plus for B2B in Dubai?
Not any more. On 2 April 2026 Shopify announced that its foundational B2B features would extend to Basic, Grow and Advanced at no extra cost. B2B is not available on Starter or Retail. At the time of writing (November 2026), Shopify’s B2B features by plan page compares them like this:
| B2B feature | Basic and Grow | Advanced | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Companies and company locations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Active catalog assignments to B2B markets | Up to 3 | Up to 3 | Unlimited |
| Catalogs assigned directly to a company location | No | No | Yes |
| Quantity rules and volume pricing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Net terms, payment reminders, vaulted cards | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deposits and partial payments | No | No | Yes |
| PO numbers, draft orders to invoice, quick order list | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Contextual storefront and checkout through Markets | No | Yes | Yes |
The catalog limit bites first. Shopify counts each active catalog once for every B2B market it is assigned to, so one catalog used for both UAE and KSA trade already takes two of the three. If you price distributors, retailers and hotels differently across two or three GCC countries, that ceiling is usually the real reason to move to Plus. Deposits are the other one: buyers placing large or custom orders often expect to pay a deposit, and on Shopify that is Plus-only.
How do companies and locations work for GCC trade buyers?
Shopify B2B uses three records. A company is the business you sell to, a company location is one of its branches or warehouses, and a customer is the person who orders on its behalf. Shopify’s guide to creating B2B companies puts the tax ID, tax setting, exemptions, addresses, payment terms, catalogs and checkout settings at location level. So a Dubai retailer with a Riyadh branch can be one company with two locations: Dubai holds the UAE TRN, Riyadh the Saudi VAT number and its own terms.
Decide two checkout settings early. Submit all orders as drafts for review lets your team check stock, credit and tax before confirming. Allow customers to ship to any one-time address is convenient but makes VAT and delivery checks harder. Many wholesalers use draft review for new accounts and automatic submission once a buyer is trusted.
How do catalogs, price lists, quantity rules and volume pricing work?
A catalog decides which products a B2B buyer sees and at what price. Its price list can apply a percentage adjustment, such as 30% off retail, or fixed prices per variant. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, catalogs are assigned to B2B markets and the store must use the new Shopify Markets. On Plus, you can also assign a catalog to one company location, which is how a single distributor gets its negotiated prices.
Quantity rules set a minimum, maximum and increment per variant, so a buyer can be made to order in cartons of 12. Volume pricing adds price breaks, such as a lower unit price from 100 units in one order. Keep increments in line with how your warehouse packs, and decide whether catalog prices include VAT before you load hundreds of them.
What payment terms can wholesale buyers get?
Shopify’s B2B payment terms cover the usual patterns:
- No payment terms: the buyer pays at checkout. This is the default.
- Net 7, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90: due that many days after the order, and settable as a location default.
- Due on fulfilment: due once all items are fulfilled.
- Fixed date: a set calendar date, on individual draft orders only.
Buyers can save a card to their location and pay later from their account, and Shopify Flow can send payment reminders. Shopify applies whatever terms you set, so decide who approves them, and on what evidence, before anyone gets net 60. For card payments, our guide to Shopify payment gateways in the UAE covers the providers that work here.
How do you capture a UAE trade licence and TRN on Shopify?
Most UAE wholesalers sell trade prices only to licensed businesses, and need the buyer’s Tax Registration Number (TRN) on a full tax invoice. Build it from three pieces:
- A request-for-access form. Shopify’s company account requests use the Shopify Forms app. A submission creates a company, location and customer, who cannot order until you approve them. Add custom fields, including a file upload for the trade licence, and save them as company metafields.
- The location’s tax ID field. Enter the TRN here. Shopify validates VAT numbers for UK and EU companies, so do not rely on it for a UAE TRN; check each one with the FTA’s public TRN verification tool.
- Metafields for the rest. Licence number, issuing authority, expiry date and the Saudi commercial registration number fit as company metafields, and Shopify Flow can flag licences about to expire.
Then make sure your invoice template prints the buyer’s TRN. Our Shopify VAT guide for the UAE lists what a full UAE tax invoice must show.
How do UAE VAT, Saudi VAT and the reverse charge apply to B2B orders?
This is general information, not tax advice. Each company location has one of three tax settings: collect tax, don’t collect tax, or collect tax unless exemptions apply. Shopify applies the setting; it does not decide whether a sale is standard-rated, zero-rated or reverse-charged.
- UAE: the standard rate is 5%. A domestic sale between two registered businesses is normally standard-rated and the buyer reclaims the VAT, so UAE locations usually “collect tax”.
- Saudi Arabia: the standard rate is 15%, and the ZATCA guideline on imports and exports confirms it applies to goods imported into the Kingdom. Shipping from the UAE, the export may be zero-rated in the UAE when the evidence conditions are met, with import VAT arising in Saudi Arabia. Who pays it depends on your agreed Incoterms.
- Reverse charge: sometimes the buyer, not the seller, accounts for VAT. One UAE example is the reverse charge on electronic devices sold between registrants for resale, in force since 30 October 2023. Those locations may need “don’t collect tax” and a reverse-charge note on the invoice.
- Other GCC states: rates and rules differ, so treat each country as its own setup.
E-invoicing is coming for B2B too. Saudi Arabia already has mandatory e-invoicing run by ZATCA, and the UAE has announced a phased B2B rollout from 2027, starting with larger businesses. The e-invoice is usually issued from your ERP or an accredited provider, which is one more reason to plan the integration early.
Should B2B and DTC share one store or run separately?
Shopify calls these a blended and a dedicated store, and its store type guide sets out the trade-offs:
| Question | Blended store | Dedicated B2B store |
|---|---|---|
| Admin and theme | One admin, theme and brand | Separate admin, theme and brand |
| Inventory | Shared; cannot be allocated by customer type | Separate stock pool |
| Trade-only gated site | Not possible | Possible |
| Apps and integrations | Set up once | Set up and paid for again |
| Cost | One plan | A second plan, or a B2B expansion store on a Plus contract |
For brands selling the same products to consumers and to salons, hotels or retailers, a blended store is simpler: one catalogue, one stock figure, one integration. Go dedicated when trade needs its own stock, brand or a fully private site. Switching later means redoing setup, so decide before you load catalogs.
How does Shopify B2B connect to NetSuite, Odoo or SAP Business One?
In the GCC, credit, stock across warehouses and tax invoices usually live in an ERP, and NetSuite, Odoo and SAP Business One are the three we see most. Whichever you run, decide which system owns each record:
- Companies and locations: usually created in the ERP once credit is approved, then synced to Shopify with TRN, terms and addresses.
- Prices: ERP price levels written into Shopify catalogs. Many price levels per country is where Plus starts to pay for itself.
- Orders and invoices: Shopify sends the order with company, location and PO number; the ERP posts it and issues the tax invoice.
- Payments: net-terms payments taken in Shopify must close the matching ERP invoices, or finance will chase money already paid.
Many connectors were built for retail orders and ignore companies and catalogs, so ask for a demo of a net 30 order from a company location before you buy. Our article on Shopify B2B with NetSuite walks through the same mapping for European brands.
When is a wholesale app or a separate portal better?
- You are on Starter or Retail, where Shopify B2B is not available.
- You need more price groups than three catalog assignments allow, but Plus is not yet justified.
- Buyers need quote negotiation, credit-limit checks at checkout or live ERP statements.
- Trade buyers already order through your ERP vendor’s portal and nobody wants a second one.
- Wholesale is a separate company with its own stock, staff and brand.
Before you add an app, check whether it uses native companies and catalogs or replaces them, because that decides whether your ERP integration still works.
Shopify B2B setup checklist for the UAE and GCC
- Count your price groups per country and pick a plan.
- Choose a blended or dedicated store and move to the new Shopify Markets.
- Create a B2B market for each country, such as UAE and KSA.
- Build catalogs, then add quantity rules and volume pricing.
- Set up the access form with licence upload, TRN or VAT number and expiry.
- Agree tax settings per location type with your adviser.
- Set default payment terms and a rule for who approves them.
- Update invoice templates to print TRN, PO number and due date.
- Connect the ERP and agree which system owns each record.
- Test end to end: request, approval, net-terms order, invoice, payment, ERP posting.
When you do not need an agency
If you sell to a handful of UAE trade buyers with one discount level and card payment, you can set up native B2B yourself using Shopify’s checklists. A B2B Shopify agency in Dubai earns its fee when there is more at stake: several GCC countries, many price levels, an ERP, reverse-charge or zero-rating rules, or a trade site with its own design. That is the work our Shopify Plus development team does.
FAQ
Is Shopify B2B available outside Shopify Plus?
Yes. Since April 2026 it has been available on Basic, Grow and Advanced as well as Plus, but not Starter or Retail. Plus keeps unlimited catalogs, location-level catalogs, deposits and partial payments.
Can wholesale and retail customers see different prices on one store?
Yes. Retail shoppers see normal prices. Logged-in B2B buyers see the prices from the catalog assigned to their market or, on Plus, their company location.
Does Shopify check a UAE TRN automatically?
No. Shopify validates UK and EU VAT numbers. Store the TRN in the location’s tax ID field and check it with the Federal Tax Authority’s TRN verification tool.
Can I charge 5% VAT to UAE buyers and 15% to Saudi buyers from one store?
The tax setting is per company location, so the mechanics work from one store. Which VAT applies to a Saudi order depends on how and from where you ship, so get your adviser to set the rules first.
Do I need an ERP to run B2B on Shopify?
No. Shopify handles companies, catalogs, terms and invoices on its own. An ERP helps once you need credit limits, multi-warehouse stock or e-invoicing.
Planning wholesale on Shopify in the UAE or Saudi Arabia? Tell us about your trade customers and systems and we will tell you which plan and setup fit, including when you can do it yourself. Or see how we work as a Shopify agency in Dubai.
