Yes, and as of Shopify's Winter '26 release, it's a native feature rather than a workaround - merchants can now issue and manage Shopify store credit for individual company locations directly inside Shopify B2B. That's a real shift: for years, store credit was treated as a DTC loyalty tool and wholesale ran entirely on net payment terms and invoicing. The two systems are converging, but they still solve different problems, and conflating them is the fastest way to set up b2b on Shopify wrong.
Here's what native company store credit actually covers, where it genuinely helps wholesale accounts, and where it still falls short of what a growing b2b on Shopify program needs.
What shipped natively for B2B store credit
Shopify's Winter '26 update added store credit specifically scoped to company locations, framed around two problems merchants had been solving with cash: returns and damaged shipments that pulled real revenue out of the business, and a way to reward high-value wholesale accounts or promote new products without a straight discount. Before this release, issuing a wholesale customer a credit meant a manual price adjustment on a draft order or a workaround through gift cards - neither of which tracked cleanly as a reusable balance.
One important caveat: company store credit remains a Shopify Plus feature. The broader B2B toolkit - company profiles, up to three catalogs, volume pricing, and net payment terms - opened up to every paid plan as of April 2026, but store credit for company locations specifically stayed behind the Plus tier alongside other advanced B2B capabilities like unlimited catalogs and vaulted credit cards.
Store credit vs. net terms vs. deposits: three different tools
B2B on Shopify now has three distinct financial mechanisms, and mixing them up causes real confusion for both merchants and buyers.
Net payment terms (Net 30, Net 60, Net 90) defer when a buyer pays for an order they've already placed. This solves a cash-timing problem - the buyer gets the goods now and settles the invoice later.
Deposits and partial payments (Plus-only) split a single order's payment across milestones - a deposit at order time, a balance on shipment, for example. This solves a risk problem on large or custom orders.
Store credit is neither of those. It's a spendable balance tied to a company location, issued for a return, a promotional reward, or goodwill, and redeemed on a future order. It doesn't defer payment on the order it's issued for - it prepays part of the next one.
Treating store credit as a substitute for net terms, or vice versa, is a common setup mistake. A buyer who wants 30 days to pay an invoice needs net terms, not a credit balance issued after the fact.
Where store credit actually helps a wholesale program
The two use cases Shopify's own release notes highlight are the ones that show up most in practice. Returns and damaged shipments on wholesale orders are typically far larger in dollar value than a DTC return - a damaged case of product at wholesale pricing is a bigger cash hit than a single retail item, and issuing Shopify store credit instead of a cash refund keeps that revenue inside the business while still making the buyer whole.
The second case - rewarding high-value accounts without discounting the catalog - matters specifically because B2B pricing is already negotiated. Applying a further percentage-off discount to a buyer who's already on a custom price list erodes margin on every future order at that lower price point. Store credit, by contrast, is a one-time or periodic reward that doesn't touch the underlying catalog pricing at all.
Limitations of native company store credit
Native store credit for B2B on Shopify covers issuance and redemption well, but it's built for manual, case-by-case use - a sales rep or admin issuing credit to a specific company location, not an automated program running across dozens or hundreds of wholesale accounts. A few gaps show up quickly at scale:
- No native automation tied to order volume or milestones. There's no built-in way to auto-issue credit when a company location hits a spend threshold or reorders a certain number of times.
- No unified balance across DTC and wholesale. If the same brand runs a consumer loyalty program and a B2B credit system, they're two separate balances rather than one.
- Reporting is limited to what's visible per company profile, not aggregated across the wholesale book the way a dedicated retention platform would show it.
Running store credit across DTC and B2B on one platform
Most brands running both channels want one thing native Shopify doesn't offer: a store credit system that treats a wholesale account and a DTC customer as different segments of the same underlying balance infrastructure, not two disconnected systems. Stores with store credit programs already running for consumers are usually the ones that feel this gap first, since bolting on a second, separate B2B credit system doubles the reporting and reconciliation work.
Rewardify Credit & Loyalty builds this in directly, with native support for wholesale pricing tiers alongside its consumer-facing store credit and loyalty tools. Wholesale accounts can earn and redeem credit under their own rules - different accrual rates, different eligibility - while still running on the same balance infrastructure as VIP, employee, and returns-based credit for the DTC side. Rewardify also automates issuance through Shopify Flow, closing the gap that native company store credit leaves for volume- or milestone-based rewards. If manual, per-company issuance is the ceiling you've hit running b2b on Shopify at scale, Rewardify Credit & Loyalty is worth comparing against building the automation yourself.
Common mistakes when setting up B2B store credit
- Treating a discount and store credit as interchangeable. A discount lowers the price on a negotiated catalog permanently. Shopify store credit is a one-time or periodic reward that leaves the catalog pricing untouched - using the wrong one either erodes margin unnecessarily or under-rewards a loyal account.
- Issuing credit manually at real volume without a plan to automate it. Native store credit for company locations works fine for occasional issuance. Running b2b on Shopify with dozens of active wholesale accounts turns manual issuance into a recurring admin task someone has to remember every month.
- Running separate systems for DTC and wholesale credit. Brands that already have stores with store credit programs for consumers often bolt B2B credit on as a second, disconnected system instead of extending the one they already run.
- Assuming store credit solves a cash-timing problem. It doesn't - that's what net terms are for. Store credit is a reward and returns tool, not a way to give a buyer more time to pay an existing invoice.
Is store credit available for Shopify B2B on every plan? No. The broader B2B toolkit - company profiles, catalogs, volume pricing, net terms - is available on every paid plan as of April 2026, but store credit for company locations remains a Shopify Plus-exclusive feature.
What's the difference between store credit and net payment terms for wholesale? Net terms defer payment on an order already placed. Store credit is a spendable balance issued for a return, reward, or goodwill gesture, redeemed on a future order. They solve different problems and aren't interchangeable.
Can I use store credit instead of a discount for wholesale customers? Yes, and it's often the better option - a discount permanently lowers the price on a negotiated catalog, while store credit is a one-time or periodic reward that doesn't touch underlying pricing.
Dose running stores with store credit programs for both DTC and B2B require Shopify Plus? Native company store credit does require Plus. Apps like Rewardify can run unified store credit across both channels independently of that requirement, since the credit infrastructure lives in the app rather than Shopify's native B2B feature set.
Conclusion
Store credit does work for B2B and wholesale orders, and as of Shopify's Winter '26 release, it's finally a native part of the platform rather than a manual workaround - for returns, damaged shipments, and rewarding high-value accounts without discounting a negotiated catalog. The gap that's left is automation and unification: native company store credit is Plus-only, manual, and separate from any DTC loyalty balance a brand is already running.
If you're managing store credit across both wholesale and consumer channels and want it running as one system instead of two, Rewardify Credit & Loyalty handles wholesale pricing tiers and store credit automation on the same platform as your DTC program.