How to Tell if a Shopify Agency Understands B2B Manufacturing

Most Shopify agencies build consumer storefronts. But B2B manufacturing is different. Your customers search by part number, request quotes, and use Net 30 terms.

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Hiring the wrong agency costs months of rework and lost sales. Here's how to evaluate whether an agency truly understands B2B manufacturing.

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Why Most Agencies Fail at B2B Manufacturing

• They confuse wholesale with B2B. Wholesale means retailer discounts. B2B manufacturing means ERP integrations, tiered pricing, purchase orders, and technical specifications.
• They don't know your systems. Your ERP (Business Central, Acumatica, NetSuite) must sync orders bidirectionally and update inventory in real-time. Consumer agencies have only integrated Klaviyo and Google Analytics.
• They propose custom builds for native features. Shopify Plus has company profiles, payment terms, and customer catalogs built-in. Agencies that don't know this will charge you for features that already exist.

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Portfolio Red Flags vs Green Flags

Red flags

• Only consumer brands (fashion, beauty, lifestyle)
• No ERP integrations mentioned
• Simple products (5-10 fields)
• No technical documentation downloads

Green flags

• Manufacturing case studies (auto parts, industrial equipment, electronics)
• ERP/PIM/WMS integration experience
• Filterable specifications and comparison tools
• Payment terms and quote workflows highlighted

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See How to Evaluate Shopify Plus Partners.

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6 Questions That Expose Inexperience

Q1: "How would you handle customer-specific pricing?"

❌ Inexperienced: "We'll use discount codes for each customer."

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✅ Experienced: "Use Shopify B2B price lists. Assign customers to companies, create price lists per company. For complex tiered pricing, sync from your ERP using metafields or apps."

Q2: "How do you sync inventory with our ERP?"

❌ Inexperienced: "We'll use Zapier."

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✅ Experienced: "Use native connectors if available (Business Central, Acumatica). Otherwise, build middleware with n8n. Bidirectional sync: ERP updates Shopify every 15-30 minutes, Shopify sends orders via webhooks immediately."

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See How to Configure Inventory Sync.

Q3: "What's your approach to Net 30 payment terms?"

❌ Inexperienced: "Customers can pay with credit card or PayPal."

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✅ Experienced: "Shopify Plus supports Net 30/60/90 natively. Assign terms to company profiles. Shopify tracks due dates and balances. For custom terms, use Shopify Functions or integrate with your accounting system."

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See Best Payment Options for B2B.

Q4: "How do you handle technical specifications?"

❌ Inexperienced: "Put them in the product description."

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✅ Experienced: "Use metafields for structured specs. Each spec gets a metafield (voltage, material, dimensions). Enables filtering, comparison tables, and system syncing. For complex products, consider a PIM like Plytix."

Q5: "What's the difference between a product and variant?"

❌ Inexperienced: Blank stare or vague answer.

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✅ Experienced: "Products are top-level (Industrial Pump Model X). Variants are options (1HP 115V vs. 2HP 230V). Each variant has its own SKU, price, inventory. Limited to 3 option types and 100 variants per product."

Q6: "How would you implement quote requests?"

❌ Inexperienced: "Add a contact form."

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✅ Experienced: "Build quote form capturing products, quantities, specs. Store as draft orders with 'quote-pending' tags. Use Shopify Flow to notify sales. Sales updates pricing, sends quote. Customer approves, converts to order."

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See RFQ Workflows.

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Competency Signals to Watch For

1. They ask about your tech stack. ERP, accounting, CRM, PIM, WMS. Shows they understand integrations.
2. They use Shopify terminology. Company profiles, B2B checkout, payment terms, catalog management, draft orders.
3. They know app limitations. "Most B2B pricing apps handle tiers, but contract pricing needs custom metafields."
4. They ask clarifying questions. "How many price tiers?" "Multiple warehouses?" "Average order complexity?"

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Process Red Flags

• Unrealistic timelines: "3-week B2B store with ERP integration." Reality: 8-16 weeks minimum.
• No business questions: Designing before understanding your sales process.
• Custom-first approach: Should exhaust native features and apps first.
• Can't explain trade-offs: Every decision has pros/cons.
• Poor communication: Slow responses during sales won't improve post-hire.

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See Developer vs Agency.

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Industry-Specific Knowledge

Auto parts: "How would you handle fitment data?" (Year/Make/Model)

• Answer: Metafields for fitment, Boost Commerce for filtering, ACES/PIES integration.

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Electronics: "How would you display datasheets?"

• Answer: Metafields for specs, file downloads, comparison tables.

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Industrial equipment: "How would you handle custom configurations?"

• Answer: Product builder apps for simple, custom development for complex, CPQ integration for advanced.

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Integration Architecture Test

Ask: "What systems need to integrate?"

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❌ Inexperienced: "Just your ERP."

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✅ Experienced: Identifies ERP, accounting (QuickBooks/NetSuite), CRM (Salesforce/HubSpot), PIM (if complex catalog), WMS (if separate), 3PL (if outsourced). Asks which systems you use, proposes architecture diagram.

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Follow-up: "How do you ensure data consistency?"

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Answer: Master data strategy (source of truth per data type), sync frequency, conflict resolution, reconciliation workflows, error logging.

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See Shopify ERP Integration.

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Pricing and Engagement Red Flags vs Green Flags

❌ Red flags:

• Fixed price without discovery
• Development only, no ongoing support
• Single generalist ("I'll handle everything")

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✅ Green flags:

• Discovery phase (2-4 weeks) before quoting
• Phased implementation (MVP then iterations)
• Retainer/support packages post-launch
• Specialized team (PM, Shopify dev, integration specialist, UX designer, QA)

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Reference Check Questions

Ask their B2B manufacturing clients:

1. "What industry are you in?" (Confirm B2B, not DTC)
2. "What integrations did they build?" (Verify ERP/accounting success)
3. "How did they handle unexpected challenges?"
4. "Would you hire them again?"
5. "What would you change about the engagement?"

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The Pilot Project Approach

Proposal: "Build one critical workflow before committing."

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Example: "Customer-specific pricing for top 10 customers, inventory sync for 100 SKUs, Net 30 payments. 4 weeks."

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Tests: Technical competence, communication, problem-solving, code quality, project management.

Limited risk if pilot fails.

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What You Need to Know

Evaluate agencies using different criteria than consumer ecommerce. Look for manufacturing portfolio work, ERP experience, and Shopify B2B feature knowledge.

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Ask the 6 questions in this guide. Watch for red flags (fast timelines, custom-first, poor communication) and green flags (discovery process, specialized team, support packages).

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Request reference checks from B2B clients. Consider pilot projects before full builds.

The right agency asks about your ERP before showing designs. They know Shopify's constraints and work within them, not against them.

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Related resources:

• How to Evaluate Shopify Plus Partners for Your Manufacturing Business
• Shopify Developer vs Shopify Agency: What B2B Manufacturers Need
• Shopify ERP Integration - A Guide
• Best Payment Options for B2B Customers on Shopify