Contract Commerce Layer (CCL) for Shopify B2B—No-Plus Required
9/10
Demand Score
Merchants are losing B2B deals or adding manual workarounds because Shopify gates critical features behind Plus pricing.
7/10
Blue Ocean
Competition Level
$399-1k
Price/Month
Predicted customer spend
90 days
Time to MVP
Difficulty: Hard
The Problem
A headless B2B layer that sits between your Shopify storefront and buyers to deliver contract/tiered pricing, account hierarchies, approval workflows, PO/credit terms, and advanced invoicing—without n
🔗 Validated by Real User Complaints
This problem has been verified through 5 real user complaints:
Competitor Landscape
- Shopify Plus B2B (native)
- SparkLayer B2B
- Bold B2B/Wholesale
- Wholesale Club (Orbit)
- HandShake (legacy)
Must-Have Features for MVP
Account hierarchies (parent/child, budgets, cost centers)
Contract and tiered pricing engine with volume breaks and customer-specific SKUs
Quote-to-Order with approvals, audit trail, and expiry
PO handling, net terms, credit limits, partial shipments
Advanced invoicing and reconciliation (Stripe/QuickBooks/Xero/Resolve/TreviPay)
Sales-rep masquerade, cart building, and negotiated pricing
Catalog controls per account/segment
SSO for buyers, multi-contact management, role permissions
ERP/EDI connectors (CSV/SFTP/API)
No-Plus deployment path; zero theme overhaul required
⚠️ Potential Challenges
- Discount application limits outside Plus; must rely on Draft Orders and line-item adjustments
- Edge cases with taxes/VAT and payment terms synchronization
- Theme/headless coexistence during phased rollout
- Shopify API rate limits during catalog/price sync
Risk Level: Moderate
🎯 Keys to Success
- Accurate price/discount math matching contracts to the penny
- Fast buyer UX (<300ms price calc via cache/edge)
- 1–2 week onboarding from existing spreadsheets/contracts
- Robust audit logs for finance/legal
- Seamless coexistence with public B2C storefront
Ready to Build This?
This hard-difficulty project could be your next micro-SaaS success.